North Portland:

Minutes from downtown Portland, Oregon, the neighborhoods in North Portland have seen increased efforts in revitalization over the past decade. Now, these neighborhoods are drawing residents from all corners of the metropolitan area to live, play, learn and work.

SCHOOLS

Most children living in North Portland attend the Portland Public School District.

On the bluff overlooking the city in North Portland is the University of Portland, a private Catholic university known for its tremendous soccer program and undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Portland Community College’s Cascade campus also resides in North Portland, offering the perfect centralized location for the busy commuter student.

RECREATION

There is a wide variety of recreational options available to residents living in North Portland, including several popular golf courses and numerous public parks.
 
Known to be one of Lewis and Clark’s original 14 landing sites in the Portland area is Cathedral Park, a 23-acre park located beneath the St. Johns Bridge – the only suspension bridge in the Willamette Valley.

Across the St. Johns Bridge and up Highway 30 a few miles is Sauvie Island, one of the most impressive natural areas in all of the Portland metropolitan area. The 12,000-acre island features beaches, trails and dozens of farm stands selling locally grown produce. During the fall, Sauvie Island is also a popular spot for families to visit the various corn mazes and pumpkin patches.

Also located on Sauvie Island is Howell Territorial Park, a 93-acre park with an agricultural museum and the Bybee Howell House, a restored farmhouse from the 19th Century.
 
In addition, North Portland is home to Delta Park, a spacious recreation complex that includes softball fields, a synthetic soccer field and sand volleyball courts.

ENTERTAINMENT

Movie lovers can take in new and old movies in North Portland’s old-fashioned St. Johns Historic Cinema as well as McMenamins’ St. Johns Theater & Pub. This local favorite watering hole offers patrons the amazing food and handcrafted ales that McMenamins is known for.

North Portland’s Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, next to Patton Park, features arts education, exhibits and theater.

For the car enthusiast, entertainment can be found watching the drag races at Portland International Raceway at Delta Park.

NEIGHBORHOODS

Neighborhoods in North Portland include:

Arbor Lodge
Arbor Lodge has tremendously benefited from Trimet’s Interstate MAX light rail line. Retail outlets like Fred Meyer and New Seasons opened their doors just a few short years ago, helping kick-start a new era of the Arbor Lodge community.

Schools:
Elementary: Chief Joseph; Middle: Ockley Green; High: Jefferson


Mississippi
Between Fremont Street and Shaver Street you’ll find two popular establishments: The Rebuilding Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to recycling building material, and the Mississippi Pizza Pub, which has an adjacent lounge that showcases live music every night. At Failing Street, a pedestrian/bicycle bridge over I-5 once connects Mississippi to the Interstate Avenue stop of the MAX light rail. This makes the Mississippi neighborhood a very attractive place to live with thriving local businesses, modest homes and a quick train to downtown Portland.

Schools:
Elementary: Humboldt and Boise/Eliot; Middle: Harriet Tubman; High: Jefferson


Overlook
Overlook is one of the most accessible neighborhoods by Trimet’s MAX light rail in Portland. The neighborhood includes Swan Island, which was originally an island in the Willamette River, but later connected to the east bank by landfill in the 1920s. Additionally, Swan Island was the site of Portland’s first airport dedicated by Charles Lindberg in 1927 and operating until the early 1940s when the island was converted for naval shipbuilding use for World War II. Swan Island is now an industrial area.

Schools:
Elementary: Beach; Middle: Ockley Green; High: Jefferson


Piedmont
Peninsula Park is just a hint of what’s blooming in the Piedmont neighborhood, bordered by Interstate 5, Northeast Columbia Boulevard, Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and North Ainsworth Street. Piedmont is a neighborhood in transition, with new affordable housing developments, older, revamped homes and the Interstate MAX light rail just a few blocks west. The 16-acre Peninsula Park features magnificent plantings of 65 rose varieties which border the steps leading to the sunken rose garden. The Rose Garden features a 2-acre rose garden with 8,900 plantings. On the south end of Piedmont you will find the 14-acre Farragut Park.

Schools:
Elementary: Applegate and Chief Joseph; Middle: Ockley Green; High: Wilson


St. Johns
For the last decade, St. Johns has been considered the last affordable close-in Portland neighborhood. With the Lombard Plan bringing charming and quirky new storefronts to the St. Johns downtown stretch and the completion of the St. Johns Bridge renovation, prices are rising as the neighborhood gets hotter.

The neighborhood still has a bit of a small town feel to it, however. The post office, coffee shops, breakfast places, restaurants, movie theaters, grocery stores and several parks are all within walking distance for residents who live close to the heart of the neighborhood. An 1843 pioneer settler of Linnton, James John, moved across the river and started St. Johns in about 1865. St. Johns became part of Portland in 1915, two years before Linnton joined the growing city.

Schools:
Elementary: James John and Sitton; Middle: George and Portsmith; High: Roosevelt


University Park
The University Park neighborhood was named after the area’s collegiate history. Many of the street names in North Portland are survivors of an attempt by the Methodist Church to establish a university on Waud’s Bluff, where the University of Portland sits today. The Methodists’ institution, called Portland University, opened in 1891. Due to financial difficulties, the university closed its doors after less than a decade. Subsequently, the campus and buildings were purchased by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, and the facilities re-opened in 1901 as Columbia University. In 1935, the university was renamed University of Portland.

Schools:
Elementary: Astor and Peninsula; Middle: Clarendon and Portsmith; High: Roosevelt