West Portland Neighborhoods: A place full of parks and gardens
West Portland Neighborhoods includes the whole downtown area, most of the tall buildings you see in the skyline, the Pearl District, the Alphabet District, and Forest Park. It rises quickly from the river up into Forest Park, the West Hills and the SW Hills. As you get up out of the downtown, the streets wind and climb. There are lots of trees in West Portland Neighborhoods – it’s beautiful. It’s hard to really walk anyplace – the public transportation isn’t that good- it’s more like the suburbs. But still part of the city- and close in. You can take back roads into the city – which stay a lot clearer than the freeways at rush hour – but you usually have to drive where you want to go…. unless you live in close-in NW Portland – near the Alphabet District or Goose Hollow. Washington Park and Forest Park are part of West Portland Neighborhoods . They are both spectacular, really special and unique areas to have in a big city like Portland. Forest Park is over 5000 acres with over 70 miles of trails through the forest, with lots of wildlife, birds and serenity! There are gorgeous views of the city, river and mountains as you walk on the forest trails. It is almost surreal! Washington Park is my favorite park of all in West Portland Neighborhoods. It has a wonderful zoo, an Arboretum, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Children’s Museum, Forestry Center, and is crisscrossed by trails that let you access it from all sides. You can also take the MAX train and get off by the Zoo, and access the park. To me it is amazing that a city like Portland can have 2 parks so beautiful as these, yet so different, within it’s city limits! We wrote about each individual neighborhood and put in links and photos and other info so you can get the feel for each individual place! If you would like to see any houses in any of West Portland neighborhoods, or just get a free neighborhood tour so you can get the feel of the neighborhood, that is what we specialize in! Just give us a call and we can set it up!
NW Portland Neighborhoods
The NW part of Portland is on the west side of the Willamette River and encompasses the downtown area north of Burnside, and stretches west out over Forest Park, Sylvan and the Zoo- and north west over to Skyline Blvd – billowing mostly north of highway 26 until it runs into Beaverton or Hillsboro. The NW downtown area includes the Alphabet District- which is one of Portland’s oldest Neighborhoods- with some gorgeous Victorian and Old PDX style homes, some of them 4 stories high!. The reason it is called the Alphabet District, is that the early fathers of Portland decided to name the streets in order starting with the letter A through Z, although I don’t think they ever got to Z! Today, this downtown NW area includes original Old Portland-style houses- squeezed in together with grand old apartment buildings. lofts and brand new condominiums- all within walking distance of restaurants, bars, and shops. The Portland Streetcar ends here, connecting the district to the Pearl District and Downtown SW Portland.
This downtown NW district stretches west to east from the base of the South West Hills- also called the Tualatin Mountains) to I-405 (between NW 15th and 16th Streets), and north to south from NW Nicolai St. and the Willamette River to W Burnside St. It borders the Neighborhoods of Forest Park and Hillside on the west, Northwest Industrial on the north, the Pearl District on the east, and Goose Hollow on the south. The downtown area includes the trendy shopping center of NW 23rd, NW 21st and The Pearl.
You can learn about the different Neighborhoods encompassed in this NW Portland area by reading the different selections below. Each neighborhood is very different, and each offers a unique personality and lifestyle, so browse the different neighborhoods included in this section. If you would like to see some houses in any of the neighborhoods, we would love to show you! We specialize in giving Portland Neighborhood Tours, helping people get to know the different diverse neighborhoods of Portland, and have been giving tours since 2005! Just call or email us and we can set it up!
SW Portland Neighborhoods
The SW part of Portland is on the west side of the Willamette River and encompasses the downtown area south of Burnside. It stretches from North to South along an imaginary 65th Ave- as the crow flies. It borders Beaverton, Tigard and Lake Oswego. The city of Portland has listed some of the neighborhoods that logically should be SW neighorhoods, in the NW Neighborhood Coalition, so we included those in both SW and NW. SW neighborhoods run along the Willamette River from Burnside south, past the Ross Island Bridge and almost to the Sellwood Bridge. Then they go up from the river to meet the NW neighborhoods. The SW is very diverse, each neighborhood offering something a little different. Some have little downtown areas that you can walk to, like Multnomah Village, Hillsdale and Burlingame. Others have huge parks like Washington Park, and Tryon Creek State Park. Most have good schools and pretty good access as a commute to Portland. But it is a different lifestyle than what you would find on the east side of Portland. It feels more like a suburb. There are winding hilly streets with no sidewalks, lots of trees and big yards! You can learn about each individual neighborhood by reading the descriptions below. If one interests you, just click on it to get more in depth info on it. And if you would like to see some houses in the area, or get a tour of any or all of the neighborhoods, just ask! We have specialized in giving Portland Neighborhood Tours since 2005!
Downtown Portland
Technically this neighborhood is just on the SW side of the city, but the city of Portland has it catagorized under the NW Neighborhood Associations, so to avoid confusion, we are including it in both the NW Neighborhoods, and also have made a category for it by itself, since it is The Downtown! Downtown Portland has so much to offer from its world class restaurants to its farmers markets and festivals. Downtown is found in the SW Part of the inner west side of the city, including everything from from the Willamette to Interstate 405, and south from Burnside Street to just south of the Portland State University campus. North of Burnside is the Pearl closer to the Willamette, and the Alphabet District west of about 14th. This part of downtown is more the cultural district, with the University, museums, art etc.
