| Subscribe to the Moving to Portland Newsletter |
48°F
Guide to Neighborhoods Close to Downtown in Portland, Oregon
|
|
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 NamesPortland, 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.
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 AreaWe 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 CondosDowntown 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, List of Condos for a summary of all the downtown condo. Portland Monthly Magazine Neighborhood Guide
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
Walking in Downtown PortlandWalk Score helps you find a walkable place to live. Walk Score is a number between 0 and 100 that measures the walkability of any address. Portland is the 12th most walkable city in the U.S. with a Walk Score of 66 and 57% of the residents have a Walk Score of 70 or above. Neighborhoods close-in achieved some of the highest scores in the area. Walk Scores: Downtown 96, Pearl District 95, Old Town/Chinatown 94, Northwest District 92, Goose Hollow 89. Please note on the neighborhood profile pages 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:
In 2009, the non-profit Transportation for America named the Portland-Vancouver area as the ninth-safest metro area for pedestrians. VideosBelow are some videos of places and events in the downtown area of Portland:
Search for Homes in Downtown Portland
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 WaterfrontBelow 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
|
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.
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.
The 
To search for homes in downtown Portland, go to
