Portland Neighborhoods Guide

Portland Neighborhoods Guide: Lloyd District

Pros:

  • Convenient to downtown
  • Free MAX train downtown, good bus service

Cons:

  • Very suburban, retail-oriented - lots of chain restaurants and a mall
  • Completely lacks a "neighborhood feel"

The Lloyd District is kind of "suburbia in the city." It's dominated by a large shopping mall, the Lloyd Center (with its own indoor ice skating rink!), plus a lot of chain restaurants. The Oregon Convention Center is in the area too as is the Rose Garden Arena where the Portland Trailblazers play and many of the big rock concerts are held. It's a busy area when there's an event going on but kind of dull otherwise. No one will confuse this area with the buzz of the Pearl District or the historic feel of the old neighborhoods; Lloyd is almost entirely newer development and retail, with virtually no stand-alone houses.

But the Lloyd District has benefits. For one, the MAX train runs right through it, and in Lloyd it's fareless square - a free, quick train ride to downtown Portland (or a few bucks to get to the airport in the other direction). You could quite easily live in this area without a car, and if you don't mind the pseudo-suburbia, could survive just fine.

There are a few apartment buildings in the area, some of them listed in Apartment For Rent magazine. While it might not be an exciting area for many, it is ultra convenient in many ways if you will work downtown or go to Portland State.

On a final note, sometimes the Lloyd District and the convention center area are referred to as "downtown" when they in fact are not. Downtown is the area west of the Willamette River while this is Northeast Portland.

You might also consider as alternatives the Irvington neighborhood to the north of Lloyd District or Sullivan's Gulch to the east: more housing and trees, less retail.




MAX Train in Lloyd District
MAX Train in Lloyd District

Lloyd District
Lloyd District

Apartments in Lloyd District
Apartments in Lloyd District

Multnomah Street, Lloyd District
Multnomah Street, Lloyd District

Cornerstone Apartments, Lloyd District
Cornerstone Apartments, Lloyd District

Temple Baptist Church, Lloyd District
Temple Baptist Church, Lloyd District

Convention Center, MAX, Lloyd District
Convention Center, MAX, Lloyd District

Lloyd Center Mall
Lloyd Center Mall

North part of Lloyd (Weidler Street)
North part of Lloyd (Weidler Street)


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


Articles

Downtown/Northwest

NorthEast/North

SouthEast

SouthWest

Suburbs/Outlying Areas