Longview Washington Area

[savory]

Hi,

Longview, WA looks like a possible move in the next few months. I am interested in Longview and communities within 20 minutes or so. As long as our ultimate resident town is within 20 minutes of Longview (our working town), driving for 15-20 minutes from our residence to satisfy things on the list below, would be acceptable. The list is kind of all inclusive meant to set a general understanding as I know one town might not have all of these things, especially given the geographic restrictions

Things that meets family interests in addition to great neighbors:

- Fitness facilities for general fitness, yoga, basketball, etc
- A store offering Indian and Asian food selection for cooking at home
- Bicycling, especially being able to commute by bicycle to shop and events in town. Also, great on-road (not mountain biking) nearby, preferably from our garage.
- An active town where people are concerned about its future and prefer a liberal slant. (I expect this will be fairly easy in this part of the country as it seems most people lean to the center). Perhaps there are farmer markets, summer concerts/programs, active recreation department, etc
- An active library and book clubs
- Ethnic restaurants, wine, micro brew, home brew store
- Theater and entertainment nearby but perhaps within 45 minutes of the location


Thanks!

 

[MichaelB]

Google maps has a search function that you might find helpful. After bringing up a map of Longview, WA, you can search for that list of interests you mention in your post.

 

[travelover]

I'd go to City Data forums and ask there, as well as checking out their statistics for Longview.

 

[Gotadimple]

Longview is about 60 miles from Portland OR (or Vancouver WA if you want to save 1 mile). These are larger communities with all of the amenities you seek. Longview is in the heart of farming and logging country and not likely to have the liberal bent you seek. But! You are close to Mt. St. Helens if you like hiking.

Google Longview WA for their city page which might help. Also there is a local newspaper with an online presence, so you may be able to pick up some idea of the culture of the city.

- Rita

 

[haha]

I had an investment in Longview Fiber that I considered core, so I went down to Longview every year to attend their annual meetings. The then chairman R.P Wollenberg was a truly straight up guy. After my divorce I was used to living away from the city, so I strongly considered moving down there. Like many paper mill towns there are often some unpleasant smells. I don't know whether that mill is still operating. Weyerhaeuser eventually wound up owning Longview's excellent timberlands, but not sure what was done with the mill, or the container board plant.

If it smells ok, and you work there, imo not at all a bad place to live. I eventually decided to make my permanent home in urban Seattle. Some ++'s and some --'s compared to Longview.

Agree with Rita, other than Vancouver WA and Portland OR, Longview is the only game in that area. And a weekly shopping trip to Portland might be not bad at all.

The port is still active. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Longview

Ha

 

[Brat]

An architect friend of ours retired to Ridgefield, about half the way to Vancouver off I-5 and loves it. I think he purchased a floating home. The I-5 traffic has thinned out at that point, travel time between the cities is about 30 minutes. If you are interested in boats/boating in the area contact McCutty's Marina.

A Kaiser Oncologist I knew happily moved to Longview but then his wife has family there so his experience may not translate.

 

[supernova72]

Long time WA state resident. Just curious---where do you live now?

 

[savory]

Long time WA state resident. Just curious---where do you live now?

Living in CT now. But in the USA, I have lived in WI, MI, SC, &FL.

I am looking forward to the WA tax rate

 

[travelover]

An architect friend of ours retired to Ridgefield, about half the way to Vancouver off I-5 and loves it. I think he purchased a floating home. The I-5 traffic has thinned out at that point, travel time between the cities is about 30 minutes. If you are interested in boats/boating in the area contact McCutty's Marina.

A Kaiser Oncologist I knew happily moved to Longview but then his wife has family there so his experience may not translate.

I'm renting in Ridgefield now and really like it, though it is growing very fast. Longview to me is a mill town, more working class than towns closer to Portland.

 

[Jaded salami]

I'm a CPA who has lived in various places in the pacific NW, and have worked with many, many lumber mills and have spent some time in Longview. Retired a few years ago, live now in Shelton (about an hour across the sound from Seattle). A few observations about Longview.

1. It is not liberal, typical forest products industry town.
2. Longview is the biggest city with 50 miles (Vancouver, Portland to the south). If you like to shop, trips to Portland(no sales tax) will be a staple. A little farther than 45 minutes (maybe 60 without rush hour traffic), but will be worth it for entertainment as well.
3. Fitness amenities are available. On road biking should be plentiful. The area is relatively flat. Your only issue there is the weather. Rain, but not as much as commonly advertised.
4. Don't know about local asian/indian food options. Like a lot of NW towns, the local American indian populations got gaming licenses to build casinos (with the usual amenities). Maybe not the type of indian cuisine you seek though.
5. Microbrews are BIG in the northwest. Many, many options availiable here.

Hope this helps, the Pacific NW is IMO the best area of the country to settle.

 

[mountainsoft]

I live about an hour south of Longview in Camas, Washington. I went to high school in Woodland, middle school in Kalama, and spent a lot of time in Longview when I was younger.

I never really think of Longview as a desired destination, but it's a decent sized city with a mall, theaters, hospital, and a wide variety of businesses. Like most cities in this area, Longview was primarily a logging mill town. But these days logging has mostly been replaced by newer industries.

I haven't been to Longview in recent years, but the cost of living there should be cheaper than in Vancouver to the south. The Longview/Kelso area is the biggest town within a 45 minute radius or so.

I can't think of many recreational activities in Longview itself, but it's a short drive to the coast, up to see Mount Saint Helens, or a variety of mountain destinations in the area.

Enjoy your move!

 

[savory]

Thanks for the help so far. I will update when I get more info. In the meantime, any and all info is appreciated.

 

[supernova72]

Living in CT now. But in the USA, I have lived in WI, MI, SC, &FL.

I am looking forward to the WA tax rate ��

Thanks. I grew up in Federal Way WA and have lived in WA state my entire life. In 2003 I moved to Seattle proper (West Seattle) so now I'm a "City person". It's much different in Seattle than where I grew up (only a 25 mile difference).

As you may have read recently housing prices in Seattle are rising faster than any city in the country (no kidding). Primary driver is Amazon.com headquarters in downtown Seattle. Software Engineers and highly sought after. Signing bonuses etc. As well as AMZN--- Starbucks HQ, Nordstrom HQ, Microsoft (Redmond). Seattle traffic is the 3rd worst in the USA. You won't be part of that being 120 miles south of it.

My small 1924 Craftsman style home at 1240 sq feet is now valued at $625K. I paid $302k for it in 2003.

Longview will be much more affordable. Eastern WA as well (Spokane). Houses are literally half the cost.

BTW Seattle is very liberal. You won't see any red "make America great again" hats here.

 

[PawPrint53]

In 2003 I moved to Seattle proper (West Seattle) so now I'm a "City person". It's much different in Seattle than where I grew up (only a 25 mile difference).

BTW Seattle is very liberal. You won't see any red "make America great again" hats here.

I was born and raised in West Seattle as was my father. Just have to say that when I was growing up, you probably would have seen those hats (not on me or my mother; my father was a different story). West Seattle was very much a working class area. There's a Facebook page for "I Lived in West Seattle Before It was Cool" for those of us who remember a different West Seattle. Before I lived in Fremont (aka Center of the Universe) a couple of years ago, I'd actually never been there, which says a lot about how insular West Seattle was back then. Or it just says a lot about me.

 

[savory]

Thanks for the replies.

Right now, from afar (have yet to visit because plans are not final), we think Woodland, Ridgefield and Longview would offer the best choices for us.

Woodland seems to offer enough facilities (shopping, fitness, restaurants, etc) but not sure about the town itself. I do like the work the Rotary is doing and wonder if there is a central core of active residents who love the place they live.

Ridgefield seems to have a strong core of people but I feel certain our car would be a critical part of our daily life. If for nothing else, to go grocery shopping. We prefer to walk and bicycle for errands and things. So, we may be back in a trade-off as we are in CT if Ridgefield turns out to be the best fit.

Longview has all the facilities but does not feel like a sense of community. It seems like people who live there have less community concern. But, this is a real guess based upon reading some stuff.

We will definitely visit and hope to get a better feel and perhaps learn about alternatives.

 

[RetireAge50]

Longview doesn't really feel like home to me. Feels like an industrial area or someplace you go through to get somewhere else. I've lived near Seattle my whole life. Will likely search out some areas like you are considering when I retire.

 

[travelover]

I'm renting in Ridgefield for a year as I get to know the area. When I do buy, I'll have more confidence that the area is a fit.