City: Portland, OR

Category: Tours & Attractions

Description: Pioneer Courthouse Square has been many things during its long life. The site was home to the city’s first public schoolhouse; then home to the Portland Hotel, a massive and impressive building that was torn down, to much local dismay, to make way for a parking lot. Now, however, this wonderful piece of real estate is known as “Portland’s living room” for its warm blend of red brick, park benches, flowers, sculpture, and coffee. Look at the bricks in the square’s open spaces, and you’ll see the inscribed names of more than 64,000 Portland residents, companies, and other Oregonians who paid $25 each to buy the bricks: The citizens of Portland rallied to install this project against some local ill will. (You can still buy a brick, but in these inflationary times, the price has gone up to $100.) By the early 1970s, downtown Portland was choking on its own traffic, and stores and other businesses were fleeing to the suburbs where parking was easier and the surroundings less threatening, if more bland. Instead of prolonged municipal hand-wringing, Portland ripped up a freeway, tore up almost the entire downtown, and invited pedestrians back into the city’s core with a transit mall and free bus rides, wider sidewalks, trees, flower-filled planters, public art, and a squad of uniformed workers paid to keep the streets and sidewalks clean, give directions to visitors, and prevent crime by simply being visible and pleasant. The result has been one of the most honored urban renaissance projects in the nation, and Pioneer Courthouse Square is its epicenter. Food vendors, a flower stand, a Starbucks, and public restrooms add to the charm, and the city’s light-rail system runs on two sides of the square, making it accessible to everyone. The Portland Oregon Visitor Association and TriMet both have major offices here, along with maintaining rooms for meetings and other occurrences, and a new facility, Ticket Central, allows people to buy tickets for events around town. One thing about the decor of Portland’s living room: It can surprise you. The square attracts diverse crowds that tolerate and even amuse each other and who, with very rare exception, get along quite well, illustrating the city’s acceptance of individuality. Expect to see street musicians, jugglers, pierced and tattooed teenagers, and street people with their studded leather jackets, army surplus camouflage, and assortments of pet dogs, snakes, kittens, and birds—in addition, of course, to tourists, students, and city office workers strolling about. The Weather Machine, a piece of whimsical but functional sculpture, informs passersby of the weather: A blue heron means mist and drizzle, a golden sun goddess predicts clear skies, and a copper dragon warns of approaching storms, heavy rain, and winds. The square is open to all at no charge.Pioneer Square hosts an unending series of special events (see the Festivals and Annual Events chapter), including contests, cultural festivals, a giant civic Christmas tree, a yuletide tuba concert, a sand castle contest, officially sanctioned skateboarding competitions, and anything else residents can get approved.