The Landscape Architect’s Guide to

Portland, Oregon

Social Equity

Alberta Arts District

Your Guide

Rachel Hill, ASLA

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Alberta Street (otherwise known as just Alberta) began in 1903 as a vibrant commercial district. A streetcar connected the neighborhood to downtown. The people that built Alberta were working-class business owners who often lived above their stores. This mix of residences and businesses rooted in the pedestrian realm set the infrastructural bones for the street it is today.

A major flood in 1948 and then urban renewal projects in the 1960s displaced poorer populations around the city, causing the consolidation of poverty in neighborhoods around Alberta. The streetcar stopped running in 1948, and then Interstate 5 was built, severing traffic to the neighborhood. Alberta further declined.

Community organizations, non-profits, and public agencies banded together. They established programs to focus on low-income housing, crime, and economic development. In 1996, citizens identified obstacles and opportunities, focusing in on the creation of the Alberta Arts District. The first art walk was held in 1997. Today, Alberta’s “last Thursday” street fair creates a frenzy of summer activity at the end of each month. The annual Alberta Street Fair attracts more than 20,000 people.

The Alberta business district, like many areas in NE Portland, wrestles with the outcomes of this amazing story of revitalization. The community has created a vibrant district filled with strong local businesses. But gentrification is rapidly transforming the neighborhoods surrounding Alberta. The ethnic diversity on which the revival was built is now mostly reflected in the murals and art commemorating the past.

Moving forward, a broader strategy of sustainability keeps the focus on locally owned and operated businesses to ensure the economic benefits circulate in the community. The success of the Alberta Street corridor has created jobs and small-business opportunities.

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Art on Alberta

Alberta Street was conceived of as an “arts district” in 1996. The first “Art Walk” was held in 1997. Murals, public art, and street beautification efforts abound as you wind around street performers, sidewalk patio bars, and one-of-a-kind art and retail shops.

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Ethnic Diversity

There is concern that the influx of the “creative class” and changing nature of the commercial realm on Alberta will displace the ethnic diversity for which the street is known. Non-profit organizations Alberta Main Street and Art on Alberta work to assure this doesn’t occur.

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African American History

There are approximately 30 works of public art on Alberta Street. A large portion of the motifs recall national and local people and events in African-American history.

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Community Cycling Center

Founded in 1994, the Community Cycling Center is a long-standing local destination and node of community engagement while also being a strong advocate for the cycling community in Portland. Its mural, designed by Robin Corbo, depicts a child-powered apparatus, accompanied by a parade of locomotion. The mural was inspired by the Community Cycling Center’s dedication to bicycle safety and providing bicycles to those in need.

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The Noble Architect

The “Noble Architect” is a cast concrete and ceramic tile sculpture of a beaver on the Alberta Street sidewalk. It honors an animal that once lived in abundance in the Pacific Northwest. The inscription recalls its Chinook name, "Ina." The beaver faces the east into the rising sun, symbolizing the hope for a future time when humans and nature regain balance. Like much of the street art, the sculpture is both nostalgic and an instrument of advocacy.

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Metal Flags Mark the District

While Alberta Streets' walls are covered in murals and it is a public gallery for sculpture, much of the artistry and flair comes from street furnishings, lighting elements, and details in the pedestrian realm often overlooked by tourists and hipsters alike. Crafted metal “flags” mark the district. Trash cans and bike racks are fabricated from discarded metal and painted bright colors. Rarely do you see two alike.

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Street Updates Improve Walkability

During the decline of Alberta Street in the middle of the 20th century, high-speed traffic and unsafe pedestrian conditions made it difficult to support small and medium scale commercial activity. Recent design changes in the streetscape have resulted in intersection bump-outs and pedestrian crossings, new street trees, and improved transit connections. It has since become a corridor for meandering.

Image: Rachel Hill