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Irvington has acquired a reputation as an "elite" neighborhood. In truth, while some of the homes quite nice and expensive, and others are almost mansions, Irvington is a mixed bag. There are some smaller, more "average" homes as well as the nicer ones. There are also a number of smaller apartment buildings, especially at the south part of the neighborhood, closer to Broadway. You'll find the nicer homes further north, closer to Fremont Street.

Stroll along Broadway along the southern edge of Irvington and you get a taste of NW 23 Avenue: some interesting shops and restaurants, urban cafe life. But just a few blocks south of Broadway is the Lloyd Center Mall, a huge suburban-style shopping mall (with a real ice skating rink!). The northern edge of Irvington, Fremont Street, has a tiny bit of cafe/restaurant culture too.

In the NW section of the neighborhood is Irving Park, a large park that also has basketball courts, outdoor tennis courts, and a baseball diamond, is in the NW corner of the neighborhood. The park has an off-leash area for dogs.

The core of Irvington is almost entirely residential - except for parks and Irvington Elementary school plus the retail mentioned above on NE Broadway and NE Fremont. There's a Safeway grocery store on Broadway and a Whole Foods on Fremont.

Irvington doesn't have any rail service the way NW or The Pearl does, but there is plenty of good bus service criss-crossing the neighborhood. The #8, #9, and #33 buses all wind up downtown, and the #8 will continue through downtown to Portland State University and Oregon Health and Sciences University if you are looking to commute. If you like to walk, you can walk to the MAX station at NE 7th Ave from the south end of Irvington in about 15 minutes or so - and that MAX stop is in "fareless" square so you can ride free into downtown. You could even walk from Irvington to the Rose Garden arena (musical events, Portland Trailblazers) in about 25 minutes, less time than it would take you to drive on a busy night. There is discussion now about extending the Portland Streetcar east over the Broadway Bridge to the corner of 7th and Broadway - taking you directly to the Pearl District.

I live close to Irvington and walk through the neighborhood all the time. It's quiet and pleasant although it's still an "urban" neighborhood. Local probably still remember the gang problems in adjacent neighborhoods 15-20 years back, but things have improved tremendously since then.