Division / Richmond

Richmond is one of Portland's older Southeast neighborhoods — platted in the late 19th century, built out through the early 20th, and home to a housing stock of Craftsman bungalows and four-squares that has aged gracefully. SE Division Street was a utilitarian commercial strip for most of its existence — hardware stores, laundromats, small groceries.

The transformation started around 2008–2010, when a wave of chef-driven restaurants discovered that Division rents were lower than Hawthorne or Mississippi, and the foot traffic was building. Within five years it had become the most-written-about food street in Portland, with national coverage in Bon Appétit, the New York Times, and food media generally.

Pok Pok put Division on the map — Andy Ricker's Thai street food restaurant earned a James Beard award and national attention. Apizza Scholls, consistently ranked among the best pizza in America, is a Division institution with a wait that remains legendary. Ava Gene's (now Quaintrelle) redefined Portland vegetable-forward cooking. The street also has outstanding Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese options, plus natural wine bars and cocktail-forward spots that have filled in as the neighborhood matured.

Ladd's Addition — the historic neighborhood with diagonal streets and rose gardens — borders Richmond to the north and is a 10-minute walk from Division. Lone Fir Cemetery, established in 1855 and one of the oldest in Oregon, is a short walk away and genuinely worth an hour if you're interested in Portland history. Many of the city's 19th-century founders are buried there.