Per Wikipedia, “Sprawling Southwest Portland is home to Downtown’s upscale dining, food carts, and indie boutiques, plus the Portland Art Museum, with Native American and contemporary work. Washington Park has polar bears and elephants [at the] Oregon Zoo, rose beds in the International Rose Test Garden, and Mount Hood views from the Portland Japanese Garden. Woodland trails run through forested Tryon Creek State Natural Area.”
Once visitors pass through the Vista Ridge Tunnels, Southwest neighborhoods resemble the United States’s version of stereotypical suburbia. They often feature streets that wind up and down hills with no sidewalks, well-established landscaping in large yards. Diverse communities like Burlingame, Bridlemile, Collins View, Multnomah Village, and Hillsdale consistently score high in the lists of Portland’s hottest neighborhoods with some unique homes and defined commercial districts.
Most of Portland’s governmental, judicial, business, and cultural resources are located downtown giving what may not be considered to be a booming megalopolis, a definite cosmopolitan air. The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall hosts traveling Broadway shows and concerts.
Portland State University is also located downtown and totally accessible by public transportation.
Of architectural note, the Wells Fargo Center is the tallest building in Oregon (546 feet [166 m]). The Portland Building was designed by Michael Graves and is considered to be the first Post-Modern office building. It is the setting of the famous Portlandia statue. The white Jackson Tower, built in 1912, is the backdrop of the Portland Christmas tree in Pioneer Courthouse Square during the holidays and it on the National Register of History Places. Also on the National Register of History Places is the Richardson Romanesque Pittock Mansion displaying what luxury at the beginning of the 20th century looked like. Pioneer Courthouse was built in 1875 and is now the heart of downtown. Architect A.R. Doyle designed both the U.S. National Bank and the Multnomah County Public Library in 1916 and 1918 respectively. Elegant Union Station, built in 1896, boasts a sharp neon sign instructing passers-by in Old Town to “Go By Train”. The most visible highlight of the Portland skyline is the US Bancorp Tower, also called “Big Pink” which was built as a parallelogram, looking either short and squat or tall and lean depending on the angle it’s viewed from, say Tracey and Michael.
Oregon Health & Science University is connected to downtown by the Portland Aerial Tram, which the Seattle Times says offers “A staggering view”. “Pill Hill” (Marquam Hill) not only hosts the university but also a level 1 trauma accredited general hospital and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital is a children’s hospital that specializes in pediatric medicine and care of children with long-term illness. The university maintains a number of outpatient primary care facilities including the Physician’s Pavilion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Health_%26_Science_University).
Portland’s eruv, established in 2009 as part of Portland Kollel, covers much of southwest Portland.
Parks abound in the southwest sextant. Tom McCall Waterfront Park hosts concerts and splash pads for summer relief. The South Willamette Riverfront is a Portland gem with cherry trees, walking and bike paths, and newer condominiums, as well as the OHSU tram entrance. The South Park Blocks and the Pettygrove and Lovejoy Fountain Parks also offer a respite from the heat of summer. The Skidmore Fountain area hosts the Saturday Market, a seasonal arts and crafts showplace and sale for local artisans.
Old Town and Chinatown cross the Northwest/Southwest border of Burnside. Old Town ghost tours cover shanghai tunnels and some of the most “haunted” places in Portland. Chinatown is closed to cars on the weekends and is the home of one of Portland’s infamous Voodoo Doughnuts shops.
Cross posted on my office website.