Having been spared the kind of aggressive, remorseless development that many Seattle residents have come to loathe, PORTLAND still retains a pleasant, small-city feel, both for its well-preserved Beaux Arts architecture and walkable urban core, as well as its easygoing atmosphere. That said, there's not a lot to keep intrepid tourists here for more than a day, with most of the city's handful of major attractions located within close walking distance of each other on the short city blocks - half the size of most American cities. On the other hand, while Portland's unpretentious bohemian flavor may be lost on more gung-ho travelers, the city remains an excellent spot for casual visitors to slack around for weeks at a time, with a wealth of good diners, microbreweries, clubs, bookstores and coffee houses to keep you occupied.
The city was named after Portland, Maine, following a coin toss between its two East Coast founders in 1845 ("Boston" was the other option). Its location on a deep part of the Willamette River, just 78 miles from the Pacific and surrounded by fertile valleys, made it a perfect trading port, and it grew quickly, replacing its clapboard houses with ornate facades and Gothic gables. Nevertheless, throughout the nineteenth century it remained a raunchy, bawdy place, notorious for gambling, prostitution and opium dens. By the 1970s, Portland's historic buildings had decayed or were sacrificed to parking lots and expressways, but since then, it has salvaged what was left of its past, replacing concrete with red brick, and introducing folksy statues and murals. Although the city's rehabilitation, along with its "urban growth boundary" to limit unrestrained development, has done much for Portland's reputation nationwide, most residents are ambivalent about the praise and would prefer you move anywhere - preferably Seattle - but here
The Willamette River divides Portland in half: the downtown area lies between the river's west bank and the I-405 freeway, forming the bulk of the city's southwest quadrant; the east is mostly residential. Surrounded by historic terracotta buildings downtown, Pioneer Courthouse Square is the indisputable center of Portland, its curving brick steps filled with music and people, and is named after the adjacent Pioneer Courthouse , a squat 1868 structure that still maintains its judicial function. Within easy walking distance are the city's leading theaters, museums and department stores (notably Nike Town , 930 SW Sixth Ave, a flashy corporate theme store with high retail prices) - a melange of old and new, where fading plasterwork and ceramic reliefs face concrete and glass, punctuated by small grassy parks.
