PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The food court that hosted countless lunches, meetups and mall walks will take center stage one last time as Portlanders gather for the Final Food Court 5000 before Lloyd Center closes after 66 years on Saturday.
For many Portlanders, Lloyd Center’s food court was more than a place to grab lunch. It was a longtime community gathering spot where teenagers met friends, families took breaks from shopping, and generations of visitors marked milestones. As the 66-year-old mall prepares to close for good, one of its final farewell events, the “Final Food Court 5000,” invited people to take one last walk through the space while celebrating the memories tied to one of Portland’s most iconic malls.
The Lloyd Center opened in August of 1960, quickly becoming one of the largest shopping centers in the Pacific Northwest. Today, the mall encompasses about 1.2 million square feet.
“It was the largest mall in the PNW. One of the largest in the country,” Oregon Historical Society Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk recalled. “It was the end-all and be-all here in Portland.”…