Portland

This thread says much about the subject

Portlandia bakery fires employees for denying black woman service after closing

whoops, wrong coast

In Portland all seems to breath freedom and peace, and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.

It's really hipsterish. And cheap. There's a pretty lighthouse called Portland Head Light.

It seems like it would be freezing for 7 months and muddy for 2. Winters would be really depressing and isolating I would think,

I’ve been there (in the summer) and it’s very charming and appealing. As asked locals about winter and they said it was warmer there because it’s on the coast and the Gulf Stream kind of warms it up some. It’s definiteky hipster looking but I think that’s more of a bearded Maine man thing

good lobster, cute down town, easy day trip from Boston.

I loved Portland, ME when I visited some 10 years ago. It felt like the perfect sized town. Took a ferry over to one of the islands and rode a bike around the island. Very pretty.

It's also vey gay - top 1O in per capita gay in the country

Yes and it’s fairly close to Collinsport.

Cute little cafes in Collinsport. I always like to stop in and have a bite.

Don't worry, R1. I'm sure you can find something to be triggered by in Portland, Maine too.

I've been there in summer, it seemed a very charming small city, exactly the sort of place I'd like to live if it weren't snowed in for 8 months of the year.

Lovely bay and estuary vistas, lots of shore parks, lovely old houses and buildings everywhere, walkable commercial districts, feeling of low-key mellowness. The rare sort of place that makes you think about applying for a job there and settling down, until you remember that it's snowed in for 8 months out of the year.

The Labrador Current cuts off the Gulf Stream making Portland colder than you would think.

I didn't see a black person the entire time I was there.

"I didn't see a black person the entire time I was there."

That's all of Maine.

Anyway, I love Portland. Fabulous bars and restaurants. Yeah, it's pretty hipsterish but not nearly as bad as the other Portland. And some of those neighborhoods are just gorgeous.

Portland doesn't get quite as much snow as Central and Northern Maine, but yes, winters are typically long in Maine.

I've heard the restaurants are great there and it is close to Ogunquit (better than the Cape) and Boston. Sometimes I think about moving there.

I've never been anywhere in my life where whoopie pies are as ubiquitous as they are in Maine. Is it a Maine creation?

Yes Whoopie Pies were invented in Maine. They actually have Whoopie Pie shops there.

Maybe that should be our next gay mecca.

One of the best coffee places I've ever been to is in Portland - Tandem. Their baked goods are sublime.

Maine College of Art is there. Lots of those graduates stayed or moved back, so there's a cool yet low key arty/designy thing going on.

My partner and I are talking about moving there from NYC once he retires from the Department of Education. Great little city with tons of things to do, close to many other places with tons of things to do.

When I was there (I was 25), the state seemed to have a problem keeping young people in the state. Most of their native-born seemed to be leaving for somewhere else, and there was sort of a push to keep them. Wonder if that changed.

r22 They're still stagnate population wise, it's not the "it" place to be.

Portland is wonderful if you can stand the winter. Stunning view, sweet people, great food.

R23, when I was there, it was during the summer. I would be lying if I didn't admit to being seduced by the prices of some of those huge houses in smaller Maine towns. Then I remembered the months of winter snow.

Jobs seem like they would be harder to come by also.

I love it. Lots of great restaurants, beautiful views, really nice people (okay, some a really sketchy), and a gritty, not gentrified vibe. My two favorite restaurants have closed - Salt Exchange on Commercial and Lola's on Munjoy Hill - but still a great working city. Will be there again this fall (which is when it's best.).

Looks like Seattle without the attitude.

I've always wanted to live near the ocean, but it's so expensive and crowded.

Is Hannaford still the major grocery chain out there?

[28] yes

Maine is great. I have a second home about 15 minutes south of Portland and am there all the time year-round. The winter really isn't that bad on the coast. And we should NEVER forget the people of Maine voted for gay marriage via popular vote. Janet Mills is doing an awesome job as Governor fixing the damage created by Paul Lepage.

If you read Stephen King you will find that the entire state is overrun with ghosts, vampires, witches, malevolent psychics, crazy people and monsters of all varieties. I don't think he ever mentioned Portland specifically, though.

I went on Craigslist and checked out 1 bd rentals and thought they’d be cheaper

The cost of housing in Portland seems to be all out of proportion to its job market. Is it the tourists and Air B&Bs driving it up?

[33] exactly...that's why young professionals leave southern Maine; relatively few jobs allow folks to live here. Many commute to New Hampshire, and even that is getting expensive. I know that many o the properties are purchased by people from NYC area or Boston, where half a million is "cheap."

We'd never live there. Antifa radicals control downtown streets, attack gay journalists with impunity.

You're a fucking idiot troll R35, for many reasons, but first and foremost because this is a thread about Portland, MAINE. Stupid fucker.

I would love to own a little bakery...in Maine...

One thing that has always surprised me about Portland is the number of people who are crippled - and their infirmities seem to be things that surgery could fix. I suspect adolescent medical care there isn't great, because Maine is such a poor state. Also, lots of drugs and alcoholism, to some degree a consequence of the demise of the fishing industry. More than a few sex workers murdered there, too. Poverty and long winters have a big impact.

It's a tough place in sort of a mirror-image way to San Diego: they are both the end of the line. SD on the southern end of the West Coast; Portland at the northern end of the East Coast and especially the Portland to Richmond megalopolis. There's nothing in the US south of San Diego and not much more going north after Portland and then you're in a desolate part of Canada.

I don't remember that the real Sylvia Fowler had quite such a vulgar vocabulary.

You never saw Sylvia at home with Mr. Fowler after one too many Tom Collinses!