CONCORDIA – ALBERTA ARTS DISTRICT
When it comes to the Arts, few neighborhoods could boast the influence and integration of all things artistic in this celebrated Concordia-Alberta Arts District.
For over a decade, the neighborhood association Art on Alberta (AoA) has been a fixture promoting the unique cultural identity of the neighborhood, sponsoring the city-famous Last Thursday year-round event in which art galleries open their doors and festivities spill out into the closed-off streets.
Portland incorporated as a city in 1851, but it would take almost another 60 years before the city limits pushed out to the lands of the Concordia/Alberta Arts neighborhood as it exists today, at the time serving as muddy brushy flats and dairy grazing grounds.
After the success of the Lewis and Clark Exhibition, a hugely popular travel fair held in Portland in 1905, the city’s expansion was inevitable. The streetcar line extending out to this district in 1910 prompted a housing boom, still evidenced in the rows of historic homes boasting 1910’s building style. With so many of these early 1900s and ranch homes, the streets are compact and quaint, fostering strong sense of community.
True to its most famous Alberta Arts District, you’ll find homeowners expressing creativity in their home exteriors and yard details. Don’t be surprised to see property owners converting their space into modified Tiny Homes‚ this district boasts the only “Tiny House” Hotel, Caravan.
You’ll see additional artistic flair with the , a 1915 elementary school converted into hotel rooms, dining, movie theater, and the unique ‘Detention Bar’. Be sure to take advantage of leisurely shopping strolls through the Alberta Shopping District, and hunt out the dozens of colorful murals peppering the neighborhoods.
