From Iowa to Portland (Beaverton, Sandy: apartments, renting, hotels)

[Lilian's Momma]

My husband will be attending Lewis & Clark Law School next fall, so we are moving to Portland in May. My husband, our 8 month old daughter, and I live in a small college town in Iowa. Iowa is great, but we are looking forward to our move.

I understand that Lewis & Clark is in a nice part of town, so we are trying to find an area that meets our needs. We are looking to live some place where we would have access to the bus lines, would be close to a market, and would be able to feel like part of our community. I am in the hotel industry, so near hotels would be a plus. After a bit of research, we have chosen to check out Sellwood and Hillsdale neighborhoods. Does that sound right? We will be visiting in March for only a few days and need to be prepared to find an apartment.

Any insight is welcome.

[philwithbeard]

L&C plus hotels; Mass Transit access.... Hmmm.

L & C has only one bus line servicing it's main campus, Bus Line 39.
check out the interactive map on TriMet: Public Transportation for the Portland, Oregon, Metro Area

For hotel work, I suggest to stick with bus line 12 which runs into downtown, plus out along SW Barbur Blvd. (route 99W) and up to NE Sandy Blvd. Lots of Hotels and Motels within walking distance of Line 12's route.

As for close to a market... Well, There is a Fred Meyers (Kroger by another name) on SW Barbur, and line 39 and 12 stop very near there... SW Bertha Blvd and SW Barbur and if you check Google maps, the small road SW Custer ST, there are a few 2 bdr apartments along in that area.... But trust me, you will want to do your own look and see on that. (This is still Hillsdale BTW)

The problem with Sellwood, is that it would be a couple of transfers from Sellwood to L & C, as you would have to go from Sellwood to Downtown, then out to where you can transfer to line 39.

I am sure there are other options, but that is all I can think of for now that matches what you have given us. But if you have more flexibility (budget wise), try looking at renting in the Multnomah Village neighborhood which is a bit south and west of Hillsdale. Very concentrated Crunchy-Yuppie and young married with kids Lawyers and Medical Professionals.

Best of luck on your short visit in March.

[Lilian's Momma]

Thank you, Phil. Your posts are always informative and helpful.

Sounds like Hillsdale is the place for us.

May can't come soon enough!

[Minervah]

Lewis & Clark is in a beautiful area. I used to use their law library. But as far as buses and being able to walk to stores in that section of town, I don't think that is possible. It's very residential. Why not contact L&C to find out if they have any programs to help newcomers get settled. They might have housing information.

One thing that may work for you. L&C has their own shuttle bus that goes to various points downtown with a couple of stops along the way. You might consider checking out where the bus stops are to see if those locations would be more convenient for you.

[Lilian's Momma]

I had no idea that they had bus lines of their own. We will look into that during our visit. Thank you, Minervah.

I have seen a few pictures of the campus and it does look beautiful. When I "google earthed" the school, I found it really is in a forrest. Are there hiking trails and such around L&C?

We are looking forward to escaping the dreadful winters of Iowa for the dreary winters of Portland.

[philwithbeard]

Totally aside:
L & C is near an ancient volcano vent / caldera and is part of the Boring Lava Field. (That's the name not an editorial on the subject mater.)
I think the vent is called Mt Sylvania, which if you turn on Google Map's terrain feature, you will notice the wooded area around L & C is very steep hilly area. If I am not mistaken, the actual mountain peak is a mile or two due West.

You can tell your friend in Iowa that you want to live on top of an old several 10's of million years ancient Volcano, while you look at famous Portland Mt. Hood scenery, which is an brother to Mt. St. Helen. Go ahead, watch their facial expression work it's way from several emotions before they say something like "Excuse ME!!!"

[Lilian's Momma]

Funny! Yeah, there aren't many volcanoe in Iowa. My friends will get a kick out of that.

Mt. Hood is active, right? That is a bit scary. The worst we get in Iowa- tornadoes. And Floods. And every winter is scary because the roads are slick.

[philwithbeard]

Wikipedia: Mt. Hood. -- It is active since the last major eruption was only a few hundred years ago.

Very low probability of major eruption next hundred years, slightly higher probability for much, MUCH smaller events in next 30 years or so (less than 8%?)

There are several very long US Geological reports available, and very dry, that you can read. Google Boring Lava Field, Mt. Hood eruptions, and so on.
Start Here: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs060-00/fs060-00.pdf

[sayulita]

I've lived in Hillsdale for 22 years and can't recommend it enough. Close to everything, great neighborhoods, good diversity (as diverse as Portland gets anyway!), a village center, 12 minutes to downtown, 12 to Beaverton. I've lived away from Hillsdale a few times and really missed it.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by sayulita

I've lived in Hillsdale for 22 years and can't recommend it enough. Close to everything, great neighborhoods, good diversity (as diverse as Portland gets anyway!), a village center, 12 minutes to downtown, 12 to Beaverton. I've lived away from Hillsdale a few times and really missed it.

And the number 39 Tri Met bus stops in Hillsdale.

http://http://www.trimet.org/schedule/r039.htm (broken link)

The last L&C shuttle bus schedule I could find on the Internet was from 2008. So you could check with the school to see if it is still available. It stops or used to stop right in front of Nordstrom's on Broadway and Morrison which is in the heart of downtown.