Portland's five "Quadrants" (Yes, we know our math) 

As a result of a "great renumbering" on September 2, 1931, Portland is divided into five sections. 

Burnside Street bisects it into northern and southern halves. Below Burnside are the Southwest and Southeast sections, divided by the Willamette River. Above it, are Northwest, North, and Northeast sections; a separate North section is due to a bend in the Willamette which splits what would otherwise be a northwest quadrant into North Portland and Northwest sections of town. Williams Avenue divides North Portland from Northeast Portland. Locals refer to these areas by their section names (such as "Northwest"), with the exception of "North Portland", for which the full name is typically used, although it is commonly called "The Portland Peninsula" or "The Peninsula" by the locals, and infrequently called "NoPo" by tourists from California or from the other "quadrants". The more densely populated parts of the city proper are somewhat asymmetrical, with the west side hemmed in by the West Hills, while the flatter east side stretches on for about 170 blocks, until it meets Gresham. There are some 300 city blocks that are numbered, such as 282nd street in Gresham. They extend from the beginning of East Portland, at the Willamette River, to the outer fringes of the suburbs of Gresham, one of the largest suburbs containing 100,000 residents. Beyond 300 blocks east is rural Multnomah County. 

North Portland 

North Portland, another working-class area, contains the St. Johns neighborhood adjacent to the St. Johns Bridge. St. Johns has been described as having an old-fashioned and slightly run-down feeling; North Portland overall has been accredited with a cozy "small town" charm by some inhabitants. North Portland is racially mixed. It is home to a large population of African Americans as well as Hispanics and Caucasians.
During World War II, a planned development named Vanport was constructed to the north of this section between the city limits and the Columbia River. It grew to be the second largest city in Oregon, but was wiped out by a disastrous flood in 1948. The old Housing Authority of Portland's Columbia Villa in the Portsmouth Neighborhood is being rebuilt; the new, $150 million community will be known as New Columbia and will offer public housing, rental housing, and single family home ownership units.
As of 2004, the area includes a new addition to the light-rail line along Interstate Avenue, which parallels Interstate 5. It is also home to the University of Portland. North Portland also has other various public transportation routes with several frequent service lines.
North Portland is also known to locals as NoPo. This is especially true online, specifically on Craigslist and other local forums.
 

Northwest 

Downtown view from the Northwest, with Union Station’s clock tower visible on the right.
Northwest includes the Pearl District, a fairly recent name for what originally was an old warehouse area. Since the late 1980s, many of the existing warehouses have been converted into lofts, and new multi-story condominiums have also been developed. The increasing density has attracted an urban mix of restaurants, brewpubs, shops, and art galleries, though in some cases pioneering tenants have been priced out of the area. Its galleries sponsor artists' receptions on the first Thursday of every month. The Pearl District serves as a model for returning polluted land to worthwhile economic use. Classified by the Federal Government as a "Brownfield" site, the polluted land is topped by high rise buildings which feature condominiums which regularly sell in excess of six or seven figures. The pollution remediation is incentivized by full property tax abatements for one or two decades for the condominium owners. 

Further west is the tiny NW 21st and 23rd Avenue neighborhood and shopping area. When Portland natives say Northwest, they often mean this area, which is also called Uptown and Nob Hill. This area has a mix of Victorian era houses, apartment buildings from throughout the 20th century, and various businesses centered around Legacy Samaritan Medical Center. The Portland Streetcar connects this area to downtown.
Even further northwest lies part of what is known as Portland's "West Hills", including the majority of Forest Park. The MAX Line runs through a tunnel in the West Hills and has a full station in the center of the tunnel known as the "Zoo stop". The Zoo stop has a zoo, an arboretum, beautiful hiking trails, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Some lucky homeowners commute to downtown by walking through the Park to the Zoo stop to ride the Max. The West Hills underwent rapid expansion starting in the 1960's and continuing through the 1970's. The West Hills features many split levels which are lovingly maintained.
Portland's Old Chinatown neighborhood is marked by a pair of lions at the corner of NW 4th and Burnside, and includes the district along the Willamette River between Burnside and Union Station. Before World War II, this area also had a Japan Town. 

Northeast 

Northeast contains a diverse collection of neighborhoods, both sociologically and ethnically, and is one of the most diverse areas of the city. For example, while Irvington and the Alameda Ridge boast some of the most expensive homes in Portland, nearby Albina is a more working-class neighborhood. Because it is so large, Northeast Portland can essentially be divided into two sections geographically. There is an inner Northeast Portland and an outer Northeast Portland. These neighborhoods resemble typical urban inner-city environments found in most U.S. major cities. Inner Northeast includes several shopping districts such as the Lloyd and Hollywood Districts. The city plan targets Lloyd District as another mixed-use area, with high-rise residential development.  

No development occurs anywhere in Portland without significant involvement and approval by the city and one of its major agencies, the Portland Development Commission (PDC). 

Rose Quarter is another district within the area. It is named after the Rose Garden, which is the home of the Portland Trail Blazers, and includes the Blazers' former home, the Memorial Coliseum. The Memorial Coliseum is the home to Portland's hockey team, the Winterhawks, though many of their games are played at the Rose Garden. The city still holds the lease to the land, but the buildings were owned by private business interests until they went into receivership. During both teams' home games, the area is quite active, with spectators for the game mixing with local restaurant and bar patrons (particularly when both teams play the same night at the same time). The city hopes to expand this area beyond game-time entertainment, by promoting a major increase in residential units in the quarter using zoning and tax incentives, but the easy accessibility of the MAX Lines (rapid transit) as well as numerous bus lines clears this quarter pretty quickly after events.
 

Southeast  

Southeast stretches from the warehouses by the river, through the historic Ladd's Addition, to hippie/Generation X Hawthorne and Belmont districts over Mt. Tabor. Then the area extends into miles of "working-class" neighborhoods beyond 82nd Avenue. Southeast is also an ethnically diverse neighborhood. 

Farther south, the Brooklyn, Sellwood, Woodstock, and Brentwood-Darlington neighborhoods and wealthy areas near Reed College are close to the Willamette, with Clackamas Town Center acting as a hub for business further east, where I-205 splits the region. Mall 205 attracts numerous Washington residents daily, taking advantage of Oregon's lack of sales tax and easy access from Vancouver's eastern suburbs.
St. Phillip Neri Church, located at SE 18th and Division, just South of Ladd's Addition, is one of Portland's many architectural treasures. Constructed in the 1920's, the main church building features Deco and characteristics of the great movie houses of the Western US of that period. The Church has won awards for Environmental Design. 

Southeast Portland is usually regarded as the home of many of Portland's more colorful characters (of which there are no shortages). Southeast Portland also features Mt. Tabor, which is known for its beautiful walking paths.
 

Southwest 

Downtown Portland has compact city blocks and narrow streets. Each block is 200 ft (60 m) square; by comparison, Seattle's city blocks are 240 by 320 feet (70 by 100 m), and Manhattan's east-west streets are divided into blocks that are from 600 to 800 feet (180 to 240 m) long. In addition, most streets are 64 feet (20 m) wide, so the combination of compact blocks and narrow streets make the downtown more pedestrian-friendly. The 264 foot (80 m) long combined blocks divide one mile (1.6 km) of road into exactly 20 separate blocks. 

The city of Portland is hoping to redevelop the south riverfront into a mixed-use, high-density neighborhood, with 2700 residential units and 5,000 high-tech jobs after build-out. It is estimated that it would cost about two billion dollars to build. 

Portland Maps The best source for current (U.S. 2000 Census) demographic data for Portland neighborhoods can be found at www.PortlandMaps.com. You will have to know the address of a home within a neighborhood to obtain the census information. For a neighborhood, you can find the following:
 

Other information located at Portland Maps: assessor/taxlot Information, aerial photos, elevation, schools, parks, zoning maps, water/sewer, and natural hazard. 

Portland Maps
 

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