Go Lloyd stepped into autumn with a series of four guided walks last month to commemorate STEPtember, Oregon Walks’ month of pedestrian celebration and activities. Thank you to those who joined us to explore Lloyd’s architecture, eco-installations, public art, and water features!
The first guided walk was a tour of Lloyd’s Historic Places with historian, Eric Wheeler. Eric taught us about the early development of the Lloyd area and pointed out the varying architectural styles represented by buildings of different eras. Eric also organized a tour for the group of the inside of the Leftbank Building, which has a long history with many purposes over the years. These include a creamery and candy factory when the building was first built in the 1920s, a popular jazz club in the 1940s that hosted Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and Nat ‘King’ Cole, and now, a multi-use office building with a brewery on the main floor.
The second walk of the month was a Water Walk, visiting Lloyd’s many fountains and water features. We enjoyed watching the fish swimming in the Hassalo on Eighth plaza waterways and discussed the history of Portland’s iconic Benson Bubblers.
Midway through the month, Go Lloyd participated in PARK(ing) Day by reclaiming three parking spaces for community fun with The Street Trust and Lloyd EcoDistrict. Learn more about our PARK(ing) Day celebration here.
With freshly updated destinations, our third STEPtember walk utilized Go Lloyd’s new Art Walk map to navigate the beautiful murals, statues, and sculptures that bring color and vibrancy to Lloyd. Tour guests most enjoyed the series of three sculptures by Ilan Averbuch that surround the MODA Center and Memorial Coliseum, as well as the reclaimed history represented by the Keaton Otis police gun violence memorial on NE 6th Avenue and NE Halsey Street.
Our final guided walk of STEPtember showcased environmental stewardship in the neighborhood and was led by Lloyd EcoDistrict. Joshua Baker, EcoDistrict’s Outreach Program Manager, guided the group to neighborhood representations of environmental justice, sustainability, and resiliency while explaining the organization’s significant efforts to achieve National EcoDistrict Certification in 2022.
It was wonderful to walk and talk with all of our guests throughout the month. We hope you join us for more strolls again next year!
