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Having been spared the kind of aggressive, remorseless development
that many Seattle residents have come to loathe, PORTLAND still
retains a pleasant, small-city feel, both for its well-preserved
Beaux Arts architecture and walkable urban core, as well as its
easygoing atmosphere. That said, there's not a lot to keep intrepid
tourists here for more than a day, with most of the city's handful
of major attractions located within close walking distance of each
other on the short city blocks - half the size of most American
cities. On the other hand, while Portland's unpretentious bohemian
flavor may be lost on more gung-ho travelers, the city remains an
excellent spot for casual visitors to slack around for weeks at
a time, with a wealth of good diners, microbreweries, clubs, bookstores
and coffee houses to keep you occupied.
The city was named after Portland, Maine, following a coin toss
between its two East Coast founders in 1845 ("Boston"
was the other option). Its location on a deep part of the Willamette
River, just 78 miles from the Pacific and surrounded by fertile
valleys, made it a perfect trading port, and it grew quickly, replacing
its clapboard houses with ornate facades and Gothic gables. Nevertheless,
throughout the nineteenth century it remained a raunchy, bawdy place,
notorious for gambling, prostitution and opium dens. By the 1970s,
Portland's historic buildings had decayed or were sacrificed to
parking lots and expressways, but since then, it has salvaged what
was left of its past, replacing concrete with red brick, and introducing
folksy statues and murals. Although the city's rehabilitation, along
with its "urban growth boundary" to limit unrestrained
development, has done much for Portland's reputation nationwide,
most residents are ambivalent about the praise and would prefer
you move anywhere - preferably Seattle - but here
The Willamette River divides Portland in half: the downtown area
lies between the river's west bank and the I-405 freeway, forming
the bulk of the city's southwest quadrant; the east is mostly residential.
Surrounded by historic terracotta buildings downtown, Pioneer Courthouse
Square is the indisputable center of Portland, its curving brick
steps filled with music and people, and is named after the adjacent
Pioneer Courthouse , a squat 1868 structure that still maintains
its judicial function. Within easy walking distance are the city's
leading theaters, museums and department stores (notably Nike Town
, 930 SW Sixth Ave, a flashy corporate theme store with high retail
prices) - a melange of old and new, where fading plasterwork and
ceramic reliefs face concrete and glass, punctuated by small grassy
parks.
Broadway epitomizes Portland's mix of early grandeur and new wealth,
with prestigious hotels sharing space with cultural institutions,
such as the grand old Paramount theater, restored as part of the
impressive Portland Center for the Performing Arts , at 1111 SW
Broadway ( ). One block west, the Portland Art Museum (Tues-Sat
10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; $7.50; ) hosts touring exhibitions, plus
a wide-ranging collection of Northwest Native American masks, Mexican
statues and ancient Chinese figures - and recently acquired the
modernist personal collection of critic Clement Greenberg, parts
of which are on display intermittently. A block away, decorated
with huge trompe l'oeil pioneer murals, the Oregon History Center
, 1200 SW Park Ave (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; $6; ), is primarily
a research facility, but has some imaginative exhibits exploring
different facets of the state's history. Between the museum and
the history center run the South Park Blocks , a twelve-block green
belt and favorite Portland hangout, where retirees commingle with
teen slackers and the homeless - all under the shadow of statues
of Teddy Roosevelt riding on to victory at San Juan Hill and Abe
Lincoln standing rigidly with a long, dark expression.
A five-minute walk away, at the junction of Madison and Fifth avenues,
is one of Portland's few notable architectural sights - Michael
Graves' Portland Building , a monumental concrete box with "ironic"
blue ribbons. Several blocks east, Portland's riverfront has been
rescued from a century of burial beneath wharves, warehouses and,
more recently, an express highway. The area is now lined by another
favorite urban oasis, the two-mile-long Tom McCall Waterfront Park
(created by demolishing the highway), where flocks of Canadian geese
abound on the grass and young and old alike dash through the fountains
of Salmon Street Springs . As a cheap and fun way to get wet, the
springs are second only in popularity to the user-friendly Ira Keller
Fountain , a huge concrete water sculpture just west of the riverfront
at SW Third and Clay streets. Further north, the small Yamhill Historic
District is lined with 1890s buildings, and the Yamhill Marketplace
(built in 1982), SW second at Yamhill street, has a couple of produce
stalls and cafés, though most of its interior has been turned
into a gym
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