Moving to Portland, where should I live?

Just like the title says! Graduating from school here in NY next week, and leaving for Portland a week and a half after. Moving out with 2 friends, and we need a place to live! I'm just wondering if anybody has any recommendations on good neighborhoods to live in and places to look for houses.

Also, on a side note, what are peoples preferred gyms in the area? I know from the google machine that there are 3 or so gyms in the Portland area, but where do my fellow MP'ers mostly go?

a buddy of mine is moving up there next month for nursing school and I'm thinking of moving up there in a few months. If you find the best gym up there or a good place to live let me know. I will be searching in about 6 months or so.

jan

The Circuit Bouldering Gym!

I miss living in PDX, best city I've lived in by far (and I've lived in a lot of them). You'll love it once you get used to the rain. I moved there in the fall and got to deal with the months of rain immediately. Moving in spring or summer would be much preferred.

Public transit system is great, and the city is pretty compact. I didn't own a car for half the time I lived there, very neighboorhood kind of city with groceries, pubs in walking distance everywhere. Very extensive bike scene there and tons of bike commuters and bike lanes/routes. LEARN THE BRIDGES ASAP!

The town is thought of as five sectors: North, NE, NW, SE, SW, divided up E/W by the river and N/S by Burnside St. The different areas have their own feels and there are kind of sub-areas within the sectors. Shops tend to cluster on the E-W running streets, so neighborhoods are often referred to by the larger streets (e.g Hawthorne, Division, Belmont, etc).

I preferred SE, and lived in the Hawthorne St and then Division St areas, in the 30s streets (e.g. 31st St @ Division, 39th @ Woodward). Also lived in Sellwood - another very nice SE area, and lived in NW for a bit. Best thing to do is get a feel for what you like. Each area has it's own character for sure, Pearl District feels different than NW23rd and both feel different from Hawthorne. Figure out where you need to be for work/school/transit whatever and there will surely be a funky, eclectic and hip neighborhood somewhere closeby. It's a beautiful town dominated by early century Craftsman bungalow style homes with gorgeous landscaping. Great espresso, food, music, craft-beer, pub, and cycling scenes. Very liberal politics, very outdoorsy population.

Gym will depend on whether you plan on roped or just bouldering, and probably by where you live. There was a facility out in the burbs when I lived there that was in a regular upscale fitness type gym and it was the best climbing terrain going at the time (prior to PRG moving, prior to Circuit, etc), but was crazy expensive and way out in the western burbs.

NW seems to be the most "cosmopolitan" seeming area, but you get Washington Park/the arboretum with a lot of full-on hiking trails that make you forget the city is right there. NE seems to be a great mixed-bag. You have Alberta which has a great arts and music culture and "Last Thursdays"(look it up). If I moved back I would probably try to find a place in the NE. I lived in SE PDX, and it was really great too. If you live in SE you should live from 40th street in. That's where it all happens. Never spent any time in North and SW, I guess that might say something about them, but no opinion.

Portland Rock Gym has good routes and bouldering. Never went to the Circuit.

So that was dull I'm sure, but Portland is awesome!!!! It's a great active city, there are beautiful people everywhere, amazing beer, KB, great pubs and a cool music scene. Bring a bike, learn the buses/MAX, embrace the weird, and find some good locals. They know what's good, and will show you if you are worthy. Have fun!

As long as you're within a few miles of the city center and not on the suburb-side of the hills it's hard to go wrong.

The city is divided into quarters (although there are "5" of them): the Willamette river separates the East and West side, and Burnside St. separates North vs. South. North Portland is referred to as the 5th "quarter" sometimes, and is generally everything from Alberta St. on up to St. John's.

Generally anything on the east side that's closer than ~50th St. will be good. A good northern boundary would be Killingsworth St., and anything south of Powell St. starts getting a little far out from the city center (although the Sellwood and Reed College areas are fantastic). There are a lot of small corridors of bars, shops, etc. on the main streets on the east side-- Alberta, Mississippi, Williams, Fremont, Burnside, Belmont, Hawthorne, Division, Clinton, Woodstock, Tacoma... those are good places to start with. The Pearl and Northwest are great as well.

I grew up in SW, and I've lived in various places in NW and NE. Generally speaking I'd look for houses in this outlined area, although that's not to say that there aren't awesome places elsewhere too:

And yeah-- anywhere near the new Circuit would rock! It's on NE 17th & Sandy and there are some great neighborhoods within biking distance within a mile or two of it. The original Circuit is great too.

As for the other gyms, the Portland Rock Gym is fine if you have your heart set on climbing routes rather than bouldering, but I'm not really a fan of the place. Out in the 'burbs you've got Stoneworks (small, but awesome and friendly) and Club Sport (big corporate fitness club with a well-managed gym). The Circuit(s) is/are my favorites though.

Thanks for the map!! thats an awesome resource to have. I started looking at houses the other day, and have had a semi hard time finding stuff in the downtown area, so i'll have to use that map and look a bit more east!

At this point i think the real trick is going to be finding a place to stay while i find a house! anybody have andy recommendations on floors/hostels?

live in either the southeast or northeast. rad parts of town. climb at the circuit....sooo good. the portland rock gym, in my opinion, kinda blows. the circuit has great routesetters and a friendly staff. get psyched!

+1 on the circuit(s) being awesome, although at the new one you may need to invent some sort of steel umbrella device to avoid getting crushed by folks cartwheeling off the monster topout boulders onto your head.

ok, only when it's busy.

craigslist is by far the best source for rental info. everywhere just east of Peter's blue outline is pretty quiet and mostly nice neighborhoods until 82nd. not as many hipster bars or fancy restaurants.

also, i hope you and your homies brought jobs with you.

After looking at the partners section and this section of the Forums, it seems like most people do the drive to Smith Rock for climbing. Are there any other local spots closer then Smith Rock that Portland climbers go to for outdoor climbing?

Thanks for all the advice! And same question as above. I remember looking into some books/this site, and there is some stuff, but what are the local after work spots?

A fellow New York transplant, awesome.

Ditto on The Circuit (especially the new one in NE) being awesome. PRG is pretty good if you want to do roped routes, but The Circuit has better bouldering.

Peter's map pretty much sums it up for domicile locations, though there are some nice places outside the blue line too (which tend to be, in general, decidedly less "hip").

The guidebook you should look for is "Portland Rock Climbs" by Tim Olson. The fourth edition just came out.

The main close-in areas are:

Rocky Butte: within the Portland city limits, an "urban crag", pretty unique, watch out for broken glass and the occasional "protection" lying around (and I don't mean cams or nuts). The main cliffs are best accessed by rappelling, and there's some bouldering up at the top.

Broughton Bluff: 18 miles from downtown, a pretty popular area, haven't been yet, but I hear good things

Carver: A crag on private land about half an hour from downtown. You need to be a member to use it (fill out a waiver and pay a one-time $8.00 fee). They have a lot of sport routes, some trad/mixed, and awesome bouldering. Last time I was there there were some high school kids re-enacting scenes from "Twilight" (part of which was apparently filmed there) and being kinda loud, but that's not the norm.

Thanks for info jester

Ozone and Broughton are the best close in climbing around Portland. I wouldn't waste any time with Carver or Rocky Butte. Hopefully a second printing of the Ozone guide will come out soon. Oh and Beacon Rock is sweet...