Walkings coming up SW 13th near SW Taylor. Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian LC- The Oregonian

Portlanders don’t have a signature place to walk.

Sure, we have urban hiking gems like Forest and Washington Park and riverfront zones like the Eastbank Esplanade or the path in Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

But there’s walking among the trees and there’s walking down the middle of a street and ducking into nearby stores or pubs.

Both have their place in a proper city.

We have occasional pedestrian-friendly times – like Sunday Parkways, Last Thursdays, First Thursdays and if you want to strain the realms of credulity, the Old Town Chinatown party zone on weekends.

City planners will tell you, "Look, we have the Green Loop. It's a six-mile long pedestrian and bike path that we will have eventually."

But other cities have promenades now. Denver has a one-mile signature walking area in the heart of its city So, why not us?

Here are some suggestions, and please weigh in with your own favorites:

(h/t to Austin Towers + Michael Russell and some suggestions via Twitter)

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Google Maps screenshot

Northwest 13th Avenue

This Pearl District street would make for an adorable permanent pedestrian-only zone. Beautifully remodeled brick-facades line the narrow street, with shops, breweries and businesses steps away. There’s some nice views of sparkling buildings and a glimpse of the Fremont Bridge. Parking and driving on 13th is already a chore in and of itself. Why not convert a one-mile stretch of the street from Burnside to Lovejoy into a pedestrian zone? It may make more sense to convert areas north of Glisan, due to Interstate 405 access, but there are plenty of possibilities. Turning away cars isn’t even a stretch here because there are no sidewalks throughout much of the area and people already walk in the middle of the street. The promenade would be a safety improvement.

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Pedestrians on Northwest 23rd Avenue in Portland bundle up against the cold and snow in 2014 (Beth Nakamura/Staff)

Northwest 23rd Avenue

Let’s play a game of would you rather. Would you rather drive down Northwest 23rd or cut off a limb? I thought so. Parking and driving on Northwest 23rd Avenue is one of the worst things you can do as a Portlander. Turn the street from Burnside to Lovejoy into a pedestrian zone and enjoy watching your stress – and your disposable income, if you have any – disappear.

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Andrew Theen/Staff

Southwest Harvey Milk Street

This road sometimes already feels like it’s a world apart, given the funky interchange and limited accessibility from Burnside. Just cut it off altogether, throw up some bollards, and create a four-block pedestrian promenade down to Ninth Avenue. Extend it down to Broadway if you’re feeling saucy.

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Photo provided by Park Avenue West, looking down at Park and Ninth Avenues.

Southwest Park and Ninth Avenues

These two streets already sandwich in the Park Blocks. They are also slated to be part of the Green Loop, so let’s kick out the cars and get started.

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The St Johns Bridge at sunset, Aug. 31, 2016. Mike Zacchino/Staff

North Lombard Street

Downtown St. Johns would make for a nice walkable business district. Just cut off traffic at North Richmond and funnel traffic from the bridge onto Ivanhoe Street.

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Mark Boster/LA Times

Southeast Hawthorne

Hawthorne Boulevard would make for an ideal pedestrian-heavy business district between Cesar Chavez and the low 30s. If the promenade stretched to 30th Avenue, that would be roughly half a mile of carless fun.

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Ross William Hamilton/Staff

Beaumont Village

Northeast Fremont Street between 42nd and Northeast 52nd Avenue would make for a delightful pedestrian shopping zone.

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The Oregonian/File

Alberta Street

The Last Thursday street fair is an occasionally rowdy time. If a good chunk of Alberta between Northeast 15th Avenue and 28th was a permanent pedestrian zone maybe things would be more chill.

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The Mississippi Street Fair regularly draws tens of thousands of people (Beth Nakamura/Staff)

Mississippi Avenue

The popular North Portland shopping district is already home to maybe the largest street party of the year every summer. Converting the street from north of Fremont to Shaver would create even more of a destination for shoppers and eaters alike.

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Stephanie Yao Long/Staff

Southeast Division Street

If there’s a close second to the blood-boiling feelings conjured by trying to navigate Northwest 23rd, it’s this popular stretch of the Richmond neighborhood. Division Street would make for a wonderful walking zone from Southeast 26th to Cesar Chavez.

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The Lloyd Center pictured in 2016 (Beth Nakamura/Staff)

Northeast Multnomah Street

This last suggestion is more of a pipe dream but could have the most transformative effect. With the Lloyd Center’s ongoing metamorphosis still in flux, removing all cars from the south-facing street would be a potentially seismic change for the neighborhood. The Lloyd District has perennially struggled to define itself and turning the area from Northeast 16th Drive to Northeast Seventh Avenue into a pedestrian only zone would make a huge statement. Parking would still be possible on the other side of the mall, and this would create massive incentive to take transit to and from the changing neighborhood

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-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

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