Page 71 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Pacific Northwest

DOWNT OWN  69

Southwest Taylor Street, is
Mill Ends Park, measuring
only 452 sq inches (0.3 sq m).
The park is the former site of
a telephone pole, removed in
the late 1940s. Local journalist
Dick Fagan began planting
flowers on the patch of earth
and writing articles about
what he dubbed the “World’s
Smallest Park,” which it officially
became when the City of
Portland adopted it as part
of the park system in 1976.
The Battleship Oregon
Memorial, built in 1956, honors
an 1893 US Navy ship. A time Keller Auditorium, part of the Portland’5 Centers for the Arts
capsule sealed in its base in 1976
is due to be opened in 2076. u Keller Auditorium shade of trees to the sight,
sound, and spray of a plunging
222 SW Clay St. Map 3 C2. Tel (503) torrent. Completed in 1970, the
248-4335. @ Transit Mall. 7 fountain was designed by
Angela Danadjieva. Originally
When a Broadway roadshow or called the Forecourt Fountain,
other big production comes to it was renamed in 1978 to
Portland, the 3,000-seat Keller honor civic leader Ira C. Keller.
Auditorium often plays host.
Built in 1917 on the former site i RiverPlace
of an exhibition hall and sports
arena known as the Mechanics’ Marina
Pavilion, the auditorium was SW Clay St & Willamette River.
completely remodeled in Map 4 D3. @ 95X, 96. v RiverPlace.
the late 1960s, gaining clean 0 =
sightlines as well as excellent
acoustics. The auditorium is part RiverPlace Marina is located on
of the Portland’5 Centers for the west bank of the Willamette
the Arts (see p65) and is home River, situated at the southwest
The multifunctional KOIN Center, rising to the Portland Opera, the end of Governor Tom McCall
29 stories above Portland Oregon Ballet, and sometimes Waterfront Park.
the Oregon Children’s Theatre. Among the amenities here
y KOIN Center Across the street is the Ira are upscale shops, several
Keller Memorial Fountain, restaurants, including Portland’s
222 SW Columbia St. Map 3 C2.
@ Transit Mall. a waterfall cascading over only floating restaurant, and
18-ft (5.5-m) concrete cliffs one of the city’s higher-end
Like the Portland Building into a pool crisscrossed with hotels, RiverPlace Hotel.
(see p67), the KOIN Center is platforms laid out like stepping The complex also has sloping
designed in the postmodern stones. The fountain, enclosed lawns, riverside walks, and a
style, which incorporates a by a delightful garden, large marina. Sea kayaks are
plurality of architectural styles successfully presents a typical available for rental, providing
in one structure. However, this Pacific Northwest experience – an alternative way to view the
29-story blond-brick tower that of emerging from the river and city.
capped by a pyramidal blue
steel roof has elicited none of
the controversy that the Port-
land Building has. Instead, the
KOIN Center, designed by the
Portland firm of Zimmer Gunsul
Frasca and completed in 1984,
is considered a model urban
complex. The building houses
residences, offices – including
those of the television station for
which it is named – and shops,
as well as a popular steakhouse. Ira Keller Memorial Fountain, across from the Keller Auditorium

US_PNW_068-069_Cat3.indd 69 04/07/16 12:38 pm