If Pioneer Courthouse Square is the city's living room, * Tom McCall Waterfront Park, along the Willamette River, is the city's party room and backyard play area. There are acres of lawns, shade trees, sculptures, and fountains, and the paved path through the park is popular with in-line skaters and joggers. This park also serves as the site of numerous festivals each summer. Also in the park are the Waterfront Story Garden, dedicated to storytellers, and the Japanese-American Historical Plaza, dedicated to Japanese Americans who were sent to internment camps during World War II.

Just north of this plaza, a pedestrian walkway crosses the Steel Bridge to the east side of the Willamette River and the new Eastside Promenade, which stretches for about 1.5 miles along the east bank of the river. Although this paved multiuse path gets a lot of traffic noise from the adjacent freeway, it offers great views of the Portland skyline. Along the route there are small parks and gardens, interesting sculptures, and benches for sitting and soaking up the view. The highlight of this path is a section that floats right on the river and is attached to pilings in much the same way that a floating dock is constructed. You can access the Eastside Promenade by way of the pedestrian pathway on the Steel Bridge. This bridge is at the north end of Waterfront Park.