The Palisades neighborhood is located on the South side of Lake Oswego, and is roughly the area bounded by: Stafford/McVey along the south & southeast, Southshore Rd. (down to the lake) along the north, Blue Heron, and then north & east of the Westridge Elementary School area.
It is a lovely neighborhood with a mix of housing ranging in list price currently from $489,900. to $5,950,000.
With this kind of spread, Palisades is known not only for its beauty and liveability, but for the diversity of its neighbors.
These same neighbors will be seen showing up in numbers to the local neighborhood association meetings and volunteering in droves at Palisades Elementary School and Palisades’ own Lakeridge High School.
Amenities include the Municipal Golf Course, parks, a dog park, community swimming pool, and the new “boutique” senior living center, “The Stafford”, which is situated across the street from the high school, three athletic fields and yet another dog park. This location, we are told, was intentionally chosen in order to meld the young and the elderly in a real community atmosphere where all phases of life are acknowledged and celebrated.
An especially delightful aspect of the Palisades neighborhood is the access to superior services just across the borderline streets of Stafford/McVey (therefore not technically in Palisades, but rather in the McVey-Southshore neighborhood).
Kids bike to Bellagio’s Pizza, shirts are picked up at the dry cleaners, dog-walkers congregate at Starbuck’s, lunches and dinners are wonderful at the Thai Curry-In-A-Hurry restaurant, birthdays and anniversaries are remembered with the help of three gift shops, and sunny days find everyone milling at the garden center.
All of it adds to the charm of this lush, green community by the lake with a distinctive ‘small town within a town’ feel.
One of the best things about Palisades (in my humble opinion) is Palisades Market. This is a locally-owned market with some of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet making sure that you’ve found every little thing.
I shop there sometimes just to relax… I’m not kidding! I often joke to friends that the people who work at this wonderful place come from Planet Palisades, as they all seem to genuinely enjoy their work and treat customers like old friends. This is a kind of Neighborhood Central. You’ll find Lakeridge ‘Pacer’ apparel is displayed and sold proudly. Cans and bottles are donated in special receptacles by the crate-load with neighbors supporting the local school of their choice.
There is an adjoining post office annex & the Coffee Nook, a florist, a deli, wine shop, specialty meat shop, bakery and often dinner cooked & ready to be served for take-home by yet another friendly employee… a chef this time. The store is owned by Bob Lamb, Gale Casko, and Nick Goldsmith who is ever-present and always catering to customers’ needs.
Originally a much smaller store it was located where the pizza parlor, restaurant and cleaners are now, moving in 1997 to its current location just up the block, and boasting 25,000 SF of friendly service.
Palisades Market had a rocky start, not owing to the fact that the site was originally a gravel pit, but rather to red tape that almost nixed the plans. True to form, neighbors rallied to support the new store, and Palisades, McVey-Southshore and Hallinan neighborhoods all now enjoy the fruits of that effort.
All in all, Palisades is a lovely place to live. Homes to suit any preference are to be found, and neighborhood character is in full bloom.

Lake Grove is located West of Oswego Lake and East of Interstate 5. It includes a vibrant business district along Boones Ferry Rd with many shops, offices, and restaurants. The neighborhood was platted in 1912 and grew as a result of the Goodin Station train stop between Oswego and Tualatin. The old train station and market were long ago converted to a very charming residence and can still be found today. If I were trying to find a word to describe Lake Grove it would be “diverse”. There is just simply a very wide variety of housing and businesses in Lake Grove.
The City of Lake Oswego has spent the last decade doing a major overhaul of its commercial districts. Millenium Plaza Park and the Village Center at the East end of town were completed through this revitalization effort several years ago and have been wildly successful. A similar effort is just beginning in Lake Grove.
First addition is one of the Portland area’s most charming and desirable places to live. It was platted in 1888 and is actually Lake Oswego’s second oldest neighborhood. (The oldest is the historic old town area near George Roger’s Park). The neighborhood was the first growth outside of Old Town as the economic focus of the town shifted from the production of iron and steel to the pursuit of recreation. The neighborhood has about 30 blocks of historic homes.
Oswego’s most popular attractions. The neighborhood hosts the
Adding to the convenience of living in First Addition is the fact that it also contains Lake Oswego’s Tri-Met transit center with bus to downtown Portland and the rest of the metropolitan area.
On a recent Broker’s Tour in Lake Oswego, my cohorts and I were discussing how important it is to include accurate information in listings, and we noted how easy it is to inadvertently choose the wrong “field” when entering data etc. I thought it might help the prospective home seller or buyer to know a little about how agents search for houses, specifically in using the basic search fields provided to them on the MLS.