Some find reality of life here doesn't match the dream

By JOHN MARSHALL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Port Townsend has drawn many urban refugees. Many would not return to their previous lives at any price. Some have returned to the big city while others remain here but are troubled by the difference between their ideal of Port Townsend and the reality. Says one urban refugee, who asked to remain anonymous: "I've had to bully and scare and manipulate to get my way around here. That's what I came out here to get away from, but I actually do more of it here."

One person who has heard it all is real estate agent Barbara Bogart: infatuated folks who want to buy a house immediately, the disaffection of those who have tried Port Townsend but did not find it to be their cup of green tea.

Bogart was one of those infatuated first-time visitors, a resident of Oklahoma who stepped inside a Port Townsend real estate office to use the restroom in 1976 and, within 24 hours, had bought the James House, a historic bed-and-breakfast that she operated for five years with her husband, Lowell.

Bogart, 64, pulls no punches about her adopted home: "Port Townsend may look idyllic, but the streets often don't get worked on and you can't buy everything here, including men's shoes. And it takes a while to get to Seattle; you can't really commute there daily -- only about two or three days a week seems to work.

"The ones who are disappointed in Port Townsend are those who come here and think this place will be the solution to their problems. It isn't. It's similar in that way to people who make the mistake of having a child to save a troubled marriage. You just can't get away from yourself here."

Buying a house here remains out of the question for many residents, even though prices have not registered the steep rise of those in Seattle. A three-bedroom, two-bath house in Jefferson County costs an average of $262,000 (somewhat less in town). Renting in Port Townsend has always been difficult too, requiring as much luck and moxie as money.

Shannon Porter, now a 47-year-old mother of three teenagers, came here 15 years ago from Seattle to raise the children in a small town. The tradeoff is that her husband has always had to commute, currently to Port Angeles, and the family has lived in rentals.

"It's always been an economic struggle," says Porter. "What's changed is the houses we looked at used to cost $45,000 and now are more than $100,000. So I don't see us staying after our kids have graduated from high school. But my daughter is a National Merit Scholar and all three kids have gained a lot by staying here. Kids can try things here, take risks. It's a very comfortable place and very safe."

And very relaxed, if the number of massage therapists is any indication. There are 25 listed in the Yellow Pages and perhaps 160 plying their hands-on trade, according to Catherine Formusa, one practitioners.