I love Portland, Oregon. It's a nice city with conscientious intentions that the rest of the nation lacks. It's way overrun by Democrats though. However, it is a scholar compatible city that is noteworthy.
The downtown area is small and nestled between Portland State University and Powell's Bookstore. There is a small medical school as well.
The city is much nicer than other American cities, though the strong Democrat presence erodes the economy. This, however, has become less of an issue as a more conservative millennial population is growing, and the liberal baby boomer, and generation X population is thankfully on its way out.
Conservatives will appreciate the attention given to individualism and autonomy in Portland, though will quickly run into the over-regulation red tape that is the mark of the traditionally Marxist and Communist Democrat Party, that has been pushing an obnoxiously socialist agenda. It's the typical character assassination behavior we all have come to expect from the left, though in high concentration. Fortunately, there is a thriving small business community fighting against the leftist echo chamber. It's not a business friendly city, though the few businesses that have taken root here are the only thing keeping the city from going full blown communist. It's the type of place where the people will burn down a Church to put in a Whole Foods Market or New Seasons. It's also not diverse, with a prominent anti-Muslim, anti-Black, and Sinophobic culture. The people here openly disparage things made in China, oblivious to their own bigotry. Disrespecting China is a clear sign of ignorance. The Holy Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, said to his believers, that even if you have to travel to China to gain knowledge, you must go there. The people here like to pretend they are superior to China, yet very few of them have actually been there, to know what they are talking about. It's still politically correct to hold those kind of stupid backwards stereotypes here. There isn't much you can do about it, because every city in the US I have seen so far is like that, perhaps with the exception of Austin, with San Antonio and New York City being the worse offenders I've seen.
Still, Portland is less bigoted than New York City, and The South in General, with the exception of Atlanta. This, for the few rare minorities in Portland, will seem like a plus. You can go many days here without a racist incident. It's basically a white ethnic enclave that is lorded over by radical liberal white extremists. Everything imaginable has been banned here. It's a doting Nanny State with an admixture of welfare state, and a sprinkling of drowning Capitalists, who are an artisanal minority. The education level is shamefully low, despite the universities. Most of the people don't understand ecology, or genetics, so they erroneously hate GMOs, and Monsanto, one of the best companies helping poor farmers cope with a changing climate. Once again, you cannot really blame the Portlander, because over two thirds of the country is still at that primitive education level. Also, many of the people do not allow microwaves, implying they didn't make it to Physics 2 to learn about resonance frequencies and how a microwave works.
Many of the people here also seem to believe that dogs understand English. Regardless, it's not negligible, and occasionally glaring, though it is ignorable to some extent. Ignorance is worse in California, though vaccination deniers are growing in numbers in Portland. It's why you don't allow children you love to attend public schools.
Yes, it is true that in Portland, there is an Art Tax, so Portland has some of the worst Art in the world. The City Government basically runs on rent seeking behavior. Before the Art Tax, there was a naturally thriving art scene. Now that's all of the same drag and drop, plug and play, ugly art that cities use to seem artsy towards tourists. Luckily, Art is not everything, and the tax will eventually be taken down as millennials advance and return the art ecosystem back to an organic state. The newer state sponsored Art is too abstract and oblivious to nature, whereas before the local art community was more concordant with nature.
Portlanders are very loyal to their locale, though not patriotic to their country. It's a strange blend of elitist snobbery and treason. This may be due to the distance from Washington DC? Another factor is that none of the American Dreams have been in play here for 2 or 3 decades.
Most of the people here are agnostic and take a very antagonistic view of religion. One cannot be openly Christian, Jewish, or Muslim in Portland without facing ostracism. The city is also very feminist, though not in a good way, but rather in a stupid drunk females, with no self awareness, everywhere sorta way. Not only is it a failure, one would never want children to see females in this squalid condition. In the workplace the hatred of males, even boys, is openly practiced, and it's kind of funny because the males began growing beards doubling down on their actual gender role. This brand of vapid feminism is a sign of the times, and economy. It's counterproductive, and the females here are noticeably poorer, and vulgar, compared to the females in the rest of the country as a consequence, because they're certainly not marriage material after feminism has its way with them. Many have tattood their entire bodies, even faces. It makes me wonder if it's a form of retaliation from back when the government began forcing women into working class roles? It's definitely better to be male here, or to find a conservative male here if you happen to be a conservative female. If you're a liberal feminist female, I'd recommend staying away from Portland, because those types are overrepresented and not fairing very well. I think this is more of a Northern thing, because in The South the females are generally normal and content like in most of the world.
The architecture of Portland is very ugly, so the emphasis is moreso on the parks, and natural scenery. They do have a couple of nice bridges, though most are so ugly it makes you wonder if they are even safe to traverse. The older homes are nice, though overpriced. Most millennials will be better off avoiding the older areas, and living off the grid instead, because the real estate is not a good investment, especially given the Democrat Obamanomics. The concept of sunk costs has not reached Portland yet, and it probably never will. The newer buildings all seem to have a very tortured Communist looking style, that looks as though, not much thought was given to aesthetics. These buildings are gray, and lack eaves, which indicates communism, because it suggests no attention was given to the local climate.
While the uneducated masses still believes that you cannot buy anything with Bitcoin yet, however the shopping center actually has a Bitcoin ATM, which means that at least a minority of people here are savvy enough to not believe the Liberal Fake News Industrial Complex. Fortunately, this Democrat induced ignorance is buffered by more the more enlightened, and less warlike, Green Party, which is the environmentally conservative party. The environmental conscientiousness, I believe, is what makes Portland so clean. It's much cleaner, and polished, compared to the rest of the nation, though it still has way too many vehicles creating air pollution. To it's credit, Portland has done a fantastic job of displacing vehicles to reduce the air pollution, and the air is noticeably cleaner.
Also, as an athlete, I can say that Portland has much to offer. There are all kinds of sports, and outdoor activities. One of the most noticeable things about Portland is that there are so few obese people. This may be because the city attracts athletes, or perhaps the walkable layout of the city keeps obesity low?
Portland is a hidden treasure, and while no longer underrated, it's definitely noteworthy as one of the top American cities. Economically, it is poorly managed, so unless you have plenty of money already, it's not your best bet. The west coast is for the well pursed.