Neighborhood:
Downtown Portland was dubbed “Stumptown” in the 1850s as clear-cutting made way for rapid growth and left behind only stumps. (read more) Now, the joke goes, the name riffs off the size of our skyscrapers (the tallest, Wells Fargo Center at 1300 SW 5th Ave., is just 546 feet). Downtown may not have reached epic heights, but on the upside, it remains a living, breathing neighborhood as well as a nexus of political and financial power. Where else in town can you find an uptight lawyer, a Prada-wearing shopper on her way to Pioneer Place (700 SW 5th Ave.) and a street kid with a spiked mohawk, all standing at the same burrito cart? Downtown centers on Pioneer Courthouse Square (Southwest 6th Avenue and Morrison Street), an urban tabula rasa hosting everything from brew festivals to peace marches. Downtown’s architecture ranges from the triumph of the classical Multnomah County Central Library (801 SW 10th Ave., 988-1523) to the tragedy of the postmodern Portland Building (1120 SW 5th Ave.), whose saving grace is the gargantuan bronze Portlandia statue out front. Follow the South Park Blocks past the Portland Art Museum (1219 SW Park Ave., 226-2811) to Portland State University (1825 SW Broadway), where hungover students collide with shoppers at Portland Farmers Market (Southwest Park Avenue between Harrison and Montgomery streets) every Saturday. At Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park (Southwest Naito Parkway between Southwest Harrison and Northwest Glisan streets), inline skaters and recumbent cyclists blow past pot dealers and flocks of Canada geese, while the blocks just west of the Burnside Bridge house the core of the city’s live music scene as well as the pioneering strip bar Mary’s Club (129 SW Broadway, 227-3023). —James Pitkin.
