The Portland Perspective: Richmond, Virginia? Another hipster-oriented city? (Adams: 2014, to live)

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by kapetrich

Philly does really have a ton of hipsters/hip feel. I'd also add in Baltimore and Pittsburgh even over Philly. Philly's giant compared to Portland. It's almost like comparing Portland to Richmond in that sense.

Also, Baltimore and Pittsburgh are overshadowed by the surrounding larger cities like Portland tends to be with SF/Seattle and young hip artists people find it easier to manage moving to them as they are far and away cheaper yet still offer that urban feel they're looking for. Though, I think Portland will more quickly rise to regional prominence (it already is getting there) than Baltimore or Pittsburgh for obvious reasons.

Definitely, Baltimore and Pittsburgh are great cities in that sense. I was just referencing Philadelphia because of the feel of the city. It has that small neighborhoods feel with the small streets and human scale buildings everywhere. Then there is the street grid that has a similar feel to how Portland was structured. Though I do wish Portland would have done something like Philly when it came to the city hall, I have never been impressed with Portland's city hall building.

I have also come to the conclusion if you are looking to live in Brooklyn, you should move to Philly because that is what Brooklyn use to be like.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

Definitely, Baltimore and Pittsburgh are great cities in that sense. I was just referencing Philadelphia because of the feel of the city. It has that small neighborhoods feel with the small streets and human scale buildings everywhere. Then there is the street grid that has a similar feel to how Portland was structured. Though I do wish Portland would have done something like Philly when it came to the city hall, I have never been impressed with Portland's city hall building.

I have also come to the conclusion if you are looking to live in Brooklyn, you should move to Philly because that is what Brooklyn use to be like.

I think Portland's city hall is pretty nice for a city this size.It suits Portland IMO. Philadelphia's city hall is the largest municipal building in the country so I don't think you can make a comparison although it is really beautiful.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Minervah

I think Portland's city hall is pretty nice for a city this size.It suits Portland IMO. Philadelphia's city hall is the largest municipal building in the country so I don't think you can make a comparison although it is really beautiful.

The size of the city hall buildings isn't what I was comparing, I was more comparing the structure and layout of the building and the city around it. I like how it is a centerpiece in Philly, though being a structure on a random block in Portland is also fitting with Portland when it comes to that more conservative, non-showy hierarchy of Portland, just like their mayor/city council structure.

As for the architecture, that is definitely subjective and I can totally understand why anyone would find it a really beautiful building, I am just not a big fan of it, though I do prefer the 5th Ave side of the building more which was the original entrance if I remember correctly.

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by turquoise1

Here we go with our source-citing again, EnricoV...

We are both wrong. It is closer to 460K with metro area.

Welcome to Forbes

I didn't say anything about the metro area. I said the population of the city. So, no, I wasn't wrong. And I cited my source. So no, "we're" not going anywhere.

[turquoise1]

You sure love to argue!

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

The size of the city hall buildings isn't what I was comparing, I was more comparing the structure and layout of the building and the city around it. I like how it is a centerpiece in Philly, though being a structure on a random block in Portland is also fitting with Portland when it comes to that more conservative, non-showy hierarchy of Portland, just like their mayor/city council structure.

As for the architecture, that is definitely subjective and I can totally understand why anyone would find it a really beautiful building, I am just not a big fan of it, though I do prefer the 5th Ave side of the building more which was the original entrance if I remember correctly.

I wasn't comparing the size of the buildings either I said it was a nice building for the size of the city in which it was built. Why do you think the block it is on is random? It's near all the other government buildings including the Multnomah County Courthouse and The Portland Building.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Minervah

I wasn't comparing the size of the buildings either I said it was a nice building for the size of the city in which it was built. Why do you think the block it is on is random? It's near all the other government buildings including the Multnomah County Courthouse and The Portland Building.

Obviously there are a number of government buildings there, but I meant random in the sense that it sits on a Portland block that is no different from any other block, you could put it on any random block in the city and it would function the same. In Philadelphia the city hall is a centerpiece to the city. I hope that makes sense, sometimes it can be hard to properly convey a point over the internet.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

Obviously there are a number of government buildings there, but I meant random in the sense that it sits on a Portland block that is no different from any other block, you could put it on any random block in the city and it would function the same. In Philadelphia the city hall is a centerpiece to the city. I hope that makes sense, sometimes it can be hard to properly convey a point over the internet.

I get what you mean now. It's true, it doesn't stand apart from any other blocks. You just walk right into it as you walk along downtown. It's such an old building for Portland though, maybe when it was first built it might have stood alone. It would be interesting to look that up at the Oregon Historical Society to see if that was the case.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

Pretty much a spot on summary of Richmond and Virginia in general. There is a reason why Virginia couldn't keep me wanting to live there after growing up in that state. Nothing about Virginia could compare to Portland and Oregon.

It was probably for the best for both parties (both you and Virginia) that you moved away.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by VTHokieFan

It was probably for the best for both parties (both you and Virginia) that you moved away.

I'm actually looking forward to taking my wife to Virginia this month to show her where I grew up and such, and make the trek to Williamsburg for a day, but that will probably be my last visit to the state until I have a kid and we want to take them to Williamsburg and some of the American history the state has to offer, but that is about it.

There was no point in me staying in a state and city I was unhappy with, no city in Virginia was ever gonna be like Portland or Oregon no matter how much I wanted it to be, so it was much better for me to just move to where I would actually want to live than to stay in a state like Virginia.