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Get to Know Old Town

Posted on June 6, 2023   |   Updated on September 30, 2025

Rachel Monahan

This is a picture of Old Town

Old Town is a great neighborhood (John Notarianni/City Cast Portland)

We invited Mary Peveto, executive director of Neighbors for Clean Air, who was a guest on the City Cast Portland podcast earlier this week, to share what she likes best in and around Old Town:

“We're on the brink of Old Town and the North Pearl along the water. I get to live on the Willamette River. They were the first residential places built right on the river, and it is so magical. I have the best of everything that Portland offers.”

  • “I like to paddle [on the Willamette River], walk right down on a beach but still all the wonderful parts of just great restaurants close by.”
  • “The trail isn't right out my back door, but it's just about a mile, mile and a half away. But I still get to be up on the trails in Forest Park.


  • “I love Old Town. The mix of all the good and bad right now that the city of Portland's. Dockside is kind of my favorite local [spot].
  • “I'm right under the Broadway Bridge and right across the street from the Harbor of Hope Homeless Service Center, which I think has been a fabulous addition to our community.”
  • “Even with everything I know about diesel emissions and how bad Amtrak and our railyards, I love [that] I'm right across the street from the Amtrak station and I walk over and I jump on a train. And I've gone to Glacier National Park, or I go to Seattle or go up to Bellingham.”
Why Portland Has Some of the Worst Air

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