Yup Nonoise, Lake Oswego is still here, though my sis tells me it's known by some locals as Lake no negroes ;-) . And the anti-California transplant sentiment is alive and well. Since my sis has been here since 1971, I have an out. Actually, I lived in NE Portland in 77-8, and bought all my British Punk & New Wave 45's and import LP's at Music Millennium, which is still in business. The LP's that were in their upstairs loft have been moved down into what was the Classical music annex, slowly expanding every month into the CD sections of the store. LP's are very in with the hip young Portlanders, not just us old guys.
As a few Portland audiophiles have been talking about here on Audiogon (such as folkfreak), there is a lot of construction going on in the city, and the population is exploding. The price of houses and apartment rent is getting out of control, which is why I'm across the river in Vancouver Washington. Nice and quiet over here, and only a 15 minute drive back over the Interstate bridge into Portland. After six years in the 115-120 degree heat of Palm Desert (after having lived in Burbank and Sherman Oaks for twenty-five years), I'm loving the dark, damp weather!
I do miss Amoeba Music and Professional Drum Shop in Hollywood, as well as my Hi-Fi shops (Brooks Berdan Ltd., Audio Elements, Optimal Enchantment, Acoustic Image, Shelley's Stereo, Systems Design Group, a few others), and have not been very impressed by Portland's retailers. But folkfreak has given me the names of some smaller, more perfectionist dealers to check out. And a drummer I knew in L.A. (Jose Medeles, drummer for Kim Deal and The Breeders) opened a drum shop (Revival) in 2009, and always has good vintage pieces coming through. Looks like I'll be living out my remaining years here!