Skip to main content
Foster Fitness Center (5623 SE Center St., 971-401-1392, fosterfitnesspdx.com) is not your ordinary gym. Nestled off the bar-lined stretch of Southeast Foster Road, this low-key weight room is as much a gathering place for a handful of felines (and the occasional dog) as it is for Portland’s muscle-building masses.
The gym is pretty much the opposite of your sterile corporate LA Fitnesses and Gold’s Gyms, with its constantly blaring soundtrack of hair metal and ’90s alt-rock, delightfully weird decorations that include Star Wars and Star Trek memorabilia, and a mural of Pumping Iron-era Arnold Schwarzenegger. But what really makes it so special is the tight-knit community of members—and the cats. Fitting with the gym’s loose sci-fi theme, there’s even a giant mural on the side of the building with a cat in a UFO, careening through space.
To be clear, Foster Fitness is more akin to a New York City bodega than, say, a sanctioned cat cafe. In other words, these cats just happen to call it home. On any given day, you’ll find at least two to five cats snuggled up on the StairMaster or in the crevice of the leg press, snoozing away. You might catch a big orange cat sneaking a sip of water from the fountain, or perhaps your biceps curls will be playfully interrupted by a furry friend who wants to climb onto the machine and nuzzle you. Sometimes you will even see a handful of cats leisurely sunning themselves on the sidewalk out front. For the rotating cast of gym regulars, they’re hardly a bother, and it’s not uncommon to see tough-looking meatheads cuddling and pspsps-ing with these beloved kitties.
Reigning over this little kingdom is Noel Fuller, who is as much a spotter for the cats as he is for the aspiring bodybuilders he trains. The five cats started to become regulars at the gym several years ago after following Fuller from his house just down the street, and some of them still split their time between both.
“I’ve sold half my memberships just because of the cats,” he says. “I’ll have somebody in here looking at the gym, and the cats will run up and start nuzzling on them. People also come in just for the cats, and I’m like, yup, no problem.”
Fuller can often be found at his desk, which is sometimes the choice napping spot for several sleepy cats, and he greets every member with his signature “welcome in” to foster the kind of gym that’s hardly fancy but feels welcoming to all.
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2025 here!
