Alberta Arts District

Commercial district in Portland, Oregon

Alberta Arts District is a commercial district in Portland, Oregon which connects the Concordia, King and Vernon neighborhoods in the Northeast quadrant of the city. The district centers on NE Alberta Street, and stretches approximately 1.5 mile (2 km), from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to NE 33rd Avenue. Alberta Street was once riddled with crime but began to be transformed in the early 1990s to what is now an "epicenter of youth and culture," lined with art galleries, restaurants, clothing boutiques and gift shops. The surrounding area has become popular with both young urban professionals and counterculture groups.

Alberta Street was named after Princess Alberta and was first developed by immigrants in the 1880s with streetcar service beginning in 1903. Streetcar service brought additional pedestrian traffic and the commercial district began to flourish with business owners living in second floor apartments above their establishments and modestly sized homes being built during the housing booms of 1905–1913 and 1922–1928. A range of services could be found on Alberta Street, including grocery stores, barber shops, restaurants, a theater and a library. In addition, there were multiple religious institutions for the many ethnicities which lived on Alberta Street, which included many German and Russian immigrants who settled at the western end of Alberta Street. and their displacement to the Alberta area. was an integral part of the carnival like atmosphere of Last Thursday and other neighborhood events. The Alberta Clown House disbanded in 2007 due to rising rent along Alberta Street,

The Northwestern Electric Company – Alberta Substation, which was built in 1931 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located on Alberta Street.

Alberta Street is served by TriMet bus line 72 from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to NE 30th Avenue. TriMet bus lines 6, 8, 17, and 70 intersect Alberta Street at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, NE 15th, NE 27th and NE 33rd Avenues, respectively. Bicycle boulevards parallel NE Alberta Street on NE Going Street and NE Skidmore Street.

The song "Fat Alberta" by the Portland performance group MarchFourth! is about the gentrification of Alberta Street.