Legion Is the Friendliest Little Biker Bar in Portland

It’s really more of a clubhouse than a pub, and wandering in off the street feels like walking uninvited into a stranger’s man cave.

(Mick Hangland-Skill)

The bar at Legion Motorcycle Company is, in the most literal sense of the term, a "biker bar."

That's its main clientele, after all. In fact, if you're not already taking your hog—that's what they call them, right?—to the adjoining garage for servicing, it'd be hard to know it was even there, unless you got curious coming out of Jayne, the dispensary that shares the parking lot.

But the Eliot neighborhood ain't exactly Sturgis, and Legion is far from Road House.

(Mick Hangland-Skill)

Sure, it's really more of a clubhouse than a pub, and wandering in off the street feels like walking uninvited into a stranger's man cave. A collection of antique motorcycle parts line the walls, along with tributes to Evel Knievel and an impressive Molotov cocktail mural. But if your vision of a biker bar includes tattooed leather daddies cracking each other over the head with pool cues, you'll either be pleasantly surprised or deeply disappointed to find that the only action on a recent Saturday night was a screening of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Even if the crowd weren't so nice, it'd take extra effort to get everyone liquored up enough to start throwing hands. For one thing, there's no liquor on the premises—just a rotating cast of local beer and some low-proof, wine-based cocktails.

(Mick Hangland-Skill)

Perhaps it's the low alcohol content that keeps the vibes placid and welcoming for interlopers. Just be careful not to accidentally back into the bikes parked out front à la Pee-wee's Big Adventure—yeah, the regulars are friendly, but some things are sacred, and the place is really too small to "Tequila" your way out of trouble.

DRINK: Legion Motorcycle Company and Bar, 2145 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 503-954-1546, legionmoto.co. 10 am-8 pm Wednesday-Sunday.

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