Seattle, WA /Phoenix, AZ scene...need help from residents.

[HORShi]

Hey guys, this thread I specifically want to get some input from residents/enthusiast from Seattle metro area and Phoenix metro area (Scottsdale/Tempe/Glendale etc) before I make this move...here's the back drop:

I'm currently preparing to hit my final years of college and started the process of getting ready to relocate with my lady. We decided that Seattle or Phoenix is definitely 1&2 on the list of places to relocate. Of course above all, the location we would move to would be depending, which opportunities are given, which has the most pro's and our interests more, amount of salary, and cost of living/income adjustment ratio. We choose Seattle and Phoenix because:

Seattle
+ Awesome place, love the sheer beauty of the PNW
+ A great tech city for my career (I'm majoring in IT and plan pursuing Software development)
+ A lot of good opportunities for my lady also (She is in medical field, Pediatrics specifically)
+ The weather is less extreme compare to bi-polar ass Ohio. (Hotter than goat pussy on a church Sunday in the summer, colder than a well's digger ass in the Yukon in the winter...can't stand the weather here in Central Ohio man, it's horrible)
+ Great people, very young and professional.
+ or - 4 Seasons (not sure if it's a good or bad yet lol, hate winter, love everything else)


Phoenix
+ All year round sunny weather (reminds me of my home state of Alabama...maybe with less humidity lol)
+ Desert lifestyle (I know I love it, never lived in one, but sounds awesome)
+ Close to LA, Las Vegas, in range of the Rockies.
+ Big City...(should be a lot to do)
+ From career overlook and research, there is a good amount of tech/IT opportunities
+ A lot of opportunities in the medical field.

I'm still doing more research and we still have a 1 1/2 years to decide. I want to get a cons list also to see what I may or may not like.

Of course one of my "secret agendas" is how is the car scene in both of these cities? I would think Phoenix's scene would be more live and vibrant because of the weather and close proximity to LA and Las Vegas car scenes. But of course looks can be deceiving. Seattle I'm honestly not sure, because I always receive mixed opinions..."Oh it's fucking awesome here" then one minute "It's always raining here and cloudy, you can't do nothing with your car here, it sucks". It's also hard to find info on the car scene cause it seems very "private" or isolated...you know the PNW kind of stay to them selves or is not as flamboyant compared to other cities and scenes (from what it seems, not sure). I plan on taking a trip to Seattle sometime this year to fill the place out. But the biggest cons I believe (but from research shows that it's not necessarily true) is the weather. People say it rains CONSTANTLY in Seattle and always cloudy. Now I don't my the overcast of clouds or rain, but I hope it's not a every day ordeal. I love to drive, and I love to cruise and I love to drift for fun.

Also to, the laws here in Ohio sucks monkey ass....specifically motor laws. That's another great plus about both of the two cities, both is more forgiving about a lot of things. (Idk about AZ since the last time I did research on motor laws but Seattle seems pretty lenient) It's pretty hard to get access to a lot parts also here, being in Seattle or Phoenix I'm highly sure would make things much easier to get for any performance cars that are not just domestic.

I just want to get some input on you guys who currently resides in Seattle or Phoenix area about the auto/drift scene...Would also love to get input from guys who move from the Midwest, South or Seattle to Phoenix (or vice versa) out to either of those cities also. Thanks once again for who can provide input. I believe this was the right place to post a thread like this, I wasn't for sure, if not can mods please move it.

(If I have any typos, sorry typing from work)

[hobbs]

Shoot a PM to beems240sx, he's a good friend of mine and just moved from chicago to phoenix - http://zilvia.net/f/member.php?u=75498

From what I heard summer is the off season for car guys, just simply too hot to run the cars out there. I've been out there a couple times and it's super nice, nice roads, cheap gas (91 FTL) in&out. Seems like you run out of things to do in the desert other than shooting and hiking.

Washington was on my shortlist as well, I need to get out there and visit. Have you guys taken a look at denver yet?

[Seraphim38]

Born and raised in Seattle, moved to Los Angeles, then moved back. Traveled the world.

Seattle:
- Yes, it is beautiful. Lots of parks, trees, clean air. At any given time you can be half an hour away from the beach and half an hour away from a ski area or 2, that in the summer is a downhill mountain bike setup.
- There are a bazillion tech companies here. The companies that aren't tech companies still rely heavily on tech anyway
- Vibrant NW drift, stance and Nissan scene. Yeah, it is filled with a gaggle of 20 year old hoodie wearing, college attending, poor kids, and if that's you, you will fit right in
- Phoenix is flat, hot and gross. Been there and don't want to go back
- It doesn't always rain here. We have had a week plus of 70 degree, clear and sunny weather. It does rain here but probably not as much as people make it sound. In the summer it can get up to 95-105 degrees, which is less fun because air conditioning is not common here.
- When it rains you can wear a jacket. And, if you like drifting, the rain makes your tires last a lot longer and drifting in the wet is easier
- There is an obvious concentration of Zilvians in the southern California area. Not as many Zilvians in the Washington state area but there are some here. The other board specific to the territory is called www.northwestnissans.com.
- Drifting events are at least one if not two weekends a month. Car shows become pretty common in the summer, though I personally tend to avoid them after having a show vehicle stolen
- But back to the weather and environment, Seattle is really a pretty place to live
- There is a very huge music scene here with many live music events, constantly going, every night of the year
- There are many, many restaurants. It is a great place for food and music
- Houses are expensive, especially in the downtown metro area.
- Salaries are good, but maybe not too high at entry level
- Washington's unemployment rate is one of the best in the country at 6%.

[HORShi]

Originally Posted by hobbs

Shoot a PM to beems240sx, he's a good friend of mine and just moved from chicago to phoenix - http://zilvia.net/f/member.php?u=75498

From what I heard summer is the off season for car guys, just simply too hot to run the cars out there. I've been out there a couple times and it's super nice, nice roads, cheap gas (91 FTL) in&out. Seems like you run out of things to do in the desert other than shooting and hiking.

Washington was on my shortlist as well, I need to get out there and visit. Have you guys taken a look at denver yet?

Thanks man, I'll definitely shoot at a PM to beems.

Denver was originally on the list, and from what I have experienced (only been out there once) It is really and I mean really nice city. It's very laid back, also beautiful scenery. My reasoning for not keeping it on the list, is just it was beneficial to me as in my personal interests. It also has a very strong winter presence and I'm trying to get away from that (Ohio winter's done me in). Also it's not as vibrant when it comes to things to do. (Southern boy kind of got use to the city lifestyle lol). But it is an amazing city though, just not my cup a tea though. The car scene is pretty nice there though, it's very "mature" if that makes sense. You don't see many of poorly done cars (I think that's due to laws, and weather) the people who is into cars, definitely maintain their cars. Of course that's from what I had experience from the time I was visiting. There is some as always, poorly done cars and people think its cool in Denver, but there not to the degree of some places. Another big thing is that everyone it seems in Denver is also pretty cool, there is not Jersey shore types, or South FLA type of mentality (Got to show in front everybody kind of attitude and impress women type) most of the enthusiasts I met are very modest and actually knows what they are talking about. Overall I love it man, just not my cup of tea, it's definitely a place to visit...a very tranquil vibe.

Oh yea and the drifting from what I seen, is definitely grassroots based. The mountain roads, overpasses, turnpikes and people makes it really fun. I enjoyed it man. My lady lol...yea....not so much, especially being already a city that's way above sea elevation. Riding passenger while drifting on the mountain passes done her in haha.

[HORShi]

Originally Posted by Seraphim38

Born and raised in Seattle, moved to Los Angeles, then moved back. Traveled the world.

Seattle:
- Yes, it is beautiful. Lots of parks, trees, clean air. At any given time you can be half an hour away from the beach and half an hour away from a ski area or 2, that in the summer is a downhill mountain bike setup.
- There are a bazillion tech companies here. The companies that aren't tech companies still rely heavily on tech anyway
- Vibrant NW drift, stance and Nissan scene. Yeah, it is filled with a gaggle of 20 year old hoodie wearing, college attending, poor kids, and if that's you, you will fit right in
- Phoenix is flat, hot and gross. Been there and don't want to go back
- It doesn't always rain here. We have had a week plus of 70 degree, clear and sunny weather. It does rain here but probably not as much as people make it sound. In the summer it can get up to 95-105 degrees, which is less fun because air conditioning is not common here.
- When it rains you can wear a jacket. And, if you like drifting, the rain makes your tires last a lot longer and drifting in the wet is easier
- There is an obvious concentration of Zilvians in the southern California area. Not as many Zilvians in the Washington state area but there are some here. The other board specific to the territory is called www.northwestnissans.com.
- Drifting events are at least one if not two weekends a month. Car shows become pretty common in the summer, though I personally tend to avoid them after having a show vehicle stolen
- But back to the weather and environment, Seattle is really a pretty place to live
- There is a very huge music scene here with many live music events, constantly going, every night of the year
- There are many, many restaurants. It is a great place for food and music
- Houses are expensive, especially in the downtown metro area.
- Salaries are good, but maybe not too high at entry level
- Washington's unemployment rate is one of the best in the country at 6%.

Thanks Seraphim38, How is the winter's in Seattle? I did some research and seems it's actually better than Ohio. Midwestern winters can be brutal, 30-40 mph winds with 5 below to -10 degrees normal not even at night, but during the daytime...not even counting wind chill and when it snows...any RWD is unusable. Shoot, FWD is almost unusable. It's absolutely horrible in the winter here in the midwest, feels like the Tundra. Not to mention its HIGHLY UNPREDICTABLE. Black ice on the roads can get up to 1-1 3/4 inches thick. After this last winter that just past (and I'm pretty sure any resident from Chicago, Detroit...anywhere in the Midwest can agree) I'm done lol. It was wicked, my VW 1.8T took a hit, from the extremes of the weather, hence the reason why I sold it, and bought my 240sx.

I'll deal with the winters if they are not as bad in Seattle, cause the lifestyle and liveliness of Seattle is awesome...but if it's equivalent to Ohio, idk if it's worth it.

[Agamemnon]

The winters here are very mild. Its snows very rarely and is usually gone the next day when the rain melts it away.

[rundown240]

Phoenix is really nice. You can visit any professional sports teams for NFL, NHL, NBA, College games too (Arizona State University is near) and NASCAR (if that's your forte). We have a track here too if you'd like to take your car out. They have drift sessions at the Wild Horse Motorsports Park (WHOMP). The car scene is pretty good and at least you won't have to deal with stupid car restrictions as much. So start building and register that bitch for 5 years! Yes it's true, 5 year registrations. If you get too hot in the summer, travel north 2 hours to Flagstaff and enjoy the cool mountains and forest areas.

Traveling to LA from Phoenix is easy. It takes about 6-7 hours. You usually have to fill your tank up at Quartzite before you hit the first town of Blyth in Cali. The main reason is a .40 to .50 cent increase due to Cali's gay as gas prices. Plus there speed limit drops from 75 to 70.

Traveling to Las Vegas is easier and has better scenery. Same amount of time and you get to go through a nice, long mountain pass that has plenty of curves. It's gotten easier getting into Vegas because of the bridge they built to surpass the Hoover Dam. No more slowing down to 5 mph while crossing the damn.

There's actually quite a bit to do here in AZ. Hunting is good and plenty of lakes in the desert and woods. Snowboarding or skiing? Go to Flagstaff. Need some cheap houses recovering from foreclosure? Phoenix. Own guns or want to? AZ has some good gun laws and plenty of space to shoot in the desert. Need to find cars with little to no rust at all? AZ. Cheap landscaping or home improvements? Mexican labor. The heat really isn't that bad. It does snow here believe it or not. Maybe every other year and it goes for 20-30 mins and then melts in 10. If you have any questions, just PM me. hope this helps a little.

[angel mkiv]

So I've never been to ohio but have had a plane stop in Phoenix so il chime in
-the weather honestly is better then most of the nation since I watch the world news Daily and you don't have tornadoes,flooding,super hot summers,land fires,and shitty winters..not many natural disasters except the recent land slide..honestly all we get a rain during the year with beautifull 80 degree summers and maybe a couple days of snow during the winter..so I'm my eyes we have the best weather..
- compared to California and the west coast the poeple are nicer and we have way better roads and everything is "cleaner" and more "classy"
-we don't have shitty emmission regulations just a ob2 check if 96 and newer and ifs older a idle/2500 dyno test but no visual inspections..
-again I only landed in Phoenix so from what I saw it's just a big city in the Dessert with nothing around..also no beaches or beautifull scenery
-the car scene is actually huge!always car meets/shows and we actually have formula drift stop by unlike Phoenix I beleive
-a shit ton of tech and medical related jobs so your covered there..
-we have a bunch of local tracks and drift events and a lot of tuning shops local also..
-hope that kinda helps but honestly if you can handle the rain and you love the outdoors Seattle is your place to be..hope that helps

[angel mkiv]

Oh and as for the metro living area I can't chime in since I'm out 20 or so minutes of Seattle and way less traffic and cheaper living..oh and if you love coffee then look no further since there's a Starbucks on every corner around here lol

[azs13]

Phoenix metro area is pretty nice man. Car scene in clicky but it's all pretty fun. You have wild horse pass motorsports park, p1 in Tucson plenty of off road trails if your into that plus 3 pretty good sized lakes all with in an hours drive from central phx. Plenty of places to go shooting and loose gun laws. The best part is you can go outside pretty much everyday of the year. Only downsides are strict drug and motor laws and people here tend to keep to themselves, I actually like that though.

[HORShi]

Originally Posted by azs13

Phoenix metro area is pretty nice man. Car scene in clicky but it's all pretty fun. You have wild horse pass motorsports park, p1 in Tucson plenty of off road trails if your into that plus 3 pretty good sized lakes all with in an hours drive from central phx. Plenty of places to go shooting and loose gun laws. The best part is you can go outside pretty much everyday of the year. Only downsides are strict drug and motor laws and people here tend to keep to themselves, I actually like that though.

Nice man, it's definitely good to know about the loose gun laws, I will definitely enjoy that. How strict is the motor laws? They didn't seem to bad when I did research and I know they can't be California strict...Cause here in Ohio, laws change upon our state counties which is stupid as hell. Literally I live I'm central Ohio, but if I happen to go to the next county over, they can check emissions.....EVEN though my county doesn't, its stupid man.

[azs13]

As far as emissions go it it's not hard to get your car through wether it's sr, rb, or any motor really. I say strict motor laws because if you get pulled over for anything 99% percent of the time your getting a ticket, even for stupid bull shit. Oh and our d.u.i. Laws aren't anything to take lightly lol. But hey if your guilty, your guilty. I still think Az is awesome ill probably never leave here. I live in Mesa I prefer the east side of the phx area as it seems cleaner and not as much crime.

[HORShi]

Originally Posted by angel mkiv

So I've never been to ohio but have had a plane stop in Phoenix so il chime in
-the weather honestly is better then most of the nation since I watch the world news Daily and you don't have tornadoes,flooding,super hot summers,land fires,and shitty winters..not many natural disasters except the recent land slide..honestly all we get a rain during the year with beautifull 80 degree summers and maybe a couple days of snow during the winter..so I'm my eyes we have the best weather..
- compared to California and the west coast the poeple are nicer and we have way better roads and everything is "cleaner" and more "classy"
-we don't have shitty emmission regulations just a ob2 check if 96 and newer and ifs older a idle/2500 dyno test but no visual inspections..
-again I only landed in Phoenix so from what I saw it's just a big city in the Dessert with nothing around..also no beaches or beautifull scenery
-the car scene is actually huge!always car meets/shows and we actually have formula drift stop by unlike Phoenix I beleive
-a shit ton of tech and medical related jobs so your covered there..
-we have a bunch of local tracks and drift events and a lot of tuning shops local also..
-hope that kinda helps but honestly if you can handle the rain and you love the outdoors Seattle is your place to be..hope that helps

Wow thanks for the input, definitely different from other people input (of course a lot of them never visited) how is the neighboring areas of Seattle like Belluve and other suburbs? (Since you mentioned living on the outskirts) I do know that Seattle comes with a steep price but if the outskirts can be more reasonable, I'll definitely look into it also.

[rundown240]

Not required to have front license plates in AZ. Motor swaps are no problem. Like previously stated. Emissions is easy. They pretty much only exist in Phoenix or Tucson. If you happen to live outside of the city limits then you are not required, lol. You also don't have to get another drivers license for 50 years. lol

[Seraphim38]

Bellevue and it's nearby area have the highest per capita income in the country (higher than Beverly Hills and Miami). It isn't as pretentious as it could be, but it ain't cheap. There are many other areas outside of downtown that are reasonable. There are many suburb identities around Seattle. Many. Bothell, Woodinville, (where I work and live), Lynnwood, Everett, Shoreline (where I grew up) are all on the north side. South side, Auburn, Kent, Fife, Tacoma, Renton. All of those areas are cheaper, and have more crime.

[Lompang]

Live in Tacoma wish is not that far from Seattle but been to Seattle plenty. Car scene here is huge in the PNW. ON the coast of Washington of Seattle the whole coast has huge car meets and enthusiasts everywhere. From ForumFest, StanceWars, HondaFest, and NissanFest and there are many tracks here to go on for drifting, drags, and tracking.

[HORShi]

Originally Posted by rundown240

Not required to have front license plates in AZ. Motor swaps are no problem. Like previously stated. Emissions is easy. They pretty much only exist in Phoenix or Tucson. If you happen to live outside of the city limits then you are not required, lol. You also don't have to get another drivers license for 50 years. lol

50 years??? Damn Lol. That's crazy, we have to get a new license every 3 years here in Ohio and like I said we don't have emissions here, but if you try to bring a non-ohio car into Ohio...its absolute hell. Everything else is doable in central Ohio, everywhere else is when you encounter problems.

[HORShi]

Originally Posted by Seraphim38

Bellevue and it's nearby area have the highest per capita income in the country (higher than Beverly Hills and Miami). It isn't as pretentious as it could be, but it ain't cheap. There are many other areas outside of downtown that are reasonable. There are many suburb identities around Seattle. Many. Bothell, Woodinville, (where I work and live), Lynnwood, Everett, Shoreline (where I grew up) are all on the north side. South side, Auburn, Kent, Fife, Tacoma, Renton. All of those areas are cheaper, and have more crime.

Thank you greatly for the info, the North side suburbs are the better parts of Seattle area? The only thing I'm worried about is not having cool neighbors and ones that's are stuck up. Me and my lady plan on to invest into a house, but I do want a semi vibrant community at least to be apart of. I grew up and lived in the "hood" (because of its status of a low income working class, mixed demographic area) but I could walk outside, kick it with my neighbors, make small talk, they have their music and grill fired up, I didn't care , they don't care if I have my music pumping whether its metal, rap or blues, loud cars (neighbor had an open header LS2 GTO...loved it), hit the corner store and not have to worry about people saying anything cause they was either cool or just didn't care. Im a down to Earth person and love to communicate and make friends around the area I live. Are there any live communities like this in Seattle? How about Phoenix also? Any places like I described? And is plentiful or normal?

[angel mkiv]

Yes the north side of Seattle is usually "nicer" but just with any area there's always the nice places and the bad...and the whole your neighbors being cool and letting you have bbq's just depends on the area like anywhere I guess..

[az_240]

If you move to Phoenix stick to the east side. Everything is pretty cheap... including the cars kids build.

Not too many cool people here and the jobs are mostly low wage but it's whatever. I prefer California... maybe one day when I'm rich.

[dorkidori_s13]

please do not post threads like this in chat, ive moved it the appropriate section.

[Nategreat923]

I love living in Seattle. Weather is always mild, scenery is awesome, and the city is rad. The "scene" here is great, especially with nissans and drifting. Plus you'll be close to Monroe for FD, nissanfest, Parcfest, tandem meyham, forum Fest, etc.

[angel mkiv]

Honestly like you mentioned you have time to decide so I would do what you said and take a trip to Seattle and Phoenix and decide from there..or apply at jobs you would like to get and whoever hires you and pays the best I'd go that route and live there since that's most important

[HORShi]

Originally Posted by dorkidori_s13

please do not post threads like this in chat, ive moved it the appropriate section.

Sorry about that Dorkidori still getting use to things on here. Thank you for moving it.

I just want to say thanks everyone I greatly appreciate the input. Seriously I really do, its really hard to gain input about places without constant negative reactions or stupid responses. I'm hoping to take a trip to Seattle this Fall before I start back up college. I have some family in AZ and hopefully will be able to make a trip this coming Winter/early Spring before i decide to make a decision. Once again I greatly appreciate the input and comments, if there's anything else anybody want to add, feel free to. It don't necessarily have to deal with drifting and cars, I pretty much got my answer on that Lol. It can deal with nightlife, daily living, lifestyles... anything you would think help. It helps me with my research and staying updated cause things may be different in a years time you know? So just want to stay up on top it. Laws, wages, business, politics, lifestyle, events, things to do, sightseeing...the whole 9 yards.

[HORShi]

Originally Posted by az_240

If you move to Phoenix stick to the east side. Everything is pretty cheap... including the cars kids build.

Not too many cool people here and the jobs are mostly low wage but it's whatever. I prefer California... maybe one day when I'm rich.

Lol I hear California is wildly expensive...I thought of Cali (SoCal specifically) but after I saw the living expensive...it was immediately erased of my list. Not to mention, the "totalitarian" like laws dealing with cars. I couldn't deal with it man. Plus not trying to be funny, but it seems "unhealthy" as in like the air pollution and smog...coming from the South, I'm not used to that. I bet traffic is a nightmare also there. Cali just looks all kinds of jacked up lol. But I would love to visit the Yosemite Valley, I always wanted to either drift there (probably get arrested and fined out the ass) or at least get photos S14 in the Yosemite. That place is on my list to visit when I move out West, it looks phenomenal. I swear y'all folks out West got it good man. Nothing here in the Midwest, but flat land, cows and Amish lol. Now Northern Alabama ain't that bad, we are in the foothills of the Appalachians so we got a little stuff you know. But, still...you guys have the Rockies, Sierra Nevada, Olympic National Park (I believe in Seattle), I believe Mt. Rainer (sorry if i misspelled it) the Pacific Ocean, Sedona desert, like man...endless of beautiful scenic places. I can't wait to move out West man it's killing me lol.

[nujabe]

I'm taking a trip next month for a week in Seattle to see if I like it. I'm from the Bay Area in Cali. And the car stuff is getting out of hand.. I got state ref ticket for just simply driving my car to a wedding lol... If any thing the scene in NorCal is dead and SoCal is the last great place in California for cars. I wouldn't advise any one to move out here unless you're rich and love tickets.. I still don't understand how they can fine you for emissions and tell you you can not drive you're car but if you pay the 490 dollar ticket you're problem disappears.. Fuck this state and all of the piece of shit half assed drift cars to go along with it lol.

[ultimateirving]

Been in phoenix for 17 years and im pretty much stuck here. The car scene is alive and well, drifting took a short hiatus due to local track but its back up and running monthly events.
Mexico(although everyone is afraid of it) is the closest beach, with warm water rocky point is about 3 hours away. Vegas is about 3.5 hours 4 tops if you drive really slow, the new freeway and bridge helps a ton.

If you have swapped vehicles the emission laws are easy to work with. You also have the option of registering your car as a collector vehicle and can bypass emissions entirely if you have a daily driver.

The summer is rough for us boosted cars, but if you have A/c and a good radiator you will be fine. Even the events in the summer are held in the evenings so it cools off some. Dont be afraid of the heat the winter makes it all worth it. We dont have as many great hills and phoenix is pretty flat; however there are a quite a few places to cruise to if you wanna get into the twisties. Ive lived in north Phoenix and the west valley since ive been here.
Hope it helps to aid in your decision.

[HORShi]

Originally Posted by nujabe

I'm taking a trip next month for a week in Seattle to see if I like it. I'm from the Bay Area in Cali. And the car stuff is getting out of hand.. I got state ref ticket for just simply driving my car to a wedding lol... If any thing the scene in NorCal is dead and SoCal is the last great place in California for cars. I wouldn't advise any one to move out here unless you're rich and love tickets.. I still don't understand how they can fine you for emissions and tell you you can not drive you're car but if you pay the 490 dollar ticket you're problem disappears.. Fuck this state and all of the piece of shit half assed drift cars to go along with it lol.

I could never move to Cali lol. I'm pretty sure it's an amazing place...but the laws are too unforgiving there and expensive like you said.

[rundown240]

Ha ha. I got pulled over one time to while TDY at Miramar near San Diego. I was driving my car and got pulled over because he saw I had now front license plate. Once he pulled me over and talked to me, he said he later realized I had an AZ license plate. lol.

[Wykydtron]

Originally Posted by HORShi

Seattle I'm honestly not sure, because I always receive mixed opinions..."Oh it's fucking awesome here" then one minute "It's always raining here and cloudy, you can't do nothing with your car here, it sucks". It's also hard to find info on the car scene cause it seems very "private" or isolated...you know the PNW kind of stay to them selves or is not as flamboyant compared to other cities and scenes (from what it seems, not sure). I plan on taking a trip to Seattle sometime this year to fill the place out. But the biggest cons I believe (but from research shows that it's not necessarily true) is the weather. People say it rains CONSTANTLY in Seattle and always cloudy. Now I don't my the overcast of clouds or rain, but I hope it's not a every day ordeal. I love to drive, and I love to cruise and I love to drift for fun.

Facebook really killed car forums, with that websites like NorthwestNissans, NWDrifting, NWTuner, NW-Built, NissanPacific, KungFuTouge, and RightWheelDrive faded away. I check Zilvia daily because it's one of the last s-chassis communities with a pulse.

IMO, you are dead on accurate about the Northwest and how our scene seems isolated. If you're not on Facebook groups or "know the right people" aka the right fb pages to like.. you won't see much of the northwest unless you happened to find a well known ProAm driver to follow. I use to run a website called NissanPacific and tried to use it as a website people from all over the US could find stuff in the northwest. I was also the original web master of EvergreenDrift.com and helped maintain that site in like 2008-2010, media coordinator, and co-announcer. There isn't much incentive in this niche, though there are business models to make it sustainable I had to put it on the back burner.

If you want to do your research on the Northwest Car Scene, I would highly recommend looking into a few organizations/brands/entities:

EvergreenDrift https://www.facebook.com/EvergreenDrift
Pat's Acres Racing Complex http://patsacres.com/racing-at-parc/drift-event/
StanceWars https://www.facebook.com/StanceWars
ImportMeet (Matt Haugness) http://importmeet.com
NWMotiv (Josh Mackey and Armin H. Ausejo) http://NWMotiv.com
Tandem Of Die (follow or friend up Justin Shreeve and Joe Ayala) https://www.facebook.com/tandemofdie
Garage AutoHero (Ray Stonehocker, super busy guy best way to follow is on IG) http://instagram.com/garageautohero
Connor Surdi Photo https://www.facebook.com/connorsurdiphoto
Phantasy Kolors https://www.facebook.com/pages/Phant...16954648342801
AlwaysReckless https://www.facebook.com/SortaReckless
The Machete Group (Ian Dillon, Landin Williams, Kyle Pope) https://www.facebook.com/themachetegroup
Item-B.com (evan brown) https://www.facebook.com/itembracing

If you want to see parking lot meets, cruises, show and shines, import car shows, etc etc; pay close attention to StanceWars, NWMotiv, ImportMeet. IMO these are the last 3 "car show" organizations that actually have a business model and can sustain themselves through car shows and once-in-a-blue-moon drift competitions. They pouched a lot of the traditional meets away from NorthwestNissans (ie Golden Gardens, XXX Rootbeer Meets, Mt Baker Cruise, and probably some others I can't name off the top of my head). Hot Import Nights also happens every year at the Tacoma Dome, and I believe NWMotive helps bring HIN to the northwest. There are also events like Battle of the Imports, Forum Fest, NHRA Northwest Nationals.

BoiseDrift, Stateline Drift, EvergreenDrift and PARC are the only 4 organizations that actually keeps a regular schedule of competitions / open drifts. They also do a good job ramping up promotional stuff for drift exhibitions. There is also South Sound Speedway and Torque Steers but I never hear about their events unless they get a Pro2/ProAm driver to invite people to the events. Carshow/Drift events: Driftcon, NissanFest, inMotion yadda yadda.

Tracks in the northwest: Evergreen Speedway, Pat's Acres Racing Complex, Pacific Raceways, Portland International Raceway, The Ridge Motorsports Park, Oregon Raceway Park, Bremerton Raceway, Stateline Speedway. (Note there might be more to add to this, I'm just pulling names off the top of my head).

There is also a ton of stuff going on up in British Columbia and Alberta; such as Drift Union and the occasional NWN Canadian guys that come down for Formula Drift.

Drift Teams that have good brand recognition and their head on straight:
Team Destroy https://www.facebook.com/pages/Destroy/238949046304144
Daring Partners (and company) https://www.facebook.com/daringpartners
Hotboyz https://www.facebook.com/hotboyzdrift
Drift Union https://www.facebook.com/DriftUnion
Drift Rebels https://www.facebook.com/DriftRebels1
Villains https://www.facebook.com/VillainsDrift

above and beyond there's more teams, performance garages, events, and organizers out there but I can't remember all their names.

Sorry to vomit this wall of text on you, just thought I'd connect the dots... The community is so fragmented.