Zip codes in Portland??? (apartment, to rent, condos)

[Vegas to Portland]

So the question is which zip codes are good to live in? That may be a silly question...but living in Vegas for the last 11 years, if someone asked me I could tell them which zips to stay away from and which to check out. I havent received any responses from my last posting, was it too long?
My 2 teenagers and I are moving to Portland in May 08. I am 33, down to earth, prefer the downtown atmosphere, music & art scene, beer pubs, able to walk to the market for a gallon of milk type of neighborhood.
We are looking to rent a 3-4 bedroom pet friendly apt, near a high school. Any feedback is much appreciated, 5 months will be here before I know it and we will not be coming to check out the city before we get there.

[pdxuser]

You won't really be able to live downtown unless you want a condo or apartment. You might consider the pricey homes in the NW 20-somethings, or yet more condos in the Pearl District. On the east side, the Hawthorne and Belmont area is full of shops with lots of foot traffic. You could also consider the Irvington neighborhood in inner NE. Zip codes, especially on the east side, can encompass quite a bit of land, so they're not very useful to go by.

[Leisesturm]

It isn't a silly question but if you look through the forum you will notice that Portlanders think of the city in terms of neighborhoods. They have names and there are literally a dozen odd sites that can explain each of them, their plusses and minuses. Everyone's criteria is different: most people coming from the Northeast will want to know which neighborhoods are 'dangerous'. Such a concept is relative because by East Coast standards no neighborhood in Portland is dangerous but to native Oregonians there are differences between SE Portland neighborhoods and NW neighborhoods. I don't know the exact URL but there is a photographer who has a site called Oregon Bridges or something similar his name is Andrew Hall I believe. About as detailed a description of Portlands metro area as I have seen. You will find what you want to know from his site. You can also use the search feature and/or work down through likely looking threads in this very forum you will see links, photo's descriptions galore. In just a couple of weeks I am now fairly well versed in the neighborhoods and this is from a dead start. Good luck.

H

[angelbug]

The website is portlandbridges...

http://www.portlandbridges.com/portland-neighborhoods/

Click on the menu at the bottom right of the page for neighborhood descriptions.

[Vegas to Portland]

I should've mentioned...definitely an apt or condo, in the $1200 range. To the three of you that replied, thank you very much. I'll be checkin out that website shortly. To add a little more of what I am interested in...I like an older seedy feel to a neighborhood as opposed to a newly established cookie cutter neighborhood. Originally from So Cal I appreciate the history that surrounds an old building. As much as I would like to ask for a "safe" neighborhood, I don't want to be directed away from "the action". The small main streets that include store fronts and the majority of their customers walked their from home.
Happy Holidays and thanks again for any feedback
Christina

[oldtintype]

The size place you want will pretty much rule out anything in the downtown area (since units are mostly 2 bedrooms or less), unless you rent one of the HUGE old homes, which are way more than 1200. So on the west side, you're looking at Multomah Village, John's Landing or Lair Hill (closest areas to downtown you're likely to find something close to what you want) to be in either Lincoln or Wilson High School, or if you go over to the east side you'll probably want to check out areas around Cleveland or Grant. Other people will probably chime in on east side info for you but basically you're going to be in either a hipster area, a yuppie area or a family area. That's kind of how you can stereotype the east side (apart from the trashy areas). Just depends what you want and if you're worried about the quality of the schools.