Notice the brick-paved square Portlanders call their living room, sitting at the geographic and social heart of the city. Pioneer Courthouse Square opened in 1984 on land that had been a parking garage for twenty years, and before that the site of the Portland Hotel, a grand Victorian structure demolished in 1951. The square was designed as a democratic public space: no vendor kiosks, no permanent commercial tenants, just open bricks and a few quirky sculptures.
The Weather Machine in the northwest corner has chimed daily at noon since 1988, releasing a forecast in the form of a bronze sun, a heron, or a dragon depending on the day's predicted weather. The Pioneer Courthouse behind you, completed in 1875, is the oldest federal building in the Pacific Northwest and still functions as a federal appellate court. Around the square's perimeter you can read the names of the thousands of Portlanders who each purchased a brick when the square was built — a democratic monument paid for by its own citizens.
On any given afternoon this square holds food carts, protest marches, ice skating, and lunch crowds in roughly equal proportion. This is where Portland comes to see itself.