The Pearl District is an area of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, formerly occupied by

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

s, light industry and

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

classification yard A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard ( British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ...

s and now noted for its

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

, upscale businesses and residences. The area has been undergoing significant

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

since the mid-1980s when it was reclassified as

mixed use Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to som ...

from industrial, including the arrival of artists, the removal of a viaduct and construction of the

Portland Streetcar The Portland Streetcar is a streetcar system in Portland, Oregon, that opened in 2001 and serves areas surrounding downtown Portland. The NS Line runs from Northwest Portland to the South Waterfront via Downtown and the Pearl District. The Lo ...

. It now consists of industrial building conversion to offices, high-rise condominiums and warehouse-to-loft conversions. The increase of high-rise condominiums and warehouse-to-loft conversions was made evident with the construction of the Cosmopolitan on the Park building, which opened in Summer 2016. The Cosmopolitan on the Park residential building is now the tallest building in the Pearl District and the 8th tallest building in Portland, contributing to the changing Portland skyline.

Geography and features

The area is located just northwest of downtown between West Burnside Street on the south, the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

on the north, NW Broadway on the east and the Interstate 405

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

on the west. The area is home to several Portland icons, including Powell's City of Books. The former Weinhard Brewery, which operated continuously from 1864 to September 1999, was shut down by Stroh's upon the purchase of the Weinhard's brand by

Miller Brewing The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the M ...

and sold for redevelopment as the Brewery Blocks. There are art galleries and institutions such as the Elizabeth Leach Gallery and Blue Sky Gallery (many who stage monthly receptions), boutiques, and restaurants abound, and also a number of small clubs and bars, a combination that has led to Pearl District being named one of the 15 coolest neighborhoods in the world in 2016. The

United States Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...

main processing facility for all of Oregon and southwestern Washington was built in the Pearl District in 1964, next to

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

. This location was chosen in order for the post office to be able to better serve towns outside the Portland metro area. The district is part of Multnomah County's District 1, Oregon Metro's 5th district, Oregon's 33rd House district, Oregon's 17th Senate district and Oregon's 1st congressional district.

Parks

The district includes most of the historic

North Park Blocks The North Park Blocks form a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Most of the park is in northwest Portland (north of Burnside), but one block (Ankeny Square) is in southwest Portland (south of Burnside). Description an ...

(1869), as well as three public plazas: * Jamison Square (2002) is built around a fountain which simulates a tidal pool that is periodically filled by

artificial waterfall An artificial waterfall is a water feature or fountain which imitates a natural waterfall. Artificial waterfalls have long been featured in traditional Japanese gardens, where they can serve to highlight a scene or to provide focus. The classic ...

s and then drained into grating. * Tanner Springs Park (2005) is a re-created natural area featuring wetlands, a walking trail, and creek. * The Fields Park (2013) is a Neighborhood and Dog Park in the Northern part of the Pearl. The Park provides space for visual or performing arts, for community-building activities and has a large paved walking loop.

History

The area was formerly used for

warehousing A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, tow ...

, light industrial purposes and a

yard. The Pearl District was first named in print in March 1987, in an article titled “The Pearl District” by Terry Hammond in ''The Rose Arts Magazine'', a free local periodical in Portland. Marty Smith uncovered the origin story and corrected rumors in his humorous Dr. Know column in ''Willamette Week'' in January 2014. “Hammond says he wrote it with the express purpose of getting the name to stick.” He “stumped hard” for the name in the neighborhood while selling ads and distributing the paper. At the time, the city was calling the area the Triangle, though the NW Triangle Planning District explicitly referred only to the railroad yards on the far side of NW Lovejoy Street. The NW Triangle Business Association for the area was calling it the Triangle, too, but found the name unsatisfactory, and recognized other options, like the Brewery District and others. An article in ''The Rose Arts Magazine'' presented the alternate names, and argued "The Pearl District" was best to refer to the treasury of art and artists inhabiting the interiors of so many of the crusty warehouses. The article included photos of the area and a map, and profiled individual artists with studios in several of the warehouses, including photographer Hiroshi Iwaya, glass artist Liz Mapelli, sculptor Martin Eichinger, ceramic artist Geoffrey Pagen, and silkscreen printers Elizabeth Harris and Russ Mahler. Terry Hammond acknowledged in an endnote that the name "the Pearl" originated from Thomas Augustine of the Augustine Gallery, then located at NW 13th & Hoyt St. He tracked the progress of the name over the next two years, and reported in October 1989 the identity of the Pearl District “is now firmly established,” when he found investors adopted the name. The second ''Rose Arts'' article reported a brochure for the newly remodeled Irving Street Lofts, formerly the McKesson Building, named the area “Portland’s emerging Pearl District.” The building was the first converted warehouse up to code for residences. The second news story showed another map of the district with 37 numbered locations indicating special events organized by local artists and businesses for the third annual Pearl Arts Festival. The editor gave the following series of Pearl landmarks: (a) Victoria Frey of Quartersaw Gallery, 528 NW 12th Ave., was enthusiastic about the name, and organized the first annual Pearl Arts Festival in September 1987, six months after the initial article; like others, she had not heard the name before, (b) ''Sunset Magazine'' picked up the story in January 1988, and adopted the name in quotation marks in the title as the "Pearl District," (c) ''The Oregonian'' daily newspaper first adopted the name in September 1988, at the time of the second annual Pearl Arts Festival, following the original Pearl District article in ''The Rose Arts Magazine'' with a map and profiles of some of the same artists, (d) Investors adopted the name in promotional materials as converted warehouses turned residential, starting in 1989. In the 1990s, the Lovejoy Viaduct, an elevated portion of NW Lovejoy Street from the Broadway Bridge past NW 10th Avenue was demolished, opening dozens of surrounding blocks (including some

brownfield In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

sites) for development, which peaked in the 2000s. The viaduct was notable for the Lovejoy Columns, painted by a railroad watchman who worked below; two of them have been saved. The increasing density has attracted a mix of restaurants,

brewpub Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis ...

s, shops, and art galleries. The movie ''

Drugstore Cowboy ''Drugstore Cowboy'' is a 1989 American crime drama film directed by the American filmmaker Gus Van Sant. Written by Van Sant and Daniel Yost and based on an autobiographical novel by James Fogle, the film stars Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, Heathe ...

'' (1989), by Gus Van Sant, has several scenes shot in the neighborhood.

References

External links

Pearl District: Portland Oregon Visitors Association

''Via Magazine'', 2011 article

Official website of the Pearl District Neighborhood AssociationThe Pearl District Street Tree Inventory Report
{{Portland neighborhoods Arts districts Neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon Pacific Northwest art Transit-oriented developments in the United States Warehouse districts of the United States