Portland Then/Now: North Interstate Ave and Shaver Street

Thursday, July 09, 2015

Byron Beck, GoLocalPDX Features Editor

N. Interstate Avenue

N Interstate Ave. and Shaver St., February 7, 1963: City of Portland Archives. A2005-001.336

N. Interstate Avenue

N. Interstate Ave. and Shaver St. 2015.

Portland Then/Now: North Interstate and Shaver Street

THEN: Here is a photo from Portland's City Archives that shows us North Interstate Avenue and Shaver Street toward the end of it's heyday in 1963. For several decades Interstate Avenue was the main arterial between Portland and points north. This avenue came to life in 1917. That's when a new bridge, called the Interstate Bridge, gave its name to two Portland arterial streets. Shortly before the bridge opened, a pair of streets through North Portland that were planned to be treated as the main route to and from the bridge, Maryland Avenue and Patton Avenue, were renamed the Interstate Highway. The highway was the main path from Portland to Vancouver prior to I-5 being built in 1964.

When Interstate-5 was built it was officially known as the EastBank Freeway, but went by the nickname of “Minnesota Freeway” (the freeway project took up the entire area where Minnesota Street once resided). Before the birth of the Eastbank Freeway, Interstate Avenue was home to various business interests, primarily restaurants and gas stations and a plethora of roadside motels that featured elaborate neon displays.

NOW: After the arrival of the nearby I-5, Interstate Avenue businesses began to disappear along with the traffic that once sailed down this thoroughfare.

It would continue like that for the next four decades until the MAX Yellow Line that runs between Portland State University and the Portland Expo Center, with most of the line running directly along North Interstate Avenue.

Since the MAX line opened up there have been several new businesses that have opened up including several restaurants. Vestiges of North Interstates former glory days as a major highway (although it is still part of Oregon Route 99W) remain with a few of the neon-hued motels and the ultra-kitschy Alibi which is home to one of Porltand’s most notable tiki rooms and karaoke lounges.

Related Slideshow: Portland’s 20 Hottest Neighborhoods for Real Estate

What are Portland’s hottest neighborhoods for real estate? The 20 neighborhoods below are ranked by the number of sold homes over the last 90 days. The information, along with the median list price and median price per square foot, comes from the real estate company Redfin. The population is from 2010 census data.

The sale to list percentage, also from Redfin, is the final selling price over what the listed price was, to show how close sellers came to their asking price. In cases where it is over 100 percent, the seller got more than then listed price.

Find out what the hottest real estate neighborhoods in Portland are:

Portland Then/Now: North Interstate Ave and Shaver Street

Related Slideshow: Portland’s 20 Hottest Neighborhoods for Real Estate

#20 (tied)

# of Homes Sold Over the Last 90 Days: 34

#19 (tied)

#18 (tied)

#17

#16 (tied)

#15 (tied)

#14 (tied)

#13 (tied)

#12 (tied)

#11 (tied)

#10

#9

#8

#7

#6

#5

#4

#3

#2

#1

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