Irving Park
Irving Park has a lot to offer families. It has large picnic areas, hills for jogging or biking, baseball fields, basketball courts, and many shade trees to enjoy on a warm day.
Using archival evidence, this project argues that Black Portlanders’ use of Irving Park provided Albina residents with an open arena for community building and resistance. This was especially true during the civil rights movement of the sixties and seventies. Learn more by clicking here.
Neighborhood
Irving Park is a quiet, old-school neighborhood with older houses and enormous mature trees. It’s an excellent place to live if you like the idea of owning an older house and enjoying a traditional Portland neighborhood that feels more like small-neighborhood vibes than a big city.
The neighborhood was carved out of the original land claim made in 1851 by riverboat captain William Irving and his wife Elizabeth. It was one of the first neighborhoods developed by visionary developers years before the City adopted zoning rules. It’s generally bounded by NE 7th Avenue, NE Fremont Avenue, NE 24th Ave, and Broadway. The neighborhood is primarily residential with Queen Anne, Period Revival Bungalow/Craftsman, and Prairie School-style homes built between 1900 and 1913.
Irving Park is home to a large city park with lots of green space, sports fields, a playground, a water feature, and an off-leash dog area. The park also has a community garden and native plant demonstration gardens.
Parks & Recreation
Irving Park is a large neighborhood park with baseball fields, basketball courts, playgrounds, and sports courts. It also hosts Portland Parks & Recreation’s Movies in the Park on Friday nights during the summer.
The park’s Khunamokwst Park (pronounced KAHN-ah-mookst) has one of the coolest playgrounds in town and an interactive splash pad with sluice gates, dams, and water cannons. The park is a hub of community activity in both the Irvington and Sabin neighborhoods.
PP&R worked with the Bureau of Environmental Services in 2020 to convert several areas to natural landscaping featuring flowering native plants, stormwater swales, logs, boulders, and split-rail fencing. This project is part of a longer-term goal to ensure every Portland resident has access to a developed park or nature area within a half mile, the equivalent of 15 minutes of walking distance.
Despite this, the city’s parks are facing a $600 million maintenance backlog and one in five parks could be closed unless Portlanders approve a new taxing district to provide stable funding. Until then, residents can enjoy Irving Park and the rest of PDX’s amazing parks! Explore more!
Restaurants & Bars
The neighborhood’s most popular restaurants and bars include a seafood-focused diner with fish sandwiches, chili garlic calamari, and Willapa Bay oyster po’boys; an industrial-themed brewery featuring craft beers on tap; and a new vegan ice cream shop with flavors like strawberry lemon poppy and tiramisu. Other notable restaurants in Irving Park include a bakery from a pastry chef who once ran Portland’s beloved Dominique Ansel Bakery, a Lebanese restaurant with dishes including lamb gyro bowls and chocolate pistachio butter cups; and a Mexican and Cuban restaurant downtown with pastelitos and tortas.
The new Irving Park PDX Food Hall features a variety of indoor food carts like Bibimbap PDX, Kamaaina Express, Musashi’s, and Two Zone Chicken as well as a beer hall. The space also hosts events and tastings.
Shopping & Nightlife
A classic second-run cinema, a corner coffee shop devoted to all things pie, and a handful of neighborhood bars and restaurants give this close-knit hood a small-town feel. Humble ‘60s-era homes tucked under tall firs line streets with curb appeal. Families can get their groceries at a traditional Asian market, and the namesake Lutheran college serves students from around the city.
The neighborhood’s newest addition is a Lebanese restaurant called Nicholas and Arabian Breeze. The former is a word-of-mouth hit with all your favorite middle eastern fare, while the latter is bigger, more equipped to handle larger parties, and offers alcohol in addition to hookah.
The neighborhood’s best birrieria is Aztec Willies, which has been serving Portlanders since 1980. You’ll also find a good selection of antique and thrift stores along the 21st and 23rd Avenues. The parks bureau expects to replace lights at Irving Park and Mt. Scott in 16 months, but one in five city parks could be dark by 2022 if the bureau doesn’t find new, sustainable funding sources. Find out more!
Driving directions from Rise and Shine Cleaning Service to Irving Park
Driving directions from Irving Park to Fernhill Park
