Welcome to Goose Hollow

CURRENT EVENTS:

• GHFL Elections 2024.  Looking to contribute your voice to the Goose Hollow neighborhood?  Elections take place at our November 2024 Annual Meeting (Nov. 21), and there are six (6) Board seats open.  If you are a GHFL member and have an interest in serving, please send your inquiries to our Elections Committee.  
• 1981 Goose Hollow Film.  The GHFL hosted a world film premier of the restored 1981 film about Goose Hollow.  You can find a link to the film here.
• Stay in Touch.  Join the Goose Hollow Neighborhood Association (here) or simply enter your email address to the right to join our mailing list.  Both are free and easy ways to stay in touch with events and opportunities in your favorite historic Portland neighborhood (est. 1845).
• GHFL Annual Picnic (August 6, 2024 from 5-8pm). The neighborhood residents, businesses, and their guests are invited to attend our annual GHFL picnic, hosted by the Timbers/Thorns, on the Duracell Deck of Providence Park with food and drinks aplenty.  We'll be giving away Goose Hollow swag, and there will be all sorts of drinks and food provided gratis.  Come meet your neighbors and have some fun.  Festivities begin 5pm and run to 8pm, with entry throught the Providence Park entrance by Gate A (East side).
• GOOSE HOLLOW DAYS 2024.  Join us for our 7th Annual Goose Hollow Days, including the Street Festival on Sept. 7 at the same location as last year, SW 20th Place and Morrison.  But more is on tap.  Stop by Zion Lutheran Church on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 1:30pm for a History Talk about the Goose Hollow neighborhood (est. 1845) and a Walking Tour through the neighborhood starting immediately afterwards (about 2:45pm).  Finally, join us Sept. 13 at the Goose Hollow Inn at 5pm for the start of our Heritage Tree Tour through the Goose Hollow neighborhood.
• 2023 Goose Hollow Elections.  Congratulations to new Board members Eva Kutas, Karl Reer, and Jacquie Tracy, who join reelected Board members Bridget Bimrose and Scott Schaffer on the current 11-member GHFL Board.  Personal statements of the current nominees can be found here.
• 2020 Census Data is HERE!!  Portland State University's Population Research Center has just released their analysis of 2020 census data for the Goose Hollow neighborhood.  We now have over 7000 people living in Goose Hollow--an 11% increase over 2010--while median home prices and rents have increased by around 50%.  The number of children has increased by over 50%, but severe overcrowding (defined as >1.5 persons per room) has increased by 254%. (Portland Demographics)
• Goose Hollow Fact Sheet. Get to know your neighborhood with our new fact sheet.  Demographic data has now been updated with the 2020 census data.
• Active/Proposed Construction Projects [updated April 22, 2024] (here) (cranes)
• Walking Patrol.  The GHFL is organizing a walking patrol in cooperation with SOLVE.  Walk with your neighbors and help improve the neighborhood.  Come to the monthly training meetings to learn more about schedule and location.  (flyer)
• Protecting Goose Hollow Views -- Presentation made to Portland Planning Bureau on March 3, 2016 highlighting reasons for continuing to protect views both to and from the Vista Bridge in the CC2035 Plan.  Related links:
  • 1991 Scenic Resources Protection Plan
  • 2016 Central City Scenic Resourcs Protection Plan DRAFT
  • 2016 Southwest Scenic Views DRAFT
  • 2016 View Streets and River Access Ways DRAFT
  • 2016 Map App showing zoning and height changes in Central City
• Sign Caps -- Goose Hollow has now completed the largest sign cap installation in the city's history, which complements the banner project completed 2010.
• Goose Hollow IN THE NEWS -- The Goose Hollow neighborhood has appeared in several international publications, including The Guardian and Mental Floss.

The Goose Hollow Foothills League Neighborhood Association, established in the 1970s, is host to four historic residential communities -- King's Hill, Gander Ridge, Vista Ridge, and The Hollow (the lower elevations) -- which are now collectively called Goose Hollow. (map)  A hundred years earlier, however, the name "Goose Hollow" applied pejoratively to only the lower elevations around the path of Tanner Creek that was the primary residence for a substantial goose population and to Chinese vegetable farmers.  A century ago, this creek was buried and the Tanner Creek Gulch infilled to form the basin of the bowl that is now modern-day Goose Hollow, an area that not only refers to the flats but also the adjacent heights (King's Hill, Vista Ridge, Gander Ridge) and Canyons (Tanner Creek Canyon, Cable Car Canyon).

The four areas that comprise Goose Hollow each have their own separate character.  The lower elevations (The Hollow) of Goose Hollow have an area of older brick apartment houses and condos mixed together with historic Queen Anne vernacular cottages as well as commercial and light industrial spaces.  The northern end of The Hollow was intermittently (c. 1910s-1970s) called the the Lownsdale District in honor of Goose Hollow's first resident, though that name was never historically significant.  The Goose Hollow area called King's Hill once hosted the residences of Portland's turn of the century wealthier merchants, now partly infilled with higher density apartments and offices.  Goose Hollow's Gander Ridge and Vista Ridge areas are at the east and west foot, respectively, of Portland Heights and at the south edge of Goose Hollow's bowl.

Some important links:

• GHFL Committees Page -- come up to speed on current issues affecting Goose Hollow
• GHFL Board Minutes -- attending the next meeting? Find out what's been happening since 1997
• Goose Hollow History -- and, yes, it does indeed involve a 19th Century war about geese
• Contact us and become a member