I saw no one with a long or bushy beard. The number of people wearing leather was minimal. In fact, I could almost have been standing in a Starbucks, save for the lack of people hunched over laptops and the presence of several large motorcycles dotted around the room.
Of course, I got a tour of 1903, a pop-up cafe set up by Harley-Davidson Canada in Toronto’s trendy Ossington Ave., the day before it officially opened. While it operates during the summer riding season until the end of September, there’s no telling what kinds of customers it will eventually attract.
In my conversation with the company’s managing director Anoop Prakash, the purpose was clearly to transcend biker bar stereotypes and appeal to a more refined, possibly younger clientele than those you’d typically expect on a hog. Here’s what you can expect to see inside.
