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I am not aware of any neighborhood that spans 20-30 blocks. Our cities just aren't that large.
Well, if you were me and wanted to live in the PNW in a very well kept neighborhood (of any size) with older historic homes and tree-lined streets, where would you look? What neighborhoods?
I have looked at Portland Heights, and I would be happy there, except for the fact that almost all of the homes in that neighborhood are well over 1100 sf.
most houses are over 1100 sf. I don't know why that is your magic number. Do all the houses in your 30 block neighborhood have to fit that arbitrary criteria, as well? the reason I ask is because mostly working class people live in houses that small, and it is well established by now how much contempt you have for those kinds.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amberyl
I have two small children (5+6) who will both be starting school this year, so I want to move before school starts so they will not have to switch schools later on. I need to move somewhere that has great education either in the town, or very nearby, so we could commute.
I live in Mesa, Arizona and I am considering moving to Oregon because I have been without the four seasons for too long. I really want to live somewhere where each season gets equal time share.
I am looking for a quaint town, much like the town of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls. I want to live somewhere where everyone knows everyone else.
I would like to be close enough to at least one larger city. And close enough to a decent college.
I am planning for this to be my last move. I want to settle down and raise my family. Can anyone please suggest a town that sounds like what I am looking for?
I know the OP is no longer among us, but I want to take the opportunity to reiterate something I say a lot, and it comes from personal experience: do NOT move to a very small town unless you have friends or family there who have deep roots in that area and are well-liked. Chances are they will NOT open their arms to you in love and gratefulness for your charming company. They will more likely close ranks and gossip about you. They're happy with the people they know, they have their own koffee klatches, and you will be fresh meat for them to discuss at those meetings. Then they will sally forth to give you dirty looks, purse their lips and tilt their noses up to the sky ..... the men will give you contemptuous looks as if you were just another pile of manure to clear out of the stall.
Be glad if they don't follow you around at a distance when you go out. I knew one nurse who told me that she took off a sick day once in a small medical practice to rest and clean up a bit. Someone called the doctor to report that she wasn't sick, she was vacuuming her house and so shouldn't have taken the day off. But she had the windows closed and the curtains drawn ...... they must have literally snuck up close to her house to have heard the vacuum cleaner (yes, I found out it wasn't just one person, there's some sort of gaggle of malevolent old chain-smoking harpies nesting there).
I don't even want to talk about what happened to me in that and other small towns, it's been too embarrassing ...... I love peace and quiet, don't like the noise and bustle of cities, but at least in a city you can be anonymous.
I'm not talking about cosmopolitan college towns, which are the exception to the rule because they have so many people from around the world landing there. I'm talking about average ordinary little villages and rural communities.
Oh, if the OP ever stops by again to visit from Poulsbo .... if you want 4 real, distinct, usually attractive seasons - New England is the place for you. The PNW doesn't really have that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by QuickStudy178
I really appreciate the responses, and some of the towns I'm familiar with, and some of them I just looked at using GoogleEarth Streetview.
It is not so much a matter of having everything "perfect" or "manicured", as much as it is a matter of finding a place where the following are not accepted practices:
a) junk vehicles on the front yard,
b) RVs, camper caps, boats, trailers, commercial vehicles including privately owned construction vehicles, parked on the street or in plain view in people's yards
c) old tires and toilets used as floral planters
d) old furniture and rubbish left by the curb for the scavengers
e) broken fences, chain-link fences, plastic fences
f) houses and commercial buildings sided with aluminum and vinyl ad nauseam
g) store front signage that is unattractive, or broken and falling down
h) gutters falling down or missing completely
i) an over abundance of overhead electrical wires coupled with trees that are butchered or disfigured by utility company workers (instead of systematically burying the wires when they do street work)
j) a general lack of trees, lack of gardens, and lack of landscaping down the main commercial streets and along many of the residential streets as well
k) graffiti, litter, and poster ads attached to public utility poles, mailboxes, etc.
l) nearby sub-divisions of trailers, modular homes, and mobile homes
m) lack of side walks, or side walks that are broken
n) the use of ugly overhead highway route lights as village lamp posts
o) satellite dishes, ham radio antennas, electric meters, breakout panels, and waste receptacles in plain view
p) houses and commercial buildings with peeling paint, broken porch balusters, broken stairs, broken handrails, broken windows, etc.
q) commercial districts with empty store fronts
r) and on and on and on
From my perspective, none of the above is particularly "quaint" or "charming", yet I see much of what is cited above in every town I've seen in Oregon and Washington.
One does not have to be wealthy or obsessed with perfection to at least maintain their property to minimal standards and to have some common sense and decency, and to encourage the village or county to do the same.
I enjoy nature and camping and sailing and canoeing as much as anybody else, but I certainly would not consider leaving my house with peeling paint, or covering up all the architectural details with aluminum siding, or leave a dump truck parked in my yard along with a trailer and two boats, or mount a 25' tall antenna on top of my roof, or put three chairs and a loveseat by the curb, or put out a year-round display of forty pink flamingos and a toilet filled with geraniums in my front yard, etc., etc.
Even in neighborhoods and towns (in Oregon and Washington) with $500k and $800k homes, you see junk, junk, junk, tackiness, plastic, trash, etc. And I just don't get it. Does not wanting to see junk and garbage everywhere have anything to do with "materialism"?
In the East, even in modest middle-class neighborhoods and towns comprised of plumbers, nurses, teachers, and the like, living in $200k homes, you see well kept properties one after the other, with no boat or trailer in sight. Is this because the plumber is caught up in "materialism"?
I guess I am really trying to understand the mindset in Oregon and Washington, and would really appreciate having someone inform me why the most beautiful region of the country, IMHO, is so lacking in clean decent towns at any price point. I mean, for example, I like Lake Oswego, but just about everything on my list above can be found in the very expensive Lake Oswego community. Now granted, in Portland Heights and Eastmoreland, I did find very little to complain about, but are those the only two areas in Oregon where there is not a bunch of junk the next street over?
Perhaps, a few more Realtors would like to jump in and explain this phenomenon to me.
I don't know all about Oregon, but I do know that Ashland fits the bill - if you want to be even more anal-retentive about it, find an HOA in Ashland. You can find HOAs in those free real estate guides on and off the internet. They're not often on Craigslist.
most houses are over 1100 sf. I don't know why that is your magic number. Do all the houses in your 30 block neighborhood have to fit that arbitrary criteria, as well?
No, I have no problem with the other houses in the neighborhood being all over the board in size. I personally do not need a home larger than 1100sf, and I am perfectly content living in 900sf. Anything larger than 1100sf for me is just a waste and a needless impact on the environment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1208
the reason I ask is because mostly working class people live in houses that small, and it is well established by now how much contempt you have for those kinds.
I am working class. I just happen to enjoy keeping my property a certain way and really appreciate living in a nice looking neighborhood. I think my issue with seeing big gas guzzling RV's and power boats in plain sight goes beyond the aesthetic. I guess I really see them as a waste of our natural resources, and get uptight looking at them.
I don't know all about Oregon, but I do know that Ashland fits the bill - if you want to be even more anal-retentive about it, find an HOA in Ashland. You can find HOAs in those free real estate guides on and off the internet.
Thanks for suggesting Ashland. I have been there many times and enjoy Lithia Park and the Shakespeare festival. Unfortunately, I have not found Ashland to have the distinct PNW wet lushness that northern Oregon has (which I like). For me, Ashland is too warm and sunny, and the nearby northeast hillsides are not blanketed with evergreens and tend to look burned out much of the time. I also think there are too many Californians there for my taste, bringing a certain plastic-ness to Ashland that I don't find appealing.
As far as HOA's go, I don't think there are too many of those for the older historic neighborhoods that are going to have the housing stock I am interested in. I have not driven on every street in Ashland, but there does seem to be a lot of condos and new-built cookie-cutter subdivisions, which do not appeal to me.
In any event, thanks for suggesting Ashland. I know a lot of people who do like Ashland. For myself, I would take Astoria over Ashland.
It was the trend when I first moved here for people to have wildflowers growing in front of their houses instead of the usual manicured lawns. I loved it. Every now and then I still see this in my neighborhood. I think it is way more attractive than a boring old green lawn.
We have been very fortunate to have found our place way out in the boonies, on the side of a beautiful, forested mountain. We have happily lived here in peace, harmony, tranquility for over five lustrum.
It smells soo good here in the spring. Wildflowers abound in the meadows, white, purple wild Lilacs smell soo good, & the Sweetpeas that flourish all about. The Alders sprout up out of the ground around the basspond. I have learned much observing life in & around the pond.
No, I have no problem with the other houses in the neighborhood being all over the board in size. I personally do not need a home larger than 1100sf, and I am perfectly content living in 900sf. Anything larger than 1100sf for me is just a waste and a needless impact on the environment.
I am working class. I just happen to enjoy keeping my property a certain way and really appreciate living in a nice looking neighborhood. I think my issue with seeing big gas guzzling RV's and power boats in plain sight goes beyond the aesthetic. I guess I really see them as a waste of our natural resources, and get uptight looking at them.
So let me get this straight...where you live, wherever that may be...there are working class neighborhoods of 20-30 blocks where there is no RV, boat, or plastic fence in sight? These are just problems in Oregon? I'm sorry but I just don't buy that.
So let me get this straight...where you live, wherever that may be...there are working class neighborhoods of 20-30 blocks where there is no RV, boat, or plastic fence in sight? These are just problems in Oregon? I'm sorry but I just don't buy that.
I did not say that every single house in a thirty block area has no RV, no boat, and no plastic fence whatsoever. What I am saying, is that there are a ton of communities all over the east coast comprised of middle-class and upper middle class working stiffs who, in general, take pride in their homes. Is there an occasional trailer or boat temporarily parked here or there? Sure, like maybe one or two in the entire neighborhood. Try finding that type of 95%/5% neighborhood or town in Oregon, especially in an area of older homes with no HOA's.
Generally, on the east coast, those who can afford the luxury of a large RV and/or a large boat can also afford to pay the cost for off-site storage, and frankly they themselves do not want to look at such things in their own yard either.
If you don't believe me, take a look around for yourself in Oregon, and then spend some time in New England. You will be amazed at how well the average working class person in New England takes care of their property, as compared to the average Oregonian. I think it's just a mindset, more than anything else.
Take a look at Silverton or Astoria, for example, two middle-class towns with a lot of potential. If a bunch of middle-class New Englanders were living in those towns, those towns would be at lot closer to realizing their full potential. Don't blame the messenger.
I am not on this thread as a naive new comer or occasional visitor to the PNW. I lived in the PNW for over a decade and I have lived on the east coast for more than two decades and have traveled extensively, so it's not like I haven't seen these differences with my own eyes.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,297 posts, read 14,161,809 times
Reputation: 8105
Quote:
Originally Posted by QuickStudy178
If you don't believe me, take a look around for yourself in Oregon, and then spend some time in New England. You will be amazed at how well the average working class person in New England takes care of their property, as compared to the average Oregonian. I think it's just a mindset, more than anything else.
.....
I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane just for shtts and grins, and look at some of the residential neighborhoods of the small city in Massachusetts where I was born and raised in my earlier years. Unfortunately the residential areas where I lived aren't on Street View, which seems to mostly have commercial districts. However the places I looked at bore out what you said to some extent ..... at least in the middle and upper class areas. Pomeroy Ave is interesting, since you can start in the cheaper area near East St and move the little man along to where houses become fancier and nicer: 3 pomeroy ave, pittsfield, ma - Google Maps
Tyler St on the other hand is what we used to consider a bit "ghetto". It's mixed zoning. Move the little man east to get into the more residential area: 418 tyler st, pittfield, ma - Google Maps
I guess it's a bit neater than many PNW low-rent districts.
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