LAURELHURST

With over 1800 homes, most in vintage styles of Bungalow, English, and Tudor style, the Laurelhurst neighborhood is one bursting with homeowner pride.  Boasting neighborhood committee titles of Land Use, Transportation, Traffic, Trees, Safety, Garage Sales, Friends of Laurelhurst Park, Bike, Clean-up, Environment, and Community Safety, you can be assured this community means business!

Driven by the expansion of Portland in the early 1900s, an entrepreneurial development company had experienced success with neighborhoods in Seattle and was eager to create prominent presence here.  When naming the new community, ‘Laurel’ was chosen from familiar shrubs growing in their successful Seattle neighborhood, and it was combined with ‘Hurst’ the Anglo-Saxon word signifying ‘wood or grove.’  Advertising this region as a “High Class Residence Park,” the area stayed under strict building and street layout guidelines, and investment in these early affluent homes remains evident today.

The Laurelhurst Theater became part of Portland’s cultural and architectural history when it was built in 1923, one of the first art deco style buildings of the period.  Dine at this popular second-run movie theater with pubfood at your seat, or mosey around the collection of boutiques and unique dining options on the same street, such as Tapalaya, serving Cajun-Creole Vietnamese-inspired fare, or the quirky alehouse Beulahland.

Additional neighborhood features:

The Joan of Arc statue in Coe Circle, World War I Memorial

Laurelhurst Park is a popular 27-acre park, honored in 2001 as the first city park to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places and includes a basketball court, soccer field, tennis court, volleyball court, playground, dog off-leash area, historical site, horseshoe pit, paved and unpaved paths, picnic site with tables, public art, stage, and restrooms.


MT. TABOR

Featuring full neighborhoods of detached single-family homes, the Mt. Tabor area is a diverse mix of 1900s architecture, including Arts and Crafts, Bungalows, Colonials, English Cottages, Tudors, as well as a handful of modern styles.

Named for the 636-foot extinct volcano that is its landmark, Mt. Tabor has sweeping city and mountain views, proximity to downtown, and the scenic 195-acreMt. Tabor Park.  The park includes miles of walking trails, basketball court, play area, a restroom, picnic area, dog off-leash area, picnic tables, playground, and tennis courts.  Mount Tabor also has three reservoirs, all of which were accepted to the National Register of Historic Places.

Ask any Portlander where a good place to wander around town is, and they’ll likely mention Hawthorne.  Hawthorne is not a ‘neighborhood’ as such, but five neighborhoods converging into approximately 20 blocks of shopping and dining.  Most of the establishments are small shops and locally owned, each one with its own unique local flair.  You can virtually explore the diversity of Hawthorne at their Hawthorne Boulevard Business Association website.

Additional neighborhood features:

Soapbox Derby, an annual event taking advantage of the volcano’s natural slope, watch as handcrafted derby cars race to the finish!


SELLWOOD – MORELAND

When describing the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood, residents will reply they either live in Sellwood or Moreland, seldom replying that they live in Sellwood-Moreland.  To the rest of Portland, these neighborhoods are intertwined as a thriving community featuring parks, shopping, restaurants, access to public transportation, library, coffee shops, food markets, and movie theater.

The Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood began as the 1847 land claim of Henderson Llewelling who used the land to raise experimental strains of fruit.  After his passing, Rev. John Sellwood purchased the land, passing his name to the developing community that grew around the streetcar stops serving the area in 1892.  This early history is still evident in the Bungalows, Cottages, and Victorians mixed among smaller one-story homes.

The 141-acre Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge is a birdwatcher’s paradise, with the appearance of hawks, quail, pintails, mallards, coots, woodpeckers, kestrels, and widgeons.  The official bird of the City of Portland, the Great Blue Heron, also makes a grand appearance here.

Release your inner child again with the Oaks Amusement Park, one of the oldest operating amusement parks in the country.  Opened in 1905 in partnership with the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, it has brought joy to families for 110 years with its quirky rides and classic indoor roller skating rink.  Often featured in movies and television shows, this attraction is a neighborhood favorite, with many businesses hosting summer employee picnics and events here.

Additional neighborhood features:

The newly constructed Sellwood Bridge opened to traffic in March 2016.

Sellwood Park – 16-acre spot on a bluff overlooking downtown Portland is packed with baseball fields, tennis courts and even horseshoe pits.  At the height of summer, the park’s public pool is a highlight.

Westmoreland Park – the city’s first permanent nature-based play area, where children can frolic among features made from logs, boulders, sand, plants and water, all flanked by a restored wetland.


EASTMORELAND

If you like tree-lined streets, quiet neighbors, and a variety of house styles, Eastmoreland is your neighborhood.  Tree-lovers will rejoice in the majestic elms and lush landscaping, and the neighborhood recently received publicity about efforts to save some aged sequoia trees with a Heritage Tree distinction, providing the trees with city-sanctioned protection from being torn down or future development hindering their health.

Eastmoreland homes are a diversity of architectural styles popular in the 1920s and 1930s, including Tudor, Colonial, English Cottage, and stucco.  Many of these older homes were built on lots exceeding the city code for size, so homes have a wide expanse between them.

The famous Eastmoreland Golf Course is a public 18-hole course on 140 acres.  Chandler Egan, a former national amateur golf champion and leading golf course architect, designed the course, and in 1917, Portland had its first public golf course.  Golf Digest ranks it among the nation’s top 75 public courses.

Nature appreciation continues with the popular Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens.  Beginning in early spring and continuing into summer, the gardens provide a magnificent display of color, giving visitors the opportunity to view many varieties rarely seen in the Pacific Northwest.  During the fall, the park’s tree foliage adds dramatic coloring.  Spring-fed Crystal Springs Lake surrounds much of the garden, attracting many species of birds and waterfowl, a favorite activity for children ready with bags of birdfeed.

Additional neighborhood features:

Reed College

Berkeley Park includes a baseball field, softball field, soccer field, park play area, walking paths, picnic tables, playground, tennis court, and an outdoor wading pool.