Sunnyside

Sunnyside developed in the late 19th century as streetcar lines extended east from downtown along Belmont and Morrison Streets. The neighborhood was platted as a streetcar suburb — walkable by design, with modest housing stock built close to commercial corridors. The name appears as early as 1889 in Portland land records.

Through the 20th century, Sunnyside maintained its character as a mixed residential and commercial neighborhood. The Belmont commercial strip became one of SE Portland's most enduring — a mix of longtime local businesses and the kind of independent shops that have resisted displacement better here than in some neighboring areas.

Today Sunnyside is one of the more sought-after SE neighborhoods for renters and buyers alike — dense, walkable, and within easy biking distance of much of the city. The neighborhood association has been active in planning and land use decisions for decades.

Café Castagna and its more casual sibling Castagna on SE Hawthorne (just at Sunnyside's edge) represent the neighborhood's approach to dining — serious about technique, unfussy about atmosphere. Bread and Ink Café, a Belmont institution, has been serving Portland for decades. The neighborhood has a disproportionate number of good brunch spots for its size.

The Bagdad Theater, a 1927 movie palace on SE Hawthorne, now operated by McMenamins, is one of Portland's most beloved neighborhood theaters — second-run films, pizza, and beer in a restored atmospheric theater. The building's Moorish revival architecture is one of the more striking facades in SE Portland.

Sunnyside Environmental School, a K–8 public school, is one of Portland's most distinctive educational experiments — a project-based curriculum centered on environmental education that has influenced how other Portland schools think about outdoor learning.