Most Portlanders describe the west side as more traditional than the other sextants. It’s where you’ll find many of the city’s art galleries, public art, and oldest homes. The history of Portland began on the west side, so you’ll find some of the city’s oldest historic buildings there.
Northwest Portland has some of the city’s most desirable neighborhoods, including the Pearl District, Alphabet District, Kings Heights, and Willamette Heights.
US News and World Report says: Portland concocts shopping streets as only the Northwest can: Quirky, fun and chic. The best example of the region’s commercial eccentricity is NW 23rd Avenue. Don’t expect the skyscrapers of Michigan Avenue or the Italian designers of Rodeo Drive. Here, you’ll find homegrown talent — case in point, shop owner and Portlander Lynn Medoff, who creates fabric wonders in her dress boutique Lena Medoyeff. There are also special-interest boutiques, …. Plus, Portland’s easygoing attitude makes shopping along NW 23rd Avenue much less stressful.”
The Northwest quadrant of Portland is where the city was founded. As the area’s website Northwest District Association states:
In the 1850s sea captain John Couch laid out his land claim in the 200 x 200 foot blocks that became the southern and eastern part of our Northwest Portland neighborhood. Danford Balch settled north and west of the Couch donation claim farming his land. Danford however became famous for publicly murdering his unwanted son-in-law at the Stark Street Ferry and was the first person hung for his crime in Portland in 1859. By the 1870s, the eastern half of the Balch donation claim was subdivided and completed the Northwest neighborhood that we know now.
Because of its age, Northwest Portland is considered to be the most traditional area of the city and where so much of the area’s improvement has been focused, starting with the historical buildings and some of Portland’s hottest neighborhoods including the Pearl District, Alphabet District, Kings Heights, and Willamette Heights. Art galleries, public art, trendy shops, and an eclectic collection of new and old homes make Northwest a fascinating area.
Per PortlandBridges.com, “NW Portland has been given the official name the “Alphabet District” …. It signifies that the streets in NW run alphabetically, starting with Burnside, Couch, Davis…up to Wilson Street. The area specifically around NW 23rd Ave is technically called Nob Hill….”
The Northwest quadrant is home to Forest Park, more than ten square miles of native forest with seventy miles of hiking trails. It is one of the largest urban parks in the United States with more than 112 bird and 62 mammal species. The trails connect Forest Park with The Audubon Society Sanctuary, Pittock Mansion, and Washington Park. Several other smaller parks are in the quadrant as well.
Cross posted on my office website.