Portland and Oregon Visitor Information|Questions

[PhxDT]

I LOVED my time in Portland. We tried to keep a healthy balance of tourism with a little R and R. We ended up staying at Skamania lodge (1 day outside of Portland), Fifth Ave. Suites for 3 nights, and Lucia for 2 nights. I was most impressed with Lucia, but my wife like Fifth Ave best. We did not rent a car in Portland (on purpose) to get a feel of the downtown. We hit the Pearl, Nob Hill, and Old Town Districts, eating at Old Town Pizza, Manzanas, Santa Fe (Nob Hil), and Allesandro's to name a couple. We tried to stay away from any national chains.

The scene is great, and all the people were helpful and nice. You guys have quite a city!

Thanks for the help!

[Bailey]

Hey, I'm planning on visiting Portland for the weekend (Fri/Sat- Mon) either in late January or early February. It will be my first time there and being an architect from Houston I've always wanted to visit the fabled 'Portland'.

My question is: Knowing nothing about Portland what should I look into for my trip- Transit from airport to downtown, where should I stay, do I need a rental car, any recommendations on where to visit during the day, nightlife, etc. etc.

Any advice would great!

[Urbanpdx]

If you really want the whole picture, include the outlying areas and suburbs. To do this you need a car. If you are only coming for fun and to see the city, you really shouldn't need one. You can take MAX downtown from the airport and rent a car there (cheaper) for a day trip or two. You might also include time to hit the coast or Mt. Hood and the gorge if you can.

Citysearch.com is a good place to find restaurants and things to do, also wweek.com has a pretty good restaurant review section.

[roner]

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=122326

You can reference this thread as it was posted by someone in the same situation as you.

I hope you enjoy your stay in our city.

[Urbanpdx]

I am glad you had fun but you should have run the restaurant selections by the group. It sounds like you hit the ones that advertise in the hotel directories. On a scale of 1-10 you hit 6's, we have a lot of 9's and 10's.

Now you have a reason to come back!

[Urbanpdx]

So this vistor doesn't hit all the Pacific Coast Restaurants locations, how about a top 10 from the group.

1. Paley's Place on NW 21st and Northrup
2. Ken's Artisan Pizza on SE 28th
3. A Pizza Scholls on SE Hawthorne
4. Nicholas' Lebanese on SE Grand
5. Simpatica on SE 9th and Ankeny (Sat & Sun only and great Sunday brunch)
6. Le Pigeon on SE 9th and Burnside
7. Saucebox on SW Broadway
8. Hiroshi in the Pearl
9. Clark Lewis in the Central Eastside Industrial District
10. The Farm on SE 8th and Burnside

do I have to stop at 10? Now I am hungry

[PDX City-State]

I second the list and add Pambiche on 28th and Glisan. I wouldn't, however, agree that the burbs are at all worth checking out--unless you want to head to Gresham and buy meth.

[bvpcvm]

Originally Posted by PDX City-State

I second the list and add Pambiche on 28th and Glisan. I wouldn't, however, agree that the burbs are at all worth checking out--unless you want to head to Gresham and buy meth.

^ no mystery, city-state, it's just the troll's underhanded way of distorting a visitor's impression of us.

[Urbanpdx]

It is very easy to believe that places like east county and the burbs don't exist in Portland. Drive around and you'll see that most of the region is similar to any-town usa.

[Urbanpdx]

Originally Posted by PDX City-State

I second the list and add Pambiche on 28th and Glisan. I wouldn't, however, agree that the burbs are at all worth checking out--unless you want to head to Gresham and buy meth.

Pimbache has GREAT deserts!

[Drmyeyes]

I'm not sure I could encourage you to rent a car and drive around the metro area either unless you've got specific businesses, shops, or restaurants to visit away from the light rail, or streetcar routes. The bus can be complicated for a novice to manage especially when transfers and waiting between connecting busses are involved. There's lots of stuff to see if you ride the max, and just get off at as many stops as you can and walk around, or take a bike if you can. Since it goes clear down to Hillsboro, there's a lot to take in just doing that.

If you want to get overviews of the portland area, you could hit the higher elevations in the area; Mt Tabor on the east side, Council Crest on the west side, Pittock Mansion on the west side. Helps to have a car to drive to those places and also wander around those older neighborhoods with nice old houses. Of course, now there's the tram that'll give you a fine view up and down the Willamette and lots else too. A nice drive, if you've got the car, is up Cornell road through NW Portland, out skyline drive. Once you crest the hill, you'll have a nice view south into the valley that holds the burbs. It's pretty though. Take a map, keep driving on skyline, drop down on Cornelius Pass road southbound, (beautiful rural country), find your way to the Helvetia Tavern...Just a country bar with big high calorie food, but people totally dig it.

[urbanlife]

good to know my guys at the Lucia took care of you.

[bvpcvm]

Originally Posted by Drmyeyes

Take a map, keep driving on skyline, drop down on Cornelius Pass road southbound, (beautiful rural country), find your way to the Helvetia Tavern...Just a country bar with big high calorie food, but people totally dig it.

didn't that place burn down about a year ago?

[nwd]

No, that was the McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern, which is nearby, and it's been a number of years since it burned. It was rebuilt using old lumber from a neighboring barn and has been open again for some time now.

[Chicago3rd]

Originally Posted by Urbanpdx

It is very easy to believe that places like east county and the burbs don't exist in Portland. Drive around and you'll see that most of the region is similar to any-town usa.

So he can drive out to Surgarland, Texas if he wants to view "any-town" USA.

Please list recommended architectural things he needs a car to see:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

[Bailey]

Thanks for the advice- I'll also check out the similar post.
I'd like to try to visit Portland 'without a car'.

[Urbanpdx]

Originally Posted by Chicago3rd

So he can drive out to Surgarland, Texas if he wants to view "any-town" USA.

Please list recommended architectural things he needs a car to see:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

1. Traffic problems that come with focus on LRT (ie. Hwy 217, Tualatin-Sherwood Rd, Mill Plain Blvd., etc) and a refusal to increase road capacity.
2. Skinny houses and townhouses in otherwise low density neighborhoods that are ugly and out of place
3. The same suburban sprawl as anyplace usa despite all the hoopla
4. The overall mess that is east of 205
5. All of the easy to build on land near jobs that is locked up in Washington County for no real good reason

[65MAX]

Bailey,

There are enough architectural things to see in the central city and via lightrail that you really won't need a car for that. However, if you've never been to Oregon, and you have time for a day trip or two, I highly recommend a drive through the Columbia River Gorge and a trip to Cannon Beach. Both are spectacular and not to be missed. Also, Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood is a great example of Depression-era Works Project architecture. A stop there could be combined with trip through the Gorge.

Yes, we have dreaded suburbs, like every other city, but you really don't need to see something that you've already seen in Houston, do you?

[pdxf]

I apologize Bailey. This is just a response to UrbanPDX's post. I have a hard time letting these things go!

This should really become it's own thread, since this is yet again spiraling off topic (this keeps happening lately), but anyways...

Originally Posted by Urbanpdx

1. Traffic problems that come with focus on LRT (ie. Hwy 217, Tualatin-Sherwood Rd, Mill Plain Blvd., etc) and a refusal to increase road capacity.

1. Also drive around any other large city in the US (such as Seattle) that has increased their road capacity and not added alternative transportation and amazingly enough, you'll see that they still have traffic problems. At least in Portland you have options, and a hope that in the future we will build more responsibly (unless a certain segment of the population manages to stop the progress).

Originally Posted by Urbanpdx

2. Skinny houses and townhouses in otherwise low density neighborhoods that are ugly and out of place

2. Most in my opinion actually fit well within the context even if I don't agree with their style. Check out some of the design proposals that have been submitted to City of Portland design competition, some are actually quite nice and well designed. Some of what has been built is ugly, but so are most of the new houses that are built, and especially those that are now built in suburbia.

Originally Posted by Urbanpdx

3. The same suburban sprawl as anyplace usa despite all the hoopla

Yep, we have sprawl, some of it led the state to enact Urban Growth Boundries to slow the rate with which it occurs (incidentally Urban Growth Boundries were enacted in the 1970s, and even at the time were pretty generously placed. The planning strategy took a good hit recently with measure 37 so coupled with the fact that half of Portland doesn't have UGB's (Vancouver), I don't think that portland will be the ultimate test of the strategy). I find it odd how these people argue both sides, that 1) The urban growth boundry doesn't work to contain sprawl because their obviously is sprawl, and 2) that it does work because Portland's land values are increasing, which can only be caused by the Urban Growth Boundary. It's an interesting duality.

Originally Posted by Urbanpdx

4. The overall mess that is east of 205

Not sure of the mess he's referring to. The development east of 205 looks to me like the type of development that UrbanPDX and the rest at the TI Institute advocate. (www.ti.org)

Originally Posted by Urbanpdx

5. All of the easy to build on land near jobs that is locked up in Washington County for no real good reason

As well as the easy to build on land in the rest of the Willamette Valley. So green and fertile, perfect land for growing McMansions on. Again, it seems as though UrbanPDX argues both sides, since he is saying that the land is "locked up" (not currently built on), but that if it were opened up, it would be developed. Is the UGB slowing and containing the sprawl or not?!!?

[Urbanpdx]

lso drive around any other large city in the US (such as Seattle) that has increased their road capacity and not added alternative transportation and amazingly enough, you'll see that they still have traffic problems. At least in Portland you have options, and a hope that in the future we will build more responsibly (unless a certain segment of the population manages to stop the progress).

Houston is the only one I know of that actually has increased it enough.