Hip areas/district in Portland (Beaverton, King City: middle-class, transplants, houses)

[monpetitloup]

Areas worth checking out by quadrant...
NW: Nob Hill/Alphabet district; The Pearl; King's Hill (this is the area near the Rose Garden); Slabtown (the apartments in this area are among the least expensive in the NW district, and you're in the middle of 2 great areas).
SW: Goose Hollow (prices are not that bad--you could find some deals on apt's here); South Park Blocks/Cultural district (a bit expensive but nice to walk around, near PSU so the possibility of cheaper housing exists in pockets); West End (Up and coming area that is slowly developing--mostly condos and some apartments).
SE: Hawthorne (the closer you get to Mt. Tabor the quieter it gets); Belmont/Morrison corridors; East Burnside; Buckman (less trendy, more quiet); CES (Central Eastside--some pockets of housing, near the very trendy and rapidly expanding East Burnside aka Lower East End--the name is a new development: www.lowereastendpdx.com); SE Division St. from SE 12th to SE 39th; SE Clinton St. from SE 20th to around SE 27th;
NE/N: Alberta St (East of MLK Blvd); Mississippi Ave; Williams St (newly hipsterized, rapidly growing); Russell St. (some good bars and restaurants);
I might have left out some...hope it helps!

[kelcat]

Originally Posted by tranzenic

Where are some of the hip areas in Portland to experience city living, walk to shop, restaurants, etc. I generally don't like the suburb, residential, family-oriented areas, but prefer young singles. Of course, safety is a top priority.

I'm currently checking out the rental situation in Portland and don't quite know which areas to look for to narrow down my choices. Please advise.

What's your age range and income? "Hip" here has a lot of definitions. From your comment about "young singles" I would say either land in the Hawthorne area if you want a bit more "established" hip or in Alberta or Mississippi for more "edge hip". Pearl is kinda middle age hip or younger "rich hip" (read yuppie) and Northwest is kind of the same but with more families. As in anywhere "edge hip" means a bit more crime and being careful of how and where your walk so if "safety" is a top priority Hawthorne might be a good compromise. Two interesting areas are Burnside just over the bridge and Belmont in an area known as Buckman which is just north of Hawthorne, it has a bit more edgy feel which actually might fit the bill. It has a lot of rental possibilities and is really close in to downtown and a lot of pub trans options so you don't really need a car (but a bicycle is perfect).

Check out portlandmaps.com for crime info and pretty much any statistically relevant info anyone could come up with for any particular area just type in a cross street and browse it has an incredible amount of info. Also look at walkscore.com for what kind of shops and stuff are near the place you might be considering. Not a perfect site but very relevant info.

[gorilazgomossad]

Originally Posted by kelcat

What's your age range and income? "Hip" here has a lot of definitions. From your comment about "young singles" I would say either land in the Hawthorne area if you want a bit more "established" hip or in Alberta or Mississippi for more "edge hip". Pearl is kinda middle age hip or younger "rich hip" (read yuppie) and Northwest is kind of the same but with more families. As in anywhere "edge hip" means a bit more crime and being careful of how and where your walk so if "safety" is a top priority Hawthorne might be a good compromise.

This is exactly the detailed type of info I was hoping to get.
So many websites are terrified of not being pc and are too vague to make sense, aka saying "this area is nice but elite; this area is nice but edgy" but not really delving into age, families, or crime and safety. if you use "nice" to describe everything, that doesnt help, dudes and dudettes.
Thanks for the clarity, I'm leaning more and more toward Hawthorne every day.

[hellosandyp]

i have been looking for apartments through craigslist and have been disappointed. are there any good websites that show local listings in the hawthorne/ belmont area?

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by hellosandyp

i have been looking for apartments through craigslist and have been disappointed. are there any good websites that show local listings in the hawthorne/ belmont area?

I have lived in the Hawthorne area since the late 80's. On the whole, the farther away from the actual business area the quieter it gets. The many so-called "hip" young people you see in the business area are not really neighborhood residents. They couldn't afford to live here. There is a good mix of people living here; young, old, single, married etc.

You will not find the best apartments on any list. Apartments here are snapped up pretty quickly. The best way to find a good apartment in this area is to go for a nice long walk and look for rental signs ideally by individual owners. There are some really nice ones here and they do not go through any type of advertising besides putting out a sign in front of the property. Beware rental agencies. They usually have the more expensive properties and are often difficult to deal with.

[city visualizer]

My number one choice would be the Peal District, lots of good looking singles. If I do stay in portland after finishing school, I would most definitely live in the Peal.

[sapphos]

thank you so much for the portlandmaps link. It's great to see a city actively using GIS applications in a way that's useful for the general public. We've already been able to see the noise areas which is a major issue for us coming from Miami where the airport has really affected us.
I'm a bit concerned though because it looks as if there is more crime than I anticipated? can anyone shed any light on that?

Originally Posted by kelcat

What's your age range and income? "Hip" here has a lot of definitions. From your comment about "young singles" I would say either land in the Hawthorne area if you want a bit more "established" hip or in Alberta or Mississippi for more "edge hip". Pearl is kinda middle age hip or younger "rich hip" (read yuppie) and Northwest is kind of the same but with more families. As in anywhere "edge hip" means a bit more crime and being careful of how and where your walk so if "safety" is a top priority Hawthorne might be a good compromise. Two interesting areas are Burnside just over the bridge and Belmont in an area known as Buckman which is just north of Hawthorne, it has a bit more edgy feel which actually might fit the bill. It has a lot of rental possibilities and is really close in to downtown and a lot of pub trans options so you don't really need a car (but a bicycle is perfect).

Check out portlandmaps.com for crime info and pretty much any statistically relevant info anyone could come up with for any particular area just type in a cross street and browse it has an incredible amount of info. Also look at walkscore.com for what kind of shops and stuff are near the place you might be considering. Not a perfect site but very relevant info.

[HowGoesIt]

Crime is the last thing I would be worried about coming from Miami. Even the nicest parts of Miami (Coconut Grove, South Beach, Coral Gables, etc) have a lot more crime and grit than the worst part of Portland.

[sapphos]

Originally Posted by HowGoesIt

Crime is the last thing I would be worried about coming from Miami. Even the nicest parts of Miami (Coconut Grove, South Beach, Coral Gables, etc) have a lot more crime and grit than the worst part of Portland.

I definitely agree about living in Miami - we live in Midtown and are surrounded by not great areas and used to live in Bayside just across Biscayne Boulevard from the really gritty area bordering Little Haiti. I think in any city it's tough to find areas that aren't bordered by crime. But learning about the areas for crime are really important for us.

Regardless, all of the benefits that Portland offers far outweigh those of Miami at this point (and Seattle too for that matter). We've already left once and come back and have seen enough other places to realize that what we came back to Miami for isn't here (except for the tropical weather and warm beaches). Other than that - no eco friendliness, no real farmer's markets, no hiking, solitude, possibility to find people who care more about community than simply about themselves. Okay off my soapbox...

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by FellowTraveler

I am just scanning this page and it looks like an amazingly good resource. Thank you!

Actually, it's amazingly out of date. I spotted many errors in just a few minutes of reading.