by Geon, Bryan
Woodstock
Across 39th/César Chávez, to the southeast of Reed and just east of Eastmoreland—you could call it the land more east of Eastmoreland, in semi-palindromic fashion, but you would probably be the only one who called it that—lies increasingly popular Woodstock. The neighborhood’s “downtown” is an unpretentious commercial strip along Southeast Woodstock Boulevard that contains about every kind of business you’re liable to need on a daily basis: a gourmet coffeehouse, a hardware store, a supermarket, a pub, a wine store, and several restaurants, such as the popular Otto’s Sausage Kitchen (www.ottossausage.com). A new Grand Central bakery and a New Seasons grocery, both indicia of a neighborhood’s growing popularity among the relatively affluent, have recently opened here. Woodstock Park is a few blocks to the north. The streets nearby are lined with the kinds of homes that make Southeast Portland a popular place to live, such as bungalows and cute cottages, but they are generally smaller and much less expensive here than in trendier neighborhoods; the average home in Woodstock is in line with the Portland median price. Woodstock has an abundance of unpaved alleys, a feature that some residents like but that some people find surprising. The outer edges of the neighborhood include some ranch-style homes, and infill development is occurring on larger lots. Woodstock has a strong community spirit, and the Woodstock Festival and Parade brings the whole neighborhood out each July.
Bus service on the major streets is adequate in all three neighborhoods; it’s a 15- to 30-minute ride to downtown Portland. By car, it takes about 10 to 20 minutes.
North Tabor, South Tabor, and Montavilla
Neighborhood Associations: Montavilla, North Tabor, South Tabor
The North Tabor neighborhood, not coincidentally located just north of Mount Tabor, renamed itself a few years ago to make its position clear. (The previous name, Center, was far less descriptive, as the neighborhood is not really in the center of anything.) Northeast 60th Avenue bisects the North Tabor neighborhood, and serves as a useful demarcation line. West of here, the neighborhood fancies itself an eastern extension of Laurelhurst. While that perception is not strictly true (and certainly Laurelhurst residents don’t see it that way)—for one thing, average home sizes are smaller here than in Laurelhurst, and the streets are straight—the neighborhood does contain many attractive older homes that would not be out-of-place in its western neighbor. There are some apartment buildings here, too, particularly near Interstate 84 and along Glisan near Providence Portland Hospital. This stretch of Glisan also features American Dream Pizza, home of the hand-twisted crust (when they’re not too busy to bother).
North Tabor
East of 60th, the neighborhood becomes much more mixed, particularly north of Glisan. While there are still many older homes here, there are also apartments, duplexes, Cape Cods, ranches, and assorted new infill buildings, not all of which have been calculated to blend in well with their neighbors. There are also few sidewalks. Prices are lower in this part of the neighborhood, however, and some homes have views of downtown and the West Hills from atop Rosemont Bluff, at about 68th Avenue. The southern part of the neighborhood is reasonable walking distance to Mount Tabor Park.
Both Burnside and Glisan Streets have supermarkets and other businesses, and a small business node at 60th and Glisan has a few popular bars. The neighborhood has easy access to major highways and transit; bus lines run along Glisan, Burnside, and 60th, and the 60th Avenue MAX stop offers a quick trip downtown or to the airport. Because of the proximity of Interstate 84, traffic noise can be annoying in the northern fringe of the neighborhood.
On the opposite side of Mount Tabor, South Tabor is a fairly quiet, unassuming small neighborhood. Most homes here are relatively modest older houses, and the neighborhood is substantially less expensive than the Hawthorne-area neighborhoods just to the west but has a lower crime rate than neighborhoods to the southeast. Clinton Park, in the western part of the neighborhood, contains various sports fields and is a popular gathering place on summer evenings. Some new commercial and residential development is occurring here, driven in part by the creeping influence of the Division Street renaissance, and many residents are optimistic about the future of the neighborhood. In general, the western part of the neighborhood is considered more desirable and is certainly changing more rapidly than the eastern part.
To the east and southeast of North Tabor, the large Montavilla neighborhood (a contraction of “Mount Tabor Villa”) contains both quiet neighborhoods of modest, well-kept single-family houses and the somewhat unpleasant strip mall that is 82nd Avenue, along with some associated apartment buildings. On average, Montavilla is one of Portland’s least expensive neighborhoods—the median home price is well below the city median—but it also has a thriving and rapidly evolving commercial district along Stark Street east of Mount Tabor. New businesses like the Bipartisan Café, spruced-up old businesses like the restored Academy Theater (www.academytheaterpdx.com), and a farmers’ market held on Sundays from June through October (www.montavillamarket.org) have helped attract new investment and new residents to the area.
Montavilla
Montavilla is a block-by-block kind of neighborhood, and while there are no longer any truly awful zones, some streets are much more attractive and have a palpably better vibe than others. In general, the neighborhoods just downslope of Mount Tabor within a few blocks of Stark Street are considered the most desirable and have seen the greatest influx of new residents, including families interested in living close-in and but priced out of neighborhoods farther west. The neighborhood is fairly well-served by transit, with bus lines on Burnside, Glisan, Belmont, and 82nd, and MAX lines along Interstate 84 to the north and Interstate 205 to the east. By car, downtown Portland is about a 15-minute drive (without traffic) or a 30-minute bike ride.
Other Southeast Portland Neighborhoods
Neighborhood Associations: Brentwood-Darlington, Foster-Powell, Mount Scott
Roughly south of Powell Boulevard and east of 52nd Avenue, the neighborhoods of Southeast Portland become less fashionable. This fact also means they become less expensive. Some people who make it their business to claim to know such things predict that these Southeast neighborhoods are destined to become the city’s next hotspot. The process has already started in some neighborhoods, so you might want to get in while the getting’s good. At the same time, parts of Southeast Portland are not for everyone. Many areas have a high crime rate, and 82nd Avenue has a long way to go before it overcomes its totally justified reputation as an enormous seedy strip mall; prostitution activity has historically been a major complaint of residents here. Even 82nd is beginning to improve, however, as an influx of Asian businesses, including the enormous Fubonn Mall (www.fubonn.com), start to replace the “lingerie modeling” shacks and windowless taverns.
Foster-Powell is a triangular and perhaps up-and-coming neighborhood between the major thoroughfares of Powell Boulevard and Foster Road. The neighborhood is home to both long-time residents and to recent immigrants with very different origins, as the business signs in Russian, Vietnamese, and Spanish attest, but it is also drawing in self-conscious urban pioneers who are on the lookout for bargains. Even Foster Road, which was for many years the red-headed stepchild of Southeast Portland thoroughfares, has begun to see some new cafés and other harbingers of demographic shift, particularly at its western end.
The Mount Scott neighborhood to the south centers on the tree island of Mount Scott Park, a shady park with a popular community center (which contains both a mini–roller rink and an awesome indoor pool complex, complete with an artificial “river”). The homes around the park are generally modest, but many have been fixed up nicely. (Note that not only is the Mount Scott neighborhood essentially flat, it is nowhere near Mount Scott itself. That prominent butte is in Clackamas County, near Clackamas Town Center.)
Hard against the Clackamas County line, the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood has a relatively high rate of both property and violent crime. O
n the plus side, it vies for the title of the city’s most affordable neighborhood, at least west of Interstate 205. Both the extreme western portion and extreme eastern portion of the neighborhood have access to the Springwater Trail Corridor, a multi-use bike path that runs from the Willamette River east to Gresham and Boring.
Bus service along the main east-west streets is good throughout these neighborhoods; the only north-south bus lines run along 82nd Avenue and 60th Avenue. MAX light-rail service runs along Interstate 205, not far to the east of 82nd.
Southeast Portland Neighborhood Information
ZIP Codes: 97202, 97206, 97213, 97214, 97215, 97232
Post Offices: Brooklyn Post Office, 1410 SE Powell Blvd; Creston Post Office, 5010 SE Foster Rd; East Portland Post Office, 1020 SE 7th Ave; Sellwood Post Office, 6723 SE 16th Ave
Police Station: Portland Police Bureau, Central Precinct (areas west of 39th/César Chávez), 1111 SW 2nd Ave, 503-823-3333 (non-emergency); East Precinct (areas east of 39th/César Chávez), 737 SE 106th Ave, 503-823-4800 (non-emergency)
Emergency Hospitals: Adventist Medical Center, 10123 SE Market St, 503-257-2500, www.adventisthealthnw.com; OHSU Hospital, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, 503-494-8311, www.ohsu.edu/xd/health/; Providence Milwaukie Hospital, 10150 SE 32nd Ave, Milwaukie, 503-513-8300, www.providence.org; Providence Portland Medical Center, 4805 NE Glisan St, 503-215-1111, www.providence.org
Libraries: Belmont Library, 1038 SE César E Chávez Blvd, 503-988-5382; Holgate Library, 7905 SE Holgate Blvd, 503-988-5389; Sellwood-Moreland Library, 7860 SE 13th Ave, 503-988-5398; Woodstock Library, 6008 SE 49th Ave, 503-988-5399
Parks: Major parks include Mount Tabor Park, Laurelhurst Park, Westmoreland Park, Creston Park, Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, Woodstock Park, and Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden; www.portlandparks.org
Community Publications: Southeast Examiner, www.southeastexaminer.com; The Bee, www.thebeenews.com
Public Transportation: TriMet, 503-238-RIDE, www.trimet.org; comprehensive bus service, including frequent service routes, west of about 50th Avenue, with service on main routes east of 50th Avenue. Streetcar service along MLK Jr Blvd and Grand Avenue. Light rail runs along Interstate 84 and Interstate 205, and (beginning late 2015) along McLoughlin Blvd to Milwaukie.
North Portland
Boundaries: North: Columbia River; West: Willamette River; South: Willamette River; East: North Williams Avenue
Until relatively recently, Portland’s “fifth quadrant”—the peninsula between the Willamette and Columbia rivers, where a wide deviation in the Willamette’s course makes mincemeat of the city’s Burnside-and-river-oriented directional system—was typically overlooked or avoided by newcomers and many long-time Portlanders alike. Crime rates in much of the area were sky-high, schools were perceived as appalling, and the urban fabric was in a general state of decay. While it’s not exactly yuppie central—and most North Portlanders are fine with that—the district has undergone dramatic changes in the last five years. Buoyed in part by a new light rail line along Interstate Avenue, in part by soaring home prices in more traditionally fashionable parts of the city, and in part by urban renewal districts and investment incentives, North Portland experienced some of the city’s fastest real estate appreciation over the last decade. New residents moved in with paint pails and big plans, and flippers did quick cosmetic makeovers, giving new life to formerly neglected homes. At the same time, many individual homes—and entire swaths of some neighborhoods—still await revitalization.
Of course, one person’s revitalization is another person’s gentrification, and not everyone in North Portland (or NoPo, as some boosters somewhat gratingly call it) welcomes the change. Rising housing prices have forced or enticed many long-time residents to move away, and some businesses are perceived as catering more to affluent new residents and visitors from other parts of the city than to actual local needs. Moreover, because many of the area’s new residents are childless, some of the area’s public schools suffer from declining enrollments and a continuing need for improvement. Still, the influx of newcomers has also brought (or coincided with) some positive changes, like a declining crime rate. In fact, North Portland no longer has any true no-go neighborhoods, although some streets are nicer than others and old perceptions die hard, especially in the suburbs. In sum, North Portland might be a great choice for people who are looking for relatively inexpensive housing in a newly “hot” or transitioning neighborhood, and who are willing to live with a bit of residual grittiness in exchange.
Boise-Eliot, the North Mississippi District, King, and Overlook
Neighborhood Associations: Boise, Eliot, King (partial), Overlook
The Boise and Eliot neighborhoods, just east of Interstate 5 and the Willamette River in close-in North Portland, have undergone perhaps the swiftest and most dramatic renaissance of any neighborhood in the city. Once part of the independent city of Albina, these neighborhoods were originally built as middle-class housing for northern European immigrants. After the Vanport flood of 1948, which wiped out a World War II–era public housing project near the Columbia River, many former Vanport residents, mostly African-Americans, were relocated to Albina. (At that time, housing covenants and discriminatory real estate practices effectively barred African-Americans from most other parts of the city.) The neighborhood was almost entirely African-American by the 1960s.
Interstate 5 was plowed through the heart of Albina, and the community began a long decline.
Beginning in the 1990s, a few people from other parts of the city recognized what they considered the untapped potential of the then blighted, high-crime Boise and Eliot neighborhoods—a close-in location, a stock of classic old homes, and a commercial district (albeit one that was largely boarded up). Some started to buy and renovate homes and businesses. This influx has continued and accelerated, and today these neighborhoods are very much desegregated. Indeed, Boise-Eliot (as the two neighborhoods are collectively called) is probably the most racially diverse neighborhood in the state. (The neighborhoods extend into Northeast Portland, but the character of the neighborhood does not change meaningfully from one quadrant to the other.)
Boise-Eliot
North Mississippi Avenue, in the Boise neighborhood, is ground zero in the revitalization/gentrification of North Portland. The bustling part of the street is just a few blocks long, running roughly from Fremont Street to Skidmore Street. In less than a decade, and really only in the last five years, the street has gathered an assortment of some of the city’s most popular eateries (and beverageries) and a collection of shops that is, to put it mildly, eclectic: retail establishments include a lightbulb store (Sunlan, www.sunlanlighting.com), a small nursery and urban chicken farmer supply store (Pistils, www.pistilsnursery.com), and The Meadow (www.atthemeadow.com), which purveys chocolate, wine, flowers, and gourmet finishing salt varieties from around the world. The Rebuilding Center (www.rebuildingcenter.org), a popular source of recycled building materials and fixtures, dominates the south end of the strip.
North Mississippi’s trendiness has spilled over onto other nearby Boise streets—North Williams Avenue now boasts hip restaurants like Lincoln (www.lincolnpdx.com) and the popular Fifth Quadrant pub, and a Grand Central Bakery location opened on Fremont—but not every commercial building is hipster fodder. The area is still full of mysterious old buildings with cracked, weedy parking lots.
Eliot neighborhood, to the south of Boise, is not yet as trendy as Boise, but it is getting there. Toro Bravo (www.torobravopdx.com) on Northeast Russell draws tapas hunters from across the city, and the nearby Wonder Ballroom features frequent live performances by local and nationally known acts. The southern portion of Eliot, along Interstate Avenue between Interstate 5 and the river, is primarily commercial and light industrial, but some trendy spots have opened here, too, such as Swedish restaurant Broder Nord (www.broderpdx.com).
The adjacent King neighborhood is technically in Northeast Portland, and much of it is generally c
onsidered part of the Alberta Arts area, but in terms of demographics, housing stock, and stage of development, the western part of King is much more akin to Boise-Eliot. King straddles, and is named for, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which, like North Missisippi, has undergone a significant transformation over the last few years. While MLK is a busier street, and could never become compact and quaint, it has attracted significant redevelopment capital, and hip new restaurants and cafés and creative businesses now stand alongside the tatty convenience stores and gas stations.
North Mississippi Avenue
The Boise-Eliot and King neighborhood housing stock is as diverse as its commercial establishments, and includes everything from foursquares, Craftsman bungalows, tiny cottages, and a few old Victorians to converted churches, mixed-use buildings, apartments, and brand-new blocks of modernist condos on Mississippi Avenue itself. These neighborhoods are notable for relying less on taupe as part of an exterior color scheme than any other part of the city; homeowners are not afraid of bold colors or exuberant (but not necessarily weedy) gardens. Not every house has been redone, and there are still plenty of long-time residents living in dated but well-kept homes (along with some dated and dilapidated homes), but the gentrification juggernaut has resulted in a wave of renovation and new construction in the area. Many residents, both old and new, have already cashed out and moved on. The new denizens of the North Mississippi Avenue district fall predominantly into the “youthful hipster” or “creative class” demographics. The area has so far failed to attract a critical mass of new families, in part because some people consider the schools to be less desirable than those in some other parts of the city. This situation is slowly changing, however, and the neighborhoods are hardly devoid of children.
