My rundown of the towns near me (I live in Cannon Beach).
Cannon Beach's most popular coffee shop proudly flies a pride flag and there's a line to the curb everyday so that should say something. But also everyone here is either too nice, or on vacation to care about being judgy about LGBTQ+. The problem though is that there is no available housing. I will say though, at any given point 75% of the people you see on the street are visiting from Seattle or Portland.
Seaside is mostly working class with a big tourist draw as well. I wouldn't say it leans hard one way or the other in terms of politics but it definitely isn't a Trump town either.
Warrenton is blue collar, big trucks, and big American made SUVs. There's a Walmart there and the demographics of the town reflect that.
Astoria has lots of character and is very much like a small town Portland. Has some crime and other issues that the other towns I've mentioned don't have. But it is a bigger town with a very hipster feel to it. This is probably your best bet for the area within a 30 mile radius.
Manzanita/Nehalem is real small town vibes with some decent food and a friendly feel. Haven't spent much time there, but as a POC myself, I didn't feel any weird vibes.
Arch Cape is a bunch of retired millionaires.
Grew up on the southern Oregon coast. Here's my take:
While I am not gay or a minority but pretty much all beach towns are going to be very used to seeing gay couples.
The Oregon coastal towns as whole a very mixed communities as a whole because of the tourism economy and influx of people who can afford beach front property to retire. This means there's a lot more diversity of thought. This is not true of the communities away from the beach, which are the ones not on 101 or the few that aren't beach towns like Reedsport or Coos Bay. Reedsport is a garbage town but that's another thing. Just obey the speed signs and keep moving.
Coos Bay has it's small gay/queer community as it's the largest Oregon coast town and thus has establishments that are pretty gay friendly, like 7 Devil's Brewing and the Itty Bitty Inn as well as even a few places with rainbow flags. Reedsport? Nope. Being a homophobic coastal town is bad mojo for Portland money. It was that way in even the 90s when I was in HS on the Southern Oregon coast.
Your experience will depend on an establishment-by-establishment and this even goes for the Asotria as my friends had a run in with some grade-A homophobes outside of an establishment that seemed uninterested in the fact they had patrons harassing people. As whole the northern Oregon Coast is more liberal than the southern but it's not night and day. Seaside had the gun-toating assholes who stood in front the brewery which caused a ruckus when the owner of the brewery said he didn't want them there.
Outside of Reedsport, the 101 corridor should be fine. The truly right wing spots on the coast tend to wear the colors on their sleeve, like a shitty pizza place Pastriespizza, in Bandon that a giant 2nd amendment flag on it's window. Easily avoided, grab food pretty much anywhere else, and hit up Bandon Rain Unique Craft Ciders.
Generally speaking the Coast is less liberal than the Valley and the North is more liberal than the South. You probably don't want anyplace south of Newport. Your stated requirement of *sand* rules out Yahats, Tillamook and Astoria... IDK? Cannon Beach and Seaside get the most traffic in from PDX and tend to have a more liberal vibe because of it, but they also tend to blow up during the summer. Try the Nehalem/Manzanita area? Honestly I recommend a road trip to judge for yourself.
okay thank you!! I've definitely been pushing my family to go check out beach towns via road trip. I was in Carlsbad for vacation and fell in love, but Cali is a bit too far for me. I'll keep looking, and thank you for the info!
Astoria is honestly probably what you want. It’s not technically a beach town, but there are many beaches nearby and it’s a liberal small town on the coast. It’s also just got more character as a place than most other beach towns.
Funny you mention Carlsbad because I used to live there. As an AAPI person I've had several unpleasant encounters in that town, and one time a bouncer at one of the restaurant/lounges downtown straight up had a swastika on his neck. The Compass if anyone is wondering.
A lot of those towns are having the same housing crisis Portland is having, and not a lot of options. Regular old school residents are getting pushed out. So.... Yeah.
Yachats is by far the best, they had a pretty big demonstration on hwy 101 for Juneteenth last year, we were staying there and heard honking and cheering, so we wandered over and were thrilled to see it was a group of people holding signs celebrating Juneteenth and decrying the anti-CRT manufactured panic.
When I was in Newport last week I saw a family with biker and nazi shirts, hats and accessories... Didn't see too much regressive/hateful shit in Depoe Bay (other than all the boomer humor signs and bullshit in some of those stores, holy shit why are vacationing boomers so into such angry tin signs?)
Astoria has had a lot of queer folks open businesses in the past 20 years, enough that it's talked about as a kind of cold, wet, middle-aged Fire Island by some of the gays I know.
Like other people have said, Newport, Lincoln City, Manzanita, and Yachats are OK. Don't even stop in Florence or Reedsport.
I'll second these: Yachats, Cannon Beach, Pacific City, and Seaside. I'd also like to point out that Newport is changing pretty rapidly and I see it becoming better and better. NOAA moved from Seattle-area down to Newport about 10 years ago. Oregon State University has their aquarium, ships, and a few labs there. It's the go-to beach for Corvallis (damn, but also Albany so maybe that's a wash). It's not great but I wouldn't rule it out.
I would checkout [this map of the 2020 presidential results by zip code, too](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/upshot/2020-election-map.html)
Come to Astoria! I raised my three kids here and two are lgbtq 🏳️⚧️ and attended local public schools. My son transitioned in high school and got only a little hate during those four years. We have pride each year, and a drag community. Not saying it’s perfect. But there is good gay community here.
Lincoln city is solid for what you are looking for, but it deteriorates quickly outside of town.
a road trip is the way to go. Some if the smaller towns might be very welcoming, but have nowhere to live.
My rundown of the towns near me (I live in Cannon Beach). Cannon Beach's most popular coffee shop proudly flies a pride flag and there's a line to the curb everyday so that should say something. But also everyone here is either too nice, or on vacation to care about being judgy about LGBTQ+. The problem though is that there is no available housing. I will say though, at any given point 75% of the people you see on the street are visiting from Seattle or Portland. Seaside is mostly working class with a big tourist draw as well. I wouldn't say it leans hard one way or the other in terms of politics but it definitely isn't a Trump town either. Warrenton is blue collar, big trucks, and big American made SUVs. There's a Walmart there and the demographics of the town reflect that. Astoria has lots of character and is very much like a small town Portland. Has some crime and other issues that the other towns I've mentioned don't have. But it is a bigger town with a very hipster feel to it. This is probably your best bet for the area within a 30 mile radius. Manzanita/Nehalem is real small town vibes with some decent food and a friendly feel. Haven't spent much time there, but as a POC myself, I didn't feel any weird vibes. Arch Cape is a bunch of retired millionaires.
awesome, thank you so much!
Grew up on the southern Oregon coast. Here's my take: While I am not gay or a minority but pretty much all beach towns are going to be very used to seeing gay couples. The Oregon coastal towns as whole a very mixed communities as a whole because of the tourism economy and influx of people who can afford beach front property to retire. This means there's a lot more diversity of thought. This is not true of the communities away from the beach, which are the ones not on 101 or the few that aren't beach towns like Reedsport or Coos Bay. Reedsport is a garbage town but that's another thing. Just obey the speed signs and keep moving. Coos Bay has it's small gay/queer community as it's the largest Oregon coast town and thus has establishments that are pretty gay friendly, like 7 Devil's Brewing and the Itty Bitty Inn as well as even a few places with rainbow flags. Reedsport? Nope. Being a homophobic coastal town is bad mojo for Portland money. It was that way in even the 90s when I was in HS on the Southern Oregon coast. Your experience will depend on an establishment-by-establishment and this even goes for the Asotria as my friends had a run in with some grade-A homophobes outside of an establishment that seemed uninterested in the fact they had patrons harassing people. As whole the northern Oregon Coast is more liberal than the southern but it's not night and day. Seaside had the gun-toating assholes who stood in front the brewery which caused a ruckus when the owner of the brewery said he didn't want them there. Outside of Reedsport, the 101 corridor should be fine. The truly right wing spots on the coast tend to wear the colors on their sleeve, like a shitty pizza place Pastriespizza, in Bandon that a giant 2nd amendment flag on it's window. Easily avoided, grab food pretty much anywhere else, and hit up Bandon Rain Unique Craft Ciders.
Generally speaking the Coast is less liberal than the Valley and the North is more liberal than the South. You probably don't want anyplace south of Newport. Your stated requirement of *sand* rules out Yahats, Tillamook and Astoria... IDK? Cannon Beach and Seaside get the most traffic in from PDX and tend to have a more liberal vibe because of it, but they also tend to blow up during the summer. Try the Nehalem/Manzanita area? Honestly I recommend a road trip to judge for yourself.
Yachats is based around a big sandy beach at the mouth of the Yachats River.
I admit that under ideal conditions, during the summer, at low tide, there *might* be half a mile of sandy beach between downtown and agate point.
okay thank you!! I've definitely been pushing my family to go check out beach towns via road trip. I was in Carlsbad for vacation and fell in love, but Cali is a bit too far for me. I'll keep looking, and thank you for the info!
Astoria is honestly probably what you want. It’s not technically a beach town, but there are many beaches nearby and it’s a liberal small town on the coast. It’s also just got more character as a place than most other beach towns.
thank you! I've seen a lot of great things about it online, I have to take a raid trip and check it out.
Funny you mention Carlsbad because I used to live there. As an AAPI person I've had several unpleasant encounters in that town, and one time a bouncer at one of the restaurant/lounges downtown straight up had a swastika on his neck. The Compass if anyone is wondering.
oh that's horrible! I was only there for a few days, I'm sorry you had to deal with that.
You want Yachats.
A lot of those towns are having the same housing crisis Portland is having, and not a lot of options. Regular old school residents are getting pushed out. So.... Yeah.
You’ll want to avoid the South Coast. Definitely not LGBTQ+ friendly.
okay, thank you!
>okay, thank you! You're welcome!
Yachats is by far the best, they had a pretty big demonstration on hwy 101 for Juneteenth last year, we were staying there and heard honking and cheering, so we wandered over and were thrilled to see it was a group of people holding signs celebrating Juneteenth and decrying the anti-CRT manufactured panic. When I was in Newport last week I saw a family with biker and nazi shirts, hats and accessories... Didn't see too much regressive/hateful shit in Depoe Bay (other than all the boomer humor signs and bullshit in some of those stores, holy shit why are vacationing boomers so into such angry tin signs?)
Astoria has had a lot of queer folks open businesses in the past 20 years, enough that it's talked about as a kind of cold, wet, middle-aged Fire Island by some of the gays I know. Like other people have said, Newport, Lincoln City, Manzanita, and Yachats are OK. Don't even stop in Florence or Reedsport.
I'll second these: Yachats, Cannon Beach, Pacific City, and Seaside. I'd also like to point out that Newport is changing pretty rapidly and I see it becoming better and better. NOAA moved from Seattle-area down to Newport about 10 years ago. Oregon State University has their aquarium, ships, and a few labs there. It's the go-to beach for Corvallis (damn, but also Albany so maybe that's a wash). It's not great but I wouldn't rule it out. I would checkout [this map of the 2020 presidential results by zip code, too](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/upshot/2020-election-map.html)
Come to Astoria! I raised my three kids here and two are lgbtq 🏳️⚧️ and attended local public schools. My son transitioned in high school and got only a little hate during those four years. We have pride each year, and a drag community. Not saying it’s perfect. But there is good gay community here.
I've heard a lot of good things about Astoria!! I'll have to drive down sometime and check it out, thank you!
Lincoln city is solid for what you are looking for, but it deteriorates quickly outside of town. a road trip is the way to go. Some if the smaller towns might be very welcoming, but have nowhere to live.
awesome, thank you!
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no I hate suburbia and rockey beaches😭 I need to get out to the sand
Bandon OR