Intro to Portland Small Group Walking Tour

All tours start at DIRECTOR PARK. We'll meet you in the southeast corner of this urban hardscape park, near the intersection of SW Taylor and SW Park Ave. Our meeting spot is across the street from entrance to the Regal Fox Tower. Parking is available on the streets nearby or in lots in the adjacent building. The MAX light rail comes just a block away, at the Pioneer Square stop.

Much of Portland’s history can be told through the buildings and street layouts; most importantly, the prioritization of parks throughout the city center. We'll walk through the park blocks and learn why they were laid out this way; and what the park blocks' designer didn't do before he died.

From cast iron-fronted buildings to the grandly disastrous post-modern Portland Building, we trace our history through architectural choices our city planners made.

We will walk by the exterior of the museum and talk about the history of art in Portland.

No tour of downtown Portland, or history of the city's relationships with hippies, would be complete without a visit to Pioneer Courthouse Square. From its past as the center of education to the drive to keep out the "dirty hippies," we'll learn how and why this square has never been far from the minds of Portlanders and the city's visitors.