General Jan 23, 2013 at 4:00 am

The History of Portland's Street Grid, Or "What the HELL Is Up with Ladd's Addition?"

Comments

1
What about the clusterfuck that is Woodlawn? And all the streets between northeast Ainsworth and Alberta (and between 15th and MLK) that just stop being through streets and dead end with maddening frequency?
2
Hey, watch your mouth -- Woodlawn isn't a clusterfuck. It was laid out per the street car that used to run to the ferry over the Columbia, before there was a bridge.

http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportati…
4
Great article!

Sandy may mar the grid from above, but if you live in NE, it's a great way to get to and from downtown/inner SE without the true madness of I-84.
5
Thing is, Ladd's does indeed have a pattern. Go into the Burgerville on Hawthorne and look at the aerial photos of it: it's a mandala. After that, you realize it's just a mini-grid of its own; all you have to do is learn it, and be confused no more.

Laurelhurst, on the other hand, has no discernible pattern that I've ever noticed. It wants you to get frustrated and not come back, that way the rich people who live there can have some privacy. That's my assumption, anyway.
6
If you can't figure it out you probably don't belong there.
7
I read somewhere that the corner premium thing is myth. According to this source (I'll dig it up if anybody really cares) the small blocks happened because Pettygrove and Lovejoy were often short of cash, and couldn't afford to develop their properties in big increments.

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