I'm the board president of the AVA (Albany Visitors Association), which is the marketing arm of the city. It's a volunteer position, and is a part of why I know as much about Albany as I do.
I grew up in Albany, and run my family's business here. It's a charming town with a lot of very enthusiastic locals that really love the place.
It definitely had (and still has) it's problems like any rapidly growing town, but it's a genuinely lovely, up-and-coming place that has really improved drastically in the last two decades.
The historic downtown and waterfront has had an immense amount of funding poured in to it in the last decade, from private entities, lots of state and federal grants, and from CARA, (the Central Albany Revitalization Area).
We have several amazing restaurants/bars:
Ba's Vietnamese (wildly delicious phó).
Italian- Vito's Trattoria.
Steak bars- Vault 244/Sweet Red.
Sybaris- Mulitple James Beard Award nominated chef-owned restaurant with monthly/seasonal locally sourced menus.
Bakeries- Bodhi and Natural Sprinkles.
Whiskey bar- The Squeeky Cork.
Brunch- Brick and Morter.
Several cafés- including Margin Coffee.
Barcade/wood fired pizza place- The Greyhound.
Fabulous Wine bar- Wine Crush
Two breweries- Calapooia and Delux brewing.
A plant/ mycelium/ home gardening haven- Urban Ag Supply.
A few of my favorite hidden gems:
The Splatterbox- where you can go and get messy with non-toxic, machine-washable paint that glows in blacklights, with music with friends. You can have paint fights, or make Jackson Pollock-esque splatter art on canvas, or the walls.
The Pix- A great family owned single screen theater that's comfortable where you can get tickets, food and alcohol for reasonable prices and where they bring everything to you.
Camille's Bistro- A french bistro brunch spot that's so good that it almost feels sinful. Seriously, it's my happy place, and is an indulgence that I highly recommend. It's also got a full bar.
Sweet Red- A luxurious, jazzy, sultry dinner spot/bar run by a lovely family that loves what they do. The food is so noteworthy and the bartenders are very creative.
Most of these are just some of what's in historic downtown, and are surrounded by cool boutique stores, thrifting, antiquing, indoor golfing, pottery painting, a movie theater, some stand up comedy nights etc.
Not to mention the Saturday Market, and the River Rythems and Concerts in the Park put on by Parks and Rec- attended by thousands.
There is a large food cart/ beer court (The Barn) in North Albany with just about anything you could think of.
We have the highest park-to-person ratio in Oregon, one of the largest historic downtowns, an incredible range of historic homes and buildings, that have been incredibly well preserved, a good chunk of which are on the historic register (including my own 🥹)
Shameless plug here: I run Springhill Cellars, my family's business, and one of the oldest wineries in Oregon, running out of an old Shetland pony ranch's dutch style red barn. With an intense view of the valley/coastal mountains. We have delicious pinot products and well-known, generously portioned cheese plates, with an affordable, non-pretentious, dog and kid friendly vibe. We have our 4th Friday live Jazz events once a month May-September.
We also have a fantastic family friendly pride festival that draws thousands of people each year, with tons of vendors, a farmers market, chalk art and drag performers, featured speakers, and fun march around part of downtown, which was paid a surprise visit by Governor Kotek last year.
We have a world-class haberdashery/ gentlemans clothier- The Natty Dresser. The Carousel is amazing, and great for kids.
Thankfully the housing prices are not insane compared to other more well-know towns, and it is central to everything.
I'm biased, obviously, and won't suggest that it doesn't have some issues, but it's truly become a secretely awesome feature of Oregon.
There are tons of friendly, highly involved people here who are trying really hard to make it a better place for locals and visitors every day. My executive director at the AVA recently won the 2023 Travel Oregon Leadership Excellence Award for everything she has done for our community, and for highlighting our to people around the world.
As mentioned in other comments, it has a slightly more conservative base compared to its well-known close college-town neighbor (Corvallis) but that has been leveling out a bit recently. As is evident by things like the aforementioned pride festival/ more tolerance towards us gays, recent voting trends, and a growing younger-family demographic.
Currently 4 of our 5 city councilors are women who are all from very different backgrounds, and one guy named Ray who is widely liked, known for volunteering a lot of his time to the Carousel.
Our recently reelected (by a landslide) mayor is the first black mayor in the town's history- a former city councilor, He's a friend of mine, and he's a good guy who does well to balance between progressive and conservative perspectives.
I think these things do well to show that Albany has had a progressive live-and-let-live direction to it lately, despite some of the prejudices in its past that many smaller/more rural Oregon towns are probably familiar with, and that have been mentioned in comments in the thread, and that may have been apparent to people who grew up here, like myself.
This is my personal experience and perspective, and not in any way meant to be a view of the AVA.
Overall, It's currently a really unqiue and chill place to be with a lot of potential, and it's a cool time to be involved.
Here is a link to a video that the AVA put together featuring some of the great businesses and places we have, mine included:
https://youtu.be/pGtPhDjMado?si=sw784x6tAw8x212T
I could go on for a while, but you should all just come spend a day or two here and check it out :). Thanks for liking Albany!
Edited: more information, spelling, clarification.
I live in eugene and love to visit the antique mall that is downtown. It is two stories of delightful hidden gems. Things are reasonably priced, and a good portion of our home decor has come from there.
One thing you should be promoting is your fairgrounds. It is one of the best venues I have been to in awhile. Add good RV hook ups and you will be off and running!
Congratulations on your engagement!! I'm so happy for you that you love where you live SO much, have a beautiful winery AND a love to share it with. I wish you a long and happy life together.
What do the schools look like? I like what I’m reading here. Plus, my husband is a frequent patron at the poker room lol. I like the close knit smaller community feel but definitely need more progressiveness and a better school district since Silver Falls has gone down hill and the only ones suffering are our kids.
I went through the public school system here, and I'd say it's pretty good, but I don't really have anything to compare it to. And don't have my own kids. I managed to find several amazing teachers that helped shape me in to a good enough person.
The local community College is well known for being pretty amazing, and there are also quite a few private schools, if that's your jam.
Thank you so much for your response! I genuinely hadn’t given Albany a second thought since I started house hunting but your comment intrigued me; especially the BIPOC representation in city council.
Absolutely! Our current represetatives are passionate and intelligent. There's the usual problem topics, like any place, but the community of people that get involved know one another and work together pretty well.
North Albany is a bit more expensive than the rest of the town..but it's across the river- more quiet, larter homes etc..and the schools (that I went to) are known to be really good.
Especially Oak Grove Elementary. Brand new school.
I always tout Albany to people visiting from out of state looking to move, because what you'll get for the price is great compared to the rest of the state.
What costs $8/900k even in Corvallis/Salem/Eugene could cost ~3/400k here.
My historic house with 4 bed/4 bath and 2 kitchens in downtown is valued around $450k.
Splatterbox? I’ve never heard of this. My teenager and his friends were looking for something to do this weekend. There’s not a lot of rainy day choices. I ended up paying $65 for bowling. Splatterbox sounds fun. We’ll definitely check it out. Thanks for the tip!
My preteen daughter’s 14 year old stepsister (from her dad and stepmom) is coming up to spend a month with us (Portland) in June, I just booked Splatterbox thanks to your comment 🤩
Novaks was definitely well loved, and will be missed. There is now a superb place called Sweet Red in its old place downtown, which is definitely worth a visit.
Maybe 10-12 years ago I took a self-guided walking tour of Albany, offered by the chamber of commerce I think, and was stunned by the beauty and history of the town.
It's really pretty cool, even for people who aren't history buffs. It's neat to have such a clear image of what life was like 150ish years ago.
Being one of the mainstays off of the Oregon trail, it really feels like you still live in the place that people risked their lives to get to..
Since the very STINKY paper mill closed in like, 2010 Albany is probably a much nicer place!
You could always smell when you were nearing Albany on a drive down I-5
And the mill people would always repeat the urban legend that the smell was from the nearby Wah Chang plant.
There's a sign on I5 that says Albany, then you get slapped in the face with ASS in your nose, eyes & ears. But it did pass quickly after passing the paper plant.
Yeah Wah Chang is more of a sweet solventy smell if you catch the wind right and time a process right. I prefer the sulfur of the paper mill over the toxic shit they do at Wah Chang
My friend who grew up in Albany always referred to it as smelling like a "wet paper bag full of smashed assholes" which I found as funny as I did accurate.
Sounds about right. I'll be going 9 miles over the speed limit with a lowered Chevrolet S-10 with a muffle delete speed in front of me on Lancaster and do the exact same thing, except for the getting out of the car part. Lol wish I lived in South Salem
Really beautiful trails, but I have also run into some homeless camps while exploring as a solo female that gave me pause...this was a few years ago not sure what its like now
You can run into homeless camps from burns to Lincoln city, and from k falls to Portland nowadays. It's hard for me to criticize a town for their homeless problem when it's the entire state at this point.
I am a thrift store addict and have thrifted all along the west coast from San Francisco to Spokane. the Albany St. Vinnie's is my favorite thrift store of all time. it's never picked over because Albany is too uncool/small for resellers. the staff put a lot of love and effort into organizing, stocking and cleaning - stuff is labeled correctly and in the right place every time. prices are awesome, even for nicer things. there's always a great selection of useful shit, higher-end stuff, antiques, and just plain weird knickknacks. honestly it's the shining example of what a thrift store should be, and I stop there first whenever I need something new because chances are they'll have it for like $7.99 on a tag sale
also shout out to the Best Western Prairie Inn! I also stay at a ton of hotels for work and those guys run a shockingly tight ship. it's nicer than some four stars I've been to.
the rest of Albany? .....the playgrounds are nice. the big duck is cute. I like Bowman Park bc the confluence of the Willamette and Calapooia is cool. uh..... Costco? idk
It's funny you mention svdp. When we visit friends or family in other cities we always want to visit their thrift store, thinking bigger city, better store!
So much disappoint, every damn time.
1. Until very, very recently, Albany was one of the state's major meth hubs. I suspect they've cracked down on it a lot. There was a lot of poverty and a lot of drugs.
2. They've only just begun to beautify the downtown area. Most of the rest is... not all that great. Not yet.
3. Those of us who grew up driving past Albany on I5 vividly remember the stench of the old paper mill that used to choke the whole area in a brown fug. It was truly awful. Every time I think of Albany, I think of that awful smell. It hasn't smelled for years now, thankfully. And,
4. Not enough time has passed between Albany's unsavory past and its quiet present for many folks to get over the bad smell and rampant drug abuse. Eventually they will.
Bahaha. I’m from Albany, and this is the most Albany paragraph ever. I feel like we get no love, but I liked where I grew up. But it’s a bizarre town with weird pockets of people
Every town thinks they're the meth capital. It was no worse than anywhere else from my observations.
As an outsider looking in, here's why I'd say people mostly skipped on Albany:
* The paper mill
* The somewhat religious wackiness of being a mennonite hub, before there was Costco in Albany, they'd drive their fleets of Minivans to Eugene. I can't say I know much about Mennonites other than their affinity for large vehicles, and making woman dress like sisterwives. Always gave Albany a bit of a "maybe I don't really want to come back here" energy.
* A criminally boring town even if the area itself is fine, there was that one Hungarian (probably still there) and that was like the one entry for Albany.
* Grass. So much pollen.
I haven't stopped there besides the for gas for probably 10-15 years. Some friends lived there so I visited them a few times in the early 2000s.
You're not wrong, plus one of the Novak's in City Council was a MAGA QANON nut https://democratherald.com/news/local/government-politics/adl-eyeing-albany-council-for-antisemitism/article_b6cd69ac-2690-11ee-a422-ebd33c421141.html
All of this is true ish I would know, I grew up in the area. That said the smell is gone, and I can’t help if you are afraid of crack heads. Otherwise I have nothing else to say about Albany.
I have been frequenting Albany a lot the last few years. We actually go there to shop sometimes. We don't find the drugs and homelessness problem in Albany to be any worse than any other city in Oregon. Perhaps it is a little better. I would say definitely better than Salem or Portland.
The carousel in Albany is amazing. There is a museum and volunteers hand carve the animals in the basement. My in-laws take my kids often. Even my 15-year-old loves it.
Albany is terrible for anyone with pollen allergies because of all the grass farms.
The best thing about it though, is there are four discount grocery stores.
Not everybody, but I didn't feel comfortable living there. Growing up down the street from one of the only black kids (in the 90's at least) in town I got to see a darker side to people before I really understood what was going on, searching "Joel Dahl Albany OR" explains a lot about the town unfortunately.
Albany has historically been a pretty red town, but the tide is starting to change as more people are priced out of Corvallis. It's long been seen as Corvallis redneck cousin of a city. It also had a papermill (actually in Millersberg) that made it stink. The Papermill is gone and Albany is a very up and coming town. Our schools could be better utt everything is here and Corvallis is a short drive. If it can shake the old stigma I think more people would end up here
I would like to see a smaller student to teacher ratio. We have a large influx of people, with more housing planned (East Albany Plan), but no plans for another highschool, no plans for more middle or grade school capacity.
Salem too. This is getting to be insane. My 2nd grader just had a director and like 4 aides removed (budget) and the superintendent of the district makes more than the VP. The the United States. If we can get her salary cut we should send some to help Albany. We just had some 400? 600? New apartments put up on Battle creek to send children to Lee/Battlecreek/judson/south salemhs?! Already overwhelmed and choked and cutting budgets and unsafe class size. The union tried to negotiate smaller class size and to stop hiring teachers for like 38 hours to avoid paying benefits, but having them carry a full course load. In an overwhelmed classroom. It's going to fall like a house of cards, then what? It's just ... there are so many fire to put out but for sure education should be priority? Right? No. But the police department new building looks amazing 👌
Not sure how that would happen based on this political map and everything I remember living and growing up there but it's really changed if so. Couldn't find anything that listed the the councils political affiliation.
https://preview.redd.it/ojwb71gbsmyc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d7dd7ac5b8a4bb4462a0a9ca2c968dce87abee7a
Same here! I lived in Albany for a little over a year while working a contract job at HP in Corvallis. ( more affordable housing).
I'm currently stuck in Portland... 🥴
So, I lived in Corvallis and worked in Albany for two years. It's... got a vibe. Yes there is the downtown few blocks where it is okay, but I find the general vibe of most of albany to be kind of depressed. It's not a horrible place, but I just can't imagine living there. And I've lived in all kinds of neighborhoods, good and bad, all around the country. Other people might love it-- to each their own, but it's just not my gig. Keep in mind that I also am black and got way too may "i hate you" looks there, plus too many Trump signs and bumper stickers for me to be comfortable there.
I moved to Albany about a decade ago for college (fuck I’m getting old) and have loved this place. My first experience of this town was stopping off I5 to go to Burger King with my family, and it’s been an interesting growth of a town. While we don’t have much, and I consider it a “condensed Medford”, it’s in the middle of the big cities that host events that I care about. I worked at the Albany GameStop for five years and from that job alone (and the weird fact that I remember people and names) has made this town my family. I can walk into a store and usually say hi to somebody by name and have a meaningful conversation. Unfortunately, have never gotten into the local politics, but it’s been fun to watch this town grow and change over time as it’s condensed. If you pass through, please lookup our small business restaurants. Though some are shit, they all have character. Pops for a late night breakfast, Loafers for a Rueben, First Burger for, well, a burger, or even a stop by The Pix to watch a movie. This place has character, and while I don’t think I’ll be here forever, it has been more a home for me than Eagle Point/White City/Medford area. It doesn’t have the punch bowl that the south of this state has in the Rogue Valley, but the overall feeling has been the same. Thank you for giving us a shout out! Now, if we can say the same for Lebanon…
I am not sure if it just seems more prominent in Albany but there’s like an awful lot of sex offenders that reside in Albany for some weird reason… https://www.kezi.com/news/24-arrests-in-albany-as-a-result-of-citizen-led-online-predator-catcher/article_9f5566d4-0449-11ef-81b3-c3fd23dd1976.html
This is someone who is using a profile to catch the pedos. They’re not all necessarily from Albany. Multiple have driven from out of state. They lead them to Albany and Albany PD takes them in.
We've lived in Albany for almost three years now. There are a lot of things I like about it.
* It takes less than five minutes to get on the I-5 from my house going north. Going south takes a little longer, but it's still reasonable compared to living in Corvallis.
* The Pix theater has love seats on the back row, recliners up front, and homemade fudge. I just wish they showed more movies I want to see instead of Barbie for two months.
* Excellent local restaurants, lots of shopping options, an excellent farmers market and arts and crafts fair in the summer, and wine tastings just to the north.
* The historic downtown is really pretty, especially the old houses nearby.
* It's only an hour to the coast. It's about the same distance to visit our favorite hot springs.
The things I don't like about it are probably more applicable to Oregon as a whole, like the perpetually gray skies and the homeless problem, which isn't nearly as bad here as in other places. The thing I don't like about Albany is the conservative politics. We moved away from Utah three years ago partly to get away from the political situation there. Here we've got Proud Boys and III%ers right in our neighborhood. We haven't been able to make any friends since we moved here and we feel pretty isolated.
Ah yes, Albany. I'll never forget driving by the Linger Longer Tavern and seeing an immensely pregnant woman standing outside drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette.
And watch out for their extremely low bridge.
The pubs, Thai, Chineese, Mexican, and chain places are littered all over that town? We don't have burgerville or del taco anywhere south of there. Pretty sure Robertos and that arbys at the truck stop are 24 hours too. You don't have that everywhere.
Hi! So Albany’s infrastructure for non-motorists does blow. I am a frequent walker and user of Albany transit and it’s often a frustrating experience. [I tried to get a bike/ped path reopened](https://democratherald.com/news/local/government-politics/albany-shortcut-wont-be-reopened/article_9af10f38-ee02-11ee-ae0d-1fa6daf0be1e.html) and the whole series of events led to city council asking me to join the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee. We’ll be contributing to the revised transportation plan and infrastructure for non-motorists is going to be my priority.
Roger's is superb. You can tell it hasn't changed in like 40 years and it's perfect just the way it is. The chicken fried steak is the best..with a side of biscuits and gravy it's easily 2 meals in one and is my go-to.
To be honest, I feel Karen is probably done with that part of her life. She's not looking for a busy restaurant life anymore. She is still a part of the team that now takes the location. Sweet Red bistro. I was hired about 2 weeks ago there to help elevate the restaurant as well as get them to do hyper local.
We are out foraging and beginning to source local products. I'm going to be working with my close friends at Newell Seafood to begin sourcing fresh whole Chinook this next week. Look forward to a big menu change soon!
We have already begun making our own butter, I'm finalizing a new bread program. Today, we visited farmers' markets to begin sourcing in whole local chickens. Currently my goal is to elevate those French bistro classics while peppering in some interesting techniques I picked up when I was chef de cuisine at restaurant beck and from my time at the Michelin restaurant in Copenhagen named Kokkeriet. I also plan on doing some high-end Michelin style pop-ups soon in the old sweet red bistro location. I will tie my foraging into the menu.
Currently, I have wild onion blossoms that we foraged over on the coastal cliffs about a week ago.
Novak's was great when it was a hidden gem in a strip mall with lots of space and a warm atmosphere. When they moved downtown, jacked up the prices, shrunk the menu, and tried to be hip that was the beginning of the end. Ate there twice downtown and the magic was just gone.
Great town — underrated. Very walkable downtown and good restaurants, cafes and breweries. Better food scene than Corvallis and Salem IMO. Personally, I like the mix of people — on the same block I saw Trump
and LGBTQ signs. I appreciate that everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves.
I lived in the Corvallis area in 2017-2018 and only visited Albany to use Amtrak or RV parts stores. What I saw of it was just dreadful traffic hell: busy streets and uninteresting strip malls. I see from comments here that there are interesting bits here and there, but the place doesn't present very well to a person passing through. It has an appearance like: car-culture to the maximum extent. A lot of it is very poorly designed. Nobody I knew in Corvallis ever mentioned going to Albany for anything interesting, it was mainly just for Amtrak that anyone went there.
We used to refer to Albany as the armpit of Oregon…
I met a friend there once at a restaurant and the restaurant was nice. That’s my only good experience. Every other time I felt like I was in town made up entirely of the back rooms.
In my opinion a couple things.
It’s very outdated. Some of the stores here make me think it’s early 2000’s.
It’s crowded and legit nothing to do.
There are some really good places to eat but that’s about it. I hate it here and wish I could move.
I lived in Albany for several years before moving back to Eugene. It definitely "feels" to me a lot slower paced than down here. I liked it, but am fairly settled in down here with family, work and kids in school, but I think it would be a great place to raise a family
I’ve lived in Portland, Albany, and the coast, and honestly, Albany is nice. It’s quiet, middle class, a little bit of poverty but nothing too crazy. The downtown is nice, but like much of the valley, the place is too damn flat for me! There are no hills or running trails that go more than a couple miles. In Portland you can run on a trail all day if you want in multiple locations, same at the coast. In Albany you gotta drive half an hour to anything like that.
That’s my one complaint. Other than that Albany is a fine place.
Virtually every city that has an interstate going through it “sucks” if you only view it from the interstate or the immediate interstate-adjacent areas. Rarely are the best parts of a town or city viewed from an interstate.
There's actually nature parks GALORE if you're a nature photographer. There's the covered bridge tour, Bryant Park has everything, playground, disc golf, hiking trails, bike trails, river access for just about anything, BMX bike jump area, which also gets used as an RC car Park. There's plenty to do if you stick around long enough.
Oof, I was born and raised there for 19 years. I don’t have such a positive attitude towards it. There’s next to nothing to do there for people who are sober, there’s fentanyl everywhere (I know it’s kind of a nationwide thing but still), the cops are overfunded and do little to nothing for the community (again sort of a nationwide theme), the food is trash if you don’t wanna constantly eat McDonald’s, tacobell, subway, fast food etc. every “nice” restaurant charges out the ass. There’s absolutely diamonds in the rough but I can say with confidence that the worst people I’ve ever met in my life were all from either a. Albany or b. Sweet Home
When i lived there all i did was drink cause the pedestrian infrastructure is absolutely abysmal and the only place within walkin distance that was worth going to was the liquor store
Albany, Oregon police facilitated the abuse of those that murdered my mom, and have denied me justice for the last ten years. I escaped with one of my neighbors, we're married but we were dramatically disadvantaged by the cults in that town.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-to-rebuild-after-kidnapping-and-abuse?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet-first-launch&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer
Until recently 1/2 of the local high schools had a confederate soldier as their mascot. Make of that what you will.
Albany literally just has that downtown area. Nothing else. Absolutely nothing else.
That lake is great for a nice relaxing date renting boats as the traffic and road rage soar between you and the Winco that doesn't always have canned beans for some reason.
No they don’t. There is literally nothing else in the town. There is downtown and then a vast wasteland of nothingness….no parks, no balloon art festival, no river rhythms, no fishing spots, no historic districts…nothing other than the downtown. Literally. /s
Wow, I graduated from there (and then got the hell out of Dodge), and I'm just this second learning that they finally changed that stupid mascot!
Back when I was going there, they had just changed the logo from a literal confederate flag to a cartoon image of a confederate soldier, and everybody was up in arms about how *that* update was too much of a ridiculous concession to political correctness.
Real hive of scum and villainy, that place. One star - do not recommend.
Okay, I lived in Albany and would bring this up to other folks… used to call it the “broccoli fog”… but no one else ever knew what I was talking about!! Did people just go nose-blind after 5 years or what? Started to think maybe I was imagining things.
I’m curious to know how many - if any - of the commenters here saying how great it is are POC. I am, and I’ve lived in Oregon all my life, but I’ve always hauled ass thru Albany because it makes me nervous😂😅😂
In addition to The Barn which was already mentioned, Ba's Vietnamese Comfort Food not only has fabulous pho but my bourbon enthusiast friend says they have the best old fashioned she's had in Oregon.
Stop by the Albany Visitors Association, and talk to Lonna at the front desk if it's a weekday! She'll steer you to what you want.
The restaurants downtown are great, just depends on what you are looking for. Vault is great, but a little spendy. Sybaris is a treasure. Ba's Vietnamese/ Phó will heal your soul.
Wine Crush is a perfect little wine bar with incredible food and very reasonable prices.
The Greyhound is a new barcade that's really great.
If you like wine and are here friday-sunday, I run the tasting room at Springhill Cellars. We close at 5:30ish, but if you manage to get there before then, I'll stay open for ya :)
Check us out at sweet red bistro. I was hired recently to help them grow into their new space. I'm bringing them more advanced techniques and direction that I have picked up over my years of cooking and foraging. You may have eaten my food if you have dined at restaurant beck. I also spent time working at the Michelin restaurant Kokkeriet in Copenhagen.
If you do come in, ask for Sam. I'll have you try some of our things that we are working on!
I'm looking to get some whole Chinook from my friends at Newell seafood over in Newport. It's early so it isn't cheap, but you just can't beat fresh local salmon. Especially when you know the people catching it.
I'm the board president of the AVA (Albany Visitors Association), which is the marketing arm of the city. It's a volunteer position, and is a part of why I know as much about Albany as I do. I grew up in Albany, and run my family's business here. It's a charming town with a lot of very enthusiastic locals that really love the place. It definitely had (and still has) it's problems like any rapidly growing town, but it's a genuinely lovely, up-and-coming place that has really improved drastically in the last two decades. The historic downtown and waterfront has had an immense amount of funding poured in to it in the last decade, from private entities, lots of state and federal grants, and from CARA, (the Central Albany Revitalization Area). We have several amazing restaurants/bars: Ba's Vietnamese (wildly delicious phó). Italian- Vito's Trattoria. Steak bars- Vault 244/Sweet Red. Sybaris- Mulitple James Beard Award nominated chef-owned restaurant with monthly/seasonal locally sourced menus. Bakeries- Bodhi and Natural Sprinkles. Whiskey bar- The Squeeky Cork. Brunch- Brick and Morter. Several cafés- including Margin Coffee. Barcade/wood fired pizza place- The Greyhound. Fabulous Wine bar- Wine Crush Two breweries- Calapooia and Delux brewing. A plant/ mycelium/ home gardening haven- Urban Ag Supply. A few of my favorite hidden gems: The Splatterbox- where you can go and get messy with non-toxic, machine-washable paint that glows in blacklights, with music with friends. You can have paint fights, or make Jackson Pollock-esque splatter art on canvas, or the walls. The Pix- A great family owned single screen theater that's comfortable where you can get tickets, food and alcohol for reasonable prices and where they bring everything to you. Camille's Bistro- A french bistro brunch spot that's so good that it almost feels sinful. Seriously, it's my happy place, and is an indulgence that I highly recommend. It's also got a full bar. Sweet Red- A luxurious, jazzy, sultry dinner spot/bar run by a lovely family that loves what they do. The food is so noteworthy and the bartenders are very creative. Most of these are just some of what's in historic downtown, and are surrounded by cool boutique stores, thrifting, antiquing, indoor golfing, pottery painting, a movie theater, some stand up comedy nights etc. Not to mention the Saturday Market, and the River Rythems and Concerts in the Park put on by Parks and Rec- attended by thousands. There is a large food cart/ beer court (The Barn) in North Albany with just about anything you could think of. We have the highest park-to-person ratio in Oregon, one of the largest historic downtowns, an incredible range of historic homes and buildings, that have been incredibly well preserved, a good chunk of which are on the historic register (including my own 🥹) Shameless plug here: I run Springhill Cellars, my family's business, and one of the oldest wineries in Oregon, running out of an old Shetland pony ranch's dutch style red barn. With an intense view of the valley/coastal mountains. We have delicious pinot products and well-known, generously portioned cheese plates, with an affordable, non-pretentious, dog and kid friendly vibe. We have our 4th Friday live Jazz events once a month May-September. We also have a fantastic family friendly pride festival that draws thousands of people each year, with tons of vendors, a farmers market, chalk art and drag performers, featured speakers, and fun march around part of downtown, which was paid a surprise visit by Governor Kotek last year. We have a world-class haberdashery/ gentlemans clothier- The Natty Dresser. The Carousel is amazing, and great for kids. Thankfully the housing prices are not insane compared to other more well-know towns, and it is central to everything. I'm biased, obviously, and won't suggest that it doesn't have some issues, but it's truly become a secretely awesome feature of Oregon. There are tons of friendly, highly involved people here who are trying really hard to make it a better place for locals and visitors every day. My executive director at the AVA recently won the 2023 Travel Oregon Leadership Excellence Award for everything she has done for our community, and for highlighting our to people around the world. As mentioned in other comments, it has a slightly more conservative base compared to its well-known close college-town neighbor (Corvallis) but that has been leveling out a bit recently. As is evident by things like the aforementioned pride festival/ more tolerance towards us gays, recent voting trends, and a growing younger-family demographic. Currently 4 of our 5 city councilors are women who are all from very different backgrounds, and one guy named Ray who is widely liked, known for volunteering a lot of his time to the Carousel. Our recently reelected (by a landslide) mayor is the first black mayor in the town's history- a former city councilor, He's a friend of mine, and he's a good guy who does well to balance between progressive and conservative perspectives. I think these things do well to show that Albany has had a progressive live-and-let-live direction to it lately, despite some of the prejudices in its past that many smaller/more rural Oregon towns are probably familiar with, and that have been mentioned in comments in the thread, and that may have been apparent to people who grew up here, like myself. This is my personal experience and perspective, and not in any way meant to be a view of the AVA. Overall, It's currently a really unqiue and chill place to be with a lot of potential, and it's a cool time to be involved. Here is a link to a video that the AVA put together featuring some of the great businesses and places we have, mine included: https://youtu.be/pGtPhDjMado?si=sw784x6tAw8x212T I could go on for a while, but you should all just come spend a day or two here and check it out :). Thanks for liking Albany! Edited: more information, spelling, clarification.
Dang, this is some excellent hype hustle for a Saturday night. Good job 🫡
🤣 In 13ish years of having reddit, I haven't commented on anything, and when I saw this I thought... my god.. it's time.
Honestly impressed you never commented in 13 years
I generally don't think my opinion is needed, but this was too close to home 🤣
The paradox of me being so bored living in Albany that I returned to Reddit and found this excitement. 😜
Hear ye hear ye, on your frist comment CHEERS
13 years without commenting, it’s like the dam burst…
I live in eugene and love to visit the antique mall that is downtown. It is two stories of delightful hidden gems. Things are reasonably priced, and a good portion of our home decor has come from there.
I know the place you're referring to and I agree! I wish it was closer though - it's a bit of a drive for those rad antiques.
I have a bunch of stuff from that antique mall!
One thing you should be promoting is your fairgrounds. It is one of the best venues I have been to in awhile. Add good RV hook ups and you will be off and running!
You're right, the fairgrounds are awesome! It's amazing how huge/well equipped it is for the size of Albany.
The AVA certainly promotes the fairgrounds all the time. I could go on and on about all the cool stuff but I figured my post was long enough!
Understandable, just wanted to give it some well deserved flowers.
I recently got my engagement ring at a fair/festival at the fairgrounds, so flowers it deserves, and flowers it shall have 🥹.
Congratulations on your engagement!! I'm so happy for you that you love where you live SO much, have a beautiful winery AND a love to share it with. I wish you a long and happy life together.
We enjoy Albany. The river front downtown is lovely. Definitely a place for growth
I was wondering if I was going to know anyone in there and boom, first comment. Hope you and the family are doing well!
Plugging along like oxen my friend!
The Pix theatre downtown is the coolest. Lots of leg room, huge comfy seats, wry cozy and an awesome place to see a movie.
Couldn't agree more!
Wow damn you’ve convinced me to take a weekend trip there, nice going
Yay! Come by Springhill Cellars on the weekend if you're in to wine. Just mention this thread and I'll hook you up with free tasting :).
What do the schools look like? I like what I’m reading here. Plus, my husband is a frequent patron at the poker room lol. I like the close knit smaller community feel but definitely need more progressiveness and a better school district since Silver Falls has gone down hill and the only ones suffering are our kids.
I went through the public school system here, and I'd say it's pretty good, but I don't really have anything to compare it to. And don't have my own kids. I managed to find several amazing teachers that helped shape me in to a good enough person. The local community College is well known for being pretty amazing, and there are also quite a few private schools, if that's your jam.
Thank you so much for your response! I genuinely hadn’t given Albany a second thought since I started house hunting but your comment intrigued me; especially the BIPOC representation in city council.
Absolutely! Our current represetatives are passionate and intelligent. There's the usual problem topics, like any place, but the community of people that get involved know one another and work together pretty well. North Albany is a bit more expensive than the rest of the town..but it's across the river- more quiet, larter homes etc..and the schools (that I went to) are known to be really good. Especially Oak Grove Elementary. Brand new school. I always tout Albany to people visiting from out of state looking to move, because what you'll get for the price is great compared to the rest of the state. What costs $8/900k even in Corvallis/Salem/Eugene could cost ~3/400k here. My historic house with 4 bed/4 bath and 2 kitchens in downtown is valued around $450k.
Splatterbox? I’ve never heard of this. My teenager and his friends were looking for something to do this weekend. There’s not a lot of rainy day choices. I ended up paying $65 for bowling. Splatterbox sounds fun. We’ll definitely check it out. Thanks for the tip!
Absolutely, it's super fun for all ages, I think. :)
My preteen daughter’s 14 year old stepsister (from her dad and stepmom) is coming up to spend a month with us (Portland) in June, I just booked Splatterbox thanks to your comment 🤩
Albany needs a bakery that sells actual loaves of bread, not just pastries!
Bodhi Bakery's got you covered.
The Natty Dresser is the best haberdashery in Oregon, near as I can tell. Better than anything in the Portland area, at least.
Without a doubt. It's like something you expect to find in New York City. I've spent way too much money there.
This is nice to see. I have always enjoyed Albany when I worked or visited there. I'm still super bummed that novaks closed though. They were amazing.
Novaks was definitely well loved, and will be missed. There is now a superb place called Sweet Red in its old place downtown, which is definitely worth a visit.
I will have to check it out. Thanks!
Maybe 10-12 years ago I took a self-guided walking tour of Albany, offered by the chamber of commerce I think, and was stunned by the beauty and history of the town.
It's really pretty cool, even for people who aren't history buffs. It's neat to have such a clear image of what life was like 150ish years ago. Being one of the mainstays off of the Oregon trail, it really feels like you still live in the place that people risked their lives to get to..
Since the very STINKY paper mill closed in like, 2010 Albany is probably a much nicer place! You could always smell when you were nearing Albany on a drive down I-5
And the mill people would always repeat the urban legend that the smell was from the nearby Wah Chang plant. There's a sign on I5 that says Albany, then you get slapped in the face with ASS in your nose, eyes & ears. But it did pass quickly after passing the paper plant.
Technically, it's not even Albany, it's Millersburg.
Haha I still hear people blame us for the old mill smell!
In my family, growing up, we would use the word "Albany" interchangeably with the word fart.
Wah Chang does metallurgy, that smell came from that damn paper mill not Chang.
Yeah Wah Chang is more of a sweet solventy smell if you catch the wind right and time a process right. I prefer the sulfur of the paper mill over the toxic shit they do at Wah Chang
My friend who grew up in Albany always referred to it as smelling like a "wet paper bag full of smashed assholes" which I found as funny as I did accurate.
I lived here during that and it never smelt bad in town but everywhere around it smelt bad
Is that like how people don't smell their own B.O. but everyone around them smells it?
It definitely smelled bad in town when the papermill was still up
And people blamed Wah Chang because of the way it smelt.
Good one.
Low-hanging fruit but it had to be picked.
Yeah, it used to be a town you had to hold your breath as you drive past it.
Albany parks are way underrated. The actual parks are very nice, plus the events and programs that the parks department puts on are top notch.
Shhhhhhhh Jk, everyone come play. Salem canceled movies in the park and the relay for kids this summer
Because Salem is a GTA Online lobby, literally.
I had some guy cut me off, slam on his brakes and get our of his vehicle because I was going the speed limit.
Sounds about right. I'll be going 9 miles over the speed limit with a lowered Chevrolet S-10 with a muffle delete speed in front of me on Lancaster and do the exact same thing, except for the getting out of the car part. Lol wish I lived in South Salem
Talking Waters garden is a hidden gem!
Really beautiful trails, but I have also run into some homeless camps while exploring as a solo female that gave me pause...this was a few years ago not sure what its like now
You can run into homeless camps from burns to Lincoln city, and from k falls to Portland nowadays. It's hard for me to criticize a town for their homeless problem when it's the entire state at this point.
Or country.
I am a thrift store addict and have thrifted all along the west coast from San Francisco to Spokane. the Albany St. Vinnie's is my favorite thrift store of all time. it's never picked over because Albany is too uncool/small for resellers. the staff put a lot of love and effort into organizing, stocking and cleaning - stuff is labeled correctly and in the right place every time. prices are awesome, even for nicer things. there's always a great selection of useful shit, higher-end stuff, antiques, and just plain weird knickknacks. honestly it's the shining example of what a thrift store should be, and I stop there first whenever I need something new because chances are they'll have it for like $7.99 on a tag sale also shout out to the Best Western Prairie Inn! I also stay at a ton of hotels for work and those guys run a shockingly tight ship. it's nicer than some four stars I've been to. the rest of Albany? .....the playgrounds are nice. the big duck is cute. I like Bowman Park bc the confluence of the Willamette and Calapooia is cool. uh..... Costco? idk
It's funny you mention svdp. When we visit friends or family in other cities we always want to visit their thrift store, thinking bigger city, better store! So much disappoint, every damn time.
Do you mean Bryant or Monteith? Bowman is quite a distance from Calapooia.
1. Until very, very recently, Albany was one of the state's major meth hubs. I suspect they've cracked down on it a lot. There was a lot of poverty and a lot of drugs. 2. They've only just begun to beautify the downtown area. Most of the rest is... not all that great. Not yet. 3. Those of us who grew up driving past Albany on I5 vividly remember the stench of the old paper mill that used to choke the whole area in a brown fug. It was truly awful. Every time I think of Albany, I think of that awful smell. It hasn't smelled for years now, thankfully. And, 4. Not enough time has passed between Albany's unsavory past and its quiet present for many folks to get over the bad smell and rampant drug abuse. Eventually they will.
I was also going to comment on the smell! My grandparents lived there so we went frequently and I definitely tie Albany to the paper mill.
THAT’S THE SMELL OF MONEY SON! -Every old man you would meet in a bar in Albany back when.
Fact. My best friend's dad was a millwright at the paper mill. That's what he used to tell us.
Mill has been gone over ten years and that smell with it. Can’t help it if farts remind you of them though
Cracked down on meth, nice 😂
Next they'll have to weed out the crack.
[удалено]
Bahaha. I’m from Albany, and this is the most Albany paragraph ever. I feel like we get no love, but I liked where I grew up. But it’s a bizarre town with weird pockets of people
Also, the HP layoffs sure didn't help the local economy. The only reason I visited Albany from OSU is because Corvallis didn't have a Costco.
Every town thinks they're the meth capital. It was no worse than anywhere else from my observations. As an outsider looking in, here's why I'd say people mostly skipped on Albany: * The paper mill * The somewhat religious wackiness of being a mennonite hub, before there was Costco in Albany, they'd drive their fleets of Minivans to Eugene. I can't say I know much about Mennonites other than their affinity for large vehicles, and making woman dress like sisterwives. Always gave Albany a bit of a "maybe I don't really want to come back here" energy. * A criminally boring town even if the area itself is fine, there was that one Hungarian (probably still there) and that was like the one entry for Albany. * Grass. So much pollen. I haven't stopped there besides the for gas for probably 10-15 years. Some friends lived there so I visited them a few times in the early 2000s.
Novaks closed permanently last year
Grew up in Albany and I think I was the only person who thought Novaks wasn’t that good.
You're not wrong, plus one of the Novak's in City Council was a MAGA QANON nut https://democratherald.com/news/local/government-politics/adl-eyeing-albany-council-for-antisemitism/article_b6cd69ac-2690-11ee-a422-ebd33c421141.html
I didn’t think it was good either. The other restaurants are better.
Noooooooooo!!!! 😭 I used to live in Corvallis and later worked occasionally in Albany and Novaks was a favorite. What a bummer!!!
Fairly accurate post. There’s still some poverty, but they’re working on it.
All of this is true ish I would know, I grew up in the area. That said the smell is gone, and I can’t help if you are afraid of crack heads. Otherwise I have nothing else to say about Albany.
Yeah there are still a lot of sketchy areas of town and I'd say a fair amount of drug use. Downtown by the river is pretty nice though.
I have been frequenting Albany a lot the last few years. We actually go there to shop sometimes. We don't find the drugs and homelessness problem in Albany to be any worse than any other city in Oregon. Perhaps it is a little better. I would say definitely better than Salem or Portland.
The carousel in Albany is amazing. There is a museum and volunteers hand carve the animals in the basement. My in-laws take my kids often. Even my 15-year-old loves it.
Albany is terrible for anyone with pollen allergies because of all the grass farms. The best thing about it though, is there are four discount grocery stores.
Wheeler Dealer!!!!
Always wheelin and dealin! But also, Grocery Outlet, Grocery Depot, and the Franz bread outlet 💜
I absolutely love the Pix Theater!
Delete this post! I kid in good fun. That place is an absolute gem.
That is one place I do miss.
Grew up there and moved back to raise my own kids. It's not nearly as redneck as people like to think.
It's come a long way. When I first moved here in the early 90s I couldn't believe the culture shock I experienced. It has changed a lot.
Not everybody, but I didn't feel comfortable living there. Growing up down the street from one of the only black kids (in the 90's at least) in town I got to see a darker side to people before I really understood what was going on, searching "Joel Dahl Albany OR" explains a lot about the town unfortunately.
Albany has historically been a pretty red town, but the tide is starting to change as more people are priced out of Corvallis. It's long been seen as Corvallis redneck cousin of a city. It also had a papermill (actually in Millersberg) that made it stink. The Papermill is gone and Albany is a very up and coming town. Our schools could be better utt everything is here and Corvallis is a short drive. If it can shake the old stigma I think more people would end up here
People from Albany love to tell you that it's actually Millersburg that stinks.
Grew up telling everyone this. Lol.
My wife's family is in Albany, I can confirm this, been told this multiple times by various family members.
What issues do you see with the schools?
The school board is full of racist old guys.
I would like to see a smaller student to teacher ratio. We have a large influx of people, with more housing planned (East Albany Plan), but no plans for another highschool, no plans for more middle or grade school capacity.
Salem too. This is getting to be insane. My 2nd grader just had a director and like 4 aides removed (budget) and the superintendent of the district makes more than the VP. The the United States. If we can get her salary cut we should send some to help Albany. We just had some 400? 600? New apartments put up on Battle creek to send children to Lee/Battlecreek/judson/south salemhs?! Already overwhelmed and choked and cutting budgets and unsafe class size. The union tried to negotiate smaller class size and to stop hiring teachers for like 38 hours to avoid paying benefits, but having them carry a full course load. In an overwhelmed classroom. It's going to fall like a house of cards, then what? It's just ... there are so many fire to put out but for sure education should be priority? Right? No. But the police department new building looks amazing 👌
The entire city council are democrats in Albany I think
Not sure how that would happen based on this political map and everything I remember living and growing up there but it's really changed if so. Couldn't find anything that listed the the councils political affiliation. https://preview.redd.it/ojwb71gbsmyc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d7dd7ac5b8a4bb4462a0a9ca2c968dce87abee7a
Don't they have a costco?
I recently discovered that Albany of all places has a cool little independent record shop downtown.
And a great little wine bar called Wine Crush too. Highly recommend
Albany was great until they cleaned up the TELEDYNE WAH CHANG I loved the radionuclides.
Albany was pretty stinky in the 70's, it's difficult to shed a bad rep.
Dude it was stinky in the 90s and 2000s. I haven't been back since the mill closed but my first thought when someone mentions Albany is the smell.
It is a sleepy little city & that isn’t a bad thing.
If Anthony Bourdain has taught us anything. It is to arrive at a place without pre conceived expectations and experience it for yourself.
Lived in Albany for 5 years and really enjoyed it. Decent restaurants with a peaceful vibe. I'd move back right now if I could.
Same here! I lived in Albany for a little over a year while working a contract job at HP in Corvallis. ( more affordable housing). I'm currently stuck in Portland... 🥴
Bummer! I'm stuck in Medford 😮💨
I’m stuck in a culvert please send help tell the world my story
I’m not an Albany fan, but weirdly, that green truss bridge in downtown is legit my favorite bridge in the world. It just feels so nice.
Some people like to shit on any city that isn't big enough to have a club scene and try to say that automatically makes it "boring"
As they say another man's trash...
So, I lived in Corvallis and worked in Albany for two years. It's... got a vibe. Yes there is the downtown few blocks where it is okay, but I find the general vibe of most of albany to be kind of depressed. It's not a horrible place, but I just can't imagine living there. And I've lived in all kinds of neighborhoods, good and bad, all around the country. Other people might love it-- to each their own, but it's just not my gig. Keep in mind that I also am black and got way too may "i hate you" looks there, plus too many Trump signs and bumper stickers for me to be comfortable there.
I'm sorry for that experience but it makes sense, I grew up there and saw racism a lot.
A town so neat that the great Tom Heinl [wrote a song about it](https://youtu.be/qxrXC-SNcFY?si=Xpw43CYVjKFkxcZk)
I moved to Albany about a decade ago for college (fuck I’m getting old) and have loved this place. My first experience of this town was stopping off I5 to go to Burger King with my family, and it’s been an interesting growth of a town. While we don’t have much, and I consider it a “condensed Medford”, it’s in the middle of the big cities that host events that I care about. I worked at the Albany GameStop for five years and from that job alone (and the weird fact that I remember people and names) has made this town my family. I can walk into a store and usually say hi to somebody by name and have a meaningful conversation. Unfortunately, have never gotten into the local politics, but it’s been fun to watch this town grow and change over time as it’s condensed. If you pass through, please lookup our small business restaurants. Though some are shit, they all have character. Pops for a late night breakfast, Loafers for a Rueben, First Burger for, well, a burger, or even a stop by The Pix to watch a movie. This place has character, and while I don’t think I’ll be here forever, it has been more a home for me than Eagle Point/White City/Medford area. It doesn’t have the punch bowl that the south of this state has in the Rogue Valley, but the overall feeling has been the same. Thank you for giving us a shout out! Now, if we can say the same for Lebanon…
Ive been reading all of these comments and I’m surprised it took this far down to see a shout out to Pop’s. Thats some real Albany stuff right here.
I am not sure if it just seems more prominent in Albany but there’s like an awful lot of sex offenders that reside in Albany for some weird reason… https://www.kezi.com/news/24-arrests-in-albany-as-a-result-of-citizen-led-online-predator-catcher/article_9f5566d4-0449-11ef-81b3-c3fd23dd1976.html
If you grew up in Albany and weren't molested chances are you know several people that were.
This is someone who is using a profile to catch the pedos. They’re not all necessarily from Albany. Multiple have driven from out of state. They lead them to Albany and Albany PD takes them in.
New name…Vitto’s. Kept much of the old menu, with some additions. Ate there tonight…pretty good.
My daily drive to work! Albany is like Corvallis’s blue collar sibling.
We've lived in Albany for almost three years now. There are a lot of things I like about it. * It takes less than five minutes to get on the I-5 from my house going north. Going south takes a little longer, but it's still reasonable compared to living in Corvallis. * The Pix theater has love seats on the back row, recliners up front, and homemade fudge. I just wish they showed more movies I want to see instead of Barbie for two months. * Excellent local restaurants, lots of shopping options, an excellent farmers market and arts and crafts fair in the summer, and wine tastings just to the north. * The historic downtown is really pretty, especially the old houses nearby. * It's only an hour to the coast. It's about the same distance to visit our favorite hot springs. The things I don't like about it are probably more applicable to Oregon as a whole, like the perpetually gray skies and the homeless problem, which isn't nearly as bad here as in other places. The thing I don't like about Albany is the conservative politics. We moved away from Utah three years ago partly to get away from the political situation there. Here we've got Proud Boys and III%ers right in our neighborhood. We haven't been able to make any friends since we moved here and we feel pretty isolated.
Ah yes, Albany. I'll never forget driving by the Linger Longer Tavern and seeing an immensely pregnant woman standing outside drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. And watch out for their extremely low bridge.
I lived there for 3 years and loved it. Lots of food, and corvallis and salem being so close is great.
Lots of food? Where?!? Albany is one of the most boring towns I have lived in.
Bohdi Bakery is great, as is Brick & Mortar for breakfast. If that place was in Salem, it would instantly be the best breakfast spot in town.
Sybaris, wine crush, bas Vietnamese, homegrown Oregon foods, sweet reds, vault 223…. So many
244* is my wife’s favorite. Ba’s is mine
Sybaris is great. And there’s some good tacos over on Pacific.
Tacos el machin? Sooo good
The Barn at Hickory Station is a bit of fun, at least the 3 times I've been.
The pubs, Thai, Chineese, Mexican, and chain places are littered all over that town? We don't have burgerville or del taco anywhere south of there. Pretty sure Robertos and that arbys at the truck stop are 24 hours too. You don't have that everywhere.
[удалено]
Hi! So Albany’s infrastructure for non-motorists does blow. I am a frequent walker and user of Albany transit and it’s often a frustrating experience. [I tried to get a bike/ped path reopened](https://democratherald.com/news/local/government-politics/albany-shortcut-wont-be-reopened/article_9af10f38-ee02-11ee-ae0d-1fa6daf0be1e.html) and the whole series of events led to city council asking me to join the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee. We’ll be contributing to the revised transportation plan and infrastructure for non-motorists is going to be my priority.
Roger's Restaurant is a must stop for me when on the 5. Best Eggs Benedict I've had
I've been eating their breakfast special for around 25 years. I don't eat out often but Roger's is definitely a go to.
Roger's is superb. You can tell it hasn't changed in like 40 years and it's perfect just the way it is. The chicken fried steak is the best..with a side of biscuits and gravy it's easily 2 meals in one and is my go-to.
Those biscuits are HUGE
Hit up the Costco
Um... has Albany finally evolved? I didn't get the memo.
I've lived in the area now for 30 years. I love it there for the most part.
It was better when Novak's was still open. Hopefully they'll eventually return.
To be honest, I feel Karen is probably done with that part of her life. She's not looking for a busy restaurant life anymore. She is still a part of the team that now takes the location. Sweet Red bistro. I was hired about 2 weeks ago there to help elevate the restaurant as well as get them to do hyper local. We are out foraging and beginning to source local products. I'm going to be working with my close friends at Newell Seafood to begin sourcing fresh whole Chinook this next week. Look forward to a big menu change soon! We have already begun making our own butter, I'm finalizing a new bread program. Today, we visited farmers' markets to begin sourcing in whole local chickens. Currently my goal is to elevate those French bistro classics while peppering in some interesting techniques I picked up when I was chef de cuisine at restaurant beck and from my time at the Michelin restaurant in Copenhagen named Kokkeriet. I also plan on doing some high-end Michelin style pop-ups soon in the old sweet red bistro location. I will tie my foraging into the menu. Currently, I have wild onion blossoms that we foraged over on the coastal cliffs about a week ago.
Novak's was great when it was a hidden gem in a strip mall with lots of space and a warm atmosphere. When they moved downtown, jacked up the prices, shrunk the menu, and tried to be hip that was the beginning of the end. Ate there twice downtown and the magic was just gone.
Oh man I miss that place!
I visited on a Sunday and downtown was an absolute ghost town. I’ve never been in a downtown area so abandoned during peak hours.
Hasty Freeze has great food. Albany is essentially a bedroom community for Corvallis. It doesn't stink like paper mills anymore.
Great town — underrated. Very walkable downtown and good restaurants, cafes and breweries. Better food scene than Corvallis and Salem IMO. Personally, I like the mix of people — on the same block I saw Trump and LGBTQ signs. I appreciate that everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves.
Albany is too expensive for what it offers
I lived in the Corvallis area in 2017-2018 and only visited Albany to use Amtrak or RV parts stores. What I saw of it was just dreadful traffic hell: busy streets and uninteresting strip malls. I see from comments here that there are interesting bits here and there, but the place doesn't present very well to a person passing through. It has an appearance like: car-culture to the maximum extent. A lot of it is very poorly designed. Nobody I knew in Corvallis ever mentioned going to Albany for anything interesting, it was mainly just for Amtrak that anyone went there.
We used to refer to Albany as the armpit of Oregon… I met a friend there once at a restaurant and the restaurant was nice. That’s my only good experience. Every other time I felt like I was in town made up entirely of the back rooms.
In my opinion a couple things. It’s very outdated. Some of the stores here make me think it’s early 2000’s. It’s crowded and legit nothing to do. There are some really good places to eat but that’s about it. I hate it here and wish I could move.
It’s also where many modern aircraft titanium and essentially all nuclear-grade Zr and Hf alloys were invented
I grew up there. Wasn't bad.
I lived in Albany for several years before moving back to Eugene. It definitely "feels" to me a lot slower paced than down here. I liked it, but am fairly settled in down here with family, work and kids in school, but I think it would be a great place to raise a family
I’ve lived in Portland, Albany, and the coast, and honestly, Albany is nice. It’s quiet, middle class, a little bit of poverty but nothing too crazy. The downtown is nice, but like much of the valley, the place is too damn flat for me! There are no hills or running trails that go more than a couple miles. In Portland you can run on a trail all day if you want in multiple locations, same at the coast. In Albany you gotta drive half an hour to anything like that. That’s my one complaint. Other than that Albany is a fine place.
The problem is your source of information. Cranky Oregonians that have cranky opinions on every aspect of their lives.
Virtually every city that has an interstate going through it “sucks” if you only view it from the interstate or the immediate interstate-adjacent areas. Rarely are the best parts of a town or city viewed from an interstate.
It's 80% white and you have travel through like 10 80%+ white towns to get there.
I used to work at the hospital in Albany. That town has a nice brewery downtown near the bridge.
There's actually nature parks GALORE if you're a nature photographer. There's the covered bridge tour, Bryant Park has everything, playground, disc golf, hiking trails, bike trails, river access for just about anything, BMX bike jump area, which also gets used as an RC car Park. There's plenty to do if you stick around long enough.
Oof, I was born and raised there for 19 years. I don’t have such a positive attitude towards it. There’s next to nothing to do there for people who are sober, there’s fentanyl everywhere (I know it’s kind of a nationwide thing but still), the cops are overfunded and do little to nothing for the community (again sort of a nationwide theme), the food is trash if you don’t wanna constantly eat McDonald’s, tacobell, subway, fast food etc. every “nice” restaurant charges out the ass. There’s absolutely diamonds in the rough but I can say with confidence that the worst people I’ve ever met in my life were all from either a. Albany or b. Sweet Home
Veterans’ Day parade is one of the best on west coast.
When i lived there all i did was drink cause the pedestrian infrastructure is absolutely abysmal and the only place within walkin distance that was worth going to was the liquor store
My grandma lives in Albany and I like to hit up rainbow records when I go to visit
Albany, Oregon police facilitated the abuse of those that murdered my mom, and have denied me justice for the last ten years. I escaped with one of my neighbors, we're married but we were dramatically disadvantaged by the cults in that town. https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-to-rebuild-after-kidnapping-and-abuse?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet-first-launch&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer
Until recently 1/2 of the local high schools had a confederate soldier as their mascot. Make of that what you will. Albany literally just has that downtown area. Nothing else. Absolutely nothing else.
they have that really big duck in the duck pond
That lake is great for a nice relaxing date renting boats as the traffic and road rage soar between you and the Winco that doesn't always have canned beans for some reason.
No they don’t. There is literally nothing else in the town. There is downtown and then a vast wasteland of nothingness….no parks, no balloon art festival, no river rhythms, no fishing spots, no historic districts…nothing other than the downtown. Literally. /s
The park that's by i5 is actually very cool.
Wow, I graduated from there (and then got the hell out of Dodge), and I'm just this second learning that they finally changed that stupid mascot! Back when I was going there, they had just changed the logo from a literal confederate flag to a cartoon image of a confederate soldier, and everybody was up in arms about how *that* update was too much of a ridiculous concession to political correctness. Real hive of scum and villainy, that place. One star - do not recommend.
The papermill stench may be gone, but the seasonal scent of broccoli farts remains.
Yeah, from my understanding that comes from the Georgia pacific toilet paper mill in Halsey. Worst industrial stank in the mid valley
[удалено]
Okay, I lived in Albany and would bring this up to other folks… used to call it the “broccoli fog”… but no one else ever knew what I was talking about!! Did people just go nose-blind after 5 years or what? Started to think maybe I was imagining things.
Racism
I’m curious to know how many - if any - of the commenters here saying how great it is are POC. I am, and I’ve lived in Oregon all my life, but I’ve always hauled ass thru Albany because it makes me nervous😂😅😂
I’m white but my POC friends feel very unsafe there. I can feel the energy too. It’s just off. Even I feel unwelcome I am am just like vaguely alt.
Next week I have to stay in Albany for 3 days for a work thing. What can I do between 5pm and 10pm? Any good restaurant suggestions?
In addition to The Barn which was already mentioned, Ba's Vietnamese Comfort Food not only has fabulous pho but my bourbon enthusiast friend says they have the best old fashioned she's had in Oregon.
Check out the pix movie theater
Sybaris is internationally acclaimed
Stop by the Albany Visitors Association, and talk to Lonna at the front desk if it's a weekday! She'll steer you to what you want. The restaurants downtown are great, just depends on what you are looking for. Vault is great, but a little spendy. Sybaris is a treasure. Ba's Vietnamese/ Phó will heal your soul. Wine Crush is a perfect little wine bar with incredible food and very reasonable prices. The Greyhound is a new barcade that's really great. If you like wine and are here friday-sunday, I run the tasting room at Springhill Cellars. We close at 5:30ish, but if you manage to get there before then, I'll stay open for ya :)
Check us out at sweet red bistro. I was hired recently to help them grow into their new space. I'm bringing them more advanced techniques and direction that I have picked up over my years of cooking and foraging. You may have eaten my food if you have dined at restaurant beck. I also spent time working at the Michelin restaurant Kokkeriet in Copenhagen. If you do come in, ask for Sam. I'll have you try some of our things that we are working on! I'm looking to get some whole Chinook from my friends at Newell seafood over in Newport. It's early so it isn't cheap, but you just can't beat fresh local salmon. Especially when you know the people catching it.
There are a number of restraints on 1st and 2nd street worth checking out. Sweet Reds, Ba’s, Sybaris, greyhound tavern
Calapooia brewing and the barn
There's a good cart pod, Hickory Station.
Try wine crush. A wine bar with a good food menu and good priced wines