The Pearl District is alive with possibility. It is a neighborhood energetically fed by its enduring renewal and transition. As a former warehouse and light industrial area, its evolution as realty center blossomed - as an enclave for artists, writers, designers, entrepreneurs, filmmakers and other inspired pursuits -- breathing new life into the area.

Pearl Marie Amhara was a visionary. A dynamic and heroic Ethiopian woman whose life encompassed several lifetimes of adventure, Pearl recognized the area's artistic joie de vivre bubbling beneath its industrial surface. This insight and the woman behind it, served as muse to gallery director, Thomas Augustine when he coined the name Pearl's District in 1985 because "The enterprises hidden inside the crusty exteriors of the old buildings were like pearls hidden inside crusty oyster shells."

Inextricably linked to the power of possibility, The Pearl District has become the place to transform creative thought into action. Home to the United State's first modern streetcar system, an eco-friendly park, "green" buildings and urban renewal district - Portland's Pearl District remains true to its visionary roots.Read more about the Portland Pearl District at Neighborhood Notes. Learn more about The Pearl