Portland (Oregon)/Eastside

The Eastside encompasses three of the six official sectors of Portland:

• North Portland, bounded by the Willamette River to the west and Williams Avenue to the east. Going toward the Columbia River, the eastern boundary becomes irregular after Williams dead-ends.
• Northeast Portland, east of Williams and the Willamette, and north of Burnside Street.
• Southeast Portland, east of the Willamette and south of Burnside.

Hawthorne Blvd, which runs east-west across the river from Downtown, has a broad selection of shops including a menagerie of vintage goods at the House of Vintage and the ornate Bagdad Theater Pub, and is a center of the counter-culture/bohemian community which is dissipating to make way for a variety of upscale businesses. The nearby Belmont Street is also worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood, with a similar - if smaller - array of shops and attractions.

Located along Broadway and Sandy Blvd northeast of downtown, Hollywood is a commercial district for the nearby neighborhoods and home to the Hollywood Theater, a historic non-profit theater with an ornate facade showing a variety of independent, second run, and classic films as well as original programming and interactive events. There is also a popular Saturday farmers market in the neighborhood during the warm months.

To the north of the former between MLK Blvd and 30th Avenue, Alberta Street has much the same feel as Hawthorne Blvd; a counter-culture/bohemian community that's becoming popular with yuppies. Alberta is home to Last Thursday, said by many locals to be the alternative to First Thursday in the Pearl District and also featuring wine tasting and gallery openings, along with street vending and performance artists. The neighborhood between Alberta Street and Broadway is known as Irvington, and contains many historic Craftsman homes.

Other neighborhoods to explore include: St. Johns in North Portland featuring the gorgeous St. Johns Bridge, Mississippi Avenue, quaint Sellwood, Inner Southeast a loosely defined neighborhood where bars and music venues have been cropping up amidst the industrial landscape, Foster-Powell, East Burnside and Stark, Division and Clinton Street, and North Williams.

See Portland (Oregon)#Get around for getting in from elsewhere in the city. You can also get in from Vancouver across the Columbia River in Washington state. Some Vancouver bus lines cross into Eastside Portland; #60 to Jantzen Beach Center and Delta Park/Vanport, #65 to Parkrose/Sumner Transit Center and #67 to the airport. From each of those, you can switch to a MAX train to get further into Eastside (and on to other parts of Portland).

The international airport is in this part of the city.

Places across the Willamette River can be accessed on foot (almost all bridges have sidewalks) or streetcar from Downtown or parts of the northwest. The orange MAX line takes you to the southern parts of the Eastside along the Willamette River.

The other MAX lines take you from Downtown and Chinatown across the Steel Bridge. From there, the yellow line continues north along the North Interstate and North Denver Avenues up to the Expo Center. The green, red and blue lines go east along the Banfield Freeway to the Gateway Transit Center. From there they fan out; the red line north to the airport, the blue line further east to Gresham, and the green line south to Clackamas.

There's also a fairly dense bus network (network map) taking you to places where rail-based public transit won't.

With long distances between places, driving can almost certainly also a good option.

• 🌍 Mount Tabor Park, SE 60th & Salmon St. 5AM-midnight. At the eastern end of the Hawthorne District, Mt Tabor is a forested park situated atop an extinct volcanic butte with great views of the city. The park contains a couple of reservoirs and lots of winding trails, and is also the home of the popular PDX Soapbox Derby event (see below under Do). Free. (updated Jun 2023)
• 🌍 Leach Botanical Garden, 6704 SE 122nd Ave, ☏ +1 503-823-9503. Tu-Sa 9AM-4PM, Su 1-4PM. Free, donations welcome. (updated Oct 2018)
• 🌍 Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, SE 28th Ave & Woodstock Blvd, ☏ +1 503-771-8386. Summer: 6AM-10PM daily, winter: 6AM-6PM daily. A display and test garden was initiated in 1950 that includes more than 2,500 rhododendrons, azaleas, and companion plants. 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, many companion trees add dramatic coloring. Spring-fed Crystal Springs Lake surrounds much of the garden, attracting many species of birds and waterfowl. $4 in the summer months (free for children under 12); free for all in the winter. (updated Jun 2023)
• 🌍 Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), 1945 SE Water Ave, ☏ +1 503-797-4000, toll-free: +1-800-955-OMSI (6674), info@omsi.edu. Summer: 9:30AM-7PM daily; winter: Tu-Su 9:30AM-5:30PM. OMSI is great for kids, with hundreds of hands-on activities with a particular emphasis on technology and earth sciences; you can spend a full rainy day here and not get bored. Moored in the river just outside is the USS Blueback, an old navy submarine which is open for tours (separate ticket required). There's also a planetarium and an IMAX theater which requires separate admission, but you can view the IMAX projector in operation without paying for the movie ticket. $15 adults, $10.50 youth, $12 seniors (parking $5/car, IMAX theater, planetarium, and submarine tickets require separate admission). (updated Jan 2020)
• 🌍 Oregon Rail Heritage Center, 2250 SE Water Ave, ☏ +1 503-233-1156. Th F 1PM-5PM, Sa Su Noon-5PM. Two working steam locomotives are on display here, with a third undergoing restoration. Many parts needed on these locomotives are no longer manufactured, so you may see volunteers working in the machine shop as well as locomotive and car maintenance crews. Short excursions on trains are occasionally offered, especially during the holiday season. Free, donations welcome. (updated Apr 2021)
• 🌍 Laurelhurst Park, SE César Chávez Blvd and Stark St. 5AM-10:30PM daily. A beautiful park designed by a horticultural expert from the same team that designed New York City's Central Park. This park has a great atmosphere in good weather, with lots of locals and visitors enjoying the duck pond, the bike paths, and the off-leash dog area. Free. (updated Jun 2023)
• 🌍 Sapporo Friendship Bell, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd (at the entrance to the Oregon Convention Center). This gift from Portland's sister city Sapporo, Japan is encircled by red and yellow roses. 

• 🌍 The Grotto Gardens (National Sanctuary of our Sorrowful Mother), 8840 NE Skidmore St (entrance on NE Sandy Blvd across from NE 85th Ave), ☏ +1 503-254-7371. Grounds open at 9AM; closing time varies from 3:30PM in the winter to 8:30PM in the summer; consult website for precise dates/times. Gift shop open 9AM-5PM daily (to 10PM during holiday season). A tranquil and spiritual sanctuary which hosts reflection ponds, secluded gardens, and shrines on the top of a basalt cliff. The best time to visit is during the holiday season when the grotto is illuminated with lights. The Grotto also makes for a very romantic destination for a special night out. Lower level free. Upper level token sold at gift shop: $7 general, $6 senior/military, $4 children 6-12, children under 6 free. Upper level tokens sold up to 1 hr before closing. (updated Jul 2018)
• 🌍 Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area, 5300 N Marine Dr, ☏ +1 503-797-1545. Sunrise-sunset. (updated Mar 2019)

• 🌍 Portland Trail Blazers, Moda Center (Rose Garden Arena), 1 Center Ct, ☏ +1 503-234-9291. An NBA basketball team which plays at the Moda Center. They are well known for having one of the most loyal crowds in the NBA, so make sure to get tickets before the game as it is very rare to have a game that is not sold out. (updated Jun 2023)
• 🌍 PDX Soapbox Derby, Mt. Tabor Park. A popular event which takes place annually in mid-August and is great for spectators. Some soapbox cars strive for speed and slick design while others are incredibly imaginative and hilarious creations. Bring a picnic lunch and enjoy watching the races. (updated Jun 2023)
• 🌍 Springwater Corridor. A 21-mile multi-use trail extending from SE Portland to the town of Boring, Oregon. It is designed to accommodate hikers, bikers, wheelchairs and horses. (updated Jun 2023)
• 🌍 Oaks Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park Way, ☏ +1 503-233-5777. Opened in 1905 and one of the oldest historic "trolley parks" in the country. It has a wooden carousel constructed in 1912, along with a couple dozen more contemporary rides including one roller coaster "Adrenaline Peak", and many kid's and family rides. It also has a popular roller skating rink, with a pipe organ played during a couple skating sessions each week. (updated Apr 2021)
• 🌍 Portland International Raceway, 1940 N Victory Blvd, ☏ +1 503-823-7223, pir@portlandoregon.gov. Hosts many different racing series including NASCAR and IndyCar. (updated Jan 2020)
• 🌍 Portland Pilots, 5000 N Willamette Blvd. University of Portland sports, competing in the NCAA Division I West Coast Conference alongside eight other private schools in coastal states. With no football team (unlike the city's other D-I school, Portland State), the most followed sports are soccer for both men and women, plus men's basketball. The Pilots have an especially strong soccer tradition. The marker points to the basketball venue of Chiles Center, which also hosts the Blazers' NBA G League affiliate, the Rip City Remix. Soccer plays at Merlo Field next to Chiles Center. (updated Nov 2023)

• Popina Swimwear, 2393 NE Fremont St Unit C, ☏ +1 503-607-8308. W-Su 11AM-5PM. Retro Swimwear brand Popina is located on the Portland Streetcar line in the Pearl District. Popina offers the Popina Swimwear Brand which is designed by Pamela Levenson and made in Oregon. Popina is known for Retro or Vintage Inspired Swimwear akin to the styles of Jantzen Swimwear which put Portland on the map as a swimwear powerhouse in the 1920s. Popina is one of 25 swimwear brands sold in the boutique.