Portland has a secret holiday hot spot, where the parking is ample, the caramel corn is hot, local shops are selling everything from records to Legos and, out on an ice rink, children and adults alike are skating in circles around a massive Christmas tree. Sometimes, it even snows. Of course, we are talking about Lloyd Center. Some call Portland’s oldest mall “depressing” or “grim,” but those people are only half right. Yes, we ranked the mall almost last in our 2018 Portland mall ranking. Yes, the mall has lost all of its anchor tenants along with many smaller stores, foreclosures have been announced, movie theaters have closed, the food court has been decimated and some But many of the central pillars of the Lloyd Center remain: the ice rink, Joe Brown’s Carmel Corn, someone saying they are going to revamp the Lloyd Center, access to MAX and tons of parking. But that’s not all. As national retailers have receded, local shops have taken over some of the many empty storefronts. And...