Bison Coffee House

Bison Coffeehouse, Portland’s only Native-owned coffee establishment, is the culmination of a journey that Loretta Guzman embarked on almost a decade ago. After a bout with cancer that almost proved fatal (she is in full remission now), Loretta conceived of a community space that represented her ancestry and provided opportunity to showcase native-sourced products. She slowly raised the funds over several years through the tribal art of beading, a craft Loretta had learned as a young girl. “I just paid for it as I had the money. It took me two years,” she says. Working on apparel projects, large and small, she was finally able to launch her vision in November 2014, rehabbing a 1926 building her father, Gary Guzman, had used as a storage facility for his acclaimed custom motorcycle shop next door.