Aloha from Los Angeles

[mungbeansoup]

Aloha to all Locals, ex-pat Locals, and Locals at heart.

I'm a kama'aina, local-boy born and raised, and grew up in mo'ili'ili--manoa area. Punahou and UHM grad. I've been living in LA for the past 6 years.

Glad to have found this site. It's nice to connect wit all da locals, especially when I haven't met too many out here. MBS

[tutusue]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Waving from Makah...ummm...Kakaako! Whereabouts in the LA area are you?

[1stwahine]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Aloha and Welcome to Hawaii Threads.com! I'm Auntie Lynn! See you on the boards.

[mungbeansoup]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Hey guys, thanks for the greetings! I'm currently living in Santa Monica, CA, but I'm planning to move to the Pacific Northwest soon.

[Shan-n]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Welcome!! I am kinda new to this site too but I love it so far!! I am sure you will enjoy it too! So you are planning on moving to the Northwest.. Whereabouts? I am looking at moving to Seattle possibly in June..

[mungbeansoup]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Welcome!! I am kinda new to this site too but I love it so far!! I am sure you will enjoy it too! So you are planning on moving to the Northwest.. Whereabouts? I am looking at moving to Seattle possibly in June..

I was thinking of Seattle, but now I am thinking about Portland. Long story, (but hey, we like to talk story, eh?) I just graduated from acupuncture school and wanted to try my hand up in the Pacific Northwest. I was thinking of Seattle, but some of their licensing requirements are kinda extreme, particularly since California is the leader in acupuncture/herbal education nationally.

So now I'm thinking of Portland. I've been to both cities and thought they were nice. I think that Portland is the nicer looking city, but Seattle (and the surrounding areas have more people). And I heard that it rains less in Portland than Seattle.

That's it for me. What's your reason?

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

mungbeansoup & Shan-n ---

Here's hoping your respective move plans go smoothly. There's a pretty large Hawaiian, Islander & Polynesian community in the Seattle area, as you probably know, represented by a dozen or so Hawaiian restaurants (including one L&L), a couple Island gift shops, several Hawaiian music radio shows, a public-access TV program, a monthly newspaper, and countless hula halau. You'll have no trouble finding people here who miss Hawai`i, and you'll find out quickly that you and others here will know people in common. You'll be able to keep linked to the Islands in many ways.

But be prepared to adjust to the weather. We joke about the Seattle rain, but there's more than a kernel of truth to it. Commonly, from September through April, we have a LOT of grey days - days with a constant cloud cover and a steady, misty drizzle, for weeks on end. If you can handle that, you might survive. If it gets tough, try using full-spectrum light boxes, dawn simulators, and attending (or throwing your own) lu`au and kanikapila, whenever possible. Finding the beauty in it is the best solution, but it will be tough after Hawai`i and southern California.

Unless you have a well-paying job waiting for you, a wealthy family supporting you, or a lot of kala already in the bank - you may find it impossible to buy a home; prices here have skyrocketed in recent years, with no sign of slowing. But, since a lot of people took advantage of the drops in interest rates a few years back, there's great rental properties available.

Politically, we're a bit more to the left than you'll find in many Mainland areas, but there are strongholds of conservatism in the area as well, which makes for some intriguing civic battles.

Seattle has many, many faults, including a slow-moving government that can't decide how to balance business and neighborhood needs (and thus does a mediocre job on both counts), horrible traffic conditions, rising homelessness, and a complex about thinking we are more cosmopolitan/open-minded and less provincial/puritanical than we really are - in other words, typical big-city blues.

And after more than twenty years here, I'm still glad to call it "home."

[mungbeansoup]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Mahalo Leo Lakio for your post. Wow, I haven't said "mahalo" in a long time! I heard about the huge (is it huge?) Local/Hawaiian community in Seattle, the Japanese market (Umaj-something), and all that. I also heard about the weather--I visited twice, wasn't too bad for about 10 days, but 6 months? Auwe! Well, acupuncture is good for depression, you know.

Unfortunately, the licensing requirements in Washington State are squirrelly--I just got off the phone with the bureaucrat in charge of such things who confirmed what I heard from a friend and what I read online.

So it's Portland. I meet the licensing requirements and all that. How's the Local community there? MBS

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

So it's Portland. I meet the licensing requirements and all that. How's the Local community there? MBS

Not quite as big, but definitely growing. There are Hawaiian restaurants, there are hula halau, and there's an increasing sense of cohesiveness, too.

Our community newspaper, Northwest Hawai`i Times, has many readers in Oregon (the distribution is spotty, but increasing), and you can always drive over to Beaverton, where there is another Uwajimaya store.

At the risk of personal horn-tootage (I write the music reviews), may I suggest you look through the online archives of the paper, at www.northwesthawaiitimes.com? Even though it is Seattle-based, there are many mentions of people and activities in Oregon (check some of Danny Kaopuiki's "Holoholo" columns.)

[Miulang]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

So now I'm thinking of Portland. I've been to both cities and thought they were nice. I think that Portland is the nicer looking city, but Seattle (and the surrounding areas have more people). And I heard that it rains less in Portland than Seattle.

Portland is a smaller metropolitan area than Seattle. We have more educational opportunities (colleges and technical schools) here than Portland. We have more young upwardly mobile people because of the high tech industry (MSquishy). Many large companies got their start in the Seattle area (Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing, Paccar, Red Hook and Pyramid Breweries, Amgen, Adobe, etc. etc). Portland has a slightly better public transportation system than Seattle (Max). Portland has Powell's Bookstore; Seattle really doesn't have anything that comes close to that place (well, maybe Elliott Books, but that's miniscule compared to Powell's).

It may rain a little less annually in Portland than Seattle, but the Portland area is more prone to ice storms (and because it's hilly, it does make for some interesting winter driving) because of its location at the mouth of the Columbia River.

There are more Hawaiians (as in kanaka maole) living in the state of Washington than on the island of Kauai. The Seattle area has lots of halau so in the spring through fall, we have a lot of hoolaulea. More local Hawaiian musicians also stop here in Seattle than in Portland.

One HMO here in Seattle (Group Health) allows patients to have acupuncture that's covered by its insurance. Seattle is probably slightly more expensive housing wise (but still way way cheaper than Hawai'i!). Oregon has no sales tax but does have a state personal income tax; WA is just the opposite: no personal income tax but a sales tax that's 8.9% in King County.

I love living in Seattle because I'm only about 3 hours away from Portland to the south and about the same driving distance away from Vancouver, BC. 3 hours to the West is the Pacific Ocean, and 3 hours to the East is Wenatchee (where lots of apples are grown).

Miulang

P.S. Oh yeah. And traffic sucks at all hours of the day.

[mungbeansoup]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Miulang:

Jeez, now I'm torn. I was attracted to Seattle precisely for the reasons you and Leo stated: large Local community, good economy, large population. VERY FEW ACUPUNCTURISTS. The only acupuncture school of note in the Seattle area that I'm aware of is Bastyr, and they're primarily a Naturopathic school.

Licensure in Washington State requires a class in *microbiology* and *biochemistry*. Why? Beats me. Knowledge of fungi and cellular life is nice, but in practice one needs to know how to prevent the spread of infectious disease. There are more practical classes for that. Oh well, off my soapbox. Guess I'll have to decide what to do in the next week or so.

But thanks all for your help! I really appreciate the input and the links.

Oh, btw, traffic in Honolulu is just awful now! Too many people there.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Oh, btw, traffic in Honolulu is just awful now!

Been there, seen that - and you are right; at certain times, and much of the day on H-1, it's horrible. When I get back to O`ahu for business now, I NEVER schedule meetings at a time that involves driving the rush hours.

Multiply it by a factor of fifty, and you have I-5 from Everett to Olympia, plus I-405 on the Eastside, plus I-90 and Hwy. 520 (the two cross-lake routes), most of the day around the Seattle area. But we do have decent bus service (though Portland's Max light-rail service is sweet!)

[mungbeansoup]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Well, I've decided to move to Portland. I have an opportunity to practice some acupuncture there (as a volunteer) while pursuing my own work.

I'm in the process of looking for a place. I've been using Craigslist--is there anything else I could use? And are there "preferred" places to live? I'd like to live close to or in the city and I plan to use the public transportation for now. Otherwise, I'm fairly open to most living situations/locations as long as it is safe and reasonably priced.

Btw, I've heard about the traffic in Seattle--given the population size and the seemingly lack of highways (mostly the 5, right--reminds me too much of Los Angeles.

Oh, and I promise to contribute more actively to the forum...I've just been too busy atm!

Edit: by "safe" I also mean safe for a Japanese-Filipino-Haole boy to live. Don't know if that is PC on this board, but I may as well say it. Mahalo.

[sinjin]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Well, I've decided to move to Portland. I have an opportunity to practice some acupuncture there (as a volunteer) while pursuing my own work.

I'm in the process of looking for a place. I've been using Craigslist--is there anything else I could use? And are there "preferred" places to live? I'd like to live close to or in the city and I plan to use the public transportation for now. Otherwise, I'm fairly open to most living situations/locations as long as it is safe and reasonably priced.

Btw, I've heard about the traffic in Seattle--given the population size and the seemingly lack of highways (mostly the 5, right--reminds me too much of Los Angeles.

Oh, and I promise to contribute more actively to the forum...I've just been too busy atm!

Edit: by "safe" I also mean safe for a Japanese-Filipino-Haole boy to live. Don't know if that is PC on this board, but I may as well say it. Mahalo.

See you when you get back to SoCal. Once you're used to Los Angeles weather only Hawaii would be an improvement. Nearly everyone I know who went to Oregon or Washington or Arizona or Nevada came back to Cali.

[Miulang]

Re: Aloha from Los Angeles

Living in the downtown area might be very expensive (especially around NW 23rd, also known by locals as "Trendy Third"). The Pearl District is being yuppified (that's where the artists used to be able to find cheap studio space). It's pretty easy to get around downtown because most of it is walkable and they do have a better transportation system than Seattle does at the moment. Most of my experience with Portland is in the NW District.

Here's something about the Portland neighborhoods that might help you.

Good luck.

Miulang

P.S. If you haven't already, check on www.oregonian.com (the Portland newspaper...you have to sign up to be able to access most of the paper, including the real estate section).