When I worked in downtown San Francisco, I had a few jobs that were pretty awful – so I escaped the cubicle farm and trudged up Grant Street stopping in for a nice double espresso at one of SF’s finest cafe’s – that had been around since the Beats hung out in North Beach. There were even a few old bars and saloons and a few old shops that had bee there forever. Sadly – most of it is gone due to high rents and the Covid Death Nell put the final nail in that coffin.
Cafe Trieste is still going strong though and Francis Ford Copolla wrote a good part of The Godfather Screen Play’s second draft with Mario Puzo here.
Long may Cafe Trieste run!