Station And Roses?

Q: "How did Portland's Pearl District get its name and when?" The way I remember it, it was always just "Northwest Portland" or "the Burnside area" (depending on how derogatory you were being, since referring to the street carried an implication of the bums/winos/homeless who lived there). But then, I was a suburbanite, and so the fine points might have missed me. Is the Pearl District just the gentrification of the area between Union Station and Roses? How far north does it go? Is the theater in the Armory any good? How ridiulous are the loft prices? Have double lattes replaced fish and chips?

A: A good place to start is: To sum up- the Pearl District is just a large area which has been redeveloped in the last 20 years or so. The Name is credited like this- There are as many legends on the origin of the name "Pearl District" as there are cobblestones on the neighborhood's streets. But one story credits Thomas Augustine, an art gallery owner, for coining the tag. The name was not eagerly embraced at first, but was a clear favorite over others that were suggested, such as the "warehouse district" or the "brewery district."