Overview

The city of Portland is divided into four predominant quadrants -- Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest -- each with its own distinct character, and with various further individualized sub-districts such as Southwest's cobblestone-paved Skidmore Historic District or Southeast's hip, shop-filled Hawthorne District. Burnside marks the division between north and south, while the Willamette River divides east from west.

You can identify what quadrant you or a given destination are in simply by address, such as Northeast Portland's The Grotto, at N.E. 85th and Sandy Boulevard, or Southeast's Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, at S.E. 28th Avenue and Woodstock Boulevard.

Northeast Portland

Northeast Portland is primarily a residential area, full of numerous green, walkable neighborhoods scattered with small independent shops and neighborhood brewpubs (including the elaborate McMenamin's Kennedy School) and the Lloyd Center mall, with more than 100 storefronts and an ice-skating rink. It is also home to The Grotto, a lush, peaceful Catholic shrine featuring 62 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, a fern-lined hand-hewn cavern, and views of the Columbia River and Mount St. Helens. Portland International Airport, built adjacent to the Columbia, falls on the northern edge of this quadrant.

Southwest Portland

Southwest includes downtown (with its heart at the amphitheater-like Pioneer Courthouse Square ) and the affluent neighborhoods of the city's West Hills. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, a favorite recreational and shopping area along the Willamette, falls within this district, along with the International Rose Test Gardens , Japanese Gardens, and Council Crest.

Southeast Portland

Southeast is home to quirky, funky shopping (cafes, bookstores, and small shops selling kites, quirky knickknacks, secondhand clothing, gourmet coffees and antiques) along Hawthorne Boulevard , Belmont and Clinton. It also hosts the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, Powell Butte Nature Park (an extinct volcano and Portland's second-largest park after Forest Park), and along the river, the birdwatcher's paradise of Oak Bottoms Wildlife Refuge.

Northwest Portland

Northwest Portland is home to Forest Park and bordering Macleay Park, and the acclaimed Powell's Books (the largest independent bookstore in the world), as well as many beautiful old Victorian houses remodeled into boutiques in the quirky, upscale shopping areas of the Nob Hill neighborhood (N.W. 18th to N.W. 27th, mainly south of Lovejoy).