For most visitors, downtown Portland is just the launchpad from which they explore the city’s patchwork of neighborhoods. But amid the central city's staid maze of banks, federal buildings, and big name stores hides a vibrant pocket of high-end, locally owned boutiques; fancy, semi-secret bars; amazing food carts; and old-school Portland weirdness.
FYI: While not an official Portland neighborhood designation, the West End is generally agreed to float somewhere between West Burnside and Southwest Morrison St, stretching from Southwest Broadway to SW 14th Street. In other words: from the downtown Target to Powell’s Books; I-405 to Broadway.