Hotel Grand Stark

Portland is best known for its creative culture and its youthful character, but it’s not always easy to find from the vantage point of the hotels in its traditional downtown core. Across the river, though, in one of southeast Portland’s most rapidly up-and-coming corners, is a hotel that puts its guests right in the thick of it. Hotel Grand Stark is named for the intersection on which it stands, but it’s the work of the Los Angeles–based Palisociety, whose hotels are known for two things: their careful tailoring to their settings, and their lively, convivial atmosphere.

The rooms are decorated in a style that’s identifiably Northwestern but without any forest kitsch; they’re unpretentious but quietly luxe all the same, with Bellino linens, Diptyque bath products, Nespresso machines, and a thoughtful selection of drinks and snacks. And the public spaces are anything but an afterthought: Bar Chamberlain is a classic hotel bar offering small bites, recalling the days of the Grand Stark’s founding more than a century ago.