Peddler's Creamery Bicycle-Powered Ice Cream Maker

Yes, that's a repurposed bicycle powering the ice cream maker at Peddler's Creamery.

And no, you're not in Portland, Austin or Oakland: You're in Downtown Los Angeles–at an ice cream shop that's completely foot-powered.

But as much as owner Edward Belden likes to educate his customers about the eco-friendly power source at play, it's the freshly churned frozen treats that keep them returning.

Belden originally started Peddler's as a roving ice cream cart, popular at Downtown's monthly Art Walk, before opening a brick-and-mortar a few weeks ago.

On our visit to the new store, we sampled scoops of sweet cinnamon-enriched Mexican chocolate, silky ripe banana, coconut-milk salted caramel, and a bracingly minty strawberry-mint sorbet ($3 for 1 scoop; $6 for 2). Flavors change on a daily basis, and the crew at Peddler's loves to experiment.

The most amusing aspect of this dessert shop, though, is hopping on the bicycle out front and churning a batch yourself. The bicycle chain will even have enough energy left over to power an intricate kinetic bike sculpture hanging along the wall.

Is this free labor, or a convenient opportunity to burn calories? Depends on your outlook.

For us, it's an excuse to indulge in another scoop.