Milwaukeean considering a move to Portland. (appointed, how much, houses)

[Devitron5000]

Greetings,

I'm a bartender and rock vocalist in Milwaukee who is looking to leave Wisconsin within the next 1-2 years. I love Milwaukee, but I've lived here off and on for almost 20 years; and now I'm coming up on 30 and just need a change of scenery. Plus, the winters here are brutal, and I'm not sure how many more I can take.

I want to be on the west coast because over the years I've come to know musicians in every major city in the west coast... except Portland. But I do know OF a lot of people from Wisconsin who are doing well there, and there seems to be a lot of other things (cost of living similar to MKE, good public transit, great brewpubs) I like about it too. And since the cost of living rules out living in LA or San Francisco, I definitely don't want to rule out a move to Portland even if I'm much less connected there.

Anyway, what can anyone tell me about what I've heard and read? I have a few specific questions too:

-Is the music scene really as much of a hipster hell as I've heard... and what are some of its positive attributes?

-How easy is it to get around without a car (since not having a car is the only reason I have money to move in the first place)?

-Where is the Packer bar... because if there's as many displaced Wisconsinites as I've heard, there has to be at least one, right?

-Is the racial diversity really as lacking as I've heard? I grew up in Milwaukee, but I go to college with a bunch of kids from suburbs and small towns, and some of the asinine things I've heard come out of some of their mouths is infuriating.

-How is the bar scene in general? Is it mainly dives, trendy spots, sports pubs, a combination? What about music venues?

I suppose that's all for now. Thanks in advance for anything you can tell me.

[hamellr]

Check out the Portland Mercury and Willamette Week. Both will give an idea of the music scene here.

Also, check out KZME as they play (mostly) local music and stream it online.

I know lots of bands from Portland have hit the big time over the years. They sometimes had to head to Seattle to do so, but it's possible. There are still some great groups locally that are coming close.

[AndyAMG]

Really good info from hamellr.

KZME always has the wierdest crap, typical portland stuff. WW and the Mercury will give a you a good feel of the city and its eccentricity. Check out the musicians wanted section and you'll find stuff like. "Homemade Washbasin Upright bassist needed for folk/metal fusion band. Must have 3 months worth of facial hair and love convenient store Taquitos, cats and shopping at Goodwill."

1. Hipsters are undefinable. There are alot of poser hipsters, hipster posers and don't know they are hipster hippy hipsters.

2. Pretty easy as long as you are near MAX or a bus line or like riding a bike in the rain.

3. Packers..... Not my team. The Packer fan at work, goes here. I went there one time. It was just a bunch of cheese heads reminiscing about the 90's and Wisconsin winters Party at one of America

4. What is with people asking about the Diversity? Go live in Dubai or Johannesburg if you want to be the only white person. I work with Russians, Vietnamese, Islanders, Black people (There are a lot of sub Saharan Africans here), and Mexicans, I mean what are you looking for? I don't think we have too many Kazakhs, Azerbaijanis or Mongolians so you might be disappointed in our diversity. Portland is 76% White.

5. Portland like all cities in America it has franchises, sports bars and . most people are too cool to go to "bars". Do you mean Public Houses or Breweries? Do you like to pay 8 dollars a pint for handcrafted wheat grass pale ale to sit out in the rain and listen to other beer snobs tell you about that time the brewed the best beer ever at home and how much better it is than the one they are currently drinking, yet they didn't save the recipe and cant recreate it. Beer snobs get on my nerves.

Music venues are on the inner eastside, most are in abandon warehouses where you can listen to electronic "music" and "party". Since you don't say what you are longing for muscially. Refer to the WW or the Mercury, or... Portland's Reddit.

6. Stay in Milwaukee. Trust me. I don't how many PM's I get telling me "Thanks for suggesting I go to Austin or Denver instead of Portland." or "I hate Portland, it rains all the time, why did everyone hype it up? this place sucks, I want a White Castle. back east we could do this or that. There are too many white people. It's not as progressive as people told me it was. People aren't friendly, waaaaa"

Take a trip here in February stay for a week. Then decide if you want to move to Portland. Otherwise stay put.

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by AndyAMG

Beer snobs get on my nerves.

Really? And you hid it so well!

[imaroo]

Sounds like a lot of things get on your nerves.

[danwilsonbsee]

For a Packer's bar - Saraveza is what you're looking for which same as what someone else mentioned. They organized a party bus to Seattle for the game last year (sorry about that hail-mary).

Also, get a job before you move here. Job's are hard to come by and even harder without a identifiable business skill (ie. Engineer, Programmer, Doctor and the like). Line one up or make sure you have enough money to move home after you get sick of the rain and unemployment. Although unemployment has suited most of my musician friends better than I could handle .

Most people here are decent but sick of the starry eyed dreamers who move here since it's "cool" but quickly realize it's just a city. Problems you had in WI will follow you here.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by danwilsonbsee

Most people here are decent but sick of the starry eyed dreamers who move here since it's "cool" but quickly realize it's just a city. Problems you had in WI will follow you here.

Let's all post this as a tag line in every response to the "I'm sick of where I'm living now, want to move to Portland with no job because I hear it's cool" posts!

As an aside, a friend of mine (regular white-collar working guy) was considering moving to the NW 23rd neighborhood, but got turned off by what he said were "all the unemployed trustafarian 20-somethings smoking on their front porches talking about the screenplay they were writing." And this was a few years before Portlandia.

[Rob Allen]

Originally Posted by AndyAMG

Beer snobs get on my nerves.

There are snobs, and then there are SNOBs - Supporters of Native Oregon Beer.

Oregon Brewers Guild » S.N.O.B

[Minervah]

Another tag line always coming from me and from one former Midwesterner to another: "Try before you buy."

It's very different here from there. Not better not worse, but different. And the differences are not those you see in shows like "Portlandia." Or even " Grimm."

Especially the bar experience. Come for a visit preferably a long one. Go to the bars. Have fun. See if you like what you see.

Check out housing and the job situation. Forget all you don't like about where you are. It dosen't make a dime's worth of difference. Just see if you like what's out here. Don't make comparisons either in your mind or especially to people who live here. They do not like that.

Have fun in Portland. Decide if it's for you based on what you see and hear and feel when you are actually in Portland not what you see or what you hear or what you feel based on information gotten from TV or the Internet. That information is useful and worth inquiring about but there is nothing like being here in person.

[Devitron5000]

Thanks for all the replies!

Just to clear the air... I definitely will NOT be moving to Portland (or anywhere else for that matter) without spending a little bit of time out there first, and certainly not without a job lined up. If anything, the fact that so many people want to move there because it's "cool" is actually a bit of a turn off for me since that's essentially what's been happening on a smaller scale to my neighborhood in Milwaukee. But, such is life in the 21st century, I suppose.