Papa Johnny

I’m very lucky to be in this business for 45 years. I opened the first Caffe Trieste in San Francisco in 1956.

I was born in 1920 during the time of Mussolini in Rovigno. After the second war, we lost the land. Rovigno was a beautiful place. My papa was a fisherman. We came from very, very poor family. My papa had a little boat, five meters, and one time he told me he wanted me to row. I said, "Papa, how can I row?" I was such a little boy, six or seven years old. So he put a box under me and I rowed the boat. I remember that clearly.

I’d tell my father, "Papa, tomorrow I have to go to school." He’d say, "What do you mean? Tomorrow, we have to go catch five or six pounds of fish to feed the family." I didn’t go to school very much because I had to work to help my family so I ended up having to repeat each grade twice. I was fourteen when I finished fourth grade. When I was fourteen I told my parents I was going away. They asked why and I said, "Because there are too many of us." They asked where I was going to go and I said, "Around the world."

Rovigno was only forty miles from Trieste. I went to Trieste because I had a cousin there. I told him I wanted to travel the world. He got me a job on a passenger ship and I went around the world. I went to Shanghai, Hong Kong. They paid me 260 lira a month. That’s about eighteen cents today. But I’d send that money to mama and papa so they could buy food to survive. This was the beginning of my life.

I worked on the boat until I was nineteen years old. I came back to Rovigno, got married to a beautiful girl. She was an angel. We married and six or seven months later, I was called to serve in the Navy. I went to war in 1943 and then I came back to Rovigno. A month later, the Germans caught me and gave me a uniform. My homeland was occupied by the Germans at that time. They took me to Germany and a few months later, we were freed in the nighttime by the Partisan. I was in the Partisan for three years. They saved my life.

So we were in Yugoslavia and we escaped to Trieste, where I worked in a shipyard for four years. In 1951, we took off. Me, my wife, and my children, Sonia and Gianfranco, left and came to California.

We were in love with San Francisco. I didn’t speak any English and didn’t have any money in my pocket. I went to the church and asked the priest for help. They found me a job as a window cleaner. I worked very hard. So I did that and put my kids in Catholic school. I worked day and night. In 1956, I got the opportunity to open a café. I cleaned windows during the day and at night, ran Café Trieste with my family.

So why did I open Café Trieste? Because my personality is I love people. This gave me a good start. And since 1956, it’s now 2001 and I’m still here. I was the first café on the West Coast. Many entertainers, movie stars and famous people have come through here – Bill Cosby. I used to sing for Pavarotti. He and the wife were here and they wanted to find someone to sing for them. They were very nice. I have had many big adventures in my life.

I closed the Sausalito caffe for two or three years and everybody was calling me, "Papa John, you have to reopen. We want you back in Sausalito. I want to work with you." I opened this place back in 1978. They were pushing me and pushing me. God gave me the strength to do it. I was very lucky.

We had a hard time but we went with what we had and we tried so hard. Now everybody knows us. Even back in Italy, everybody knows Café Trieste.

Papa Johnny and his son Gianfranco built the first coffee house in California in 1956 in North Beach. The Sausalito Café Trieste opened in 1978. It became the centerpiece of what Sausalito was all about at that time where a lot of poet laureates came to sit and enjoy their caffeine. It was a place where people gathered to network and exchange ideas. It was more coffee oriented than restaurant-style. We had pizza before and some pastas. But then the son was ill and the family decided it best to sell it and find out what else they could do with the property. The new owners failed within a year. We were then asked to come in and decide what to do with the place. We decided to reopen it, add on to the kitchen and do some remodeling, change the interior and make it more of a café. It’s a place where you can come and have an economical dinner with a full menu and still feel like you’re in a very casual dining atmosphere. We provide a carryout service. All of the people who come through town end up stopping in.

It’s a place that you like coming to. The people are really the key to the whole thing. We let the folks enjoy themselves while they’re here, which is why I think we get a lot of the stars coming in. They feel like they can come in and have a sandwich without being pestered. The other customers don’t pester them.

I grew up in the food business. I grew up in Chicago and my first job was working in a five star restaurant. My family’s been in the food business for a long time. For as long as I can remember, I was chopping something. I did spend a lot of time in the restaurant business as a young man. I’ve cooked all my life. It’s not a new thing. It’s just expanded.

We’ve been able to train some very talented young men that have never been involved in the type of application we do here. They’re really excited about being able to learn new things every day and learn new recipes. It’s fun to see them grow. I have some really good cooks. But it’s still fun to go in there and see it all come together. We’re open seven days a week. We open at six in the morning and close at twelve at night. We’re allowed the opportunity to have a complete menu of brunch, lunch, dinner, late night entertainment and coffee. It’s fun.

The recent terrible events has affected everybody – mentally and psychologically. And that affects where people want to spend their time and their money. We had a little slide there but then people started coming back in and now we’re doing better than we were before. This is a tourist town so we’ve been impacted. There used to be 5,000 people a day coming through but we’ve really built this business around our local clientele. They find it a place where they can find refuge and have fun.

Music’s been a part of this family for many, many years. We used to have the Italian opera here. Papa Johnny and the whole family was involved. As they do in the city every Saturday, we have a concert that starts at one o’clock and goes until five, where you’ll see an entire range of opera Visiting singers come to participate with the Italian band. We do the same here with a little different twist - more acoustic, more jazz and more intimate. We’re bringing back a lot of the old music the way it was presented in the past. It’s fun and we’ll be bringing more attractions like poetry reading to the facility.

I’m 38 and I have worked for Café Trieste Sausalito for 11 years. I started as a barista, then I was managing the place. When I asked to be partners, they accepted and here I am.

I’m originally from Algeria. I came here thirteen years ago in October 1988, directly from Algeria.

I’m in charge of the barista’s and bar. I like being here. I like the people. I know everybody. It’s like being at home. It’s not like being at work. It’s fun. 

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