Best neighborhood in Portland, Oregon?

Pacific University is out in Forest Grove, so it is way outside of Portland. I would say maybe a 45 minute drive from downtown with decent traffic. An hour or so in heavy traffic.

I think there is ONE TriMet bus line that goes out to Forest Grove, but I bet that sucker takes close to 2 hours from downtown. Yeah, checked the Trimet map and Forest Grove is the very last stop west for the entire system.

Portland's transit system is strong throughout Portland, but where you are going to school is quite a ways away. The transit gets weaker and weaker as you go outward, where more people rely on cars.

It sounds to me like your ideal neighborhood in Portland would be Hawthorne, Belmont or Alberta arts district. Maybe even the Hollywood area. Those are are cool, easy to walk and have a lot going on. Hawthorne is probably the best for all of that. However, those are going to be quite a ways from where you will be attending school. A lot of people want to be in these areas and the price are a little higher than you would expect for Portland. It's probably not expensive by most Chicago standards.

Your best bet is to enjoy the suburban/semi rural lifestyle of the Forest Grove area. It's a fairly small town and you might learn to enjoy that. It has a cute little downtown. I haven't been there in a while, it's not really on the way to anything I go to. It is at the north end of the valley's "wine country" so I think there are some wineries there.

You could possibly move to Hillboro or Beaverton, but those are both kind of strip mall filled and not very hip. Much more suburban. I don't care for them at all.

I included a link to a decent site regarding Portland neighborhoods. Click from the list on the left and in the bubble that comes up, click on the "detailed description and photos."

As cool as it would be to go to school in Forest Grove and live in Portland, it could well be the worst possible commute for the Portland metro area. Do you really want to spend at least $5 every day on such a journey? And two or three hours daily? (I know many ex-Chicagoans who think that's great, but you can do much, much better here.) A round trip of this magnitude might be acceptable once or twice—even thrice—a week, but there are far better things to be doing with your time.

The "local thing to do" would be to find reasonable housing in or near Forest Grove. The center is consider old fashioned type of charming by many, and should be comparatively inexpensive. Surrounding communities include Banks, Cornelius, Hillsboro, and possibly the Aloha side of Beaverton. None of these areas are highly regarded for dining, entertainment, or culture. They are known for horrendous traffic, suburban sprawl, and city planners running wild off the leash.

The closest Portland has to central Berkeley-style area is probably the Hawthorne district. For the same feel with fewer bookstores, Mississippi Ave. or Alberta Street, and—kind of—NW 21st/23rd. You'll find the prices in these neighborhoods reflect high demand, even though we're in an economic depression.

Yeah, the transportation issue makes it difficult. But it sounds like you wouldn't be very happy living out in Forest Grove. I first thought of the Hawthorne district. Maybe the historic Mississippi district in North Portland or Alberta in Northeast. (Don't let anyone tell you North or Northeast Portland isn't safe. You're from Chicago -- you'll just laugh at them.)

You won't really find anything that close to Berkeley. People in Portland might think they have created something close here, but the ones showing the most pride in that have probably never been there. And comparing a neighborhood to anything in California might make them close up shop completely.

I'm not being serious. Well, maybe just a little...

you are able to desire to define "decrease priced" somewhat extra useful. additionally, in case you pick a extra city or suburban existence-style. in all probability the main time-honored "family contributors" neighborhoods interior the city are furnish Park, Sellwood, Hillsdale, Multnomah, Laurelhurst and perhaps Brooklyn or Hollywood aspects. diverse neighborhoods run into one yet another and a few suitable borders i'm uncertain approximately. Plus, there are wallet in those typical aspects that seem to have extra condos, townhouses or residences crammed into areas the place residences was once. regularly, those neighborhoods are very good and extremely family contributors friendly. in case you bypass out to the burbs, there are some effective aspects in very almost each and all of the cities like Gresham, Beaverton, Troutdale, Clackamas, Oregon city, and so on. in my opinion, i like Sellwood and the aspects close to Reed college. they are particularly costly, nevertheless.

When it gets down to it, "best" is subjective.