Poet's Beach | |
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 Part of the beach in 2020 | |
  Poet's Beach Location in Portland, Oregon | |
| Coordinates: 45°30′25″N122°40′17″W / 45.507046°N 122.671416°W | |
| Location | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
Poet's Beach is an urban beach along the Willamette River, near Portland, Oregon's Marquam Bridge, in the United States. [1]
The beach was established, along with a kayak launch point, in 2000, but it lacked signage and easy access. The re-imagining of the beach was the brainchild and spearheaded by the volunteer organization Human Access Project (HAP) who starting in 2014, raised funds and obtained permits to improve access to the river. [2] [3] [4]
HAP's work consisted of cutting through basalt rock at the perimeter of the trail near the beach to improve access and adding an art component and signage. The organization collaborated with Honoring our Rivers, who provided 30 excerpts of children's poetry about the Willamette River, and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, who provided Chinook Jargon with phonetics and English translation. Both of these contributions were engraved into rocks on the path leading to the beach. The completion of these initial improvements received a staged opening by HAP on July 8, 2014. [2] [5]
In July 2017, Portland mayor Ted Wheeler swam at the beach with a group of other supporters, to draw attention to the addition of lifeguards and to encourage residents to swim at the beach. [1] [6] [7] This opening was characterized as the city's first "pop-up" beach. The pilot swimming program cost $178,000. [1] [8] [9] [10] [11]
In May 2018, the City of Portland announced the Poet's Beach program would continue but without lifeguards. [12]
In July 2022, Portland Parks & Recreation in partnership with HAP named Poet's Beach as one of six safer swimming areas on the Willamette River. [13]
The Willamette Shore Trolley is a heritage railroad or heritage streetcar that operates along the west bank of the Willamette River between Portland and Lake Oswego in the U.S. state of Oregon. The right-of-way is owned by a group of local-area governments who purchased it in 1988 in order to preserve it for potential future rail transit. Streetcar excursion service began operating on a trial basis in 1987, lasting about three months, and regular operation on a long-term basis began in 1990. The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society has been the line's operator since 1995.
The Marquam Bridge is a double-deck, steel-truss cantilever bridge that carries Interstate 5 traffic across the Willamette River from south of downtown Portland, Oregon, on the west side to the industrial area of inner Southeast on the east. It is the busiest bridge in Oregon, carrying 140,500 vehicles a day as of 2016. The upper deck carries northbound traffic; the lower deck carries southbound traffic. The Marquam also has on and off ramps for Interstate 405 on the south end of the bridge, while the terminus on the east bank of the river is near the interchange with Interstate 84.
The Broadway Bridge is a Rall-type bascule bridge spanning the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, built in 1913. It was Portland's first bascule bridge, and it continues to hold the distinction of being the longest span of its bascule design type in the world. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.
Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a 36.59-acre (148,100 m2) park located in downtown Portland, Oregon, along the Willamette River. After the 1974 removal of Harbor Drive, a major milestone in the freeway removal movement, the park was opened to the public in 1978. The park covers 13 tax lots and is owned by the City of Portland. The park was renamed in 1984 to honor Tom McCall, the Oregon governor who pledged his support for the beautification of the west bank of the Willamette River—harkening back to the City Beautiful plans at the turn of the century which envisioned parks and greenways along the river. The park is bordered by RiverPlace to the south, the Steel Bridge to the north, Naito Parkway to the west, and Willamette River to the east. In October 2012, Waterfront Park was voted one of America's ten greatest public spaces by the American Planning Association.
Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is a public research university focusing primarily on health sciences with a main campus, including two hospitals, in Portland, Oregon. The institution was founded in 1887 as the University of Oregon Medical Department and later became the University of Oregon Medical School. In 1974, the campus became an independent, self-governed institution called the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center, combining state dentistry, medicine, nursing, and public health programs into a single center. It was renamed Oregon Health Sciences University in 1981 and took its current name in 2001, as part of a merger with the Oregon Graduate Institute (OGI), in Hillsboro. The university has several partnership programs including a joint PharmD Pharmacy program with Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Boone Bridge is a steel girder highway bridge over the Willamette River at Wilsonville, Oregon, in the United States. Built in 1954, it crosses the river to the Charbonneau section of Wilsonville, carrying Interstate 5 into the open Willamette Valley from the Portland metropolitan area. Maintained by the Oregon Department of Transportation, the 1,111-foot-long (339 m) bridge has three travel lanes in each direction. To the west is the site of the former Boone's Ferry, which the bridge replaced.
Interstate 5 (I-5) in the U.S. state of Oregon is a major Interstate Highway that traverses the state from north to south. It travels to the west of the Cascade Mountains, connecting Portland to Salem, Eugene, Medford, and other major cities in the Willamette Valley and across the northern Siskiyou Mountains. The highway runs 308 miles (496 km) from the California state line near Ashland to the Washington state line in northern Portland, forming the central part of Interstate 5's route between Mexico and Canada.
Carolyn Virginia Wood is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People is a cable-stayed bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was designed by TriMet, the Portland metropolitan area's regional transit authority, for its MAX Orange Line light rail passenger trains. The bridge also serves city buses and the Portland Streetcar, as well as bicycles, pedestrians, and emergency vehicles. Private cars and trucks are not permitted on the bridge. It is the first major bridge in the U.S. that was designed to allow access to transit vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians but not cars.
In 2016, a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) revealed that the U.S. state of Oregon had an estimated homeless population of 13,238 with about 60.5% of these people still unsheltered. In 2017, these numbers were even higher. As of January 2017, Oregon has an estimated 13,953 individuals experiencing homelessness. Of this homeless population, 1,083 are family households, 1,251 are veterans, 1,462 are unaccompanied young adults, and 3,387 are individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. As of 2022, 17,959 people total experienced homelessness in Oregon, with 2,157 individuals being youth under 18, 6,671 being female, 10,931 being male, and 131 being transgender. Also among the 17,959 total homeless in 2022, 15,876 were Non-Hispanic/Non-Latino, 2,083 were Hispanic/Latino, 13,960 were white, 1,172 were Black, African American, or African, 101 were Asian or Asian American, 880 were Native American, and those of multiple race were 1,619. Oregon has seen an increase in its total homeless population consistently every year since 2010. In last three years specifically Oregon has seen a 98.5% increase 2021-2022, 22.5% increase 2020-2021, and a 13.1% increase 2019-2020.
White Owl Social Club is a bar and restaurant in southeast Portland, Oregon's Buckman neighborhood, in the United States.
Audrey McCall Beach is an urban beach along the east bank of the Willamette River, near the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland, Oregon, United States.
The Big Float was an annual July celebration of the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. Established in 2011, as a benefit for the Human Access Project, attendees formed a giant people-powered flotilla and beach party to encourage Portlanders to reclaim the Willamette River for swimming and other aquatic recreation.
Human Access Project (HAP) is an organization based in Portland, Oregon, whose mission is "transforming Portland's relationship with the Willamette River". The organization's vision is a city in love with its river. HAP was founded by Willie Levenson, whose official title is the organization's Ringleader, is Portland’s fiercest advocate for swimming in the Willamette River and is somewhat of an evangelist of Willamette River recreational access in Portland. The river is the city's second largest public space and natural area, but less than 5 percent of the city's footprint has access to the waterfront.
The Kevin J. Duckworth Memorial Dock is a dock on the Willamette River, along Portland, Oregon's Eastbank Esplanade.
Nick's Famous Coney Island is a dive bar and restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States.
Silver Dollar Pizza is a pizzeria and sports bar in Portland, Oregon.
Mi Mero Mole was a Mexican restaurant with two locations in Portland, Oregon, United States.
Reo's Ribs is a barbecue and soul food restaurant in Portland, Oregon.
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