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If the South Waterfront is so dangerous, why is Puddletown Bagels moving there?
The local bakery chain bet on its new RiverPlace location, announced in August, when news of protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office was already well known. It’s far from the first time someone’s seen economic potential in South Portland.
Up to this point, the west bank of the Willamette River south of downtown has been known for its glass high-rises built around Oregon Health & Science University’s sky tram parking lot. The place was deemed a “wasteland” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before then-City Commissioner Charlie Hales took an interest in the 1990s and found $50 million in seed money for developer Homer Williams. Now, a different, less honest branch of the federal government calls it a war zone.
Funny enough, the feds are in SoWa in the first place because of its splendid isolation. The ICE office down there was one of several businesses that took advantage of available real estate that didn’t need foot traffic—if you didn’t have a reason to be down there, the South Waterfront largely lacked cultural attractions to attract unwanted attention. But ICE blew its cover nearly a decade ago as a site for social media–informed protests (it’s been picketed almost since its inception, for what it’s worth), and now the South Waterfront has never had more outside attention. You can smell it in the air. It smells like a Geneva code violation.
Perhaps you’re new to the place. Maybe you have a couple of hours to kill between…whatever you might be doing down there…and you’d like to take in the sights, sample some xiao long bao, or catch the USC-Michigan game. That’s where WW comes in handy. For decades, we’ve produced hyperlocal annual place guides, first in Finder magazine and more recently in annual neighborhood issues. It’s been a decade since we’ve examined the South Waterfront, however. But if people are flocking to Portland’s spiciest enclave, we’ll provide the guidebook.
This area comprises at least three parts, loosely defined as RiverPlace, which is everything between the Hawthorne Bridge and Interstate 5; everything south of the OHSU buildings along public transit lines and north of South Bancroft Street; and John’s Landing (not the Lake Oswego–adjacent Johns Landing), which stretches from below Bancroft down to South Taylors Ferry Road westward uphill. For our purposes, we’re excluding everything west of the freeway, though there’s some great stuff up there too.
Some purists consider only the OHSU/Bancroft area as the South Waterfront, but who’s respecting jurisdictional boundaries these days? The latter two sections are connected by the Willamette Greenway Trail, meaning that all three are accessible without a car. A recent walking tour found more surprises than expected. Does the South Waterfront actually have culture?
RiverPlace
More than geese should flock to Tom McCall Waterfront Park, the gathering point for cultural events like the Waterfront Blues Festival. (It’s named for the former governor who famously said that outsiders should visit Oregon but not stay—advice that several wags have revived recently.) King Tide Fish & Shell (1510 SW Harbor Way, 503-295-6166, kingtidefishandshell.com) at the Kimpton RiverPlace Hotel is visible from the park. It serves fresh seafood and cocktails along with views of the Willamette River and nearby marina. Walking south along the promenade leads to salons, the main office for rental hot-tub boat service Yacht Tubs (315 S Montgomery St., #140, 503-327-8849, yacht-tubs.com), the Little River Cafe (315 S Montgomery St., #130, littlerivercafe.com) currently serving an ube cream latte, and the Italian restaurant Il Terrazzo and the adjacent Riverside Taproom (315 S Montgomery St., #140 and #160, 971-302-6691, ilterrazzopdx.com and riversidetaprooms.com). Near South Waterfront Park’s lowest tip by South Montgomery Street is Portland Sports Bar & Grill (1811 S River Drive, #200, 503-222-2027, portlandsportsbarandgrill.com), which was blaring classical music on a recent visit. There’s also the family-style Chinese dumpling restaurant Dough Zone (1910 S River Drive, 503-446-3500, doughzonedumplinghouse.com), where ordering a few entrees like dan dan noodles and bao buns offers affordable variety, and Riverwalk Cafe (2100 S River Parkway, 503-241-0307), which serves yakisoba and katsu along with croque madame.
OHSU, ICE and the Old Spaghetti Factory
National media and the military are parachuting down to SoWa’s second sector, likely starting at Elizabeth Caruthers Park. This area also features artistic summer programming at the outdoor venue Zidell Yards—which was once a shipbuilding dock and is now perpetually rumored for a baseball stadium—and the OHSU Aerial Tram, which travels up Marquam Hill and is cute if you’ve never tried it. If you’re feeling particularly bold, you can do a serious, Clarice Starling-style run in the mist atop the city from a starting point on Pill Hill along what’s called The 4T Trail, which stands for Trail, Tram, Trolley, Train (yes, “trail” is mentioned twice; don’t overthink it). OHSU’s campus leads to trails that spit hikers out at Council Crest Park and the Oregon Zoo, while the transit center near the pedestrian bridge Tilikum Crossing flows across the Willamette to East Portland via MAX, the Portland Streetcar or personal travel.
If anyone at an ICE protest tells you to eat shit, try Subway (3626 S Bond Ave., 503-295-1188, subway.com). Otherwise, this subdistrict features some of the neighborhood’s most diverse eateries. For every chain like Cha Cha Cha (3135 S Moody Ave., 503-224-0100, chachachapdx.com), there’s more than one independent option, like No Sabo (3159 S Moody Ave., 562-774-8537, nosabopdx.com), which took the leap from pop-up kitchen to brick-and-mortar in June. There’s places to perk up, like All Your Heart Coffee (3875 S Bond Ave., allyourheartcoffee.com), or to take the edge off, like Lone Wolf Watering Hole (3870 S River Parkway, 971-469-5253, lonewolfwateringhole.com), a craft beer and bottle shop with a river view that feels secluded even for SoWa. The company school of Oregon Ballet Theatre (720 S Bancroft St., 503-227-0977, obt.org) is not public-facing, but it’s worth noting that the state’s prima ballerinas are less afraid of SoWa than the president—ballerinas are physically fit and tough as hell, unlike him.
And what SoWa guide would be complete without the neighborhood’s crown jewel, that temple to true love, The Old Spaghetti Factory (715 S Bancroft St., 503-222-5375, osf.com)? Is the food great? No. But if your idea of pure romance was formed at 14 by mall-grade Italian food in a fancy-coded building with a private parking lot, this is as good as it gets without going to the Mall 205 Olive Garden by the queer bathhouse Hawks. (True love waits…for a side of breadsticks.) And even if your palate isn’t stuck in seventh grade, you can still enjoy OSF’s dining room views of the Willamette. Its two-story restaurant was the first spark of elegance to hit the South Waterfront, back when the area was still mostly shipyards.
John’s Landing
Walking the Willamette Greenway Trail can get you into the neighborhood formally known as Macadam for the road that bisects it, and admittedly this is going to be the farthest trek, so no shame if you choose to drive instead. That said, this area has some of the least intimidating, most character-filled spots beyond pristine glass high-rises. The pirate-themed Jolly Roger at John’s Landing (5627 S Kelly Ave., 503-246-5040, jollyrestaurants.com) and Buffalo Gap Saloon & Eatery (6835 S Macadam Ave., 503-244-7111, thebuffalogap.com) are rich in fried pub fare, chilled drinks and even chiller vibes. Among the restaurants within a three-block radius of one another is Bamboo Grove Hawaiian Grille (515 S Carolina St., 503-977-2771, bghawaiiangrille.com) with a loaded menu of barbecued meat, rice and mac salad platters, loco moco and saimin soup. Willamette Park, with its tennis courts and boat launch dock, offers several ways to enjoy nature.
Macadam is also home to unique businesses that make noises more pleasant than the dueling loudspeakers at ICE. Oregon Public Broadcasting has its offices down here, along with the singing telegram service Rockstar Singing Telegrams (5331 S Macadam Ave., #626, 866-979-7625, rockstarsingingtelegrams.com), which will perform such standards as “Sweet Child of Mine,” “I Believe in Miracles” and “Just the Way You Are.”
