5 noteworthy things to do in portland's powellhurst-gilbert neighborhood

Originally farmland, East Portland’s Powellhurst-Gilbert is named for a pair of 1800s settlers, Jackson Powell and William M. Gilbert, whose names also appear on a trio of neighborhood elementary schools. As the city grew, residential development claimed much of the land, but pockets of flora and fauna as well as urban agriculture still exist within and nearby today’s Powellhurst-Gilbert. Consistently an area for new Portlanders, the population has transformed from the initial pioneer families to the present-day diversity where Asian, Hispanic and black citizens make up more than one-third of the area's residents, a characteristic that’s plainly reflected in the ethnically varied businesses.

SHOP: The International Markets

Powellhurst-Gilbert is home to a glut of markets that primarily cater to various Asian populations but are also popular with adventurous eaters and holistic health practitioners all over Portland. With the Fubonn Supermarket, Tin Seng Trading Company and Chang Fa next door to Tin Seng (which has been called a mini Fubonn), you can find a vast array of packaged goods and Chinese herbal medicines as well as a selection of fresh produce, meat and even live seafood. The substantial Fubonn (self-proclaimed "the largest Asian shopping center in Oregon") also provides shoppers with a proper mall experience where you can find bubble tea, a bakery, restaurants, a jewelry store, gift shop, bookstore, spa, salon, clothing stores and more inside the building. Focused on traditional Chinese medicine, the nearby Wing Ming Herbs offers additional herbs, spices, teas, ginseng and so on, while the Eastern European Roman Russian Food Store, features a deli and bakery with a much raved about honey cake and other pastries.

Fubonn Shopping Center, 2850 SE 82nd Ave., Ste. 80, 503.517.8899
Tin Seng Trading Company, 8350 SE Division St., 503.777.8203
Chang Fa Market, 8310 SE Division St., 503.788.8882
Wing Ming Herbs, 2738 SE 82nd Ave., 503.775.9895
Roman Russian Food Store, 10918 SE Division St., 503.408.7525

PLAY: Seek Skate Nirvana

Named in honor of statesman and community activist Ed Benedict, the almost 13-acre park that bears his name features the standard amenities (basketball, soccer, walking paths, picnic tables, playground) as well as an 18,000-square-foot skatepark with ledges, rails, stairs and banks. Artistically designed to feature Dan Garland’s multifaceted concrete art installation (“which provokes thought regarding the intersection between natural and man-made environments”) and constructed using recycled and sustainable materials, the skatepark features native landscaping and on-site stormwater treatment. It’s even “considered to be the first environmentally sensitive skate plaza ever constructed,” according to Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R).

Ed Benedict Park, SE 100th Avenue and Powell Boulevard

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Find three more things to do in Powellhurst-Gilbert on Neighborhood Notes.

5 noteworthy things to do in portland's historic irvington neighborhood

A 2010 addition to the National Register of Historic Places, Portland’s Irvington neighborhood is a slice of the American dream where luxurious porches and ornate entryways overlook expansive green lawns and sidewalk swings hanging from tree branches, sometimes with a secret treefort hidden high amongst the leaves as well.

SEE: Historic Homes and Lush Gardens

Originally plotted as an east side suburb in the late 1800s, Irvington was designed to be a middle- to upper-class residential district where commercial activity was prohibited. Wealthy residents flocked to the area during the early 1900s, building some of the largest houses in the city and flaunting common period styles like arts and crafts, craftsman, colonial revival, prairie style and bungalow. For the first 25 years of the neighborhood’s existence, there were also strict conditions placed upon builders aimed at maintaining the area’s exclusiveness, such as each residence must cost at least $2,500, lots were a minimum of 50 feet, houses had to be 25 feet back from the property line, and no liquor production was allowed at neighborhood residences. The grandeur of this legacy has mostly remained intact as the quiet, tree-lined streets still offer an impressive display of early 20th century residential architecture, with some 2,800 properties—the largest historic district in Oregon—“of which 85 percent are considered ‘contributing’ and retain their original appearance,” according to the Irvington Community Association’s home tour, and almost no commercial activity. Of course, you can stroll around Irvington any time of the year (or take a virtual tour, or, if you’re ambitious, make your own walking tour based on photo tours from previous years) and enjoy the beautiful period architecture, but each May on the third Sunday, the official Irvington Home Tour gives you the opportunity to go inside some of these amazing residences. Owners do their spring cleaning and then open their doors to the public to raise funds for the Irvington Community Association (ICA). Running for 30 consecutive years, “the Irvington Home Tour is the longest continuously running neighborhood home tour in Portland,” according to its website, and the sole source of funds for the ICA. Learn about the more recent history of the neighborhood and the genesis of the home tour.

STAY: In Georgian, Victorian or Greek Luxury

And if you actually want to take up temporary residence in one of these historic homes, take your pick of the refined, rustic simplicity of the bricked Georgian House, the opulence of Portland’s White House, or the Victorian charm of the Lion and the Rose. Each bed and breakfast offers a variety of gorgeous suites, standard amenities, and artfully adorned common areas, but The Georgian House is “one of only three true Georgian colonial homes in Portland,” according to its website, and features an English rose garden that was highlighted in Better Homes and Gardens. The Lion and the Rose also provides an English garden, but more impressive distinctions of the Queen Anne style mansion built in 1906 include the airy, Ionic-columned, wrap-around porch and the octagonal turret, visible between the tree branches to passing traffic on NE 15th Avenue. Yet, the grand approach up the circular drive to the Greek revival mansion style of the White House is a sight that welcomes you with 14 Corinthian columns and a three-tiered fountain.

The Georgian House, 1828 NE Siskiyou St., 503.281.2250 or 888.282.2250
Lion and the Rose, 1810 NE 15th Ave., 503.287.9245 or 800.955.1647
Portland's White House, 1914 NE 22nd Ave., 503.287.7131

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Find three more things to do in historic Irvington on Neighborhood Notes.

10 noteworthy things to do in portland's old town-chinatown

Portland’s Old Town-Chinatown presents a dizzying array of shopping, sights, eats and events as well as characters and characteristics, from serenely traditional to outlandishly artistic to rambunctiously drunken. Historically home to significant emigrant populations of Chinese and Japanese, today’s Asian influence is mostly surface only as just a handful of gift shops, importers and restaurants remain in the neighborhood.

Yet, the impressive Chinatown Gate over Fourth Avenue still welcomes visitors to NW Portland with two imposing bronze lions sitting on their haunches. Iconic red lamp posts line the streets north of Burnside and the re-erected Hung Far Low sign endures just two blocks past the gate.

Amongst all the activity and weekend merrymaking, there’s a seedier side—strip clubs and an adult theater—and a blunt reality to the area where a significant homeless population lives and human services abound.

Nevertheless, a few things are guaranteed every night of the week: The echo of live music always hangs in the air as does the aroma of deep-fried dough and crystallized sugar, each welcoming you to your destination even before it’s in sight.

DO: Tour By Foot or Bike

Jump in an orange PDX Pedicab for a 45-minute tour guided by an audio recording, or set your own pace with the Old Town-Chinatown walking tour. While each will take you by many of the major historical sites of “Portland's oldest neighborhood,” according to the Old Town-Chinatown Neighborhood Association, there are two more stops you can add to your list: Take a stroll up the north side of the Burnside Bridge and turn around once you’re over the water to view the neon White Stag sign, which welcomes you to Old Town as you drive across the river; and then head down to what remains of the oddity-filled 24 Hour Church of Elvis, on NW Couch Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, to push the buttons of the coin-op kiosk, which offers fortune-telling and marriage ceremonies.

24 Hour Church of Elvis, 408 NW Couch St., 503.226.3671

PLAY: Game On at the Barcade

Founded by lifelong pinball and classic video game enthusiasts, Ground Kontrol “celebrates and preserves arcade gaming's ‘golden age’ by operating over 100 of the best video games and pinball machines from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s,” according to its website, as well as offering a full bar and snacks, which you can put away while seated at glowing tables. Bask in the warmth of buzzing, chiming machines and the luminescence of the retro-futuristic, TRON-inspired interior where white- and indigo-hued fiber-optic lighting and LEDs line the stairs and archways as DJs spin a fresh variety every night. The long-running Rock Band Tuesdays, dubbed “karaoke for gamers,” will allow you to pick up plastic instruments and rock out using pro gear (microphones, guitar and keyboard controllers, drum mod), lights and sound (PA system, audio monitors), but before you head home for the night, be sure to make your way to the restrooms to check out the floor mosaics—Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, respectively.

Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade, 511 NW Couch St., 503.796.9364

EAT + DRINK: Imbibe and Consume, Outdoors and In

Taking a page out of the old town playbook of Europe, Portland closed off SW Ankeny Street between Second to Third Avenues to traffic in 2011, effectively creating a communal, open-air space where the surrounding bars and restaurants set up picnic tables. Sit outside with your bright pink Voodoo Doughnut box while mulling over the stained glass likeness of a bacon maple bar and the faces of Voodoo’s owners, as well as the late Ted Papaioannou, owner of neighboring bar Berbati and music venue Ted's, and then wash down that cereal-, cookie- or candy-covered sweet with a drink from the uber-hip art space Valentines, or a craft libation from Central as you watch the chef work a compact kitchen through the restaurant’s one alleyway window. The dim recesses of the new-ish industrial chic, speakeasy-style bar may be blocked by a curtain, but the large windows of next door's 105-year-old Dan & Louis Oyster Bar—Portland’s “oldest family-owned restaurant”—reveal shucked oysters and nautical paraphernalia, like a massive wooden ship's wheel that hangs above the bar in the The Old Shucking Room.

Voodoo Doughnut, 22 SW 3rd Ave., 503.241.4704
Ted’s Berbati’s Pan, 221 SW Ankeny St., 503.226.2122
Valentines, 232 SW Ankeny St., 503.248.1600
Central, 220 SW Ankeny St., 503.719.7918
Dan & Louis Oyster Bar, 208 SW Ankeney St., 503.227.5906
Berbati, 19 SW 2nd Ave., 503.248.4579

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Find seven more things to do in Old Town-Chinatown, including art galleries, drag shows and live music, on Neighborhood Notes.

5 noteworthy things to do in portland's foster-powell neighborhood

Portland’s Foster-Powell neighborhood sits at the center of several southeast neighborhoods whose borders blend together and the people share parks, bars, bike lanes, and food carts. Affectionately dubbed FoPo, the area is rich in diversity and the variety of businesses in the community reflect this. As new venues crop up to complement neighborhood staples, a flux of new and old, youthful and aged, Vietnamese, Eastern European and American residents come together to shape a district in transformation.

EAT: Transcontinental Coalescence

Originally a commercial supplier, FoPo’s An Xuyen Bakery might be most popular for its $3.99 bánh mì and Vietnamese iced coffee special. Yet, the expert provider of fresh, daily, natural French bread still supplies loaves to bánh mì joints, restaurants and grocers all over town, as well as the next door Foster Burger with speciality brioche buns. Stop in for a to-go lunch, add a pork or veggie (cabbage, carrots, noodles) bao if you’re extra hungry, and top it off with a selection of fresh-baked sweets—choose from a variety of tropical cookies (like guava or pineapple), towering puff pastries, red velvet cupcakes, or sugar-covered, deep-fried Hawaiian doughnuts.

An Xuyen Bakery, 5345 SE Foster Road, 503.788.0866

SHOP: Multifariously Eastern European

Besides a handful of easily recognizable brand names, most of the products lining the shelves of Good Neighbor European Deli Market are utterly foreign—and that’s not just because many of the labels are written in Cyrillic. With an impressive selection of canned fish, herbal remedies, teas, and sunflower seeds, Good Neighbor offers more than 70 varieties of meat with a cold case dedicated to baloney, two for salami, one for smoked and dried fish, and another for Eastern European cheeses, as well as a freezer full of pelmeni and perogi dumplings. A rear corner features a wall of colorfully wrapped, assorted candies in bins, but owner Alex Shkurov, who runs the grocery with his brother Slava, says he’d “take a pickled cucumber over candy” any day. Pickled goods, like cucumbers, tomatoes and green beans, are amongst the in-house specialities made using old-fashioned recipes that don’t use vinegar, while other rarities include jars of pickled apples and watermelon. Other highly recommended and hard-to-find items include house-baked Georgian flat bread and German rye-based breads as well as cheesy puff pastries. And if anything starts to feel too unfamiliar, ask for a sample and the staff will gladly oblige.

Good Neighbor European Deli Market, 4107 SE 82nd Ave., 503.771.5171

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Find three more things to do in Foster-Powell on Neighborhood Notes.

5 noteworthy things to do in portland's kenton neighborhood

Located in the shadow of Paul Bunyan, Kenton may feel sleepy on certain days of the week when the antique and resale shops are shuttered, but there’s always plenty of activity within this North Portland neighborhood that feels like you’ve stepped into a small, tight-knit community where neighbors know each others’ names.

SEE: Stumptown’s Patron Saint

Built to celebrate the Oregon Centennial in 1959, Kenton’s towering concrete and metal Paul Bunyan statue has become a symbol of the neighborhood and was even added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. Originally slated for demolition following the Centennial Exposition, state officials ultimately decided to allow the 31-foot sculpture remain standing, and over the years, it was relocated 50 feet to a new plaza when TriMet needed to make room for a new MAX line. And although there’s no Babe, TriMet also commissioned bench-sized imprints of the Blue Ox’s feet at the base of the statue.

Paul Bunyan statue, corner of North Interstate Avenue and North Denver Avenue across from the North Denver Avenue light rail station

SHOP LOCAL: "One Man's Junk Is Another Man's Treasure"

A worn wooden sign above a doorway reads "One Man's Junk Is Another Man's Treasure" in the symbiotically crafted retail space affectionately dubbed The Fort, where the owners of three independently owned businesses—Salvage Works, Solabee Flowers and Boys' Fort—have come together to share not only their space but also their manpower and talents. Packed with salvaged and recycled curiosities, Salvage Works offers vintage building materials and custom, handmade furniture while Boys’ Fort peddles everything from bowties to lighting fixtures to oil can and voltage meter robots by Dean Freiman of Tin Bones Manufacturing, and Solabee Flowers brightens up the place with botanicals and floral arrangements. If all that sounds just uniquely lovely, don’t miss the grotesque display of decapitated Cabbage Patch and Chucky-esque doll head planters by Tim Brock, which make good reuse of discarded (and mutilated) children’s toys.

Salvage Works, 2030 N Willis Blvd., 503.285.2555
Solabee Flowers, 8315 N Denver Ave., 503.307.2758
Boys' Fort, 2030 N Willis Blvd., 503.886.9077

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Find three more things to do in Kenton on Neighborhood Notes.

10 noteworthy things to do in portland's west end

Less polished than the abutting Pearl, the West End maintains a bit of its viable grit as it experiences a rebirth of sorts. Representing the craft and culture that’s become the definition of Portland, the district is a den of fashionable boutiques containing handmade goods and art, where dining, drinking and dancing abounds at night, and a quiet corner, good book and mug of coffee awaits in the morning.

CAFFEINATE: Drink Local

Pull up a chair to sip your in-house roasted coffee from a locally made ceramic mug at Courier Coffee Roasters. And because you took a seat, you can also enjoy some of the shop’s baked goods, which are made from scratch on-site using as many locally sourced products as possible.

Courier Coffee Roasters, 923 SW Oak St., 503.545.6444

SHOP LOCAL: Accessorize

Focused on the quality and sustainability of the products it sells, look beyond the selection of dresses, tops, pants and jackets at Radish Underground to the one-of-a-kind, hard-to-find accessories: Go for Rad Bad Lands jewelry (made locally with dinosaur bones and ancient fossils from Hell City, Mont.), or Portland-made Martine leather satchels and Jonny Sport bags, a “man-tastic,” 100 percent vegan, basketball-textured accessory.

Radish Underground, 414 SW 10th Ave., 503.928.6435

SHOP LOCAL: Skim the Illustrated Editions

Specializing in the little guys, geeks and independents of the publishing world, Reading Frenzy stocks a bounty of scarce small press and self-published books, art, local comics, graphic novels, and zines, like The D.I.Y. Guide To Drums by local musician Lisa Schonberg and a guide to edible weeds as well as one to help you discover Portland by bicycle.

Reading Frenzy, 921 SW Oak St., 503.274.1449

SHOP LOCAL: Listen Local, Too

Amongst the array of handmade art, clothing and jewelry at Tender Loving Empire lies a record label. The DIY retail consignment store and screenprinting studio stocks indie releases on vinyl from Portland up-and-comers like Radiation City, Typhoon and Y La Bamba.

Tender Loving Empire, 412 SW 10th Ave., 503.243.5859

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Find six more things to do in West End, including more shopping, happy hour and live music, on Neighborhood Notes.