Bison Coffee House Vandalized

Bison Coffee House in the Cully neighborhood. Photo credit: Bison Coffee House

Earlier today, in the wee hours of the morning, Bison Coffee House in the Cully neighborhood was vandalized—windows broken, “property damaged, and white debris from a discharged fire extinguisher throughout the interior,” according to the PPB. The good news is that they were able to successfully clean things up (some of the responding officers helped with the cleanup) and were back in business fairly quickly. But why did this happen?

First, it’s important to know that Bison Coffee House is the only Native-owned coffee house in Portland. Owner Loretta Guzman, a Shoshone-Bannock tribal member, is also a native Portlander and opened up Bison Coffee House in 2014. The place has a big bison head in it, and the space is filled with Indigenous cultural decor. Portland Monthly reports that “they offer buffalo jerky produced by Guzman’s Shoshone-Bannock Tribe in Fort Hall, Idaho. The shop brews coffee from local Coava Roasters, but also proudly serves two blends from Indigenous roasters: Star Village and Native Coffee Traders.”

I like stopping by for a coffee and have enjoyed their baked goods, as well. The staff is friendly and upbeat and it’s nice to support an Indigenous-owned—and woman-owned—business, and one that’s in the Cully neighborhood. Today’s assault on this business saddens me.

There is a contingent that says “they deserved it” (it’s being discussed on Twitter, apparently). Apparently this sentiment is connected to the coffee house hosting this morning’s “Coffee With a Cop” event. By the looks of the event post’s comment section, there is a vocal crowd that believes Bison Coffee House was wrong to host this event.

Bison obviously felt like they were doing the right thing, what with hashtags like #movingforward #weliveforthefuture and #positiveoutreach attached to the announcement of the event. The topic of the cops in Portland is definitely a heated one, and I’m not here to tell you how to feel about them.

What I am here to say is that Bison Coffee House did not deserve this kind of backlash, if that’s indeed what it was. And irrespective of that detail, they didn’t deserve the vandalism, period. I encourage you to stop by and get a coffee, a pastry, some jerky, and enjoy the atmosphere in the cafe, and support this important Native-owned business in NE Portland.

Bison Coffee House
3941 NE Cully Blvd, Portland
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This post was updated the evening of Wednesday, October 5, 2022.