Caffe Trieste opened at 601 Vallejo Street in 1956, founded by Giovanni Giotta, an immigrant from Rovigno in Istria. It is often called the first espresso coffeehouse on the West Coast. The Beat writers used it as an office, and Francis Ford Coppola wrote much of the screenplay for The Godfather at a table here in the early 1970s.
The cafe still roasts its own coffee and has hosted live opera and music on Saturday afternoons for decades. The walls are covered in photographs of regulars, performers, and the Giotta family. It is open daily.
Part of a self-guided walking tour
