Holladay Park

This park has really changed in the last few years. Not the physical park but the feel. I was here recently and there were kids playing with large blocks in the fountain, 20ish guys playing catch, an older woman playing a piano there was even a park host there. Where are the shady people of the past? What are those signs advertising free concerts and Yoga? It feels lake a spot you could sit and enjoy the day, maybe bring a book.
Holladay Park is the main park in the area. For years it has been seen as a «problem area». Home to drug deals, homeless and violence, The city has for years tried to fix the problems with park upgrades. Finally it seems to be getting better.
In 2014 financed by local businesses Dan Biederman (thanks Wiki I was wondering how the turnaround finaly came) was brought in, He has taken on problem parks elsewhere, like New York’s Bryant Park and has helped «fix» them. He has said the problem is there is not enough women and children in the park and has worked to attract them, Now the park has concerts, table games, a reading area, exercise groups. In late 2014 a police spokesman told the Oregonian that that summer was the first time they could remember with zero violent crime.
The park is named for Benjamin Holladay, he was a fascinating guy, even the city park website can’t avoid his controversies!

Holladay Park can only be as good as Portland wants to make it. The park serves as a placeholder between the adjacent MAX stop and the Llyod Center shopping mall. Festivals, including an anti-​Monsanto event, have been held here. The area is not too big, but big enough for tall trees and some homeless people on the side.
It can be classified as small, but it’s personality is big. The space is humungous and you can begin your journey into some outer neighborhoods.
Once I walked off MAX, and someone who was about 23 asked me to play hopscotch on it. Okay?
Sometimes, events are held at the park.
This place adds beauty to the Llyod Center. What an impossible feat!
Provided seeing the forests from the trees, Holladay Park is a great park.

Beautiful park in the industrial part of Portland. It is rich with greenery and literally steps from the Max line. Holladay Park embodies the spirit of Portand and it is not unusual to find strolling minstrels, jugglers and other hipsters focused on «Keeping Portland Weird».

I love the sculptures. Unfortunately I visited on a cold, rainy day, but I imagine it’s a nice place to hang out in drier weather. Lots of big, beautiful shady trees, pretty sculptures to look at, a fountain you can splash through.

This was a neat little park. There were the sketchiest characters in the city I have seen in over two years just milling around on the edge of the park with shifty eyes, but I did not feel like I was in an imminent stabbing zone, which is always a good feeling should you find yourself in a park one day.

This park has cleaned up quite a bit since i was in high school. there was always a throwdown happening at the Max stop so there were usually a few Police cars parked IN the park.
Not much of a park for hanging out, just kind of for passing through.

Cool for a walk under the trees or sipping a cold beverage, but overall it’s not very relaxing as it’s surrounded by a mall, the light-​rail system, and traffic on all sides. And when the sun begins to set the sketchers come out to play.

The park can certainly be a little sketchy at times being that its the end of the line for the MAX’s Free Rail Zone and across the street from the mall. However, it’s mostly harmless transients and high school kids skipping class or hanging out after school.
There are a lot of great spots to have a picnic, it’s pretty well kept up by the city, the fountains are a lot of fun on hot days and that’s when you see families, especially with young kids come together to hang out and let them run wild with other kids. I recently realized that this green space actually acts as a yard to many people who live in the multitude of apartments around this area so I actually really enjoy seeing the community come together like this.
This odd little park also ends up being host to small gatherings of artists selling their wares, impromptu dance offs, small concerts in the park and sometimes small food carts (actual carts like ice cream or hot dogs) can be found here as well.