Portland Neighborhoods: Goose Hollow and King's Hill

Frontpage/Areas Map Pictures of Goose Hollow and King's Hill Portland Scenic Photos Portland Neighborhoods Mapper

Pros:

Very close to downtown and NW Portland
MAX light rail access is excellent
Lincoln High School among best in Portland
King's Hill has some beautiful, expensive homes

Cons:

Greater Goose Hollow lacks the cafe life and cohesiveness of, say, NW Portland
If you walk, that hill is kind of steep!

W. Burnside divides Portland between NW and SW Portland. The area immediately south of Burnside between 21tst and 25th Avenue is called King's Hill, and the larger region south of there is called Goose Hollow. King's Hill itself is dotted with numerous tiny apartment buildings as well as a few larger, mid-rise apartment and condo buildings. The area is at the foot of the amazing Washington Park, which contains miles of trails as well as tennis courts, the famous International Rose Test Garden, the Japanese Garden, and the Oregon zoo. It's on quite a steep hill going up through the neighborhood but otherwise easy to walk or bike up there.

SW Vista Avenue going up to King's Hill is basically a continuation of NW 23rd Avenue after it crosses Burnside. The "cafe/restaurant life" of NW 23rd ends at Burnside, so if you want to live up there, you lose the ability to walk one block to your favorite bar or coffee shop. But, crossing Burnside is no big deal, even though it's a busy street - you're still quite close to the center of things and to both a Fred Meyer and a Trader Joe's in NW. King's Hill will probably be quieter than various areas of NW as well, given that there's no retail.

The other big benefit of living in this area is the access to the MAX train. If you happen to be commuting west to Beaverton or Hillsboro, it's a fairly easy walk down the hill to the MAX stop, which is pretty fast from there to Beavterton/Hillsboro - but have fun walking up the hill home! If you work downtown, you could walk to work fairly easily or bike very easily. If you don't want to take the MAX there's good bus service that's a few blocks closer.

The larger Goose Hollow district contains King's Hill and extends south toward the west hills, to about the Vista Ridge Tunnel (Sunset Highway 26). The southeast corner of this district, near Columbia Street and SW 18th Avenue (Colins Circle) has some newer apartments including Colin's Circle Apartments. Some PSU students live in this area as it's not too far of a walk and also an easy bus ride to PSU or even OHSU. There are also some older homes and little apartment buildings along Columbia and Jefferson west of downtown as well as various homes. But, this part of town is quite a few blocks away from the fun urban life you might find in other neighborhoods. It's not too far by car, but finding parking in NW is sometime a challenge.

Other than King's Hill, the neighborhood feels fragmented, by the tunnel and Highway 26 (noisy, don't live too close to it), by PGE park (minor league baseball), and by various industrial structures. I'd probably live up on the hill somewhere if possible, closer to Burnside and NW Portland, but if you could find a quiet place toward the Goose Hollow MAX station and Collin's Circle (and far enough way from the roar of the highway), that might be OK.

The highly coveted Lincoln High School is in Goose Hollow.

Pictures are all copyrighted by Andrew Hall and may not be used or copied without permission.

Portland Neighborhoods Guide: Goose Hollow and King's Hill