Fort Worthology to visit Portland - seeking input on what to see

[Atomic Glee]

Hi all,

Y'all might have seen me around before, though I mostly keep to the Texas sub-forum. I run a blog dedicated to promoting urbanism and transit in Fort Worth, Texas, called Fort Worthology. As you might expect, it's pretty much the only one of its kind around here, but surprisingly we're doing some quality urbanism and transit work here in the Panther City. I am also a member of: the City of Fort Worth Historic and Cultural Landmarks Comission Designation Committee and the Fort Worth South, Inc. Marketing Committee.

Fort Worth is not entirely dissimilar to Portland in a few respects - we have the same small block sizes, for example. We're also planning our own modern streetcar system to link Downtown, the Cultural District, and the Near Southside with a quality urban circulator.

Myself and the rest of us at Fort Worthology have long wanted to visit Portland, both for recreation and to take a look at all the ways your city builds and moves for our own site. So, we're planning to take a trip. What I'm curious is - is there anything in particular we should check out, from an urbanism, architectural, and transit perspective? Obviously, we're going to be going to Downtown and the Pearl, but beyond that we're still learning about what we might see in your city. I want to check out things like the Burnside Rocket and other infill developments, for example. Also take a look at the bicycle & small brewery cultures.

We're planning to spend a little over a week, so we should be able to see a decent amount. Thought I'd reach out to the Portlanders here on Skyscraperpage and get some input.

[ue]

i've never been to portland but hope to visit this summer

i've done some research and the following might be cool:
-the downtown
-tram that goes up the hill
-the streetcar
-the pearl district
-arlington/nw district
-mt. tabor/rose test garden
-forest park
-lloyd mall
-multnomah
-the japanese gardens
-and there were a few museums

hope this helps.

[monpetitloup]

Are you really suggesting he visit a run down mall while he is in Portland? That makes me want to cry.

[pdxf]

-Walk the Park Blocks (maybe hit the museums along the way)
-Waterfront loop (East bank esplenade and waterfront park)
-Pioneer Square (particularly nice on a sunny day at lunch hour, or if there is an event going on)
-NW 23rd Street (you can take the streetcar, then walk up to 23rd. From there, you can walk up into Washington Park and visit the Rose Gardens and Japanese Gardens, or take a walk in the woods. In some places, you can totally forget that your minutes from downtown. You can also take the MAX to the zoo, and use the trails to walk back to downtown to experience Forest Park (You'll want a map though!).
-Jameson Square and the Pearl District (Jameson Square is great on a warm day)
-I really like just walking around downtown, there are some fantastic historic buildings near the waterfront.
-Tram (I still haven't done this, but I need to)
-Most people try to make it to Powells, Voodoo doughnuts, breweries
-Explore the West Hills - the neighborhoods to the south and west of downtown are built in the hills (sometimes pretty impressively). Just walking through the neighborhoods offers fantastic views of the city, with views of Mt. Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, and Hood as backdrops to downtown.
-Catch a play in the Gerding Theater (old armory that has been updated as a theater - a nice project)
-Chinese Gardens
-Saturday Market, Farmers Market

[Northeast79]

I would try to hit a few coffee shops too. After being in different parts of the country, I realized that coffee is a big and unique part of our culture. It has grown around the country in the last decade, but the Northwest knows how to do it.

-Maybe stop by Stumptown on your way to the waterfront.

Oh, and Powell's is a must. Not many bookstores like it.

[urbanlife]

may I suggest visiting the Memorial Coliseum before we knock it down.

[ue]

The Farmers' Market would also be good.

Originally Posted by monpetitloup

Are you really suggesting he visit a run down mall while he is in Portland? That makes me want to cry.

I don't know. I've just heard it's big. Doesn't entirely interest me but the area around i know has some brutalist buildings which i like. i've just done some research when i find out for sure if i am going to portland, i'll actually ask you forumers for soem ideas cause i know you guys would have good suggestions.

[zilfondel]

I would try contacting some of the local planning and transit authorities over here, perhaps Sam Adams' office, as they love to show off the city and do stuff like that.

[Okstate]

Or take a walking tour. http://www.portlandwalkingtours.com/

[alexjon]

-Beaverton/Gresham to see how LRT functions as a commuter system (Blue/Red Line stops in B'ton in the very suburban portion, about 3/4s of a mile from the nice town-like portion by the library and such)
-Central Eastside, to see how a neighborhood looks before the Streetcar
-Industrial NW, same
-PSU Urban Center to take in the Streetcar interaction

[Atomic Glee]

Thanks for the tips, everybody. In our planning for this trip this will be very helpful. We might well try to get in contact with some of the folks in the city, if they're open to showing off some projects.

[jaxg8r1]

I would also add that you should tour some of the neighborhood "downtowns". Its almost as though Portland is a collection of small towns stitched together at the center (downtown). Some of these include Kenton business district, Montevilla, Hawthorne, etc. I'm sure other forumers could add some as well.

Its one of the things that make some of Portland's less dense neighborhoods interesting and walkable. And makes the more dense neighborhoods even more vibrant.

[Okstate]

^ Beaumont-Wilshire gets my pick as far as neighborhoods are concerned.

[NewUrbanist]

Originally Posted by Atomic Glee

Thanks for the tips, everybody. In our planning for this trip this will be very helpful. We might well try to get in contact with some of the folks in the city, if they're open to showing off some projects.

Contact the UDD department at the Portland Development Commission. I would recommend the Central City team, they can put together a tour that highlights the history of the city from the 1960's forward.

The PDC utilizes Tax Increment Financing to help spur catalyst projects in the city. They get some bad press, but really, they are a big player in the local game and help fund development, infrastructure, business retention/ recruitment, as well as micro enterprises through on-the-ground partners. They also have funded mass transit and Transit Orientated developments. They are located in old town/ chinatown.

[pdxdash]

The old Lloyd Center was an architectural gem and had it been left alone it would certainly deserve a spot on the Portland architectural tour. It had a pure modernistic, post-war, space age vibe going on while maintaining a northwesternly feel...mainly stemming from it's open air concept. All that's gone now and it's not worth seeing. My dream is that someday it will be opened up again, which I believe is the only way it will ever be truely integrated into the surrounding neighborhoods.

[Atomic Glee]

Well, we're all set - we'll be there from May 9th through May 17. Making a Google Maps array of everything we want to visit, lots of which comes from you fine folks. Thanks, everybody, for the input.

We're really looking forward to visiting your city.

[JoshYent]

Originally Posted by monpetitloup

Are you really suggesting he visit a run down mall while he is in Portland? That makes me want to cry.

I KNOW RIGHT!?!

[JoshYent]

Id, say that you MUST hop on the Max and ride out west, and check out Orenco. MUST SEE, and Intel is directly north and you can walk through the neighborhood and see where your computer chip was created =) yay D1D

[philopdx]

Well, how was it?

[JordanL]

Originally Posted by philopdx

Well, how was it?

http://fortworthology.com/tag/portland/