PORTSMOUTH

Tucked between the more marquee Kenton and St. Johns neighborhoods, Portsmouth can have a “blink while tooling down Lombard and you’ll miss it” feeling. But this residential, working-class neighborhood has a lot to recommend pulling over for.

Hidden Gem

Arches Bookhouse (8900 N Wall Ave., 503-251-5383, archesbookhouse.com) isn’t on a main street, and despite its low foot-traffic location at the corner of North Wall and Houghton Street, it thrives with a broad selection of theology, rare, antique and technical books, and a hearty $3 paperback section.

Best Breakfast Spot

I don’t know what alchemy occurs at a food cart in a gas station parking lot exactly, but I believe in this magic. Located next to a 76 station, Charro’s Street Tacos (5305 N Lombard St., 253-883-9355, charrostacos.com) has an amazing repertoire of tacos, burritos and tortas. But along with a solid breakfast burrito, it’s got a few more novel morning munches, including a huevos con chorizo omelet, served with tortillas and toppings. And it’s probably the only place in town serving a “Mexican pancake,” a regular griddled flapjack piled with your choice of meat and fresh pico, sour cream and cheese, smothered Christmas style in red and green chile sauces.

Place to Buy Your Stomach a Gift

An unassuming store with hand-painted window decorations proclaiming “Dog Food,” “Homemade Sausages” and “Sides of Beef,” Western Meat Market (4707 N Lombard St., 503-283-5174) is the place to score a reasonably priced pork chop, grab a four-pack of Hatch chile-and-cheese sausages on special for $6.99 a pound, a pepperoni stick, some twice-baked potatoes and a bag of Juanita’s, and still walk out for like $30. This is an old-school butcher shop, complete with gregarious counter guys who have clearly been in the biz a long time.

Favorite Meal

millennials with an unhealthy obsession with the seafood combo dinner, featuring cod, prawns, scallops and oysters, grilled or fried. (I’ll leave you to guess which one I am.) The drinks are cheap, few entrees cost more than $25, and the addition of bay shrimp to the chowder is genius.

Outdoor Adventure

There are a few iconic parks just outside of the Portsmouth neighborhood—Smith and Bybee Wetlands and Kelley Point Park are all a short jaunt. But within the ’hood’s boundaries, Columbia Park (North Lombard Street and Woolsey Avenue, portland. gov/parks/columbia-park-and-annex) can’t be beat. The 35-acre park is well shaded by tall Douglas firs and cooled by a splash pad. Explore the flower garden near the historic cottage and give the seesaws a test drive.

Watering Hole

I could not be more charmed by The Fishwife (5328 N Lombard St., 503285-7150, fishwiferestaurant.com) if they paid me. The interior is filled with nautical knickknacks, clever posters, and red Formica tables around which gathers everyone from the neighborhood: grandmas out for a cup of chowder, punk rockers sucking down oyster shooters, and elder

The only true answer to the question of where to drink in Portsmouth is The Twilight Room (5242 N Lombard St., 503-283-5091, thetwilightroom. com). This dive is a little bit of everything: a University of Portland hang, a solid pool table situation, stiff drinks, decent burgers, and a giant patio out back. If you’re into craft beer, it’s worth it to walk across the street to the Chill N Fill for a growler on your way home, but your serious drinking should be done at the Twilight.

ANDREA DAMEWOOD.

Not quite Roseway and not quite Hollywood— although, it does weirdly remind me of certain parts of Los Angeles for some reason—the Rose City Park neighborhood is bisected by Northeast Sandy Boulevard. There’s a good chance you’ve driven through it without noticing. Ever rounded Interstate 84 around 60th Avenue and wondered about the warehouses lining its north shoulder? Rose City Park is what lies beyond.

Hidden Gem

Unless you’re the human counterpart to distinguished guests like Fuzzy Mama, Raccoon, Tolstoy, Anastasia, or Goblin King, it’s likely that Meowhaus Feline Boarding and Day Spa (6025 NE Sandy Blvd., 503281-0222, meowhaus.biz) has flown below your radar. Vet technician Anya Stites and her team of Kitty Cuddlers—yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like, and yes, I was tempted to ask for a job—have a crowd of recurring “regulars,” all of whom have their favorite of 44 private suites. From the luxurious, sunny Garden Room, to suites equipped with stairs for special-needs kitties, to views of an aviary full of live zebra finches (“It’s like TV for cats,” Stites says), it’s clear that Meowhaus staffers care for their feline guests as if they were their own.

Watering Hole

To be completely honest, judging from its Medieval Times exterior, I did not have the highest hopes for Clyde’s Prime Rib Restaurant & Bar (5474 NE Sandy Blvd., 503281-9200, clydesprimerib. com). But I was so incredibly wrong. I don’t know if it was the soul band’s opening cover of my favorite Otis Redding song or the Key lime pie martini (largely a dessert, but oh my God, I have not stopped thinking about it), but what was supposed to be a bar crawl turned into my partner and I dancing to Lizzo covers with people twice our age for most of the evening. And it was incredible.

Best Breakfast Spot

A night of slaying the dance floor at Clyde’s alongside Miss Washington—it remains a mystery whether that was a nickname or her true title—is a recipe for a hangover in the morning: can confirm. But the bacon breakfast sando (add maple butter) and the French toast roll-up filled with housemade strawberry sauce and Nutella at Rose City Food Park’s Rocket Breakfast (5235 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-676-

9056, rocketbreakfast.com) cured me. Plus, it’s open till 3 pm, which is an absolute godsend after a somewhat accidental bender.

Best Place to Buy Your Gamer Girlfriend a Nerdy Gift

As my partner and I enjoyed our likely first of many 2:55 pm French toast roll-ups, we noticed a little guy running around with a Pokémon poster three times his size, and immediately knew where we were headed next: Cosmic Monkey Comics (5335 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-517-9050, cosmicmonkeycomics.com). It just so happened to be “Free Comic Book Day.” Plus, the shop had enormous Studio Ghibli posters for only $10.

Favorite Meal

Du’s Grill (5365 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-284-1773, dusgrill. com) is a largely unassuming spot to be deemed “the best Korean teriyaki in the known universe” by Willamette Week writers past. But I totally get it.

It’s one of those spots where you know they know what they’re doing without even needing to try the food. But you definitely still should. I’d recommend getting the chicken teriyaki bowl and pairing it with some strawberry jasmine boba from Poke Qube next door.

Outdoor Adventure

As soon as I sat down at one of the picnic benches at Normandale Park (Northeast 57th Avenue and Halsey Street), a little off-leash lady (or gentleman) came up to me and asked for some world-famous teriyaki—not in so many words, but I could just tell. With its area for offleash friends (most of whom remained within the fenced confines), two enormous baseball fields, a playground, and several equally perfect spots to read a book in the shade, Normandale has pretty much everything you could possibly want from a park. 10/10 would recommend.

SHANNON DAEHNKE.

In the Portland imagination, Montavilla begins and ends with a picturesque stretch of local businesses that line Southeast Stark Street between 76th (neighborhood mascot Mr. Plywood) and 81st (the cackling laughter emanating from Roscoe’s). As charming as that strip may be, the true power and glory of Montavilla is derived not from a quaint stretch of Stark, but from the fast, cheap and oft-out-of-control 82nd Avenue. The 2 miles of 82nd that fall within Montavilla’s verdant borders host more than 20 used car dealerships, a half-dozen international markets, a community center, a community college, parks, trailer parks and some pervy stuff for pervs. 82nd is the Nile of Montavilla. It giveth and taketh away. Long may it run.

Hidden Gem

Some of Montavilla’s Vietnamese restaurants are hard to miss (the majestic Pho Van and the IHOP-looking Pho Kim being two of the finest). House of Banh Mi (511 NE 76th Ave., 503-254-7074, thehobpdx.com), tucked just north of the particularly accident-prone intersection of Glisan and 76th, is hard to find…but even harder to forget. A hole in the wall with minimal decoration outside of some Blazers posters and an old flat-screen TV, the HOB serves what might be the best banh mi sandwiches in the city at very reasonable prices. It’s run by the same family responsible for the excellent and fast-multiplying Ca Phe coffee shop/banh mi spots, but this is the no-frills original. Who needs frills when the bread is a perfect mix of soft and crunchy, the meat is indulgent, and the veggies are fresh? Throw a fried egg on top of your ground pork banh mi and call it brunch. Better yet, add a trio of gooey, coconutty pandan waffles to make it a feast. Do anything: There are no bad choices on this menu.

Best Breakfast Spot

While it’s facing increasingly tough brunch competition from the likes of its neighbors Lazy Susan and the earlier-rising Hungry Heart Bakery, the cozy and dim-lit Redwood (7915 SE Stark Ave., 503-841-5118, redwoodpdx.com) remains the unique and hearty center of a.m. culture on Montavilla’s main drag. It serves up rich hashes and indulgent fritters, plus a handful of twists on the time-tested mimosa.

Where to Buy Your Foodie Friend a Gift

From the sprawling former Safeway, Hong Phat, to the lovingly curated Stark Street market La Bouffe, Montavilla has a near endless supply of international markets. The store I frequent most is Boo Han (1313 SE 82nd Ave., 503-254-8606), a glorious Korean supermarket that specializes in fresh veggies and housemade fare (bulgogi and kimchi aplenty, rice cakes, addictive checkout-aisle gimbap rolls), and also features an elaborate and gift-friend-