if you have a car it makes the most sense for you to drive your car to work, its like a 25 min drive give or take. oob is a lot busier in the summer than the winter, tourists. there’s gonna be traffic on your commute but traffic has a completely different definition in maine (meaning there isn’t really traffic lol).

Commute should be about 25-30 minutes depending on time of day and you're gonna need a car.

Local culture is basically just tourism

Well you can drive it in 20 mins on rt 1 if not during rush hour. Or pay the tolls and make it in 15 mins. If your a biker theres a pretty flat trail that takes an hour at moderate pace with barely any interaction with the roads. And finally, none of this matters since you are a resident at maine med you will not have time for any of that, or see sunlight for the first year or two.

OOB is pure tourism from May through September. The rest of the year it is a ghost town. Very seasonal.

Any thoughts on the safety? I found a home about 15 minutes from the beach.

Very safe! It really is!

> I’m curious about the local culture

Oh boy. Lol.

Local culture. Drugs. Lots of ‘em.

ikr 💀

Lisa's Pizza and Fries is a must!!

Jfc

Very safe town, especially the farther from the beach you are. I recommend downtown Saco which is one town over for your local flavor. Lots of great food spots!

Grabs Snickers bar

Big Drug Problem? Would I be better off in Portland?

OP said 4 months.

OOB is known as somewhat of a white trash type of town. Bad schools, kinda rundown in many sections. With that said I love OOB and consider it to be the best beach in Maine.

I almost pulled the trigger on a 3 bedroom home within walking distance to the beach, was going for under $200K back in 2017/2018. We ended up buying in Portland so no regrets there.

Yes. Saco is small and pretty, Scarborough rocks, South Portland is GREAT! ANYWHERE but OOB.

Only takes 30 minutes to get from OOB to Portland, traffic pending. You could also get on 95 via 195 and save some time.

That being said, if you don't like crowds and busyness, OOB is not for you. You'd best be prepared because shit gets fucking packed there, from day to night.

The area near Ferry Beach is a little tamer because hardly anyone knows it exists, including the tourists.

Still better than downtown Portland, though!

It's safe. Don't worry. Drive to work. It should take about 20 minutes, half hour. Culture depends on when your four months there takes place. It's a working class tourist beach town that is crowded and busy with a bit of a carnival atmosphere adjacent to the beach in the summer, not bad in fall and spring, and deserted in the winter. BUT, if you're fifteen minutes from the beach, none of that should affect you. A lot of people from Quebec come down in the summer so you'll hear French spoken on the street. Pine Point in Scarborough on the north end of the beach is a nice place to pick up a lobster roll for supper and eat it on the beach on summer evenings, less crowded than OOB proper and quite pretty. Ocean Park is a quaint community on the south end of the beach. I lived in OOB for a year and enjoyed it.

15 minute... You must mean walk? I don't think you could mean drive and be that far away from the beach, and still in OOB. Not a large town at all area-wise.

It's safe, except in tourist season where you may occasionally deal with trashy drunks.

Portland has a bigger drug problem than OOB. Everything is bigger in cities.

IMO anywhere else in the greater Portland area is better than OOB and Portland in regards to open/noticeable drug use/abuse (and homelessness). Not to say it doesn't exist- in South Portland (separate town from Portland) I notice the unhoused daily, but not nearly to the same extent as the other two places mentioned.

Thanks!

Thanks for the input. I'm planning on being there from September through Dec. I have small children, so I was hoping for a decent area. Would you recommend OOB over portland?

I’d recommend living in Portland or South Portland and visiting OOB occasionally when the mood strikes. Portland is a wonderful city with lots going on year round. Your commute would be super easy. Unless you’re into the off-season boardwalk experience on the daily, not sure what OOB would offer you for a living experience that would be better than those towns.

That said, if you’re already locked into a lease, it’s not a big deal. The distance between them is not big and OOB will be a fine place for you and your family to spend a few months.

It's all what you prefer, can afford, and can find. OOB is essentially a bedroom community for Portland. They're pretty close together. Portland has more resources for kid's activities like the Children's Museum, I guess, but the beach is ideal for a quick place to run kids around on. You'll be there the best months I think.

I work with the SUD population in York/Cumberland County. You’ll be fine. Especially during the timeframe you’ll be there.

September to December is going to be much quieter than proper summer and most things will be winding down/closing by the end of September. I’ve lived in OOB for several years now and had zero problems. Feel free to PM me if you want to get specific about the house/area you’re looking at.

Bill's All Dressed tho

Probably a decent call, unless you want to take an hour trip on the bus from OOB Walgreens to St. John St https://bsoobtransit.org/schedules-maps/green/

Grew up in OOB, after Memorial Day, add at least 20 minutes to your travel time each way. Try all the food places. Especially the ones away from the strip. Walk the Cascade And Eastern Trails. Pick blueberries under the CMP ROW off of Ross Road (late July/ early August). Pick raspberries behind the community gardens at the back of the ballpark.

There is the Amtrak that runs into Portland also. Just need to rely on Amtrak to be in time

Back in the day my students (criminal justice types heading for LE) would take the Academy's "100 hour" course so they could take OOB Police Dept seasonal jobs to patrol the beach for drunken Mass*** kids. And parents. And geezers. But no-one ever seemed to get very hurt.

you will need a car to get to Portland to get to grocery stories and the like. its 25~ minutes with no traffic and tolls on I-95. Maine is hard living without a car if you don't live on peninsula in Portland. We have a big lack of public transportation in the state.

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If you don't like the schools, try looking into something closer to Saco or Scarborough.