[Sekkle]

Portland has lots of interesting neighborhoods outside of the more frequently photographed downtown or the Pearl District. This is the first of what I hope will be a series of neighborhood photo threads I’ll do around my new home town.

Sellwood is a neighborhood along the east side of the Willamette River (Portland’s east/west dividing line) on the southern edge of the city. It began as a separate town and was annexed by Portland in 1893, though it still has a small-town feel. Westmoreland is the neighborhood immediately north of Sellwood.

This is not an extremely dense area, but the neighborhood is old enough that there is no cookie-cutter suburban feel. It is mostly single-family detached homes, with duplexes every so often and a few townhome infill developments. The neighborhood is very walkable, with a grid network of streets as is typical in many older neighborhoods in southeast Portland, and a couple main streets with local shops and restaurants. No office parks, strip malls or big parking lots.

The Sellwood Bridge is the only river crossing in the area and is in need of replacement. Trucks are no longer allowed over it.

These photos were taken in October and November…

Looking east across the Willamette at Sellwood.
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Downtown Portland in the distance… if only I had a better camera!
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View from on the bridge
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What a poetic sign
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On the Sellwood side of the bridge looking west
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Homes in Sellwood
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Newer stuff/infill
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Share-it Square – a community-organized “square.” It’s the four corners of an intersection where people can post community news and leave/take books and various other items.
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Spelling shop as “shoppe” really helps to give a place that old-timey feel.
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Tallest building in Sellwood. I think it’s low-income or senior housing, but I could be mistaken.
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Sellwood Park
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Downtown PDX in the distance again – in the foreground is the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge and Ross Island.
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Milwaukie Ave shops in Westmoreland
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Who needs “more” when you have clogs?
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Hope you enjoyed the tour. I don’t know what neighborhood will be next, or when I’ll get to it… I think it’s supposed to rain from now until late March.

[hossboss85]

Yay, my 'hood! Thanks for posting these. After a long day at school in noisy downtown, it's nice to come home to my quiet little enclave. The activity on Milwaukie/Bybee and 13th is plenty for me. :) As far as I know, the only place (or one of very few) in town to get tater tot nachos!

It will by interesting to see how the neighborhood evolves when they put in the new MAX line.

[BnaBreaker]

Gorgeous! I love the distinctively Pacific Northwest feel of the neighborhood.

[the dude]

portland is so cool. thanks for the tour. looks like my kinda town.

[Paulyt23]

Portland's really got it together, and it seems like it keeps getting better. If every metro area had Portland's planning foresight, we probably wouldn't need imported oil and gas.

[downtownpdx]

Great photos! Fun to see a neighborhood I never seem to visit -- but from what I remember it's got an awesome "Main Street" feel to it, with lots of good restaurants. And those views of downtown are awesome from the south. It's the only real vantage point that captures the South Waterfront together with downtown, and it's so beautiful with the Willamette River in the foreground. Thanks!

[arbeiter]

Cute neighborhood, although when I viewed the pictures I kept on thinking that this is how all suburbs should be, not necessarily the city itself. It has nothing to do with Portland, but there's something about a place like Sellwood that doesn't seem to reciprocate in real suburbs.

[Rusty van Reddick]

I lived (for a year) at 41st and Bybee when I was in college- that's miles outside of Westmoreland (and even past Eastmoreland) but still, thanks for the pics.

If you'd continued a bit more north and east, you'd have included the Rhodo Garden and my alma mater, Reed College.

[MobyLL]

Very Nice. Look forward to seeing your photos of other Portland neighborhoods.

[OhioGuy]

I think I've yet to see a Portland thread on this forum that didn't impress me. The city just seems to have so many great neighborhoods & even some nice burbs. Portland definitely has my respect (and then some). :)

[Sekkle]

If you'd continued a bit more north and east, you'd have included the Rhodo Garden and my alma mater, Reed College.

Patience... ;) I have a photo or two from Eastmoreland, and was thinking of doing a Reed/Eastmoreland thread sometime, but it could be a while.

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

[Chelsea Spy]

Looks like a very pleasant neighbourhood. Good to see comparatively few chain stores, although I was most amused by the shop/ restaurant? called 'Euro faire' :haha:

[flar]

nice photos

[ArchMadness]

Portland is always looks good to me. Look forward to more neighborhood tours!

[hymalaia]

In my 6 weeks or so here this is one of the few areas I've yet to check out. It's further out than one would expect being so close to the river. I've heard the bridge is sketchy as hell; an I-35w waiting to happen. Well that may be an exaggeration, I guess...

[James Bond Agent 007]

Looks great! :banana:

[neuhickman79]

What's up with the "Divorce Shoppe"?

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[soleri]

I get a warm, cozy feeling just looking at pictures like this. Damn, why does most of our country look like complete crap when we've got place like this serving as examples?

[Drew-Ski]

Great photo thread........I never before witnessed a "Community Organized Square" before now! I rememeber when this Distric was left for dead. I am happy to see how the Sellwood and many other Portland neighborhoods have transformed into quaint, vibrant communities. It will be interesting to see the chnges that will occur once the Portland-Milwaukie "Yellow Line" LTR extension passes through.

[Top Of The Park]

...are the right size. Portland is a fine example of creativity in this respect. I get so tired of the "look at all our huge skyscapers threads" Or the ones where gaining the most in population is supposed to be a great thing. What really matters is how a city manages growth, infill, and good transportation options.

[relnahe]

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4139/img2294shlrgsb5.jpg

My kind of place.:tup:

[Sekkle]

In my 6 weeks or so here this is one of the few areas I've yet to check out. It's further out than one would expect being so close to the river. I've heard the bridge is sketchy as hell; an I-35w waiting to happen. Well that may be an exaggeration, I guess...
I agree, it seems far out from the center of town. The hood is separated from Portland on all sides... West is the river, North and East are McGloughlin Blvd and the RR tracks, and South is Milwaukie. I think that helps it to maintain somwhat of a "small-town" feel - less thru-traffic than inner SE neighborhoods. Oh, and the bridge is only scary the first time or two you go over it. ;) I think its state of disrepair is probably exaggerated somewhat by the media for effect (but then, I'm a civil engineer, so maybe I'm partial to bridges!).

What's up with the "Divorce Shoppe"?

I don't know, but I'm sure they have lots of holiday specials going on...

I get a warm, cozy feeling just looking at pictures like this. Damn, why does most of our country look like complete crap when we've got place like this serving as examples?
So when are you going to leave the sun behind in Phx and move up here? ;)

... the ones where gaining the most in population is supposed to be a great thing. What really matters is how a city manages growth, infill, and good transportation options.
I came to a similar realization a couple years ago when I was living in Phoenix... Everything there seemed to be focused on attracting more people, even though the pace of growth there is nearly impossible to manage effectively, let alone sustainably. What is the point? Things definitely seem different in Portland, though.

Thanks again, everybody, for the comments!

[mello]

I must say this is an awesome thread. I definitely agree with Top of the Park! A thread like this is refreshing, and hey there were some skyscraper shots included :awesome:

I really do appreciate hoods like these. Like others have said if the US had only kept growing like this post WWII we would have been much better off.

I love the community square thing. People in PDX seem so real, just fairly simple happy people who truly care about eachother. I and I must call that vegan body builder guy. I need to get buff but stay vegan at the same time... :jester:

[denveraztec]

Looks like a very relaxed area, maybe somewhat boheimian? Who has a book exchange on the street? Great shots!

[Pavlov's Dog]

Awesome work. You've really captured the essence of the neighborhood.

Laurelhurst would be a great topic for another thread. Pretty soon you've got all the garish Christmas lights on Peacock lane which is a two block section of 40th at about Stark.

Alameda/Beaumont is another great neighborhood few people know about.

Next summer I'd like to see the area around Washington Park with the Rose Gardens. So many cool houses and buildings around there.

[MarkDaMan]

glad to see the inner city neighborhoods being represented. Those of us here know that downtown is the center of things, but the outlaying districts is what makes Portland truly special.

Thanks for the pics!

[pwright1]

I love Portland with its many interesting cool neighborhoods. Nice pics and thanks for sharing.

[WesternGulf]

That's just cute:

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Nice hood

[Sekkle]

That's just cute
Some of it's cute, some of it's a little over the top for me... here's another pic from "Share-it-square" as an example...
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Teach your dog to read?? :uhh:

[Jularc]

What a fantastic Portland neighborhood. Thank you for taking these. :yes:

[Hozay]

Looks great, nice shots!

[Evo5Boise]

Great pics! I love the Portland area.

[mhays]

Nice pictures. I really like neighborhoods like that. It's even near the river.

[SuburbanNation]

fantastic, more neighborhoods please. i especially enjoy the neighborhood scaled business districts.