Pettygrove Park, Urban park in downtown Portland, United States.
Pettygrove Park is an urban park in downtown Portland featuring rolling grass mounds, stone walls, and a dense canopy of trees throughout. Paved paths wind through the space, connecting various seating areas and creating a natural retreat in the heart of the city.
Pettygrove Park is the second open space in the South Auditorium District urban renewal sequence designed by Lawrence Halprin. It was named for Francis Pettygrove, an early settler of the Portland townsite. The same coin that Pettygrove and Asa Lovejoy flipped to choose between Portland and Boston was flipped again to decide which park in the sequence would be Lovejoy and which would be Pettygrove.
Lawrence Halprin designed this space in 1966 as part of the Portland Open Space Sequence, incorporating natural elements within an urban environment.
Pettygrove Park is bounded on all sides by pedestrian malls that link it to Keller Fountain Park and Lovejoy Plaza, so it can be entered from any direction. The internal asphalt paths pivot along grassy berms and basalt stone walls, with the reflecting pool and The Dreamer sculpture at the southeast corner serving as a focal point.
The park's nickname, 'Mae West Park', comes from its soft landscaped mounds. The reflecting pool at the southeast corner holds Manuel Izquierdo's sculpture The Dreamer, commissioned by the Portland Development Commission in 1979.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,088 contributors worldwide.