NW 23rd Avenue (Nob Hill)

NW 23rd Avenue (locally called Nob Hill or Twenty-Third) is Portland's most upmarket shopping street — a dense corridor of boutiques, restaurants, and cafes running from W Burnside north to Thurman Street. The street is walkable and lined with 19th-century commercial buildings and Victorian-era apartment blocks; the side streets have some of Portland's best-preserved historic housing.

Key spots: Ken's Artisan Bakery (excellent French-style bread and pastries), Escape from New York Pizza (Portland's favourite thin-crust slice), and numerous independent women's clothing boutiques. The neighbourhood borders Forest Park at its western edge — the Wildwood Trail is accessible from Thurman Street. The Portland Streetcar serves NW 23rd with a stop at Lovejoy and 23rd.

things to do neighbourhood shopping
A story
The neighbourhood was developed in the 1870s and 1880s as Portland's first suburb for the wealthy merchant class, who built Victorian and Queen Anne mansions on the hills above the city centre. The area acquired the name Nob Hill by analogy with San Francisco's wealthy hilltop district. Many of the original late 19th-century houses survive on the streets running east and west of 23rd Avenue, giving the neighbourhood a coherent architectural character that most of Portland lacks.

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