Portland's Victorian-era elite built the neighborhood you are in when they wanted to get away from the waterfront commerce and into elevated respectability. Nob Hill — the name borrowed from San Francisco's wealthy hilltop district — developed in the 1880s and 90s as streetcar lines made the Northwest hills accessible to upper-middle-class families who could afford to commute from here to downtown offices. The houses that lined these streets were the largest private residences in Portland, many of them demolished or subdivided as the neighborhood's fortunes shifted over the twentieth century.
What remains is a district defined by the commercial corridor of Northwest 23rd Avenue below you, where the Victorian streetcar commercial strip has survived and been converted to boutiques, restaurants, and cafes. The neighborhood retains more of its original housing stock than most Portland districts, with craftsman bungalows, Queen Anne houses, and the occasional surviving mansion reminding you of the density of ambition that once occupied these blocks. The proximity to Washington Park, Forest Park, and the Wildwood Trail makes Nob Hill one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Portland by nearly any measure.