Hi silphion. The grasses I have seen used at beach parks and beach resorts are either zoysia tenuifolia or seashore paspalum.

Here on Kaua'i, the little islands in the parking lots at the mall are covered with the zoysia. It looks exactly like a very light green astroturf. It grows slowly and very tight.

The cool thing about seashore paspalum is that it is very salt tolerant. You can even irrigate it with seawater! If you get weeds or another invasive grass, just sprinkle some salt, or saltwater on the area.

Both are warm season grasses. I do not know if they will survive in Oregon.

Hey thanks tim, you wouldn't believe how much time I wasted doing internet searches for the latin names you so adeptly supplied :) I figured from the get-go that the warm climate grasses might be foiled by our winters but thanks to you I can now delve into some spacifics. Muchos appreciado~ Everything might work out (as far as climate) only to have the dogs turn thier noses up at it! We'll see.