Kar Discover: May 2025

Carefree Time In Portland
4.7 Northwest Portland Sunday 28 April, 2024

Northwest Division

The Northwest district stretches west to east from the base of the West Hills (Tualatin Mountains) to I-405 (between NW 15th and 16th avenues), and north to south from NW Nicolai Street 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.

Northwest Portland contains the northern stretch of the West Hills and most of Forest Park, one of America’s largest urban forests; other outdoor attractions include Lan Su Chinese Garden and the views from Pittock Mansion. The Pearl District is home to stylish shops, art galleries and one of the most famous bookstores in the world. In Northwest/Nob Hill, you will find striking architecture and more top-notch shopping. Old Town Chinatown offers Portland history, iconic landmarks and if the timing is right, the Portland Saturday Market. In every one of Northwest Portland’s neighborhoods, excellent restaurants and bars abound.

NW Broadway Bridge

The Broadway Bridge is a Rall-type bascule bridge spanning the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, built in 1913. It was Portland's first bascule bridge, and it continues to hold the distinction of being the longest span of its bascule design type in the world. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.

Burnside Bridge

The Burnside Bridge is a 1926-built bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, carrying Burnside Street. It is the second bridge at the same site to carry that name. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.

Fremont Bridge

The Fremont Bridge is a steel tied-arch bridge over the Willamette River located in Portland, Oregon, United States. It carries Interstate 405 and US 30 traffic between downtown and North Portland where it intersects with Interstate 5. It has the longest main span of any bridge in Oregon and is the second longest tied-arch bridge in the world (after Caiyuanba Bridge across the Yangtze River, China). The bridge was designed by Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas, and built by Murphy Pacific Corporation.In 2006, Sharon Wood Wortman published the third and latest version of The Portland Bridge Book. This book provides even more detail about the Fremont Bridge than covered here.

The bridge has two decks carrying vehicular traffic, each with four lanes. The upper deck is signed westbound on US 30 and southbound on I-405. The lower deck is signed eastbound on US 30 and northbound on I-405.

Steel Bridge

The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double-deck vertical-lift bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, opened in 1912. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian traffic, while the upper deck carries road traffic (on the Pacific Highway West No. 1W, former Oregon Route 99W), and light rail (MAX), making the bridge one of the most multimodal in the world. It is the only double-deck bridge with independent lifts in the world and the second oldest vertical-lift bridge in North America, after the nearby Hawthorne Bridge. The bridge links the Rose Quarter and Lloyd District in the east to Old Town Chinatown neighborhood in the west.

Pittock Mansion

3229 NW Pittock Dr, Portland,

OR 97210, United States
https://pittockmansion.org/

The Pittock Mansion is a French Renaissance-style château in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. It was built in 1914 as a private home for London-born Oregonian publisher Henry Pittock and his wife, Georgiana Burton Pittock. It is a 46-room estate built of Tenino sandstone situated on 46 acres (19 ha) that is now owned by the city's Bureau of Parks and Recreation and open for touring.

Modeled after Beaux Arts and French Renaissance architecture, the mansion is situated on an expanse in the West Hills that provides panoramic views of Downtown Portland. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The interiors of the mansion were modeled on an eclectic collection of styles, including Jacobean, (the library) craftsman, (the dining room) Turkish, (the smoking room) and French Renaissance (the music room).
The lower level includes the boiler room & laundry room and is now a museum. As of October 2023, it houses a temporary special exhibition on Eliza Barchus.
The first & second floors were the former living quarters of the Pittock family members, and are now part of the museum exhibits. They have been redecorated to resemble either the Pittocks' original living spaces, or those of similar 19th-century Oregon families.
The third & fourth floors were the servants' former living quarters, and currently house the offices of the Pittock Mansion Society that oversees the museum’s operations. The upper floors are only accessible via a back room staircase and are closed to the public except during “Behind the Scenes” tours for an additional cost.

Forest Park

833 SW 11th Ave, Suite 800

Portland, OR 97205

https://forestparkconservancy.org/forest-park/

Forest Park is a public municipal park in the Tualatin Mountains west of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Stretching for more than 8 miles (13 km) on hillsides overlooking the Willamette River, it is one of the country's largest urban forest reserves. The park, a major component of a regional system of parks and trails, covers more than 5,100 acres (2,064 ha) of mostly second-growth forest with a few patches of old growth. More than 80 miles (130 km) of recreational trails, including the Wildwood Trail segment of the city's 40-Mile Loop system, crisscross the park.

More than 112 bird species and 62 mammal species frequent the park and its wide variety of trees and shade-loving plants. About 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain falls on the forest each year. Many small tributaries of the Willamette River flow northeast through the woods to pipes or culverts under U.S. Route 30 at the edge of the park. One of them, Balch Creek, has a resident trout population, and another, Miller Creek, supports sea-run species, including salmon.

▲ The Witch’s Castle

Old Town China Town

Old Town Chinatown is the official Chinatown of the northwest section of Portland, Oregon, United States. The Willamette River forms its eastern boundary, separating it from the Lloyd District and the Kerns and Buckman neighborhoods. It includes the Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District and the Portland New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been referred to as the "skid row" of Portland.

Lan Su Chinese Garden

239 NW Everett St, Portland,
OR 97209, United States

https://lansugarden.org/

Lan Su Chinese Garden (simplified Chinese: 兰苏园; traditional Chinese: 蘭蘇園), formerly the Portland Classical Chinese Garden and titled the Garden of Awakening Orchids, is a walled Chinese garden enclosing a full city block, roughly 40,000 square feet (4,000 m2) in the Chinatown area of the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, United States. The garden is influenced by many of the famous classical gardens in Suzhou.

Pearl District

Fashionable and lively, the Pearl District is a shopping destination with hip brands, indie boutiques and the massive Powell's City of Books. Reclaimed warehouse spaces house The Pearl's many bars and restaurants, from craft breweries and artisan coffee shops to fine dining mainstays. Galleries showcase contemporary art, photography and glass works. In summer, families cool off in Jamison Square’s wading fountain.