Old Town Chinatown

Old Town Chinatown, between the Burnside Bridge and the Steel Bridge, is Portland's oldest neighbourhood and one of the grittier parts of the city. The ornate Chinatown Gate on W Burnside marks the southern entrance. Inside the district, the Lan Su Chinese Garden (formerly the Portland Classical Chinese Garden) is the main attraction — a walled classical garden built by craftsmen from Suzhou, Portland's sister city, that is one of the most authentic examples of Chinese garden design outside China.

The neighbourhood is also where the Portland Saturday Market operates on weekends under the Burnside Bridge, and where several of Portland's older music venues are clustered. The area has a significant homeless population and is livelier in the daytime than at night, but it remains a functional and walkable neighbourhood with good cheap food options.

things to do neighbourhood history
A story
Portland's Chinatown was established in the 1870s when Chinese workers who had built the transcontinental railroad settled in the city. By 1900, it was the second-largest Chinatown on the Pacific Coast after San Francisco. In the mid-20th century, urban renewal and freeway construction demolished much of it; the Burnside Bridge and its approach roads cut through the neighbourhood. Today's Chinatown retains its ornate gates and a handful of historic buildings, but is better described as a mixed neighbourhood with some Chinese character.

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