Portland OR question: Union Station / Pearl District - OK to go there? | FerrariChat
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Portland OR question: Union Station / Pearl District - OK to go there?

Discussion in 'Northwest' started by Jedi, Apr 14, 2025.

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  1. Jedi

    Jedi Moderator
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    #1 Jedi, Apr 14, 2025
    Looking for input from LOCALS if possible.

    It's been years since I've wanted venture into downtown Portland. But for my birthday in June, wife wants to take the Amtrack down from Tacoma and stay a night at one of the hotels in the Pearl district - there's some shops she used to like to go to there.

    But is that area of downtown still a war zone every night? It was such a regular occurrence for so long that it's no longer "news" - thus hard to know.

    We would be on foot - or Uber to go farther afield (not likely)

    Good idea or walking into a nightmare?

    And if "OK", hotel suggestions for a Pearl district hotel are welcome

    Jedi
     
  2. donv

    donv Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #2 donv, Apr 14, 2025
    Union Station area is not good. Not good at all. I mean, you probably won't get shot or anything there, but you will have to step over or around numerous fentanyl zombies. You should be able to Uber from the station itself without much trouble, though.

    There aren't a lot of great hotels which come to mind in the Pearl. You could probably find a nice AirBnb, as there are lots (and lots) of condos in that area, but not that many hotels. I think there is a Hilton Garden down there, or something like that, but not much else.

    Instead, I would strongly suggest the Heathman, Sentinel, Benson, or the Ritz Carlton (might be more affordable than you would guess)... or any of the many others in the downtown core. The neighborhood is better as well.
     
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  3. 3POINT8

    3POINT8 F1 Veteran
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    #3 3POINT8, Apr 14, 2025
    My brother in law is a Portland cop and that's his beat and he tells me not to go there. I have been down to Providence Park area and by Courthouse square and had a good time and it was actually safe and clean. Water front is cleaned up too. I would say get an uber from Amtrack to another area.
     
  4. 3POINT8

    3POINT8 F1 Veteran
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    #4 3POINT8, Apr 14, 2025
    Also, Amtrack stops a few blocks from my office in downtown Vancouver. The water front has been developed and its a hot spot and main street (uptown) is also up and coming. nowhere near what the pearl used to be but one less reason for us to go over the bridge
     
  5. Jedi

    Jedi Moderator
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    #5 Jedi, Apr 14, 2025
    We've decided to take the train to Salem instead - we love The Grand Hotel there and it's a short Uber from the Salem terminal right into downtown - so our only involvement in Portland will be a stop and passenger shuffles.

    Thanks for the input!! Salem it is!! (Too bad though - years ago we did the train to Portland a couple times a year and just walked everywhere - and The Pearl was just that: the Pearl of the city)

    But Salem is beautiful in June so it's all good :)

    Jedi
     
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  6. david

    david Formula Junior

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    #6 david, Apr 24, 2025 at 2:54 PM
    Kind of a shame that the Pearl was allowed to decay. That was a nice area. Haven't been there in a number of years, so I'm sorry to hear this.
     

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