During the 1960s Portland's first suburban-style commercial development rose across the river from downtown, on land the Lloyd family had accumulated over decades, and you are in that district now. Ralph Lloyd, a California oil magnate, began purchasing property in the Brooklyn neighborhood just east of the Willamette in the 1920s, intending to create a commercial center to rival downtown. The Lloyd Center Mall, opened in 1960, was one of the largest shopping centers in the United States when it was built and included the first ice rink inside a covered mall in the country.
The mall and its surrounding district attracted the Rose Garden Arena — now the Moda Center — where the Portland Trail Blazers have played since 1995, making the Lloyd District Portland's sports and entertainment hub. The Lloyd Center itself has struggled as retail has shifted, losing its Nordstrom and Sears anchors and cycling through renovation concepts. The surrounding district, however, has benefited from the proximity of the Steel Bridge and the MAX light rail, which connect it directly to downtown.
The convention center, completed in 1990, brought convention business to the east side for the first time. The Lloyd District represents Portland's mid-century commercial ambitions: a suburban model dropped into an urban context, still working out what it wants to be when it grows up.