Sellwood: Oaks Park, SE 13th Avenue, and the River Trail
High above an old wooden roller rink, a pipe organ is warming up. The pipes hang right over the skaters: a Wurlitzer that started life in a downtown movie palace in 1926, and on the right night a live organist plays you around the maple floor. That’s Oaks Park, and the place around it is Sellwood, a neighborhood in Southeast Portland, tucked along the east bank of the Willamette.
Up the hill: antiques on SE 13th. Down the hill: herons. Lace up.
What is Sellwood Portland famous for?
Oaks Amusement Park, the Sellwood Bridge, and SE 13th Avenue. Sellwood was its own town until it merged into Portland in 1893, and it takes its name from John Sellwood, an Episcopal minister who held the original land claim.
The Sellwood Bridge
The current bridge opened on February 29, 2016. Yes, Leap Day. Three steel arches carry the deck across the river, the whole thing runs 1,976 feet, and it has 12-foot shared sidewalks on both sides. It replaced a 1925 span, and before that, people crossed here on the Spokane Street Ferry.
Oaks Amusement Park
Oaks Park opened on May 30, 1905, built by a railway company to fill its trolleys. It’s the oldest remaining trolley park on the West Coast. The midway buildings at the main entrance and the Dance Pavilion are original 1905 structures. Rides run spring through fall. The roller rink runs year-round.
The Moreland and Antique Row
- Moreland Theater, 6712 SE Milwaukie Ave. A single-screen movie house since the mid-1920s, still showing first-run films, and it marked 100 years in 2025.
- Antique Row on SE 13th Avenue. It started in the mid-1960s, when the 1874 House opened inside the old Sellwood Theater. By the mid-1970s the street had 30 to 35 antique and collectibles shops.
- Sellwood Moreland Farmers Market, Saturdays from May through October on SE Claybourne between SE Milwaukie and SE 17th.
Like a riverside neighborhood with a story behind every landmark? Our St. Johns guide makes a fun next read.
Parks and river time near Sellwood
Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge is the big one: 163 acres of meadow, woodland and wetland just north of the bridge. It became Portland’s first wildlife refuge in 1988, and more than 175 bird species show up here, bald eagles and peregrine falcons included. Great blue herons fly in from a rookery on Ross Island.
My favorite detail: in 1969, the city bought the landfill at the edge of the marsh to stop it from becoming an industrial park. In 2018, a joint project restored 75 acres of wetland. Today the paved North Woodland Trail drops gently into the trees from the north lot.
Sellwood Park, the pool and the riverfront
- Sellwood Park: 16.65 acres at SE 7th and Miller, on the site of the old City View Racetrack.
- Sellwood Outdoor Pool: in continuous use since 1910, with a 1929 arts and crafts bathhouse. Open in summer.
- Sellwood Riverfront Park: 8.17 acres at SE Spokane and Oaks Parkway, with a boat dock, river views and an off-leash dog area.
How do you get to Sellwood?
The Springwater Corridor runs along the western edge of Oaks Bottom, so you can walk or ride the riverside trail right past the refuge and Oaks Park. The Sellwood Bridge carries you west across the Willamette, and the MAX Orange Line stops at SE Tacoma/Johnson Creek on the neighborhood’s east side. Oaks Park charges up to $5 a day to park.
The sound I keep coming back for
Oaks Park calls itself the last roller rink in the world with a live pipe organist at select sessions. A floor 100 by 200 feet, a Wurlitzer with more than 1,200 pipes, and an organist hitting the pedals while you wobble through a turn. Nobody needs a reason to love that. For more places worth a wander, browse our Portland neighborhood guides.
Tips for a day in Sellwood
- Start on SE 13th. Work your way down Antique Row, then head downhill to the river.
- Bring binoculars to Oaks Bottom. Herons, hawks and eagles all use the refuge. January through March, check Tadpole Pond for frog and salamander eggs.
- Check the organ schedule. The live organist plays select skating sessions only.
- Check the fall calendar. ScareGrounds PDX takes over Oaks Park on select nights each fall, around Halloween.
- Walk the bridge at sunset. Those wide sidewalks give you the whole river.
Sellwood FAQ
Where is Sellwood in Portland?
Sellwood is a neighborhood in Southeast Portland on the east bank of the Willamette River, part of the city’s Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood area. The Sellwood Bridge connects it across the river to Highway 43. Its main commercial streets are SE 13th Avenue and SE Milwaukie Avenue, with Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge on its western edge.
What is Oaks Amusement Park?
Oaks Amusement Park is a nonprofit amusement park at the east end of the Sellwood Bridge that opened on May 30, 1905. It is the oldest remaining trolley park on the West Coast. Rides, mini golf and midway games run seasonally, and its roller rink is open year-round with a 1926 Wurlitzer pipe organ.
What is Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge?
Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge is a 163-acre Portland Parks & Recreation natural area of meadows, woodlands and wetlands just north of the Sellwood Bridge. Designated in 1988 as the city’s first wildlife refuge, it has recorded more than 175 bird species. The Springwater Corridor trail runs along its western edge, and dogs must be leashed.
When did the new Sellwood Bridge open?
The current Sellwood Bridge opened to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians on February 29, 2016. Owned by Multnomah County, it is a steel deck arch bridge 1,976 feet long, with three arches supporting the main river spans. It has two travel lanes, two bike lanes and two 12-foot shared-use sidewalks. It replaced a 1925 bridge.
What is Antique Row in Sellwood?
Antique Row is a stretch of SE 13th Avenue in Sellwood known for antique and collectibles shopping. It began in the mid-1960s when the 1874 House opened in the former Sellwood Theater, and by the mid-1970s the street held 30 to 35 antique, secondhand and collectibles shops. Today restaurants, cafes and boutiques share the street.
