Southeast Portland:

Trendy boutiques, ethnic restaurants, a thriving nightlife, walking trails and sprawling parkland: The neighborhoods in Southeast Portland have it all.

Each neighborhood in Southeast Portland has its own distinct personality from the hip, urban vibe of Hawthorne and Belmont to the calm residential oasis of Laurelhurst and Mount Tabor. But these neighborhoods do have one thing in common: they are some of the hottest zip codes in the Pacific Northwest.

SCHOOLS

Families throughout Southeast Portland are served by Portland Public Schools, which operates a number of excellent schools including: Laurelhurst Elementary, Hosford Middle School and Franklin High School. Portland Public also has a special focus middle school, da Vinci Arts Middle School, in Southeast Portland that centers around developing the artistic capabilities of students grade 6 through 8.

With nine elementary schools, three middle schools and one high school with an alternative school campus, the David Douglas School District also serves families living in Southeast Portland.

Southeast Portland also hosts an alternative school called Sunnyside Environmental School for children from kindergarten through eighth grade. Sunnyside Environmental School emphasizes environmental responsibility, community and living systems in its curriculum.

The 100-acre campus of Reed College also resides in Southeast Portland. Founded in 1908, the small liberal arts and sciences college is renowned for its challenging undergraduate programs. The campus also houses a nuclear reactor – the only neighborhood in the country to offer such an amenity!

RECREATION

Two of the most popular parks in the entire Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area reside in Southeast Portland.   

The 34-acre Laurelhurst Park sits in the residential neighborhood of Laurelhurst, offering residents access to walking trails, a lake, picnic areas, soccer field, basketball and volleyball courts, and a playground. The park also features an off-leash area for dogs.

Named after a 600-foot dormant volcano, Mt. Tabor Park is well-known for its exceptional walking trails and amazing views. The 195-acre park also offers residents a dog park, picnic shelter, amphitheater, playground and an assortment of sport courts. The Mt. Tabor reservoir also resides in the park, retaining a great deal of the city of Portland’s drinking water, which is piped straight from the Bull Run Reservoir in the Cascades

The Sellwood neighborhood is home to several popular Portland parks itself. Century-old Oaks Amusement Park is one of the oldest continuously operating amusement parks in the nation. It was built as an attraction to the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition. With a variety of rides, a skating rink, and many other special events, Oaks Park attracts people from all over the Portland metropolitan area.

During the dog days of summer, residents flock to the Sellwood Pool. With slides, a play structure, and spray features, families can come to play or sign up for swim lessons, lap swim, even water exercise classes.    

Also located in Southeast Portland along the Willamette River is the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, a wetland habitat that is home to a wide variety of birds and other wildlife.  

The nearby Springwater Corridor, a popular trail for bicyclists, walkers, and joggers winds through the refuge alongside the Willamette River.

ENTERTAINMENT

One of the first art deco buildings in Portland, the independently owned and operated Laurelhurst Theater was built in Southeast in 1923. Since then, the theater has become a popular neighborhood entertainment venue, featuring everything from new blockbusters to classics of the silver screen.

Nearby is the Bagdad Theater & Pub, a part of the McMenamins family, which features second-run movies and the restaurants famous ales and food.

Former vaudeville theater, the Aladdin Theater, is now one of the city of Portland’s most popular venues for live music.

Additional neighborhood attractions in Southeast Portland include the newly renovated Grand Central Bowl – once a local bowling alley that has since morphed into a hip, stylish social lounge. The Avalon Arcade is in the neighborhood as well – providing residents with hours of arcade entertainment.

NEIGHBORHOODS

Neighborhoods in Southeast Portland include:

Hawthorne / Belmont
Residents are drawn to the vibrant streets of the Hawthorne and Belmont neighborhoods, which feature eclectic boutiques and ethnic restaurants, centered around the neon lights. The independent diners, bookstores and resale shops make this area the beatnik destination for Portlanders.

Schools:
Elementary: Abernathy and Sunnyside; Middle: Hosford and Mt. Tabor; High: Cleveland and Franklin

Ladd’s Addition
William S. Ladd platted Ladd’s Addition in 1891 and named all but two of the streets after species of trees. The streets are laid out in an orderly geometric form – a rectangle crossed by two diagonals, which divide the plat into four isosceles triangles. Also included in the neighborhood are four diamond-shaped parks located on the points of a compass. The “Ladd Roundabouts” are a series of gardens that feature camellias, perennials and numerous rose varieties. Today, the gardens feature more than 3,000 roses of 60 varieties that were popular in the early 20th Century.

Schools:
Elementary: Abernathy; Middle: Hosford; High: Cleveland

Laurelhurst
Laurelhurst is the city of Portland’s first subdivision, which was built around Laurelhurst Park. In 1911, the city purchased the 31 acres, including the spring-fed pond at the heart of the park, which was designed by the Olmstead Brothers to emulate their father’s prized work, New York’s Central Park. The nearly 27-acre park is one of Portland’s most visited green spaces.

Schools:
Elementary: Glencoe; Middle: Mt. Tabor; High: Franklin

Mt. Tabor
Mt. Tabor boasts a mix of modest older homes and stately mansions. The neighborhood itself puts Portland on the map as one of only two cities in the continental United States to have an extinct volcano within its boundaries; the other city is Bend, Oregon. Hawthorne Boulevard ends at the base of Mt. Tabor, an extinct volcano and one of the city’s most popular parks.

Schools:
Elementary: Bridger, Clark and Glencoe; Middle: Binnsmead, Kellogg and Mt. Tabor; High: Franklin and Marshall

Sellwood/Moreland
Sellwood/Moreland is a close-knit neighborhood with many turn-of-the-century Victorian homes. Sellwood is a great place to shop with more than 50 antique shops and many other one-of-a-kind stores.

Schools:
Elementary: Duniway and Llewellyn; Middle: Sellwood; High: Cleveland

Other neighborhoods in Southeast Portland include: