Portland: Right Bank, Left Bank

Portland is a city divided by a river.

Most of Portland is on the esat side of the river---the right bank. By far most of the population of Portland lives there---in East Portland---on the rolling plain that stretches east towards Gresham. The streets are mostly grid-like in overall character, only loosely interrupted for miles upon miles. Looking closer at the map of East Portland, one notices the breakages in grid symmetry that define neighborhoods and districts in a unique way.

West Portland, on the left bank of the river, is quite different in character. Hemmed in by tall steep hills, West Portland (usually referred to as either NW and SW Portland) seems almost like an island city.  The grid of streets is much smaller and gives ways quickly to the isolated roads that lead through the hills to Beaverton and Tigard. The skyline of downtown, although over forty stories in several cases, still does not reach even to the top of these hills. It gives the west side a cozy feeling of enclosure when viewed from the east side---almost like a toy city.

This division by river is actually fairly rare in North America. In other places, Portland might be two cities, divided by s state boundary down the middle channel of the river. NW/SW Portland and East Portland would be not only be separate cities but in separate states. But Portland is a single municipality that spans the river, all of it in Oregon.