NW Portland: Nob Hill and the Alphabet District

If the Pearl District is Portland's polished newcomer, Nob Hill is its old soul. This is the part of Northwest Portland most people picture when they imagine the neighborhood: tree lined streets, Victorian and Craftsman homes packed with character, and a commercial strip on NW 21st and NW 23rd that's been drawing people in for decades.

Nob Hill sits within the larger Alphabet District, so named because the east west streets run in alphabetical order, Burnside, Couch, Davis, Everett, and on up the list. It's a small detail, but it tells you something about the neighborhood: it's old enough, and was planned carefully enough, that the street grid itself has a story.

NW 23^rd is the neighborhood's main stage. It's lined with boutique shopping, cafes, and restaurants, the kind of street where you can spend an entire Saturday without a plan and still leave with bags in hand. A few blocks over, NW 21st leans more into dinner and a movie, with an independent theater, restaurants, and a solid handful of bars for later in the evening.

What sets Nob Hill apart from the Pearl is the housing itself. Instead of loft conversions, you'll find genuinely old homes, Queen Anne, Italianate, Craftsman, many of them part of a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. That means character, but it also means buyers should go in with eyes open about what an older home requires in terms of maintenance and updates.

It's also one of the more walkable pockets of the city. The Portland Streetcar runs right through it, connecting Nob Hill to the Pearl, downtown, and the South Waterfront, so a car becomes optional rather than required for a lot of daily life. Forest Park is close enough for a spontaneous hike, and Washington Park and the Japanese Garden are a short trip away.