Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to and Living in Portland: Including Vancouver, Gresham, Hillsboro, Beaverton, Tigard, and Wilsonville

by Geon, Bryan

  Museums and Outdoor Attractions

  Bonneville Fish Hatchery off I-84, exit 40, west of Cascade Locks, 541-374-8820; the fish hatchery adjacent to Bonneville Dam (which can be an interesting destination for older kids in its own right) includes a sturgeon viewing pond with underwater viewing windows that allow visitors to peer at a variety of impressive fish, including Herman the Sturgeon, a 12-footer.

  Kidd’s Toy Museum, 1300 SE Grand Ave, 503-233-7807, www.kiddstoymuseum.com; no, it’s not misspelled—this museum houses more than 10,000 toys from the collection of Frank Kidd, including many toys that would be too unsafe, well-made, and/or outright racist to be marketed today.

  Oaks Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park Way, 503-233-5777, www.oakspark.com; this old-school amusement park (open summer only) and roller rink (open year-round) along the Willamette in Sellwood has entertained generations of Portland children.

  Oregon Zoo, Washington Park, 4001 SW Canyon Rd, 503-226-1561, www.oregonzoo.org; the Oregon Zoo continues to expand its offerings. Besides the usual collection of animals from around the world—including a renowned herd of Asian elephants and an associated elephant museum—the zoo has several exhibits devoted to the fauna of the Pacific Northwest. The zoo also hosts frequent festivals and concerts.

  Portland Children’s Museum, Washington Park, 4015 SW Canyon Rd, 503-223-6500, www.portlandcm.org; this is the city’s largest kid-centric museum, and it has a correspondingly large array of theme play areas/exhibits, including a dig pit, “market,” water play area, clay studio, etc.

  Safety Learning Center and Fire Museum and the Historic Belmont Firehouse, 900 SE 35th Ave, 503-823-3741, www.jeffmorrisfoundation.org (open Wednesdays, the second Saturday of each month, and by advance arrangement); the city’s oldest working firehouse focuses on life safety education, but also includes the requisite fire pole, fire engine, and other hands-on firehouse accouterments.

  Theater and Dance

  Krayon Kids Musical Theatre Company, 503-656-6099, www.krayonkids.org, based in Oregon City, organizes musical productions cast entirely with kids.

  Northwest Children’s Theater and School, 1819 NW Everett St, 503-222-4480, www.nwcts.org; based in the Northwest Neighborhood Cultural Center, Northwest Children’s Theater stages several youth-oriented productions each year and offers acting, theater, and film and video classes for children.

  Oregon Children’s Theater, 1939 NE Sandy Blvd, 503-228-9571, www.octc.org; the Oregon Children’s Theater is Oregon’s largest nonprofit professional children’s theater company, and puts on several productions each year, generally in one of the large downtown theaters. The OCT offers acting and production classes and workshops for children ages four and older.

  Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre, 503-248-0557, www.tojt.org; most Tears of Joy productions are designed (or at least suitable) for children, but a few of its performances are definitely adults-only.

  Sports and Recreation

  Portland is a great sports and recreation town, particularly for weekend warriors who like playing games as much as (or more than) they like watching them. Portland doesn’t have many major professional teams—the city government has called Portland the most under-served professional sports market in the country—but the area’s abundant recreational opportunities more than make up for the lack of big-league luster. Besides taking advantage of a great environment for year-round outdoor recreation, Portlanders also engage in some quirky quasi-sports, like geocaching (which was invented here). Unless you’re into something really esoteric like ice kiting, you’re bound to find congenial surroundings for whatever pastime literally or figuratively floats your boat.

  Health clubs and sporting goods stores are listed at the end of this chapter.

  Professional and Semiprofessional Sports

  As of 2014, Portland has only two “big five” professional sports teams—the Trail Blazers National Basketball Association franchise and the highly popular Portland Timbers Major League Soccer franchise, which together get most of the sports media and fan attention in town. The city nonetheless offers a decent range of opportunities to watch talented athletes play various games. If you need a (relatively) close-by major league baseball or NFL fix, you’ll have to make the trek north to Seattle to see the Mariners or the Seahawks in action.

  Baseball

  Portland is the largest metropolitan area in the United States without a major league baseball team. Various civic boosters periodically launch efforts to lure an existing or expansion team to Portland, and came reasonably close to wooing the relocating Montreal Expos (a team that Washington, D.C., ultimately bagged; they’re now the Nationals). Portland lost its AAA team, the Portland Beavers, in 2010, when their stadium was remodeled for Major League Soccer and no area city would step up to the plate to fund a new stadium. For now, Portland has to be content with Class-A short-season baseball, which has the advantage of being less expensive and arguably more fun to watch than major league baseball. The Hillsboro Hops (www.hillsborohops.com), a farm team for the Arizona Diamondbacks, relocated to Hillsboro from Yakima, Washington, in 2013. The Hops play at Ron Tonkin Stadium (4460 NW 229th Ave, Hillsboro), just off the Sunset Highway; a free shuttle runs from the Orenco Station MAX stop on game days. Their Class-A short-season rivals, the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (www.volcanoesbaseball.com), affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, play adjacent to I-5 just north of Salem.

  Basketball

  The Portland Trail Blazers (www.blazers.com) won their only NBA championship in 1977. Since then, the Trail Blazers have fielded some strong teams that have vied for and won the NBA Western Conference title, as well as mediocre rosters that included players who had run-ins with the law. (The latter circumstance begat the “Jail Blazers” nickname.) Still, the Blazers enjoy strong (if not necessarily broad-based) community support even when their record is abysmal; the bandwagon grows more substantial when the Blazers do well, as when, against all expectations, they made the Western Conference finals in 2014. The Blazers play in the Moda Center, formerly (and still widely) known as the Rose Garden. Tickets are available through the team website or by calling the Blazer Ticket Line (844-RIP-CITY).

  The Portland area is also home to two International Basketball League teams, the Portland Chinooks (www.ibl.com/Portland_chinooks) and their presumably hated cross-town rivals, the Vancouver Volcanoes (www.ibl.com/Vancouver_volcanoes). While IBL basketball is purportedly fast-paced and high-scoring, and certainly more affordable to attend than NBA games, you’ll be hard-pressed to find many people other than diehard sports fans who have heard of either team.

  Football

  In 2014, the Portland Thunder (www.portlandthunder.com) began life as an expansion team in the Arena Football League. The Thunder play home games in the Moda Center. Single-game tickets are available by calling 503-789-7673.

  Hockey

  The “major-junior” Portland Winter Hawks (www.winterhawks.com) compete in the Calgary-based Western Hockey League, which mainly comprises teams based in western Canadian cities. The team has reliably won the Western Conference Championship in most recent years. The Winter Hawks enjoy a fiercely loyal fan base, and games can be rowdy (although actual fights are generally confined to the players). Half-time activities, which sometimes involve hapless fans slipping around on the ice in a quest for some prize, can be surprisingly entertaining in a low-key way. During their fall and winter season, the Winter Hawks play home games in the Memorial Coliseum or the adjacent Moda Center in the Rose Quarter of Northeast Portland. Tickets are available online, by calling 503-236-4295, or at the Memorial Coliseum and Rose Quarter box offices on game nights.

  Portland is frequently named as a contender for an NHL franchise when and if the league expands, but don’t hold your breath.

  Soccer

  The Portland Timbers (www.portlandtimbers.com) are an MLS (Major League Soccer) team. The season runs from April to September. The Timbers play home games at Providence Park (1844 SW Morrison St, 503-553-5400, www.providencepar
kpdx.com). The Timbers enjoy the most consistently enthusiastic fan base in town, and at home games the Timbers Army section of the stadium (the north end) is both a visual and aural phenomenon. Chainsaw-wielding lumberjack Timber Joey slices through a log when the Timbers score. Tickets are available through the team website, by calling 503-553-5555, or from the Providence Park box office.

  The Portland Thorns (www.timbers.com/thornsfc) play in the National Women’s Soccer League. They won the league championship in 2013. Like the Timbers, the Thorns play home games at Providence Park.

  Collegiate and High School Sports

  Portland lacks the sort of college sports powerhouses that vie for national championships in football and basketball. The nearest Pac-12 schools are Oregon State University in Corvallis (about 90 minutes away), and the University of Oregon in Eugene (two hours south), and those schools’ athletic programs suck up most of the state’s college sports money and attention. That said, most nearby colleges and universities field intercollegiate teams in at least one sport. Probably the most watchable teams, at least for non-alumni, are the University of Portland Pilots women’s and men’s soccer teams. (The women’s squad won the 2005 Division I NCAA championship, and has won several conference championships since then.) For more information, visit www.portlandpilots.com.

  High school sports can be exciting, and not just for players and their friends and parents. In addition to football, baseball, basketball, and soccer, some schools offer lacrosse, water polo, and other less mainstream sports. Most high school athletic activities in Oregon are coordinated through the Oregon School Activities Association (www.osaa.org). (In Washington, the equivalent organization is the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, www.wiaa.com.) For news coverage of Portland high school athletics, check out the sports section of the Oregonian or visit highschoolsports.oregonlive.com.

  Participant Sports and Outdoor Recreation

  If you ask Portlanders what they love about city, you’re liable to hear them rhapsodize about the great selection of outdoor recreational opportunities. From watching the sunset over the city from Mount Tabor Park to climbing Mount Hood, and from walking around the block to running the Portland Marathon, hundreds of activities are available for every level of athletic ability.

  For general information about local parks, pools, community centers, tennis courts, or community athletic programs, start with your local parks department. In the city of Portland, contact Portland Parks and Recreation (503-823-PLAY, www.portlandparks.org). Contact information for other communities’ parks departments is listed in the Useful Phone Numbers and Websites chapter.

  Bicycling

  In Portland, bicycling is wildly popular, both as a recreational activity and as a means of transportation. (For information about bike routes, bike commuting, and getting around by bicycle generally, see the Transportation chapter.) Portland has an abundance of bike lanes and “bike boulevards”—streets with low traffic volume and, often, obstacles to through car traffic—and a developing system of paved off-street trails allows bicyclists to ride fairly long distances without having to dodge motorized vehicles. The longest of these urban trails is the 17-mile Springwater Corridor, which runs from the east bank of the Willamette River to Boring as part of the still incomplete 40-Mile Loop (see www.40mileloop.org for details); other off-street trails include the Eastbank Esplanade and the Willamette Greenway; a long trail paralleling Marine Drive on the south shore of the Columbia River; and some not especially peaceful trails that parallel Interstate 205 and part of the Sunset Highway. Just west of the metro area, the Banks-Vernonia State Trail is a 21-mile rails-to-trails project that has been converted into a linear state park; see www.oregonstateparks.org/park_145.php for more information. Serious riders can practice, or race, on the scarily banked velodrome at Alpenrose Dairy in southwest Portland (6149 SW Shattuck Rd, www.obra.org/track/).

  Bike touring possibilities outside Portland are legion. Thanks to the region’s urban growth boundary, densely populated areas rather quickly give way to farmland and forest, laced with paved roads that, in many cases, have relatively low traffic volume. Your route could lead through flat farmland, shady valleys in the Cascade foothills, and rolling vineyard country—all in one day. Pancake-flat Sauvie Island is an especially popular nearby destination; the fact that the island is reachable by public transportation (bikes allowed) adds to the appeal.

  Road biking gets much of the press in Portland, but the region has outstanding mountain biking opportunities, too. Forest Park is a justly popular destination, with options for riders of various abilities. (Bikes are restricted to designated trails, and concerns about erosion and conflicts with hikers on steep, narrow trails mean singletrack is currently limited to a sole 0.3-mile stretch.) Fat Tire Farm (2714 NW Thurman St, 503-222-3276, www.fattirefarm.com) is conveniently located virtually next door to the park; the store rents mountain bikes and can point out appropriate routes. Besides the miles of trails in Forest Park, there are plenty of lesser-known routes, including singletrack and doubletrack trails, outside the city; take a look at a mountain biking guidebook for suggestions, or contact the Northwest Trail Alliance (see contact information below).

  Resources

  The city of Portland’s Office of Transportation posts extensive information on its website (www.gettingaroundportland.org) about bicycling in Portland, including bike maps and routes, a list of bicycle-related organizations and shops, and suggested bike touring itineraries; click on the “Active Transportation” link. Several bike-related nonprofits, including the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (503-226-0676, www.btaoregon.org), the Community Cycling Center (1805 NE 2nd Ave, 503-288-8864, www.communitycyclingcenter.org), and Shift (www.shift2bikes.org), are very helpful sources of information for Portland bicyclists.

  Events

  If you like to bike in a group, or at least to follow an organized (and supported) itinerary, consider signing up for one of the many organized recreational rides that take place around the area. The biggest of these are Cycle Oregon (503-287-0405, www.cycleoregon.com), a week-long tour through a scenic part of the state—the itinerary changes each year—and the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic (cascade.org/ride-major-rides/group-health-stp), a one- or two-day pedal between the two cities. Some of the many shorter bike tours that attract more casual riders include the Worst Day of the Year Ride (www.worstdayride.com), held in typically rainy and chilly February (the 2014 ride was cancelled due to a rare snowstorm); and Providence Bridge Pedal (503-281-9198, www.bridgepedal.com), which wends its way across all ten of Portland’s Willamette River road bridges. Each year, the city sponsors several Sunday Parkways events, in which streets in a particular neighborhood are closed off to cars and thrown open to bikes. ORbike (www.orbike.com) maintains the most complete and up-to-date online list of bicycling events in the area.

  Bicycle Clubs

  The following organizations organize rides and events around the area.

  Northwest Trail Alliance, www.nw-trail.org

  Oregon Bicycle Racing Association, www.obra.org

  Portland Velo, www.portlandvelo.net

  Portland Wheelmen Touring Club, 503-666-5796, www.pwtc.com

  Vancouver Bicycle Club, www.vbc-usa.com

  Birding

  Whether you’re an experienced birder who’s new to Portland or someone investigating the activity for the first time, the Audubon Society of Portland (5151 NW Cornell Rd, 503-292-6855, www.audubonportland.org) is a great place to start. The Society has its own 180-acre sanctuary adjacent to Forest Park in the West Hills, which includes an interpretive center, a care center for injured birds, and a store that sells field guides and other birding essentials. The Society’s website has an extensive library of information about local birding, including updated rare bird alerts.

  Boating

  The Oregon State Marine Board (503-378-8587, www.boatoregon.com) provides a wealth of information about boating in the state, including current boating regulatio
ns, navigational hazards, and water access points. Its website is useful for both motorized and non-motorized boaters. The Washington Recreation and Conservation Office (360-902-3000) maintains its state’s boating portal at boat.wa.gov.

  Canoeing and Kayaking

  Sea kayaking, whitewater kayaking, and canoeing are very popular throughout the Northwest. Non-motorized watercraft are generally permitted on any navigable body of water, but accessible public launch points may be hard to find. Popular nearby places for paddling include the Columbia Slough in North and Northeast Portland; coastal rivers and bays, such as Tillamook Bay; lakes and reservoirs, such as Blue Lake in Fairview (a good spot for fledgling canoeists); and the Clackamas, Tualatin, Molalla, Sandy, Columbia, and Willamette rivers.

  It is possible to make some epic river trips to or from Portland; if you have the time, you can float downstream on the mostly flat water of the Willamette for well over a hundred miles from Eugene to Portland, with a single portage at Willamette Falls in Oregon City. On the Columbia, the 146-mile Lower Columbia Water Trail (www.columbiawatertrail.org) leads from Bonneville Dam to Astoria. (Be aware that paddling the Columbia can force you to contend with strong winds, surprisingly large waves, treacherous currents, and oceangoing ship traffic.) Some skilled ocean kayakers seeking saltwater brave the open Pacific, but others regularly head north to the protected waters of Puget Sound or southern British Columbia. If you’re looking for an outfitter or guided trip, visit the website of the Oregon Guides and Packers Association (www.ogpa.org). For more specific information and suggested routes, check out one of the guidebooks listed in A Portland Reading List or contact one of the following local clubs: