[2] The compact, densely populated neighborhood borders the Lloyd District (with which it overlaps somewhat) on the west, Irvington and Grant Park on the north, and Kerns on the south.

The gulch extends east from the Willamette River and originally was a forested riparian area featuring a spring-fed pool and waterfalls.

[4] The first railroad tracks were laid in the gulch in 1882, by the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, later taken over by Union Pacific,[5] which continues to own the line in the 2020s.

The gulch itself was formed between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age when the ice dam containing Glacial Lake Missoula thawed some 40 times, causing some of the largest floods known on earth.

This flood covered Portland with approximately 400 feet (122 m) of water, laying down large amounts of silt and gravel, creating the Alameda Ridge, as well as carving out Sullivan's Gulch.