"Ew, Salem." Why?!

I'll chime in as one of those "Ew, Salem" people. I actively avoid the place.

Over by the interstate, it's dirty, ugly, and traffic is a disaster.
Downtown is basically abandoned in the evening. There's a mall, but it's inferior to Eugene or Portland.
Dining options are extremely limited for a city the size of Salem.
Vast swathes of empty, poorly maintained space abound. It adds to the general rundown, trashy appearance.

I went to Willamette Humane Society a while back, and my immediate reaction was that it's exactly what I would expect from Salem - dirty, smelly, and sad.

There are nicer areas in Salem, but it's not enough to make up for all the bad parts. And I didn't come in with some existing bias based on years ago. I had no opinion at all about Salem until late 2009, because I had never set foot in either it or Oregon before then.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by JasonF

I'll chime in as one of those "Ew, Salem" people. I actively avoid the place.

Over by the interstate, it's dirty, ugly, and traffic is a disaster.
Downtown is basically abandoned in the evening. There's a mall, but it's inferior to Eugene or Portland.
Dining options are extremely limited for a city the size of Salem.
Vast swathes of empty, poorly maintained space abound. It adds to the general rundown, trashy appearance.

I went to Willamette Humane Society a while back, and my immediate reaction was that it's exactly what I would expect from Salem - dirty, smelly, and sad.

There are nicer areas in Salem, but it's not enough to make up for all the bad parts. And I didn't come in with some existing bias based on years ago. I had no opinion at all about Salem until late 2009, because I had never set foot in either it or Oregon before then.

The Humane Society is on Turner Rd which is an area zoned industrial/commercial. Not a gorgeous strip by any means as most industrial strips aren't.

The mall should be inferior to Portland as it serves a population about 10 times the size. The Eugene mall doesn't lose business to the Woodburn Company Stores like Salem does. The mall was busier before those were built but it does eat into Salem's shopping core. I would agree that people that love to go clothes shopping and wander the mall for hours, probably wouldn't be happy with the mall.

There are a lot of dining choices. Since you are new to the area you probably just don't know where to go. Lots of places are hidden all over town and if you just go to the downtown core you wouldn't know these places exist. Urban Spoon has reviews for 562 places to eat in Salem and 188 in Corvallis. We are about three times the size, population wise, so dining choices are on par with Corvallis. If you find yourself unwillingly up here, check out the Eat Salem Blog and they will give you pretty honest food reviews.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by elliebea

Thank you all for you responses. They've been incredibly helpful and insightful.

It's such a shame that such a nice place has a bad reputation. I wish I could change people's minds about it, but I suppose it's best to just appreciate it for myself.

The nice thing about a good place having a bad reputation (which may be a questionable assertion) is that property values will be lower. Take advantage of that.

[elliebea]

Originally Posted by jjpop

The nice thing about a good place having a bad reputation (which may be a questionable assertion) is that property values will be lower. Take advantage of that.

This is true. I'm surprised by how cheap it is to live there (renting or otherwise,) especially compared to where I live.