There's no reason to look further. This is simply the best apartment/loft in Portland. We looked at them all (at least from the outside) when we were just there for two weeks staying in Paul's loft. Not only is the location five-star but it was fun, clean, bright, came with all the amenities anyone could ever expect and truly became our home-away-from home. The in-building garage alone is worth the rating. I personally don't know how anyone could visit Portland without a car. You'd miss the Coast, Mt. Hood, Tillamook and all of the other out-side-of-the-city sites. The parking garage was secure and had amazingly simple access from the loft. As there were no clothes in the loft, we truly felt it was "ours" and were busy filling up the refrigerator and cupboard with food from Whole Foods and walking the Pearl. There's nothing like waking up to great Portland coffee, sitting in the sun on Paul's table, listing to our iPod on Paul's dock in the background, making our morning smoothies and being lazy just can't be beat. We ended up staying in the loft each day til around 11am! We really appreciated having the washer/dryer, lots of towels (being from Hawaii we didn't come prepared and got caught in a few rains), the huge table which doubled as a breakfast venue, our office, and map surface. Great wi-fi, cable TV. The furnishing of the loft truly gave you The Artist's Loft feel...and were comfortable, unique, eclectic. It was bright with light floors. Some great restaurants were actually in the building just downstairs. Cafe Theodroma (with owner Sergey) become a daily experience as did Nuvrei (daily) and Pizza Schmizza (say hello to barkeep Rosa) precluded the need or want to cook any meals except our breakfast smoothies. Walking up to Nob Hill and it's shops was a good hike. We were on our way to Paul's recommended Forest Park but got caught in a complete downpour so spent time hanging out in that area. Other than going to see family members in the Beaumont and Ross Island areas, we actually didn't leave the Pearl except for this one-day trek uphill to Nob Hill. More to see next time. This was our first try at a non-hotel and we're pretty fussy staying many times at the only 5-star hotel in Portland......and we are converts to Paul's loft and only hope we return many times to use it again and again. Overall a perfect two weeks. Perfect location. Perfect host (and thank you Heather!!). Great cleaning crew we brought in once. What else can we say?!!!
Scott Dean and Ron Calvert
Maui, Hawaii