Such a great, hip neighborhood! Genuinely enjoyed walking around 23rd street with my friend on a…read morebeautiful summer day. Tons of cool shops, restaurants, and cafes. Would definitely return to explore further.

I'm from Southern California, visiting Vancouver but insisting on seeing what's become of Portland…read more I convinced my crew to take me to the Pearl District, remembering how vibrant it used to be, just five years ago. Now, the zombies crouch and the small businesses are gone. We moved on to the Alphabet district and found the charming pubs, restaurants, shops and businesses I had come to see. The best store is Paxton Gate--treasures and oddities. A wonderful restaurant is Fireside. So relieved that there's a sign of life after all the troubles. It's worth defending, Portlandia.

What started as a bunch of galleries that got together and agreed to stay open late one night a…read moreweek has really grown since. It only comes once a month, in the downtown area (mostly in the Pearl). First Thursday is a great way to spend an evening. Galleries that are part of this use First Thursday hold the grand opening of new shows on First Thursday. Most offer drinks and snacks of some sort and lots of people show up making for a festive time. Besides galleries many shapes in the area now stay open late and many other businesses have artists bring in their works and stay open as well. Then bars and restraints and businesses hold events (some with cover) to ad to the mix and keep people busy longer. Finally there are areas where local artists not represented by a gallery take to the street sell their works themselves. There are now a couple areas 24 Hour Fitness in the Pearl. The other is by the new We-Work on the North Park Blocks. I always enjoy seeing all the art. Often hitting my favorite galleries in the DeSoto building but always hitting the outdoor shows when I go.

Fantastic Fun! Free walking around seeing Art Galleries u would normally have to pay…read morefor.Complimentry beverages.Peds only

On the Eastside Esplanade by the river is this lovely, large ship. This reminds me of one of the…read moreships from a child's story book in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series by C. S. Lewis. Very unique. This is just north of the Morrison bridge on the walking/ running/ bike path on the East Bank of the Willamette. It is one of the highlights of the walk, in my opinion.

The Unipiper is amazing! I feel so much lightness and fun in the Unipiper's presence. What would…read morePortland be without the Unipiper? I appreciate all the great work with helping highlight our weird community. Long live the Unipiper!

A pedal by birthday-gram anyone?…read more In lieu of an full blown 7th birthday party, our little educational pod was treated to a Starwars Themed Birthday-Gram. The littles were in awe, and the Unipiper was lovely in conversation with them. After the neighbors came out to see where the bag pipe Star Wars music was coming from, they were encouraged to sing Happy Birthday with us from their front steps! Beware, a birthday gram isn't cheap (The Unipiper's time is valuable!). But it is yet another event from this year my kid will remember- and fondly at that!

Man, is this about a halo effect or what? Look at all these 5s, meaning "as good as it gets." Is…read morethe major street, Hawthorne Boulevard, and its side streets, running through a trendy, counterculture, and hip close-in neighborhood really "as good as it gets?" I will admit that, coming from Los Angeles, the very name Hawthorne makes for a knee jerk reaction toward the negative. In SoCal, there is also a Hawthorne Boulevard. However, it is very different. That Hawthorne begins near the airport and works its way down through Hawthorne, Lawndale, an actually banal dogleg of Redondo Beach, Torrance, and then up into Palos Verdes. Only the southernmost reaches of that wide boulevard, when in South Torrance and Palos Verdes, are nice. North of there, it is strip mall hell and blight. Even an indoor mall named Hawthorne Plaza in the city of Hawthorne didn't thrive and was abandoned. Visit YouTube. Now, I'm not that narrow minded about the Hawthorne label since there are Hawthornes everywhere, being that it's a name like Springfield and Bloomington. There's a Hawthorne in New Jersey, for example, which is a ho hum town west of and across the Hudson River from Manhattan. However, Portland's Hawthorne neighborhood causes some people's eyes to widen, almost if they're sweeping the pros and cons under the rug, because they're in love! Basically, it's a little hub of culture and, in this case, culture means indie restaurants, diners, coffeehouses, brewpubs, doughnut stores, book stores, thrift stores, and the like. To me, culture would imply museums, theater, art galleries, and, yes, some, but not as many, of the things listed above. The main landmarks are the Bagdad Theater, a branch of Powell's bookstore, Blue Star Doughnuts, eateries like Bread and Ink, and similar venues. But there are really two Hawthorne neighborhoods ... one west of 39th, and one east of 39th. The aforementioned businesses are west of 39th. The only corporate venue is the Fred Meyer store there, on the very corner of 39th. (Good luck finding a parking spot there.) East of 39th, it's quieter and less hyped while still containing indie eateries, bars, and coffeehouses. Not only that, that part of Hawthorne sort of melds with the Mount Tabor area, which is topographically interesting. Hawthorne is in demand and thus priced accordingly. Most of the housing stock is older and newer housing is either infill homes or boxy and trendy San Francisco type new condos like the ones you will find going up on the Eastbank and in the Alphabet District. Another thing about Hawthorne is that it might be cool, but it's not very diverse. If diversity means guys with beards and stocking caps and women who look like Carole King as she did on the cover of "Tapestry," then it's diverse alright. But almost everyone you will see partaking in its offerings is white, young, educated, and progressive, though they can run the gamut from being put together to being frumpy. And there sure are a lot of Subarus ... a lot of them! And it's hard to find a parking spot for that Subaru or whatever type of sled you may have. And you can even still "feel the Bern." In my mind, diversity would mean that enough different types of people and points of view are represented. That's not the case here. I need to cool my jets. However, an in-flight magazine that once featured an article on the City of Roses corroborated the hip and cool enclaves in Portland, showcasing three of them: Hawthorne, Multnomah Village, and NAAD (North Alberta Arts District), so I'm not off base here. To sum it up, I am giving Hawthorne 2 stars: 1 for existing and housing some of Portland's residents and 1 for how conveniently located it is to downtown and not being too distant from the freeways. Stars are missing because of (1) the prices, (2) not enough (of what I think is) culture along with a somewhat ample supply of "groupthink," and (3) the aloof and even surly service and attitude that you may encounter in many of the places you might step into because they seem to believe they have a captive audience. Of these hip and cool villages, I'd go with 3 stars for Multnomah Village on the West Side for being near the ethnic diversity surrounding PCC, lacking a rigid gridded street pattern, and having more topography and trees, 2 stars for the Hawthorne neighborhood, and 1 star for the NAAD, as in "not my cup of tea" ... at all. O.k., I'm done being an ass.

This is one of the better neighborhoods to explore, well at least in Portland. Lots of small shops…read moreand restaurants. And of course the Bagdad theater. One of the things I like is that, at least so far, there arn't many big chain stores. It has a reputation as home to Portland's hippie population. It does but there are a lot of great businesses here.

I lived near this street for more decades than I care to admit (not in terms of living nearby, but…read moremore in terms of my own age). The best part of it was my grandparents lived one block down on 83rd and Flavel. It was a beautiful residential neighborhood at the time, and they kept an immaculate yard full of roses and dahlias. We even got to do the classic American thing of walking to the ice cream store with grandpa for cones. Memories like that can't be beat. After my grandparents died, my mom sold the house. The new owner rented it out and let it go to hell, and the surrounding neighborhood got pretty rough. I got to where I couldn't bear to drive by and see it. And that's pretty much the story of 82nd to me; rough and rougher and too much to make fun of. I haven't spent a lot of time over there for many years, but recently I've had to be out there for several reasons, and I've seen promising signs of change. PCC has built a new-ish campus on 82nd & Division that is very handsome. A lot of young couples have bought homes there as well, the most promising sign of all. There has been a lot of business development also. 82nd is never going to be anybody's idea of beautiful, but there's a lot of pride of ownership that can be felt. I was very sorry to hear that their Rose-Festival-sanctioned community parade was canceled because the Oregon Republican Party members were threatened with harm by opposing groups. That's so wrong. However, I think with all the changes I've seen lately that this is a community that has the strength to rise above. As for me, I got brave enough to drive by my grandparents' old house. One of those young couples (I would guess) had bought it and brought it back to its old glory. For all the good and bad and all the history, I had a good cry. The young woman in the front yard probably wwondered who that strange woman was, but I hope she somehow understood how pleased my grandparents would be to see all their hopes and dreams still being worked on just a block from 82nd.

But where are the Roses?…read more Last Monday, I was southbound on the #72 bus, after transferring from the Max Red Line at the NE 82nd Ave Station. And when I saw the sign for the "Hung Far Low" Chinese restaurant, it was time to get off at Division and transfer to the #4 bus. After this experience, I take it all back about occasionally needing a cab in Portland. I can really do public transit here! When I visit Portland, I try to explore a "cute" new neighbourhood each time. On this trip, that was NE Alberta, Nob Hill, and a huge chunk of Division (between 25th and my bus stop). On the other hand, the "Avenue of the Roses" is Portland's longest continual commercial strip (from the Clackamas County line to PDX). Every City has one, and even Sustainable Portland is no exception. Judging by my fellow bus travelers and the scenery going by, there's a lot going on here. And it's probably best that I was just passing through....

Our family are huge fans of the TV show Grimm! During our recent trip to Portland, we made sure to…read morevisit a few of the show's iconic spots-- Nick and Juliet's house and Monroe's house. Monroe's place has been repainted since filming, so it looks a bit different now, but it was still so fun to see it in person and snap a photo of our little one in front of it. My husband even recognized the wooded park area where Nick ran through to get to Monroe's house. Such a cool experience for Grimm fans.

This is a nice little bungalow up near the entrance to OHSU off Terwilliger, Built in 1930 it is in…read morethe Homestead neighborhood. it is on a nice street, The bungalow is kind of nondescript. It is painted grey with little landscaping. Its claim to fame is that it is the home of Monroe and in the latest seasons Rosalee. Unlike Nick's house there hasn't been a lot of violence and I don't remember any killings here. That is probably because it is the residence of a Blutbad and who wants to mess with that? It also seems to be where Monroe runs his clock repair business. The house does see a lot of visitors, Nick (the Grimm) and others often drop by for Wesen advice and or help. Nick even stayed for a while while he and Juliet were having problems.

We headed out to Alberta Street last night having no idea what we were getting ourselves into…read more When I think of a "Last/First (insert day of the week)" I think of local artists getting a chance to display their art showcase at various locally owned stores, usually galleries or art related stores. The "Art Walk" was more like a combination of Saturday Market, street fair, with a smattering of legitimate artists. We were actually there with a purpose: find art by a local artist for our living room. I was pleased to see a wide variety of art styles and enjoyed examining what was on display in the stores. I was less impressed with the displays on the street, although many made me chuckle while others were just puzzling. In the end, it wasn't what we thought it was going to be, but it was still a fun time. Lots of unique people with unique talents and I think it is fabulous that they have a place to display them (even if I don't want to take any of it home and hang it on my living room wall). :)

My friends who live in the SW section of Portland invited me up recently to Portland and said, "You…read morehave to come check out Alberta Street with us, it's the last thursday of the month" And I'm like, 'What's Alberta Street?" The last thursday of each month, this section of Alberta Street attracts all kinds of people who walk, ride bikes, skate, sometimes arrive on stilts to check out all the art and restaurants in the area. When I was there it seems like the whole neighborhood opens up and everyone is having a good time. This is a slice of Portland worth checking out. Certainly not something you find very often in LA. The trains don't go to Alberta street is my understanding, but you can take a cab part of the way, or if you have access to a bicycle, there are a ton of bike lanes in Portland. I wouldn't advise driving there as there are a ton of people in the streets at this regular event. Saw a few people drive by in cars that were having heckuva time given the number of people in the streets. However you get there, it's worth checking out. It happens from i believe 6 - 9PM on the last thursday of each month.