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Portland is a gay-friendly place, plain and simple.  You can let yourself wander.  There’s a gay travel experience waiting for you around pretty much every corner.

This week, I was cruising around my favorite parts of the city on my bike.  It was a perfect Portland summer day:  80 degrees with a teeny, tiny breeze.  The sunny weather made the city shimmer.  The Willamette River was alive, reflecting the mirrored buildings, the blue sky clear as a bell.

Riding through the ever awesome North Portland strip, something caught my eye.
A retro-cool, gay-friendly popsicle cart!  Hooray!  In need of refreshment, I pulled over to examine the little blue cooler on wheels.

Portland is also a cart-friendly place.  Actually, it’s a food cart mecca.  Just ask the New York Times and Better Homes and Gardens.  Food carts adorn downtown street-corners, and entire parking lots have become “cart-pods,” docking stations for deliciousness on wheels. 

Sitting outside an indoor/outdoor pod, this cart was decked out with HRC and “Hate is not a Family Value” stickers.  “Sol Pops,” was emblazoned on the sign, yellow and orange against a blue background, like something that should be on a gay-superhero’s chest.

Inside the storefront, the light-and-bright atmosphere housed a small ice cream counter filled to the brim with little boxes of hand-made popsicles.  I walked up and surveyed the bright colors.

Super-cute Aaron, the owner, smiled and told me the story of Sol Pops, a sustainable, natural, Portland popsicle company.  For three years it has been making little gems of refreshing goodness like mango lime, strawberry apple cider, or today’s flavor:  basil lemon.  Spectacular!

The retail space is innovative.  Along with Sol Pops, it is home to Che Café, a dog-friendly, vegetarian/carnivore fusion cart dedicated to fresh, delicious, handmade comfort food, and Vergnetti’s Caffe. 

This lesbian-owned, uber-caffeinated cart pumps out classic espresso drinks and original creations like “Rox Shox,” a cold-pressed, blended coffee drink designed for cyclists on the go, and served at the “ped-through” window. Even the coffee-roasting company that supplies Vergnetti’s beans, Bridgetown, is PFLAG, gay-friendly!

Annie, the owner of the cart, chatted with me about another of her creations, a queer-friendly music studio on-site, designed to support local artists.

Whether you’re looking for a great place to get your morning coffee and wi-fi fix, or an interesting afternoon date-spot, check this place out.

3954 N Williams Street
Open 11-7 and longer on weekends