The grid-defying, ahead-of-its-time Ladd’s Addition is a neighborhood-meets-maze, spokes and diagonals frustrating cross-town drivers and bikers who get caught by an accidental wrong turn. Still, it stands as a beautiful collection of historic architecture, rose gardens, handsomely mature deciduous trees, and a taste of an urban planning era that deprioritized speed for beauty. Almost entirely residential, Ladd’s residents must seek food and libation in the outside world of the north-south grid. Fortunately for them, some of Portland’s best restaurants, bars, and coffee shops are just a block or two away — the very reasons so many of the rest of us find ourselves pulled into the funhouse mirror of Ladd’s streets.
Those taking a bike or stroll through Ladd’s can bookend the trip with a meal on the two main thoroughfares that sandwich the addition: Division to the south, or Hawthorne to the north. However, all of the restaurants on this map are directly adjacent to, or within two blocks of, the actual labyrinth that is Ladd’s Addition. Find our guide below.
Note: Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission.
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