Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Don't neglect to stop by the highly regarded Vivian and Gordon Gilkey
Center for Graphic Arts; its permanent collection includes 30 prints
donated by Robert Rauschenberg in 1976. (Rauschenberg's son, Chris-
topher, is a photographer who lives in the area and is an active figure in
the arts community, having cofounded two Portland galleries himself.)
The Northwest Film Center schedule is also worth checking; its pro-
grams often include hard-to-find films, sometimes with director Q&As
afterward, and the theater is pristine. The film center runs the hugely
popular annual Portland International Film Festival each winter.
After you've left the museum, take the opportunity to stroll all the way
to the end of the South Park Blocks. When the pedestrian walkway
peters out toward the far side of the Portland State campus, make two
lefts to cross to the other side of the South Park Blocks and come back
toward town, staying on SW Park Ave. At SW Market St., turn right,
then turn left at SW 3rd Ave. to swing by the Ira Keller Fountain, the
centerpiece of Keller Fountain Park. It's a great place to hang out on a
hot day; the intersecting planes of the waterfall are Tetris-level entran-
cing, and it's tucked away just enough off the main drag to feel like an
escape from downtown traffic.
Follow SW 3rd Ave. to Main St. and turn left to walk between Lowns-
dale Square and Chapman Square; this was the nexus of Portland's Oc-
cupy Wall Street movement. Folks were camped out here for weeks dur-
ing the OWS protests of summer 2012, but eventually city authorities
forced them to leave.
Also on SW Main St., between 3rd and 4th Aves., is the Thompson Elk
Fountain, which as anyone can see is facing the wrong direction, with its
back to the oncoming cars, bikes, and buses. It has stood here since
1900, when, presumably, traffic was a little less streamlined.
Ahead of you on the left side of Main St.—and possibly the object of the
Thompson Elk's disapproving gaze—is the much-maligned Portland
Building. It holds city offices and meeting rooms, and it looks like a
really big Christmas present nobody wants to find under the tree. (This
opinion isn't terribly controversial; the Portland Building served as the
lead example in a 2009
Travel + Leisure
magazine article titled “World's
Ugliest Buildings,” if that tells you anything.) Designed by Michael
Graves and opened in 1982, it is usually considered the first major post-
modern building in the country. Perched over the front entrance is the
