Here’s an overview Portland public restrooms by type and location.

In Downtown Portland  toilets are available to the general public at thirteen locations.  Five of these are open space comfort stations and five are restrooms in other buildings.  A restroom complex that serves the Portland Saturday Market  on weekends consists of a two large portable units.  The newest facility is the  prototype Portland Loo in Old Town Chinatown.   A unique  ”public restroom” is privately owned and operated by the Portland Rescue Mission.

Renovations and modifications enhance safety, cleanliness and comfort.

In initiating its original research in 2005, PHLUSH collected data for all downtown Portland public toilets and made additional spot checks to see if they were open.   At the time, adequate signage was lacking on the restrooms themselves and there were no street signs to indicate their location to visitors.   This meant that only those who knew about them used them.

Essentially, we observed very few people using public restrooms, even the more safe and comfortable ones, such as those at Riverplace.   With relatively simple modifications, the existing public restrooms are gradually being made safe, comfortable and inviting to the general public, including families with children and tourists. 

There are still no public restroom facilities in the Pearl District.  

In certain parts of Portland, the physical infrastructure of Portland’s restrooms is relatively good.   In terms of physical distribution, most of the toilets are east of Broadway, leaving large areas of the city underserved.    The Pearl District attracts significant numbers of visitors to its streets and hundreds of young children to the Jamison Park fountain on hot summer days.  Yet the District does not have a single public toilet!