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Renting an Apartment in Portland
What You Should Know
Portland is the largest city in the state of Oregon, and county seat of
Multnomah County. It straddles the Willamette River immediately south of its
confluence with the Columbia River. Portland is the third largest city in the
Pacific Northwest after Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia,
with a population of 556,370 (July 1, 2005 estimate). Approximately 2 million
live in the surrounding metropolitan area (MSA), the 24th-largest in the U.S.
Portland is known as "The City of Roses" or "Rose City" — its climate is ideal
for their cultivation, and the city has many rose gardens, including the
International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park. Other nicknames include "Stumptown"
(due to early logging to clear land for development), "Bridgetown" (due to
its numerous bridges), "Puddletown" (due to the rainy weather), "River City"
(due to its proximity to the Willamette and Columbia), "PDX" (after the city's
airport code), "P-town."
History
Portland started as a spot known as "the clearing", which was on the banks of
the Willamette about halfway which was on the banks of the Willamette about
halfway between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver. In 1843, William Overton saw
great commercial potential for this land, but lacked the funds required to file
a land claim. He struck a bargain with his partner Asa Lovejoy of Boston,
Massachusetts: for 25 cents, Overton would share his claim to the 640-acre (2.6 km) site. Overton later sold his half of the claim to Francis W. Pettygrove of Portland, Maine. Pettygrove and Lovejoy both wished to name the
new city after their own home town; this was decided with a coin toss, which
Pettygrove won.
At the time of its incorporation on February 8, 1851 Portland had over 800
inhabitants, a steam sawmill, a log cabin hotel, and a newspaper, the Weekly
Oregonian. By 1879, the population had grown to 17,500.
Portland's location, with access both to the Pacific Ocean via the Willamette
and the Columbia rivers and to the agricultural Tualatin Valley via the "Great
Plank Road" through a canyon in the West Hills (the route of current-day U.S.
Highway 26), gave it an advantage over nearby ports, and it grew quickly. It
remained the major port in the Pacific Northwest for much of the 19th century,
until the 1890s, when Seattle's deepwater harbor was connected to the rest of
the mainland by rail, affording an inland route without the treacherous
navigation of the Columbia River.
The first known reference to Portland as "The City of Roses" was made by
visitors to an 1888 Episcopal Church convention, the nickname growing in
popularity after the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition where Mayor
Harry Lane suggested that the city needed a "festival of roses" The first
Portland Rose Festival was held two years later, and remains the city's major
annual festival a century later.
Law and Government
The city of Portland is governed by a mayor, four city commissioners and an
auditor, who are each elected citywide to serve four-year terms. The city
council consists of the mayor (Tom Potter as of 2005) and commissioners. The
auditor does not have a vote on the city council or direct city operations, but
provides checks and balances in the commission form of government and
accountability for the use of public resources. In addition, the auditor gives
access to information for all Council members and the public and issues reports
on various matters of city government.
The city's Office of Neighborhood Involvement serves as a conduit between city
government and 95 neighborhood associations grouped into seven coalitions.
Portland and its surrounding metropolitan area are also served by Metro, the
nation's only directly elected regional government. Metro's charter includes
land use and transportation planning, solid waste management, and map
development. It also owns and operates the Oregon Convention Center, Oregon Zoo,
Portland Center for Performing Arts, and Portland Metropolitan Exposition
Center.
Planning and development
Portland is often cited as an example of a city with strong land use planning
control the opposite extreme, a city with few or no controls, is typically
illustrated by Houston, Texas. This is largely the result of statewide land
conservation policies adopted in 1973 under Governor Tom McCall, in particular
the requirement for an urban growth boundary (UGB) for every city and
metropolitan area.
Portland's urban growth boundary, adopted in 1979, separates urban areas (where
high-density development is encouraged and focused) from traditional farm land
(where restrictions on non-agricultural development are very strict). This was atypical in an era when automobile use led many areas to
neglect their core cities in favor of development along interstate highways, in
suburbs, and satellite cities.
As a result, one can see pastoral farmlands and old red barns within 15 miles of
downtown Portland, literally across the street from large suburban developments
(where that street is the urban growth boundary.) Opponents argue that this
growth boundary has limited growth and increased the costs of housing;
proponents argue that it has preserved valuable farmland, made possible the
popular farmer's markets in Portland, and brought more efficient public
transportation and less traffic than similarly sized cities.
As the population has grown (twice as fast as the national average, during the
1980s and 1990s), and undeveloped land inside the urban growth boundary has
dwindled, there has been pressure to change or relax the rules. The rapid growth
of two major employers in Washington County (the Nike shoe corporation, and the
Intel semiconductor corporation) contributed to this pressure.
The original state rules included a provision for expanding urban growth
boundaries, but critics felt this wasn't being accomplished. In 1995, the
Legislature ordered cities to expand UGBs to provide enough undeveloped land for
a 20 year supply of future housing at projected levels, and to complete the
expansion by the end of 1999.
The Portland Development Commission is a semi-public agency that plays a major
role in downtown development; it was created by city voters in 1958 to serve as
the city’s urban renewal agency. It provides housing and economic development
programs within the city, and works behind the scenes with major local
developers to create large projects. It has been criticized for clubbiness and
lack of transparency.
In the early 1960s, the PDC led the razing of a large Italian-Jewish
neighborhood downtown, bounded roughly by the I-405 freeway, the Willamette
River, 4th Avenue and Market street. It was replaced by concrete office
developments that proponents find clean and modern, and opponents find
antiseptic and lifeless at night.
Mayor Neil Goldschmidt took office in the 1970s as a proponent of bringing
housing and the associated vitality back to the downtown area, which was seen as
emptying out after 5pm. The effort has had dramatic effects in the 30 years
since, with many thousands of new housing units clustered in 3 areas; west of
Portland State University (between the I-405 freeway, SW Broadway, and SW Taylor
St.); the RiverPlace development along the waterfront under the Marquam (I-5)
bridge; and most notably in the Pearl District (between I-405, Burnside St., NW
Northrup St., and NW 9th Ave.).
In 2006, Portland was ranked overall number 1 of 50 U.S. cities by the
organization SustainLane on quality of life and economic factors that affect
personal sustainability.
Geography and climate
Portland lies at the northern end of Oregon's most populated region, the
Willamette Valley. (As the metropolitan area is culturally and politically
distinct from the rest of the valley, local usage often excludes Portland from
the valley proper.) Although almost all of Portland lies within Multnomah
County, small portions of the city lie within Clackamas and Washington counties,
with mid-2005 populations estimated at 785 and 1,455, respectively. According
to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 145.4 mi
(376.5 km). 134.3 mi (347.9 km) of it is land and 11.1 mi (28.6 km), or
7.6%, is water.
Portland lies on top of an extinct Plio-Pleistocene volcanic field. The
Boring Lava Field includes at least 32 cinder cones and small shield volcanoes
lying within a radius of 13 miles of Kelly Butte, which is approximately four
miles east of downtown Portland.
Climate
Portland's climate is temperate and seasonal. The average rainfall ranges
between approximately 40 to 45 inches per year depending on location. Portland
averages 155 days with measureable precipitation a year. Snowfall is rather
uncommon. Although it lies in the Marine West Coast climate zone, Portland shows
many characteristics of a Mediterranean climate. The city has mild wet winters,
and warm, dry summers. The summer months (June through September) mark the
driest period, averaging no more than one inch of rain per month, but it is not
uncommon for summer months to receive little or no precipitation. November
through April is the rainy season, with 80% of the total annual rainfall
occurring in those months. Winter low temperatures hover around 35 F (2 C),
and summer highs average around 80 F (27 C), however summer heat waves with
temperatures exceeding 100 F (38 C) do occur on occasion. But for the most
part, the Portland summers are very pleasant with abundant sunshine. The lowest
temperature ever recorded in Portland was −3 F (−19 C), set on February 2,
1950. Portland recorded a record high temperature of 107 F (42 C) numerous
times, and temperatures of 100 F (38 C) have been recorded in each of the
months from May through September.
Sections and neighborhoods
Portland straddles the Willamette River near its confluence with the Columbia
River. The denser and earlier-developed west side is mostly hemmed in by the
nearby West Hills (Tualatin Mountains), though it extends over them to the
border with Washington County. The flatter east side fans out for about 180
blocks, until it meets the suburb of Gresham. Rural Multnomah County lies
farther east.
In 1891 the cities of Portland, Albina, and East Portland were consolidated, and
duplicate street names were given new names. The "great renumbering" on
September 2, 1931 standardized street naming patterns, and changed house numbers
from 20 per block to 100 per block. It divided Portland into five sections:
Southwest, Southeast, Northwest, North, and Northeast. Burnside St. divides
north and south, and the Willamette River divides east and west. The river
curves west five blocks north of Burnside and in place of it, Williams Ave. is
used as a divider. The North section lies between Williams Ave. and the
Willamette to the west.
The streets of Portland are for the most part laid out on a grid, with named
"streets" running perpendicular to the Willamette River and numbered "avenues"
running parallel to (and with numbers increasing with distance from) the river.
The grid breaks down in hilly regions, particularly in the West Hills, where
roads follow the countours of elevation.
Southwest
Downtown Portland lies in the Southwest section between the I-405 freeway loop
and the Willamette River, centered around Pioneer Courthouse Square ("Portland's
living room"). Downtown and many other parts of inner Portland have compact
square blocks (200 ft [60 m] on a side) and narrow streets (64 ft [20 m] wide),
a pedestrian-friendly combination.
Many of Portland's recreational, cultural, educational, governmental, business,
and retail resources are concentrated downtown, including:
* South Park Blocks, Pettygrove and Lovejoy Parks, and Tom McCall Waterfront
Park
* Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland Art Museum, and Oregon Historical
Society Museum
* Portland City Hall, the Portland Building, Pioneer Courthouse, and Mark O.
Hatfield United States Courthouse
* Portland State University, with the largest student body of any in Oregon
* The Meier & Frank Building, Pioneer Place mall, Wells Fargo Center, and the
World Trade Center
Beyond downtown, the Southwest section also includes:
* The campuses of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Lewis & Clark
College, and Portland Community College/Sylvania
* Neighborhoods like South Portland, South Burlingame, Hillsdale, and Multnomah,
with unique residential houses and well defined commercial and retail districts
* Alpenrose Dairy in the Hayhurst neighborhood, the grounds of which host track
cycling and Little League sports
* Washington Park, site of North America's deepest transit station, the Oregon
Zoo, Hoyt Arboretum, the International Rose Test Garden, the Portland Japanese
Garden, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and many hiking trails.
* The south Willamette riverfront along SW Macadam Ave., over 100 acres (0.4
km) of former industrial land. This area is undergoing redevelopment as a
mixed-use, high-density neighborhood, with an anticipated 2,700 residential
units and 5,000 high-tech jobs after build-out.
Northwest
Northwest Portland includes the Pearl District, most of Old Town Chinatown, the
Northwest District, and various residential and industrial neighborhoods. A
range of streets in Northwest Portland are named alphabetically, from Burnside
north to Yeon. (Several characters in Portland native Matt Groening's TV show
The Simpsons have names based on these: Ned Flanders, the bully Kearney,
Reverend Lovejoy, Mayor Quimby, and possibly C. Montgomery Burns[ide].)
The Pearl District is a recent name for a former warehouse and industrial area
just north of downtown. Many of the warehouses have been converted into lofts,
and new multistory condominiums have also been developed on previously vacant
land. The increasing density has attracted a mix of restaurants, brewpubs,
shops, and art galleries. The galleries sponsor simultaneous artists' receptions
on the first Thursday of every month.
Between the Pearl District and the Willamette is the Old Town Chinatown
neighborhood. It includes Portland's Chinatown, marked by a pair of lions at its
entrance at NW 4th Ave. and W Burnside St. and home to the Portland Classical
Chinese Garden. Before World War II, this area was known as Japan Town or Little
Tokyo; Chinatown was previously located just south of W. Burnside St. along the
riverfront.
Further west is the compact but thriving NW 21st and 23rd Avenue restaurant and
retail area, the core of the Northwest District. Parts of this area are also
called Uptown and Nob Hill. The residential areas adjacent to the shopping
district include the Alphabet Historic District (with large Victorian and
Craftsman homes built in the years before and shortly after 1900) and a large
district centered around Wallace Park. The neighborhood has a mix of
Victorian-era houses, apartment buildings from throughout the 20th century, and
various businesses centered around Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center. The
Portland Streetcar connects Nob Hill to downtown, via the Pearl.
West of the developed areas is the northern portion of Portland's West Hills,
including the majority of extensive Forest Park.
North
North Portland is a diverse mixture of residential, commercial, and industrial
areas. It includes the Portland International Raceway, the University of
Portland, and massive cargo facilities of the Port of Portland.
North Portland is connected to the industrial area of Northwest Portland by the
St. Johns Bridge, a 2,067 ft long suspension bridge completed in 1931 and
extensively rehabilitated in 2003-5.
During World War II, a planned development named Vanport was constructed to the
north of this section between the city limits and the Columbia River. It grew to
be the second largest city in Oregon, but was wiped out by a disastrous flood in
1948. Columbia Villa, another wartime housing project in the Portsmouth
Neighborhood, is being rebuilt; the new $150 million community will be known as
New Columbia and will offer public housing, rental housing, and single family
home ownership units. Since 2004, a light rail line runs along Interstate
Avenue, which parallels I-5.
Northeast
Northeast Portland contains a diverse collection of neighborhoods. For example,
while Irvington and the Alameda Ridge boast some of the oldest and most
expensive homes in Portland, nearby King is a more working-class neighborhood.
Because it is so large, Northeast Portland can essentially be divided
ethnically, culturally, and geographically into inner and outer sections. The
inner Northeast neighborhoods that surround Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. were
once predominantly African American, resembling typical urban inner-city
environments found in most major U.S. cities. That is now changing due to the
process of gentrification. Inner Northeast includes several shopping areas, such
as the Lloyd District, Alberta Arts District and Hollywood, and part of the
affluent Irvington, Alameda, and Laurelhurst neighborhoods and nearby
developments. The city plan targets Lloyd District as another mixed-use area,
with high-density residential development.
At the base of Northeast is the Rose Quarter. It is named after the Rose Garden
Arena, home of the Portland Trail Blazers, and also includes the Blazers' former
home, the Memorial Coliseum. The Coliseum is the home to Portland's hockey team,
the Portland Winter Hawks, of the Western Hockey League, though they often play
at the Rose Garden. The newest Rose Quarter tenants are the LumberJax of the
National Lacrosse League.
The city still holds the lease to the land and owns the Coliseum, but the Rose
Garden and other buildings were owned by private business interests until they
went into receivership. The area is quite active during the teams' home games,
and the city hopes to extend the activity by promoting a major increase in
residential units in the quarter using zoning and tax incentives.
Southeast
Southeast Portland stretches from the warehouses by the Willamette, through the
historic Ladd's Addition, to the Hawthorne and Belmont districts. Southeast
Portland residents initially tended to the blue-collar but have since evolved
into a wide mix of backgrounds; inner southeast is home to several thriving
subcultures including Hippies, Hipsters, and environmentalists, while the outer
edges are populated by a diverse, largely working-class population which
includes immigrant communities from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. The
Hawthorne district is known for its hippie/radical crowd and small subculturally-oriented
shops. Outer Southeast, particularly the area surrounding 82nd Avenue is
constantly littered with Anarchist graffiti.
Farther south, the Brooklyn, Sellwood-Moreland, Woodstock, Brentwood-Darlington,
and Eastmoreland neighborhoods near Reed College are close to the Willamette
River. The big box stores along SE 82nd Avenue, Clackamas Town Center and Mall
205 are the largest retail centers serving the area.
Between the 1920s and the 1960s, Southeast was home to Lambert Gardens.
Southeast Portland also features Mt. Tabor, a park with one of only two extinct
volcanoes in a continental U.S. city, which (on the south slope) is home to
Warner Pacific College.
People and culture
Demographics
As of the 2000 census, there are 529,121 people residing in the city, organized
into 223,737 households and 118,356 families. The population density is
1,521/km (3,939.2/mi). There are 237,307 housing units at an average density
of 682.1/km (1,766.7/mi). The racial makeup of the city is 77.91% White, 6.64%
African American, 6.33% Asian, 1.06% Native American, 0.38% Pacific Islander,
3.55% from other races, and 4.15% from two or more races. 6.81% of the
population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Out of 223,737 households, 24.5% have children under the age of 18 living with
them, 38.1% are married couples living together, 10.8% have a female householder
with no husband present, and 47.1% are non-families. 34.6% of all households are
made up of individuals and 9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age
or older. The average household size is 2.3 and the average family size is 3.
In the city the population is spread out with 21.1% under the age of 18, 10.3%
from 18 to 24, 34.7% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who are 65
years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there
are 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 95.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $40,146, and the median income
for a family is $50,271. Males have a reported median income of $35,279 versus
$29,344 reported for females. The per capita income for the city is $22,643.
13.1% of the population and 8.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of
the total population, 15.7% of those under the age of 18 and 10.4% of those 65
and older are living below the poverty line. Oregon has a 9% income tax which
tends to suppress accurate reporting. Figures delineating the income levels
based on race are not available at this time.
Portland is becoming increasingly diverse. Recent trends have more young people
moving into the city as older, more established white families with children
move to the suburbs. Although the city has the highest
percentage of white residents of an American city of 500,000 or more, 60% of
people moving to Oregon are non-white.
However, though the population of the city is increasing, the total population
of children is diminishing, which has put pressure on the public school system
to close schools. A recent study found that Portland is now educating fewer
children than it did in 1925, and the city will have to close the equivalent of
three to four elementary schools each year for the next decade.
Portland's public school system has remained racially imbalanced. As of the 2000
census, three of its high schools (Cleveland, Lincoln and Wilson) were over 70%
white, while Jefferson High School was 86% non-white. The remaining four schools
are more ethnically balanced.
The imbalance can be explained through Portland's demographic history. Prior to
the Second World War, Portland had very few residents of non-European ethnicity.
In 1940, Portland's African-American population was approximately 2,000 and
largely consisted of railroad employees and their families. During the war-time
liberty ship construction boom, the need for workers drew many blacks to the
city. Due to institutionalized racism in the real-estate community at the time,
this new influx of blacks was guided to specific neighborhoods, such as the
Albina district and Vanport. The post-war destruction of Vanport eliminated the
only integrated neighborhood, and the ghettoization of blacks into the NE
quadrant of the city continued.
Media
The Oregonian is the only daily newspaper in Portland, and circulates statewide.
Local weekly papers include Willamette Week (the largest alternative weekly in
the metro area); the Portland Tribune (a general audience twice-weekly), the The
Portland Mercury (targeted at younger urban readers), the Oregon Herald, and the
Asian Reporter, a weekly newspaper covering both international and local Asian
news. Week, Tribune, Mercury, and Asian Reporter are free. The Portland Chinese
Times is a local newspaper printed in Chinese aimed at the Chinese-American
community.
Portland Indymedia is one of the oldest and largest Independent Media Centers
and plays a large role in the city's radical-leaning population. The Portland
Alliance, a largely anti-authoritarian socialist monthly, is the largest radical
print paper in the city.
Portland Monthly is a monthly news and culture magazine. The Business Journal of
Portland, a weekly, covers many business-news-related stories, as does The Daily
Journal of Commerce. BarFly Magazine is a popular weekly periodical covering the
city's nightlife and bar scene. Exotic Magazine is the major monthly magazine
covering the city's adult entertainment and nightlife since 1993. The Mid-county
Memo is a neighborhood newspaper serving the Gateway and Parkrose neighborhoods
on Portland's east side. PORT is an art macroblog dedicated to the vibrant art
scene that provides daily updates on the arty goings on around town. Oregon
Business magazine covers business from a statewide perspective. Oregon Home
magazine is the region's remodeling and decor publication.
Portland is well served by television and radio. The metro area is the 23rd
largest Designated Market Area (DMA) in the U.S., consisting of 1,086,900 homes
and 0.992% of the U.S. market. The major network television affiliates include:
Parks and attractions
Portland is proud of its parks and its legacy of preserving open spaces. Parks
and Greenspace planning dates back to John Charles Olmsted's 1903 Report to the
Portland Park Board, inspiring generations of urban greenspace
advocates.[citation needed] In 1995, voters in the Portland metropolitan region
passed a regional bond measure to acquire valuable natural areas for fish,
wildlife, and people. Ten years later, more than 8,100 acres of ecologically
valuable natural areas had been purchased and permanently protected for the
public.
Mt. Tabor Park is focused on an extinct volcano, making Portland one of two
cities in the continental US with an extinct volcano within its city limits, the
other being Bend, Oregon.
Forest Park is the largest wilderness park within city limits in the United
States, with over 5,000 acres (20 km). Portland is also home to Mill Ends Park,
the world's smallest park (a two-foot-diameter circle, the park's area is only
about 0.3 square meters). Washington Park is just west of downtown, and is home
to the Oregon Zoo, the Portland Japanese Garden, and the International Rose Test
Garden.
Tom McCall Waterfront Park runs along west bank of the Willamette for the length
of downtown. The 37-acre (150,000 m) park was built in 1974 after Harbor Drive
was removed and now plays host to large events throughout the year. Portland's
downtown also features two groups of contiguous city blocks dedicated for park
space; they are referred to as the North and South Park Blocks.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, or OMSI, is located on the east bank
of the Willamette River across from downtown Portland, and contains a variety of
hands-on exhibits covering the physical sciences, life science, earth science,
technology, astronomy, and early childhood education. OMSI also has an OMNIMAX
Theater and is home to the USS Blueback (SS-581) submarine.
Portland is also home to Portland Classical Chinese Garden, an authentic
representation of a Suzhou-style walled garden. Local construction workers
provided the site preparation and foundation, and dozens of workers from Suzhou,
using material from China, constructed its walls and other structures, including
a tea house.
The only state park in the area is Tryon Creek State Park; its creek still has a
run of steelhead. Adjacent to the park is the Tryon Life Community Farm, an
aspiring urban ecovillage and educational center.
Portlandia, a statue on the west side of the Portland Building, is the
second-largest hammered-copper statue in the U.S.
The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden, which immortalizes three of the
award-winning author's best known characters with bronze sculptures, quote
plaques, and a fountain, is located in Grant Park, just a few blocks from the
real Klickitat Street of Henry Huggins fame.
Leach Botanical Garden is a 15.6 acre botanical garden in the Southeast section
of the city, emphasizing plants of the Pacific Northwest.
Audubon Society of Portland, founded 1903, is one of the largest local Audubon
chapters in the country with over 10,000 members. The Chapter's book store,
wildlife care center, and administrative offices are located on a 143 acre
sanctuary nestled against Forest Park only 5 minutes from downtown Portland. The
sanctuary trails are open to the public.
The Urban Greenspaces Institute (www.urbangreenspaces.org), which is housed in
Portland State University Geography Department's Center for Mapping Research,
promotes better integration of the built and natural environments. The Urban
Greenspaces Institute works on urban park, trail, and natural areas planning
issues, both at the local and regional levels. The Institute's motto, In Livable
Cities is Preservation of the Wild, is a corollary to Thoreau’s aphorism, “In
wildness is the preservation of the world.” Protection of the rural landscape
depends on creating livable cities---cities in which water quality, access to
nature, public spaces, parks, and trails are integrated with the built
environment.
Beer
Portland and certain other Oregon cities (such as Hood River and Bend) are
well-known for their beer. It is often said that Portland is the home of the
microbrew revolution in the United States. Some illustrate Portlanders' interest
in the beverage by an offer made in 1888, when local brewer Henry Weinhard
volunteered to pump beer from his brewery into the newly dedicated Skidmore
Fountain. However, the renown for quality beer dates to the 1980s, when state
law was changed to allow consumption of beer on brewery premises. In short
order, microbreweries and brewpubs began to pop up all over the city. Their
growth was supported by the abundance of local ingredients, including two-row
barley, over a dozen varieties of hops, and pure water from Bull Run Watershed.
Today, with 33 breweries within the city limits, Portland is home to more
breweries than any other city in the world. The McMenamin brothers alone have
over thirty brewpubs, distilleries, and wineries scattered throughout the
metropolitan area, several in renovated theaters and other old buildings
otherwise destined for demolition. Other notable Portland brewers include Widmer
Brothers, Bridgeport, Full Sail, Hair of the Dog, and Pyramid (formerly
Portland), and numerous smaller quality brewers. In 1999, author Michael "Beerhunter"
Jackson called Portland a candidate for the beer capital of the world because
the city boasted more breweries than Cologne, Germany. The Portland Oregon
Visitors Association is promoting "Beervana" and "Brewtopia" as
nicknames for the city.
Portland hosts a number of festivals throughout the year in celebration of beer,
including the Oregon Brewers Festival. Held each July, it is the largest
gathering of independent craft brewers in North America. Other major beer
festivals throughout the calendar year are: in April Spring Beer and Wine
Festival, in July Portland International Beerfest and in December Holiday Ale
Festival.
An unusual feature of Portland entertainment is the large number of movie
theaters that serve beer, often with second-run or revival films. Examples
include the Academy Theater, Bagdad Theater, Clinton Street Theater, Edgefield,
Kennedy School, Laurelhurst Theater, and Mission Theater.
Sports
Portland's first professional sports team was the Portland Rosebuds. Not only
were they the first professional sports team in Oregon they were the first
professional hockey team in the U.S. They joined the Pacific Coast Hockey
Association in 1914. They were the first U.S. Team to play for the Stanley Cup;
in 1916, they played against the Montreal Canadiens. In 1918, the team moved to
Chicago and took the name Blackhawks.
The Rosebuds played at the Portland Hippodrome. At the time it was built, it was
the world’s largest indoor ice rink. It was on NW 22nd and Marshall; it burned
down in 1951.
Portland is home to only one team in a major league, the Portland Trail Blazers.
The National Basketball Association team has several players in the Basketball
Hall of Fame, including Dražen Petrović, Bill Walton, Lenny Wilkens, and Clyde
"The Glide" Drexler. The Blazers won their only NBA Championship in 1977. They
lost in the NBA finals in 1990 (to the Detroit Pistons) and 1992 (to Michael
Jordan's Chicago Bulls).
The Portland Winter Hawks, a major-junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey
League, have been a team since 1976-1977, when the Blazers won the NBA Finals.
The Winter Hawks are one of the most popular junior ice hockey teams and there
are many loyal fans in Portland. They have also produced many NHL stars.
The Portland Beavers, are a Triple-A baseball team from the Pacific Coast League
affiliated with the San Diego Padres. They were founded in 2001. However, the
original Beavers started playing in 1903. The Beavers play in PGE Park and sell
a fair amount of tickets.
The Portland Timbers, of the United Soccer Leagues First Division, are a soccer
team that plays at PGE Park. Since they were formed in 2001, the Timbers have
made the playoffs four out of five times but have never won a championship.
The city was also home to a WNBA team, the Portland Fire. The team never made
the playoffs and folded in 2002.
One of the cities’ newest and fastest growing teams in popularity is the
Portland LumberJax of the National Lacrosse League. They play in the best box
lacrosse league in the country but it is not a major league. In the LumberJax
first season, they clinched their division, a rare and mighty feat for a first
year team. Unfortunately for Jax fans, the team was upset in the first round of
the playoffs by the Arizona Sting.
Portland is now home to two new basketball teams, the Oregon Riptide, in the
American Basketball Association and the Portland Chinooks in the International
Basketball League. Neither team has established a significant fan base yet
The city also has a successful paintball team in the National Professional
Paintball League called the Portland Naughty Dogs. The team plays in a variety
of tournaments around the U.S.
Portland is also one of the locations on the Champ Car World Series circuit,
hosting races at the world-class Portland International Raceway. PIR also hosts
a race on the American Le Mans Series and a variety of SCCA, historic, and
annual races such as the Rose Cup during the city's Rose Festival. There has
been recent interest in attracting a Major League Baseball franchise to
Portland. In 2004, the city made an unsuccessful bid for the Montreal Expos, and
in 2006 was contacted by the Florida Marlins. There is also an interest of the
Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL moving to Portland.
Skiing and snowboarding are particularly popular with Portlanders. The area is
served by a number of resorts located on nearby Mount Hood, including
Timberline, which allows skiing year round. The only other resort in North
America with summer skiing is Whistler in British Columbia.
Rock climbing is growing in popularity as an outdoor pastime. At numerous small
crags around town, one may glimpse mountaineers-in-training with their ropes,
alpenstocks, and hard-soled boots practicing their technical moves on the rock
in preparation for difficult alpine ascents.
The local Alpenrose Dairy is host to the annual Little League softball World
Series and has a velodrome on site.
Running is a major sport in Portland, the home of the Nike shoe company and of
Adidas' American operations. The Portland Marathon has been held annually in the
city since 1971. The Hood to Coast Relay is the world's largest running relay
race, with approximately 17,000 racers per year running from Timberline Lodge on
Mt. Hood to the Pacific Ocean at Seaside.
Popular culture
Portland is well known as a hub of American youth culture, specifically white
American youth culture. The town has produced many artists who are regarded as
having significant impact on their specific fields:
* Sleater-Kinney was one of the most popular independent pop artists before
their 2006 break-up
* The Dandy Warhols achieved international success with a distinct 60's
psych-rock revivalist sound
* Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter Elliott Smith wrote many songs about his
longtime hometown before his death in 2003
* Director Gus Van Sant has achieved commercial and critical acclaim for his
films, including My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting (which earned Van Sant
a best director Oscar nomination) and Elephant (which won the Palme d'Or and a
best director award at the Cannes Film Festival)
* Matt Groening is responsible for creating two of the most popular animated
television series of the last two decades, The Simpsons and Futurama
* Local author Chuck Palahniuk wrote Fight Club, often regarded as a milestone
for both Generation X and Generation Y
* The town's local punk/goth scene gave birth to SuicideGirls, a successful (and
frequently emulated) erotic website.
Due to liberal free speech laws, Portland reportedly has more strip clubs per
capita than both Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Education
Public education
The Portland Public Schools district consists of about 100 schools covering in
various combinations grades K through 12, as well as 50 special education
programs. The number of students in the school district is approximately 53,000
— over 90% of the available school-age children, a higher percentage than other
large urban school districts. Nonetheless, total school enrollment is
declining, accompanying a change in Portland's demographics, and the Portland
Public Schools are facing increasing budget pressure.
Notable public high schools include: Woodrow Wilson High School, Lincoln High
School, Cleveland High School, Metropolitan Learning Center and Benson
Polytechnic High School. Lincoln, the oldest public high school west of the
Mississippi River, was built in 1869, and boasts several famous alumni,
including cartoon voice Mel Blanc, singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, Matt
Groening (creator of The Simpsons) and astronaut S. David Griggs. Cleveland
draws many students due to its International Baccalaureate program. Phil Knight,
the founder of Nike, graduated from Cleveland. Benson is a citywide magnet high
school named for lumber baron and social entrepreneur Simon Benson, who in 1917
endowed the school with a grant worth $1.5 million in 2006 dollars.
School districts in the suburbs include: to the east, Parkrose, Centennial,
Gresham Reynolds Schools, and David Douglas; to the west, Beaverton,
Tigard-Tualatin, Lake Oswego, and Riverdale; to the south, North Clackamas, West
Linn-Wilsonville, and Oregon City.
The region also has several top private schools, including: the Catlin Gabel
School, Central Catholic High School, French American International School,
Jesuit High School, The Northwest Academy, Oregon Episcopal School, St. Mary's
Academy, and Valley Catholic High School. Portland is also home to Montessori
Institute Northwest, an internationally recognized (AMI) teacher training
facility, and the city and nearby suburbs are known as a nexus for Montessori
education from preschool through junior high.
Colleges and universities
Portland State University, with graduate and undergraduate enrollment of around
24,000, is Oregon's largest university. Its primary campus is at the southern
edge of downtown. PSU has masters programs in liberal arts, business,
engineering, computer science, performing arts, social work and urban affairs.
PSU's doctoral programs include biology, civil engineering, education,
electrical & computer engineering, computer science, environmental sciences,
math, psychology, public administration, urban studies, social work, and systems
sciences.
Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) includes a major medical school (see
below), and several major research departments, including: Vollum Institute for
Advanced Biomedical Research, Neurological Sciences Institute, Center for
Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology, Oregon National Primate
Research Center, Advanced Imaging Research Center, Center for Biostatistics,
Computing & Informatics in Biology & Medicine, Center for the Study of Weight
Regulation and Associated Disorders, Oregon Stem Cell Center, Vaccine and Gene
Therapy Institute, and the Oregon Graduate Institute School of Science and
Engineering.
Community colleges include: Portland Community College, with three major
campuses in the city—Cascade, Rock Creek, and Sylvania—as well as the smaller
Southeast Center and Metropolitan Workforce Training Center; Mount Hood
Community College in East Multnomah County near Gresham; Clackamas Community
College in Oregon City; Chemeketa Community College in Salem, about 45 minutes
south of Portland; Clark College in Vancouver, Washington.
Private colleges include: Cascade College, Capstone College, Concordia
University, George Fox University, Lewis & Clark College, Linfield College,
Marylhurst University, Pacific University, Reed College, University of Portland,
Warner Pacific College, and Willamette University.
Other: Concorde Career Institute, Western Culinary Institute, and Multnomah
Bible College.
Schools of medicine
OHSU has a major medical, dental, and nursing school at its primary campus just
south of downtown, in the West Hills. The campus anchors a medical district
(affectionately called "Pill Hill") surrounded by other hospitals including a
Veterans Affairs Hospital, Portland Shriners Hospital, and Doernbecher
Children's Hospital.
OHSU has residency training programs in the following disciplines:
Anesthesiology, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, General Medicine, Dentistry,
Dermatology, Diagnostic Radiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, General
Surgery, Medical Genetics, Neurology, Neurological Surgery, Nursing, Obstetrics
and Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Orthopaedic
Surgery, Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Pathology, Pediatrics,
Psychiatry, and Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
Other schools of medicine include: Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, the
National College of Naturopathic Medicine, Western States Chiropractic College,
and the School of Optometry at Pacific University.
Schools of law
Lewis & Clark College includes Lewis & Clark Law School.
Schools of art
These include the Art Institute of Portland, Pacific Northwest College of Art,
Oregon College of Art and Craft and Northwest Film Center.
Transportation
The Portland metropolitan area has the typical transportation services common to
major U.S. cities, though Oregon's emphasis on proactive land-use planning and
transit-oriented development within the urban growth boundary means that
commuters have multiple well-developed options.
TriMet operates most of the region's buses and the Metropolitan Area Express, or
MAX, light rail system, which connects the city and suburbs. 5th and 6th avenues
are the Portland Transit Mall, devoted primarily to bus traffic (and, soon,
light rail) with limited automobile access, running north/south through
downtown.
I-5 connects Portland with the Willamette Valley, Southern Oregon, and
California to the south and with Washington to the north. I-405 forms a loop
with I-5 around the central downtown area of the city and I-205 is a loop
freeway route on the east side which connects to the Portland International
Airport. US 26 supports commuting within the metro area and continues to the
Pacific Ocean westward and Mount Hood and Central Oregon eastward. US 30 has a
main, bypass and business route through the city extending to Astoria, Oregon to
the west; through Gresham, Oregon, and the eastern exurbs, and connects to I-84,
traveling towards Boise, Idaho.
Portland's main airport is Portland International Airport, located about 20
minutes by car (40 minutes by MAX) northeast of downtown. Scheduled
international flights depart to Japan (Tokyo), Singapore, Germany (Frankfurt),
Mexico (Guadalajara, Mexico City, Cabo San Lucas, and Puerto Vallarta), and
Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia).
Portlanders have other transportation alternatives. The Portland Streetcar
operates from the southern waterfront, through Portland State University north
to nearby homes and shopping districts. The city is particularly supportive of
urban bicycling and has been recognized by the League of American Bicyclists
among others for its network of paths and other bicycle-friendly services. Car
sharing through Flexcar is also available to residents of the city and some
inner suburbs. The new Portland Aerial Tram will connect the South Waterfront
district on the Willamette River and the Oregon Health & Science University
campus on Marquam Hill above. Construction of the tram is scheduled for
completion in December 2006.