mdler, Portland is an extremely walkable city. If you can get into a good neighborhood in southeast Portland (Hawthorne, Belmont, Hollywood, N Alberta) you'll have everything within walking distance. The mass transit here is also pretty great for a "large town", I don't own a car and get around just fine and in a pretty timely fashion.

Oh and for a good description of northwest weather: twin peaks.

Oh, Louisville is a good place to say where you're from as opposed to LA when you move to PacNW area.

Topics like this makes me curious to think on here what people think about San Diego.

ah san diego...

there are quite a few good firms, but i really hate the environs.. and what i perceive to be a lack of culture (for which i got slammed in a previous posting)

the thing is.... in regards to culture, I agree with you.

yeah. it's not like i've never been there.

San Diego is awful.

we should all get togethor and drink to how bad SD is...

if i ever jumped ship, i'd like to get a job @somelab

i'm down, meet me here in San Diego, Haha

Portland...

...Maine

holz, I'd happily work there too. ; )

sweet, let's all harass e til we get hired...

I think I've got a jump on you there, I've been harrassing him for months already!

If you need clean water hit the santiam.

Like has been stated. No the weather isn't that bad. But after 4 months of no sun it can take it's toll. It affects people differently. Now I just take long vacations in LA durring the winter and stay with my friends for free, after a couple of weeks in LA I can't wait to get back to Portland.

seattlites are strangely clicky. they are nice to you at the coffee shop and at QFC, but everyone's so satisfied with what they're doing and who they're hanging out with that it's hard to make new friends.

^^^^^exactly! The northwest veneer! How does one break through it (other than neglecting to mention my extended time in LA)?

people in beantown and new york are just as clicky, yo.

and in new york no one will be nice to you in a coffee shop

holz + rationalist, you are too kind. one could only hope to work with ppl as passionate and thoughtful as the two of you.

now for good food. seattle has a good bit of it. it's no san francisco. but it does it's best. some recent ventures have lead me to a very good meal at tilth. they do small and entree sized plates. i like the small plates. the more i can sample the better. they are one of two restaurants in the country to receive organic certification from oregon tilth. union also does small plates. on the last outing there, i had the lentil soup with duck egg, sea urchin pasta and the beef tongue. yummers. cafe campagne is always a great spot for brunch. the cassoulet is divine as is the oeufs en meurette. compliment it with a bloody mary and you can't go wrong. and we can't forget salumi. what's a list without cured meats? their sandwiches rock. get there early though. there will be a line even before they open.

i know portland has a lot of great places to eat too. i just don't live there. i was there is late november and went to clark lewis. we had a great meal and service. the space is pretty sweet too. a tad loud though. i wanted to steal the water carafe. man those things were super cool, and each table had a different one.

i think that the no-sun-in-portland-makes-me-depressed thing is funny...I get depressed in LA because it is always sunny. Being from the midwest, I think that my body really needs the change in seasons to make me happy


I will tell all the Portlanders that I am from Cincinnati and that I just took a wrong turn on the 5 freeway and got stuck in LA for a few years

i hear you on the change of seasons mdler. i felt the same when i lived in san francisco. you will certainly get it up here in the northwest. winter solstice: 8 hours of daylight. summer solstice: 16 hours.

is that a job offer e? ;)

yeah, there are some really good restaurants. i dig via tribunali as well. salumi's is amazing, but it's a hike for me...

I haven't gotten a chance to try all this amazingness that e mentions, but I heart both Cafe Presse and Quinn's on Cap Hill.

i wish it could be a job offer. we grew by 200% last year by my wife joining me. we are super busy right now and hope to take on someone else by the summer.

i have not been to via tribunali yet. i've been wanting to go, but for some reason i always forget about it. cafe presse is a good one. i'm going to quinn's next week for my birthday. i've heard great things about it including that it's reasonably priced. looking forward to the oxtail, potato gnocchi + crispy marrow and the duck + duck rillette.

for some good mexican food, try la carte oaxaca. small plates again. they often have some good mezcals too.

Yeah yeah. Good to see you aren’t starving, e.

It’s ok, I don’t really have the skillset anyway. Pipe dreamin….

When (not if) you go to via trib, go to the cap hill location. It feels very euro, reminds me of home.

Have you been to brouwers for the barleywine festival yet?

i once did not have the skill set either.

Thanks for the tip on via tribunaii.

I have been to the barleywine festival. i was one of the judges sitting there at 9a on Saturday morning drinking 10-15% beers. what better way to start the morning. you?

hey, if you want to try someone out in the summer, I'll be available for 8-10 weeks... I've been telling myself about once a month that I really need to put together a physical portfolio, but then by the next month it'd be out of date! I've got to find a way to work around that circumstance, which I don't see being alleviated anytime soon.

dang, I need to get to barleywine again before I head out of town on Saturday.

my 1st exposure to barley wine was this...



had no idea what barley wine was, yet was wondering why I was drunk off my ass after one bottle

rationalist, when you get your stuff together we'd certainly be happy to meet with you.

anyone else notice that the job market in seattle is in a nose dive?

really? we're hiring, OSKA recently hired, mithun callison and a slew of other firms are hiring as well...

where do you work?

and my contacts at mithun and oska all said they weren't hiring...

don't think i would want to do the callison route.

oska hired a few people in the last couple of months.

nbbj was looking.

i meant mahlum not mithun...

i'd avoid the callison route as well.

well i'm not having any luck, at least with the offices i WANT to work for...

well, even i have that problem. or rather, had. are you moving from SD? want me to post the firms i really respect in town?

no, virginia.

please.

We're staying busy. Landed a decent size job last week. Another today. A number of smaller ones for existing clients. Three interviews this week for new work.

va sucks. that's all i've got to say about that.

architects are wierd here in the nw. it all kinda blends togethor. i'm gonna catch a lot o' flack for this list...

alright, incomplete by any standard...
really respect:
bcj
cutler (mixed bag)
oska
suyama peterson
miller | hull
eric cobb (mixed bag)
lead pencil studio
eggleston farkas
david coleman
mw works (BCJ spin off)
anderson anderson
vandeventer + carlander

the rest:
nbbj
mithun
mahlum
schacht aslani (mixed bag)
LMN
bjarko serra
heliotrope
hutchison & maul
johnston arch.
weinstein a+u
patano hafermann
pb elemental (you'll have to grow a beard, and the work is redundant)
shed
chadbourne + doss
john deforest
prentiss
boxwood
beck studio
workshop a+d
lane williams/coop 15 (mixed bag)
SkB


don't even look outside of seattle. just don't.

build llc

virginia does suck. that's why i got out of there. thanks for the list, you had some in 'the rest' i didn't know about. i might add domestic architecture to the top list - i'm a huge fan of their work right now.

ah, roy. yeah, not really my style.

i wish we had a chipperfield-esque firm here but alas...

his work is fab - i agree. seattle is a huge improvement over va but i am already tired to the 'protruding joist' aesthetic. and although i love bcj, they are very guilty in that dept.

the joists @ ballard library are gonna get lopped off any day now... wait, are you already in sea?

the 'serpentine' curtain wall at ballard library also really bothers me.

i am in seattle, all moved.

have you been to the red room @ city hall? have you already resume-bombed everyone? vt/uva?

i need to go to city hall, maybe tomorrow.

vt.

most of the top list, maybe half of your bottom list. all tell me 'great portfolio, you're ideal, but i don't have any work coming in the door, blah ,blah'. maybe they're bullshitting me? looking for more experience? i've had several contacts (not involved in the hiring) at the best offices say they're not hiring. so who knows.

well, if you've got contacts you are halfway there. i moved here and basically cold called and resumebombed the entire city. got a job, but then calls from the firms i moved here for. twas not fun. there are vt people everywhere. i think callison has a bunch. one at schacht aslani, one at oska, one at place architects maybe, and then a bunch of smaller firms i know nothing about.

adams mohler is another that is a tossup. they're old oska people, if i recall.
maybe...
atelier jones
blip
david foster
johnson squared (bainbridge)
perkins + will
david vandervort
ruffcorn mott - were recently hiring
coates design - winner of cradle to cradle
finne

ack, disapearring words. former co-worker.

cool, thanks for the advice!