Portland, Oregon Craigslist
Now that everyone is up to speed, let’s get personal. I moved to Portland, Ore. from southern Illinois armed with nothing but my record collection and a few other basic necessities. I didn’t have a job or an apartment and didn’t know anyone who could help me get set up with either. When I arrived in “Bridgetown,” I parked my car in front of a hostel and bought a newspaper. I called dozens of apartment ads and struck out. I hit the pavement looking blankly around for the beacons of hope in the square shape of a “For Rent” sign. The places I called were all aesthetically dreamy, but severely out of my price range.
After two weeks of desperation and no payoff, I asked one of the hostel workers for tips on breaking into the housing scene. She suggested Craigslist and the local library. That afternoon I trekked over to the Multnomah County Library and started my search. Being unfamiliar with the area, I began sifting through all of the apartment listings and their assorted price ranges. I learned that I couldn’t afford to live by the river or in Alphabet town and settled on Ladd’s Addition and Hawthorne area. I typed in my price range, surfed for a few hours, and picked up my cell phone.
Within two days, I had three appointments for apartments in varied zip codes throughout Portland. I checked out a basement efficiency that was so saturated with cat hair that I was convinced I was going to find a litter of kittens in the bathtub. I visited a one-bedroom, decorated in dingy browns and furnished with smoky 1970s furniture. My last appointment was the clear winner with its art-deco style and sweeping view of Mount Hood. It was in my price range and came with a flexible contract. I signed the lease and moved my few belongings in the next week.
At that point, I had nearly drained m bank account and I hopped back on Craigslist to find a job. After calling around to a few dead ends, I found my first job in Swan Island. I was as the only English-speaking cashier at a Korean deli. It was located in an industrial park of sorts and the place was not the greatest. It was a temporary fix until I got hired on at a downtown bookstore.
With my new job and savings, I used Craigslist to find furniture. All the so-called vintage stores charged an upwards of $300 for a dresser and solid-wood bookshelves were nowhere to be found. Through Craigslist, I snagged an Ikea couch on the cheap and a solid cherry dresser for a reasonable price. Even though I had a lot of near-misses with furniture, no shows and shoddy items, Craigslist was my go-to resource for rounding out my new life. After three weeks of moving into my new apartment, I finally got a phone call from one of the newspaper ads. I told them thanks but no thanks – I already had a home.
