So if you’re new to “Portorando” (Japanese nickname) and want to enjoy a deeper experience, what should you do? Ride the cable car to OHSU and walk down, via one of several trails? That’s an option. I can think of so many.
Here’s my advice, for a day outing: get to Asylum District, Hawthorne, by whatever means and catch a city bus 14 heading eastward towards Mt. Tabor. At 50th, the bus turns south and crosses Division, then Powell, then heads down SE Foster. I recommend getting off somewhere in the 50s or 60s, and just walking on southeastward, to El Mercado around SE 72nd, taking in the sights along the way.
Asylum District, where you’ll start, is famous, especially for its Bagdad Theater (that’s right, no “h”), on the corner of SE 37th and Hawthorne Boulevard. What the Bleep Do We Know? was partly filmed in this theater.
But first, why “Asylum District” and isn’t “Richmond-Sunnyside” the more technically correct name?
Answer: Oregon needed a first state-approved mental hospital, and the good Dr. Hawthorne, for whom the Boulevard is named, help create it and staff it.
