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 This is where it started in 1845 when the two owners of the town site, Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove, christened it "Portland", hired a surveyor (Thomas Brown) and lay out a grid of 16 blocks. This original subdivided area extended from the river to Second Avenue and from Washington to Jefferson streets.
Brown's survey work was now as easy task since the area was an evergreen forest full of native Douglas Fir toweling 60 plus feet high. As the firs were cleared for development, stumps were left. Hence one of the many nicknames for Portland, "Stumptown."
Philadelphia Plan - Street Names
Portland, like many USA cities, followed the Philadelphia plan of street naming. The Philadelphia idea migrated with the pioneers - across the Allegheny Mountains, along the Ohio Valley, and down the Mississippi. Most towns were built on the bank of a river, because transportation by water was important, and the riverfront was the natural starting point for the sequence of streets beginning with "First." Later, as towns grew up along the spreading railroad system, the railroad track itself was the base line for staring the numbered series.
Street Names Follow Pattern of Presidents, Tree, etc.
 Street labeling in Portland thus took the schemes of names, without order, one way and numbers the other way. The Portland street names follow the pattern of presidents, pioneer Portlanders, trees, etc. Similar to Philadelphia.
Hats off to Douglas Taylor, superintendent of streets when Portland, East Portland, and Albina consolidated in 1891. Because of the street name duplication between the three areas, Mayor W. S. Mason referred the matter to the City Council "Streets Committee" which passed the problem off to Superintendent Taylor. Taylor and his staff recommended to the "Streets Committee" a street naming pattern in the Couch (pronounced Coo-ch) subdivision (Northwest District and Pearl District) that is easy to remember; numbers in one direction and letters in alphabetical sequence in the other. Thus we have going from south to north: Burnside (the street that divides southwest from northwest), Couch, Davis, Everett, Flanders, Glisan, Hoyt, Irving, Johnson, and so forth. The numbers are also in sequence of course. Taylor must have been a pretty good politician - he gave the "Streets Committee" a list of alternative names for most streets and he let them pick and choose.
Neighborhoods in the Downtown Area
We consider the Portland "Downtown Area" as those neighborhoods where you can walk downtown within 10-15 minutes. All on the west side of the Willamette River. This includes the neighborhoods of Downtown, Northwest District (aka Nob Hill), Old Town/Chinatown, Pearl District, and Goose Hollow. The Northwest District and Goose Hollow are the only neighborhoods with detached single-family homes. The type of housing in all the other neighborhoods are apartments, condos, and rowhouses.
Downtown Condos
Downtown has a ever increasing number of condos with the most units in the Pearl District. Visit the Portland Business Alliance Web site for information about downtown housing. The site lists all the available condos projects for sale as well as apartments buildings that offer rentals. Here is a map of some of the apartments and condos available in the downtown area. Visit my Web page, Downtown Condos for a summary of all the new downtown condo projects under construction.
Portland Monthly Magazine Neighborhood Guide
 The Portland Monthly magazine features neighborhoods in their April issue every year. It has a ton of information about neighborhoods to include their pick of the 20 best neighborhoods for the year.
To help those in the housing market, the magazine combines all the data from about 120 neighborhoods and communities in the Portland metro area. Include in the document are housing prices, school ratings, demographics, crime statistics, parks, commuting information, and services. Click here to view the report.
Farmers Markets
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Downtown South Park Blocks Between Southwest Salmon and Main streets. 10 am-2 pm Wednesdays, May 5-October 27. See Portland Farmers Market.
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Downtown Portland State University South Park Blocks between Southwest Harrison and Montgomery streets. 8:30 am-2 pm Saturdays, March 20-December 18. Fall Hours (November & December 9 am - 2 pm). See Portland Farmers Market.
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Pioneer Square Downtown at Pioneer Courthouse Square. 10:00 am-2:00 pm Mondays, June 21-October 25. See Portland Farmers Market.
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Pearl District Ecotrust parking lot, Northwest 10th Avenue between Irving and Johnson streets. 3:30-7:30 pm Thursdays, June 4-September 24. See Portland Farmers Market.
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Northwest Distirct/Nob Hill Between Northwest 23rd Avenue and Savier Street, 3 pm-7 pm Thursdays, June 3-September 30. See Portland Farmers Market.
Walking in Downtown Portland
Walk Score ranks 2,508 neighborhoods in the largest 40 U.S. cities to help you find a walkable place to live. Walk Score ranked the Pearl District/Old Town-Chinatown/Downtown number ten. The Pearl obtained a score of 99 (Walkers' Paradise). 45% of Portland residents have a Walk Score of 70 or above. 83% have a Walk Score of at least 50—and 17% live in Car-Dependent neighborhoods. Please note that we use an address in the center of each neighborhood to determine the Walk Score. Scores will vary in a neighborhood depending upon the address.
Here are some walking tours in the downtown area of Portland:
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Public Art Walking Tour The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) along with the Portland Oregon Visitors Association have a Public Art Walking Tour map/brochure – a colorful guide to nearly 100 public art pieces in downtown Portland and the near eastside. This free brochure is available at Portland-area visitor centers, or by calling RACC at (503) 823-5111. You can also download a copy by clicking here.
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Walking Tour to Pittock Mansion This 2.8-mile walk begins in Northwest Portland and climbs some of the city's longest staircases through Westover Heights. It ends at the Pittock Mansion, a restored French Renaissance Revival chateau. The home, its grounds, and fabulous views are open to the public. Click here to download the guide.
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Walking Tour Nob Hill and the Pearl District This 3.3-mile walk begins at PGE Park it takes you through historic neighborhoods to shops, galleries, restaurants, and theaters in the Pearl District and Nob Hill. Click here to download the guide.
In 2009, the non-profit Transportation for America named the Portland-Vancouver area as the ninth-safest metro area for pedestrians.
Videos
Below are some videos of places and events in the downtown area of Portland:
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Esplanade The Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade is 1.5 miles long, extending north from the Hawthorne Bridge, past the Morrison and Burnside Bridges, to the Steel Bridge with connections to eastside neighborhoods as well as across the river to Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
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Scenes A one minute video of scenes in the downtown area. Pleasant and good background music.
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Streetcar Streetcars run on a 4.8 continuous loop from Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital at NW 23rd Avenue, on Lovejoy and Northrup, through the Pearl District and on 10th and 11th Avenues to a SW 5th and Montgomery Terminus at Portland State University. Another extension (about 2 miles) goes south of downtown along the river to RiverPlace and South Waterfront.
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Burnside Skate Park Located under the east end of the Burnside Bridge, the skate park was originally built by the skating community without permission and eventually the city approved the area as a public skatepark. The skate park was also featured in videogames such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Grind Session, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.
Search for Homes in Downtown Portland
 To search for homes in downtown Portland, go to Search Downtown. You can use over 100 search parameters and then select a specific area off a neighborhood map by drawing a box around that area. Alternatively, you can just specify the criteria and obtain all the current listings in the downtown area.
Comparing Condos Condocompare is a Web site that focuses solely on the condo market. The Web site populates its live listing data from the Regional Market Listing Service (RMLS). The format allow you to compare units and buildings in two different ways. First, you can compare any building to other buildings in both the same market as well as buildings in other markets. Secondly, you can compare units in the same building as well as units in other buildings. Condocompare also allows you to sort units and buildings side-by-side so you can compare them in one place. Condocompare has its only real estate agents but we think their idea of comparing condos is so important, we are willing to point the site out to you.
Guide to the Neighborhoods of Goose Hollow, Northwest District, and Pearl District, and South Waterfront
Below are four neighborhoods that surrounds the downtown area. We have created separate web pages for each to give you details about each of them.
Inner Portland Neighborhoods
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