I had to check to make sure Powells was included.
Today, Powells is located in the upscale Pearl District, surrounded by high end lofts, botiques, and fine dining.
Back in the late 80s and early 90s when Mrs Quandry and I were dating and first married, it was in the Brewery District. The area was notable for Henry Weinhard's, the last regional brewer in Portland, which lent a distictive malty note to the air. As well as the homeless population, largely street kids in the higher number blocks on Burnside.
Our first apartment was over on the park blocks near PSU. It was a nice walk to Powells and many of our dates were spent browsing books. There were a couple of good underground record stores nearby and some antique stores that sold the type of clothes that appealed to ecentric weirdos and goths. It was also near a gay nightclub that had the only regular goth music in a side room. There was a cafe called Roxy Hearts nearby that had a nacho plate that fed four which was a favorite pre-club hangout.