Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A Visit to Northwest Portland


Portland is divided into four quadrants. The Willamette (Will-AM-ette) River separates the east and west sides of the city while Burnside St. divides north and south. When people describe a location of something in town they usually say, "It's in Northwest" or "Southeast",etc.


Northwest Portland is west of the river and north of Burnside and is probably best known for it's quaint neighborhoods with turn-of-the-century Victorian houses.  There are a lot of trendy restaurants and assorted retail shops on Northwest 23rd Avenue (pictured in the two images above).


The Nob Hill area of Northwest, which is around NW 23rd, is one of the most desirable areas to live in Portland. From here it's easily to take a bus or train a short distance to downtown. Papa Haydn's is a favorite restaurant on NW 23rd.


The hills of Northwest have some of the most expensive homes in Portland. Many students live in the area because the University of Portland and Portland State University are both fairly close.

And then there's Powell's Books in the Pearl District which claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. It occupies a whole city block with over 68,000 square feet of retail space. This is a very interesting place to browse.

This little unassuming place is the Stepping Stone Cafe home of the Mancakes. I've not eaten here yet but I hear it's pretty good. And since I love pancakes this is on my list of places to go. Check out the video below and decide for yourself.


In a few weeks I plan to re-visit Northwest in the early evening after the Christmas decorations are in place. By then I might have some of those Stepping Stone Mancakes. Stay tuned.



4 comments:

  1. Mike:

    Vancouver is simpler. Ontario Street divides East & West. There is virtually no north and south (except for a very small area north of McGill on the east side). As you go south of the city centre you come to 1st avenue, then 2nd etc (all increasing numbers) and all streets north of 1st have names

    There was supposed to be a vote over in Vancouver, WA about changing their name to Fort Vancouver. Did this happen ? was just wondering

    bob
    bobskoot: wet coast scootin

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  2. Bob,
    We have the increasing street numbers on both sides of the river. So SW 125th ave. is 125 blocks west of the river. This is true for the east side too. Everything expands from the river. I didn't mention in the post but NW Portland's streets that run perpendicular to the river begin with various names in alphabetical order.

    The new mayor elect of Vancouver is not in favor of changing the name, so we'll see what happens.

    Thanks Bob...

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  3. Gotta love that Mancake restaurant! Very funny video. Wish we had something like that here. But how the heck could you eat all that.
    Mike, this is the best food porn I think I have ever seen. LOL

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  4. cpa3485,
    Thank you for visiting. I like pancakes but I think one will do it for me. There are all sorts of videos on Google and Youtube on this place with people trying to eat three of them.

    By the way, I didn't mean it to be food porn. Food is good for you, porn is bad for you. IMO :)

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