The Virtual Town Square

A good cafe, caffe, coffeehouse, etc. is a universal livingroom of world culture. They are places where lives are lived, business carried out, revolutions started, loves introduced, art displayed, music played, novels and movies written, great discussions held...all over a steaming cup or a cold glass. Some of us can always be found here. The Virtual Town Square is graced by the

Caffe Pellegrino

A European styled caffe where artists, musicians, writers and students from the University like to hang out.  There are several tables here:

• John's Table
• Your Table (Forums)
• The Live Discussion Table
• The Back Room (Sorry, Invitation Only)

Caffe Pelegrino also exists in Second Life on Kiriyevsky Island.

Other Cafes in the World (which serve as John's offices and living rooms, actually or potentially):

• San Francisco Caffes
• Caffe Trieste: The Godfather of all West Coast Caffes (Now also in San Jose)
• Caffe Roma, also in North Beach, with what is possibly the world's best coffee.
• Caffe Greco - North Beach
• Mario's Bohemian Cigar Store - North Beach
• Bean There - my old local in Duboce Triangle (There is also a cafe with this name in Derry, which I went to in 2003 - its gone)
• Cafe La Boheme (24th and Mission)
• Muddy Waters Coffee House(s)
• BrainWash (Cafe and Laundromat)
• Caffe Soma
• Duboce Park Cafe
• Cafe Du Soleil
• Café Claude, with its furnishings rescued from a retired Parisian café, feels like Paris - in the San Francisco french quarter
  
• Café de la Presse, also in the french quarter
• Café Bastille, also in the french quarter
• Cup-a-Joe Coffee House
  
• Silicon Valley:
• Caffe Trieste
• Orchard Valley Coffee (Campbell)
• Coffee Society (Campbell)
• Roy's Station Coffee and Teas They took their grandfather's gas station in the heart of Nihonmachi and turned it into a Cafe (still high octane!)
• Mission City Coffee Roasting Co. (Santa Clara)
• Monsieur Beans (WIllow Glen)
• Blue Rock Shoot (Saratoga)
• The Big Word Cafe (Saratoga)
• Big Basin Cafe (Saratoga)
• Cocola (Santana Row)
• Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company (Los Gatos)
• Great Bear Coffee (Los Gatos)
• Santa Cruz Area:
• Caffe Pergolesi
• Fins Coffee (Santa Cruz) - a good place to hear my new favorite band, Seraphim Zupan and the Innocent Bystanders.
• Lulu Carpenter's
• Mr. Toots Coffeehouse on the beach in Capitola
• East Bay:
• Caffe Mediterraneum
• Peninsula
• Cafe Borrone - Menlo Park
• The Prolific Oven Coffeehouse - Palo Alto
• Coupa Cafe - Palo Alto
• Printers Inc Cafe - Palo Alto
• Books Inc Cafe - Mountain View
• Red Rock Cafe - Moutain View
• The Ebb Tide Cafe - Half Moon Bay
• La Di Da Cafe - Half Moon Bay
• The Southwest (US)
• Caffe Tazza - Taos, NM
• Paris:
• Cafe Flore: A parisian cafe full of literary and philosophical history
• (See other Paris Cafe's here)
• Venice:
• Caffe Florian
• The Past (R.I.P.)
• The Phoenix Cafe and Bookstore in downtown San Jose was full of life. I almost lived there between 1986 and 1990 or so.
• The Upstart Crow Coffeehouse & Bookstore in the Pruneyard was the first Silicon Valley Caffe (now relegated to SoCal).
• The Cafe Chameleon on the river in Santa Cruz had a very special vibe. Then it moved and lost it.
• The Bay City Roasting Company in Mountain View was a hot place in the '90s.
• Friends don't let friends go to Tar For Bucks!

Tearooms:

• The Celadon Tea Room in Berkeley
• The Imperial Tea Court Tearooms in San Francisco and Berkeley
• Ten Ren Tea (worldwide)
• TeaGuide: The Original Online Tearoom Directory
• Lisa's Tea Treasures in the South Bay (where the ladies talk all afternoon)