A rendering of the proposed Darcelle XV Plaza in Downtown Portland, provided by the Portland Parks and Recreation Department.
Portland Parks and Recreation / Courtesy of Portland Parks and Recreation
People in Portland got a first look last week at the Darcelle Fifteen Plaza, the newest park in the city’s downtown area.
Early drawings show the new park will have a stage, a public art space and “wall of fame” for notable LGBTQ Portlanders.
It’s named after Portland’s most famous drag queen. Walter Cole, also known as Darcelle, died last year at 92 years old and headlined the longest-running drag show in the world for more than 50 years.
A file photo of Darcelle performing, pictured here in the early 1970s.
Courtesy Kimberlee Van Patten
The Portland Parks and Recreation Department opted to name the park after Darcelle due to its proximity to LGBTQ nightlife in downtown — including the Darcelle XV Showplace — and to honor Cole’s memory, according to parks community engagement coordinator Ken Rumbaugh.
The plaza will replace O’Bryant Square, which has been closed to the public since 2018 due to structural issues in the parking garage beneath it. City leaders decided in 2023 to demolish the park altogether and start anew.
The square first opened in 1973 and was once considered one of the epicenters of cultural life in Portland. For the past few years, though, the area has been surrounded by a metal fence, inaccessible to the public.
Rumbaugh says the new plaza, once completed, will hopefully provide a quiet and safe space for people living in the downtown area, reminiscent of what O’Bryant Square used to be.
“We want to make sure that we’re creating spaces that are safe and welcoming for folks to gather and recreate,” Rumbaugh said. “This will be no different.”
In this file photo from April 12, 2023, a metal fence wraps around Darcelle XV Plaza, formerly known as O'Bryant Square. A new park could be open as early as fall 2024.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
But Darcelle XV Plaza may not look the same even after it’s completed. Rumbaugh said for the first three years, the park will be in an interim period, after which officials might alter its appearance and add more permanent installations.
“We don’t have the budget to create the fully finished part that we know that Darcel XV deserves,” he said.
The project has received $7.2 million in funding, according to the city, the majority of which comes from development fees.
Rumbaugh said the park will hopefully be open to the public this fall, but that will largely depend on how soon the remnants of O’Bryant Square are demolished.