Pioneer Courthouse Square
Known as Portland’s “living room,” this brick-lined park is bustling with activity and events.
Located in the heart of downtown Portland, Pioneer Courthouse Square is affectionately known as the city’s “living room.” Once a grim parking structure, the square is now a thriving urban park and one of the most-visited sites in Oregon, attracting more than 11 million visitors annually. The square’s on-site resources include the TriMet public transit ticket office.
Named after the Pioneer Courthouse (the Pacific Northwest’s oldest federal building) located on the public space’s eastern side, the square began as the Portland Hotel in 1890. In 1950 the hotel became a two-story parking garage, and in 1984 it was reborn as a bustling city park where light rail and buses converge. These days, the square is where workers, visitors and families gather to enjoy the city, catch a ride elsewhere and even enjoy a meal at the food carts parked on the bricks.
Visiting Pioneer Courthouse Square
What is near Pioneer Courthouse Square?
Is there parking nearby?
The square is also one of Portland’s leading outdoor venues, hosting 300 events each year, from large-scale concerts to cultural festivals. In the summer, the Noon Tunes concert series fills the lunch-hour air with free live music on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on Fridays, Flicks on the Bricks transforms the “living room” into Portland’s biggest movie theater with no-cost, family-friendly fare.
But the square hosts more than summertime excitement; every year, the city celebrates the day after Thanksgiving with the lighting of the region’s largest decorated holiday tree and an array of festive events, like the Tuba Christmas Concert and the Holiday Ale Festival, keep the space merry and bright.
Explore Downtown
Things to see a few steps away from Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Downtown and Central City Shopping
Downtown Portland boasts a wide array of shopping options, from major national and international retailers to locally owned boutiques and specialty shops.
Portland Art Museum
The largest art museum in Oregon and one of the oldest in the country, the Portland Art Museum is central to the city's cultural district, housing a large and wide-ranging collection of artworks.
Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Hugging the Willamette River in downtown Portland, this once bustling highway now offers a strollable, bikeable and dog-walkable public park with historical and cultural monuments, and kid-friendly fun.
At the Square
Chinese Festival
Join the Oregon Chinese Coalition for the Chinese Festival in the Square. Celebrate Chinese American culture and enjoy nonstop entertainment, delicious Chinese food, authentic arts and crafts, and much more. For more information visit pdxchinese.org.
Portland Holiday Brew Fest
Portland Holiday Brew Fest is pleased to partner with The Square to bring holiday beer and cheer back downtown after a three-year hiatus. The festival supports the role of The Square in activating downtown this year with a unique seasonal celebration under the 75-foot tree. Vinyl DJs will be bringing the tunes all weekend long. …
In Concert on Downtown’s Transit Mall
Picture this: A serene mid-day in Portland, the sun gently casting its warmth over Pioneer Square. As you sit down for lunch, the air is filled with the melodic strains of live music. It's Concerts on Downtown’s Transit Mall, an oasis of sound amidst the bustling city. Let the music serenade you as you savor…
Street Bazaar at The Square
Street Bazaar is popping up at The Square this summer. Featuring bold flavors, bright colors and the vibrant energy of Portland’s food, drink, art and music scene, Street Bazaar will feature a festive night with friends, neighbors and the community in downtown.
Opera a la Cart at The Square
In partnership with Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland Opera will bring an Opera a la Cart live performance to The Square over the lunch hour. Inspired by Portland’s food cart culture, Opera a la Cart is a mobile performance venue that brings live opera performances directly into the community spaces where people gather. You’ll find them…
PDX Live Concert Series
Pioneer Courthouse Square (The Square) and True West, one of the leading independent concert promoters and event producers in the Pacific Northwest, bring back the PDX LIVE concert series. Show schedule: August 7 – Sleater-Kinney / Amyl and the Sniffers August 8-9 – Ween August 10 – Descendents August 11 – The Japanese House August 12 – Sierra…
Sleater-Kinney / Amyl and the Sniffers
Sleater-Kinney first emerged from Olympia, WA, in 1994. The group’s 1997 landmark album, Dig Me Out, earned a spot on Rolling Stone’s “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” During 2015, they returned from a decade-long hiatus with the triumphant No Cities To Love, which closed out 2015 on dozens of year-end lists, reaching #1…
Ween
Formed by Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, Jr. in New Hope, PA, Ween has taken on a cult-like status with legions of devoted fans worldwide. Beginning with six self-released cassettes in the 1980s, followed by eleven studio albums, six live albums and a smattering of EPs through the 1990s and 2000s, Ween’s recorded output is…
Descendents
Since first emerging from (and defining) the Southern California pop-punk scene in 1978, the legendary Descendents have released classic after classic, from their landmark 1982 LP Milo Goes to College to 2016's Hypercaffium Spazzinate. Now, after issuing a flurry of singles to get fans through the past few years, the band — Milo Aukerman (vocals),…
The Japanese House
Written during a creative burst at the end of 2021, In the End, It Always Does is primarily inspired by the events preceding it — including Bain’s first time moving to Margate, being in a throuple and the slow dissolution of those relationships. “[These two people] were together for six years, and I met them, and then…
Sierra Ferrell
One of the brightest young luminaries in roots music today, Sierra Ferrell, brings a dose of beautifully strange magic to everything she touches. Since the arrival of Long Time Coming (her acclaimed debut LP for Rounder Records), the West Virginia-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist has earned the Emerging Act of the Year prize at the Americana Honors and…
Yo La Tengo / Built to Spill
Time keeps moving and things changing, but that doesn’t mean we can't fight back. Yo La Tengo has raced time for nearly four decades, and they just keep winning. The trio’s latest victory is called This Stupid World, a spellbinding set of reflective songs that resist the ticking clock. This music is not so much…
Mt. Joy
The Philadelphia quintet — Matt Quinn [vocals, guitar], Sam Cooper [guitar], Sotiris Eliopoulos [drums], Jackie Miclau [keys, piano], and Michael Byrnes [bass] — take their name from the quiet rural town in southwest Pennsylvania, about four hours from their Philadelphia base. Forming in 2016, they made their mark two years later when their self-titled Mt….
Waxahatchee
One of the hardest-working singer-songwriters in the game is named Katie Crutchfield. She was born in Alabama and grew up near Waxahatchee Creek. Skipped town and struck out on her own as Waxahatchee. That was over a decade ago. Crutchfield says she never knew the road would lead her here, but after six critically acclaimed…
Alvvays
Alvvays never intended to take five years to finish their third album, the nervy joyride that is the compulsively lovable Blue Rev. the band began writing and cutting its first bits soon after releasing 2017’s Antisocialites, that stunning sophomore record that confirmed the Toronto quintet’s status atop a new generation of winning and whip-smart indie…
Elle King
New York. London. LA. Firebrand. Punk. Renegade. Bold-faced icon. Startling songwriter. Grammy nominee. Pop sensation. Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Award winner. Record setter. Brash live force. Brazen recording artist. Spider monkey on a tear. What if the story began with a banjo? With a residency, trying to figure out how…
Sunny Day Real Estate
Considering their relatively brief existence, Sunny Day Real Estate racked up enough dramatic twists and turns to rank with some great rock soap operas. Their key members engaged in almost every rock cliché imaginable, including finding religion, refusing to work with the media, breaking up, joining a big-name group, and even recording an ambitious full-orchestra…
Portland Oktoberfest
Bring your steins, dirndls, and lederhosen – Munich’s favorite fest arrives in downtown Portland this fall. It's Oktoberfest at Pioneer Courthouse Square. With its picturesque setting in the heart of the city, Portland Oktoberfest invites locals and visitors alike to experience an unforgettable fusion of German heritage and Oregonian flair. Indulge in authentic Bavarian delights with…
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