Old Town Chinatown — Attraction in Portland

I've frequented Old Town since 1982. It was once all bars (every kind imaginable) Chinese restaurants and Old Town pizza. You can easily indulge in every sin. Your most secret wants desires and pleasures can be found in the streets that are in Alphabetical Order South to North from W. Burnside to Irving east to west 2nd to Broadway. That's considered Old Town China Town. No movie stars here. Out beautiful homeless, junkies, tweezers, prostitutes (female male and both) drunks, confused, thr misplaced, the lost, the curious, the loved, hated, feared and invisible. Now in 2025. Everything that made Old Town the curiosity that it once was. The devils playground is long gone. Only the ghosts of what and who made it wonderfully alluring in a dirty sorta way wonder aimlessly looking for the once was but will never be again. Closed down store fronts empty buildings a methadone clinic a couple bars and Old Town Pizza now make up this once curious yet fun as Hell part of Portland . Once known as Portlands Jungle is now a dead waste land. It makes me so sad to see homeless families sleeping in the doorway of an empty once was low income apartment buildings. They are just an inch away from a real roof over their head. Just on the other side of a locked door. It makes me wonder what the Hell happened. Drugs? Nope dope was is has been a part of this part of town for at least a century if not longer. Where did everyone go? The tent city is gone and idiots smoking shooting dope out on the sidewalk are gone Thank goodness. Thank you clean and safe for keeping Old Town clean once again. Those men &women deserve more than just a mere Thanx or pat on the back. They deserve a comfortable safe life. Good people they are indeed. So when you see one in a yellow work vest pushing a utility hand cart make sure and say Thank you. I live down there so when I have at least a $5 to give I make sure to put it in their hand for a cup of coffee as I voice my appreciation the same time. They do make a difference. So yes I give Old Town 5 gold stars. Always have always will. A teen age me still stomps those streets in ghostly form still all the same I have more good memories than I do bad. Can't say that about many places. Do I suggest tourist groups to check it out? Hell NO! Unless you're looking for sex or drugs then you're in the right place. ...

I came here to visit the Chinese garden. I wanted to believe that the media reports are exaggerated, but they sadly are not. The neighborhood actually looked nice and interesting, but the entire place is full of homeless and druggies. We were there on a Friday evening and I did not feel safe walking around especially with a camera, or pulling my phone out to take a picture. I wanted to get inside the gardens as quickly as possible, then leave the area as quickly as possible. While inside the gardens I could hear people screaming at each other in the streets. It's very sad what happened to this city. The local government clearly doesn't care about tourism or getting these people clean and off the streets. Truly sad, as the city has so...

I was frustrated, disappointed, and furious with the ways the city did not make any great progress in clearing out all homelessness in this old town. I went around the Chinatown in 30mins and the same scenario happened in every corner. I saw drug addicts, drunk, homeless people camping on the sidewalks. The characteristic smell is the smell of urine. People are staying away from this beautiful historical town, businesses are closed down, and people feel...