By Dr. Tim Seelig–
Everywhere I go these day, the first question people ask is if I like Portland, Oregon. The second question is if I miss living in San Francisco. The answers are easy: yes and yes! Those are both understatements. I purchased my “recliner down by the river” in Portland almost four years ago and moved in the next year. Bobby Jo joined me soon after. I took the opportunity to show him the highlights. But you don’t really get to know a place until you have lived there a while. Now, three years in, I’m still learning.
When I moved to San Francisco in 2011, it was to be my last move. I was planning to conduct the gay men’s chorus for 10 years, then retire. The pandemic stretched that to 11½. To be perfectly candid, the rising cost of living convinced me otherwise. Hence, Portland.
Before I go too far into touchy feely, we should get the basics out of the way. Interestingly, the actual cities are similar in population. San Francisco has 800,000 residents. Portland has 640,000. That’s where the similarities stop. The Bay Area has almost 8 million residents, while the Portland/ Vancouver/ Hillsboro area has 2.5 million. (Vancouver, WA, is not in Oregon, but close.)
But what about the LGBTQ+ community? Well, San Francisco far surpasses Portland in that area. Estimates are that 17% of San Francisco residents are “family,” guaranteeing it is the “gayest place on Earth.” You all may remember that, after I had been here only three weeks, I gave an interview with John Stewart’s sidekick, the very handsome Jason Jones, on The Daily Show, defending San Francisco as the gayest city. San Francisco had been ranked #11 with Minneapolis coming in at #1. Well, Portland comes in at only 6.7% being in “the family.” That’s shamefully below the national average of 9.3%. I’ve got some recruiting to do!
Let’s talk about those singing queers. Each city has four. San Francisco has the grandaddy San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, Queer Chorus, Gay Asian Pacific Alliance, and the Golden Gate Men’s Chorus. Portland has folks singing throughout their lives: the Bridging Voices youth choir, Portland Lesbian Choir, Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, and the newest, Portland Sage Singers, Q+ Elders and Allies.
For me, after figuring out how many of my Portland neighbors were queer, the city brought me directly to my next favorite thing: food. Portland is well-known for its food trucks, while San Francisco is known for its Michelin stars. San Francisco has 26 Michelin-starred restaurants. Portland is a distant 0. But, oh, those food trucks! Portland has approximately 500 to San Francisco’s 200. Love our trucks. They’ve given me some of the best meals ever.
One thing both cities share is the challenge of learning the names of the neighborhoods. Most of them do not appear on GPS! San Francisco was so confusing; I wrote an entire article for the Bay Times about it. Portland is the same. Portland has no gayborhood. It would be hard even to rival the world-renowned Castro! San Francisco has the bay with three bridges (maybe 4, depending on who’s counting). Portland has rivers and twelve bridges. We live on one of the rivers and next to (under) one of the bridges.
Both cities have lots of natural beauty and water, water everywhere. One provides much more “adult water.” Portland has over 80 breweries and carries the nickname “Beervana.” San Francisco has only 20 breweries. We also have lots of distilleries, in case beer doesn’t do the trick.
Portland gets a little snow and a lot of melted snow falling from the sky … 150 days a year. It’s why Portland is insanely green and has the Christmas tree as one of its iconic emblems. San Francisco gets only 68 days of rain and still manages to be green without the umbrellas! Both cities are stunningly gorgeous. My son came to visit recently, and in 31 minutes, we were standing at the base of the second highest waterfall in the U.S.: Multnomah Falls. Gorgeous.
Both cities are desirable destinations. The cities are amazing, and the surroundings are some of the most beautiful in all the world. PDX has 500 flights per day. SFO, OAK, and SJC combine for a whopping 1700 per day.
Now to the good stuff. Tony Bennett was not wrong. Anyone who has spent any time in San Francisco leaves a big part of their heart there. I sure did. So much was packed into my 11 1/2 years there. I fell in love over and over with the city, its people, and every singer in the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. I carry with me a lifetime of events and memories that happened in San Francisco—from the highest mountain to the lowest valley. Experiences like this meld you to the fabric of a city.
No other city has The Chan National Queer Arts Center. No other city has the National AIDS Memorial Grove with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’ Artists Portal. I’m so lucky to have been a part of both of those.
We are an interesting lot. We are taught to bloom where we are planted. I believe we are capable of that. I know I did that in San Francisco. I believe I am doing that in Portland. It is a gorgeous city full of heart and a desire to stay weird. I’m right at home.
Dr. Tim Seelig is the Conductor Laureate of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. http://www.timseelig.com/
TLC: Tears, Laughs, and Conversation
Published on May 8, 2025
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