Portland Island

Portland, also referred to as Portland Island, is the easternmost borough in Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Advance and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. It is the first island the player encounters in all the three 3D Universe games based in Liberty City.

Portland also makes a brief appearance in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in The Introduction short film and the mission Saint Mark's Bistro.

Description

While Portland is known as a primarily industrial portion of the city, focused on varied industries and shipping, a sizable residential and commercial population does reside in the island, as the majority of the island is occupied by several non-industrial districts. Much of the island's industrial population is concentrated towards Trenton at the south of the island, and is within a short driving distance to Portland Harbor and Atlantic Quays, which serves as seaports to the island and the city. Non-industrial properties tend to reside towards the north and west sides of the island. Portland also operates an elevated train service with three stations (Rothwell Station in Hepburn Heights, Kurowski Station in Chinatown, and Baillie Station in Saint Mark's).

The Saint Mark's district, located on a steep terrain north from Portland Harbor, is home to an Italian-American population, and is currently controlled by at least one Mafia family: the Leones. The Forelli Crime Family are also known to have influence in the area, especially in Marco's Bistro, a restaurant in the district. Chinatown, located northwest from the industrial districts, houses a Chinese-American population, with Chinese-owned commercial, industrial and residential property evident in the district. As for gang control in the district, Chinatown was once controlled by the Leones, until the Triads took over the area, with the help of the Sicilian Mafia, most especially Massimo Torini. As the Triads and Leone Family are enemies to each other, skirmishes between members from the Triad and the Leone Family occur frequently in areas bordering Chinatown and Saint Mark's.

Other districts of interest include the Red Light District, just west of Saint Mark's, which serves as a prime location for strip clubs and other adult businesses. For a time, it was controlled by the Sindacco Crime Family. However, they were kicked out of the city, and eventually, the Leones took over. Hepburn Heights, located north to the Red Light District, is home to several apartment projects. It was once a turf of the Leone Family; later on, however, the Hispanic street gang the Diablos would control the district. Harwood, located on the northern end of the island, is mostly underdeveloped, with only a few buildings (including the Head Radio broadcast station), a junkyard, and the Porter Tunnel's Portland entrance/exit. Harwood is also infamous for the deaths of 11 men at the hands of Tommy Vercetti during the year 1971, thus earning him the nickname "The Harwood Butcher".

The remaining districts of Portland are sparsely inhabited: Callahan Point (also known as Waterfront Promenade) is located under and around the foot of the Callahan Bridge, which links Portland and Staunton Island; Portland Beach is an empty cliff-side beach located east of Saint's Mark; while consists of a tract of land and a stretch of road between Portland Harbor and Chinatown. Old platforms and train cars of a railway line are also found in eastern Harwood, as well as a railroad tunnel running under the Saint Mark's district, which directly links Harwood with Portland Harbor. Portland Rock, a small island housing a lighthouse, may also be seen east of Portland Beach.

The Portland Beach area was created to look like the beachy areas in and around New York, such as and , which are near the shores of and , respectively. Chinatown, obviously enough, takes its inspiration from the . The Saint Mark's district takes it name from in Manhattan. Trenton takes its inspiration from and the Red Light District resembles Manhattan's of the 1980s.