Seattle Now & Then: Cafe Allegro, 1975

jrsherrard

4 months ago

(click to enlarge photos)

The Café Allegro first opened on May 17, 1975, during the same weekend of that year’s University District Street Fair. Dave Olsen’s first customer was Tim Elliott, a well-known Seattle mime who became a close friend. (William Kuhns)

Spring of this year marked the Allegro’s 50th anniversary. Gathering to celebrate are (from left) previous owners Dave Olsen, Nathaniel Jackson, current owner Chris Peterson, Kate Robinson and current partner Zaria Vetter. (Kim Anderson)

Published in The Seattle Times online on Nov. 13, 2025
and in Pacific NW Magazine of the printed Times on Nov. 16, 2025

Expresso insight 50 years ago still inspires Cafe Allegro

By Jean Sherrard

Blink and you might miss it. Nestled in a University District alley just off The Ave, Café Allegro is an unassuming temple to coffee — and community.

Allegro regular Nick Collecchi (right) and friend enjoy espresso in the alley

For the past 50 years, its caffeinated regulars, many from the UW campus one block east, have gathered to study, create, reflect and converse in a locale that seeded ideas and conventions that forever transformed how the world sees and drinks coffee.

Dave Olsen visits the cafe he built in 1975. Today, the Allegro is Seattle oldest expresso shop

The café’s first owner, Dave Olsen, had no grand ambitions when he first opened its doors. After serving as an Army air-defense officer in Seattle, followed by two years as a carpenter, he rode his bicycle to San Francisco in search of direction.

North Beach’s legendary Caffè Trieste, often cited as

the first espresso coffeehouse on the West Coast, offered a roadmap.

“I was completely smitten,” he says, “by the taste and aroma of coffee, the whole vibe of a café.”

Olsen returned to Seattle in pursuit of a dream. In December 1974, he signed the lease for an improbable location — the alley garage of a former U-District mortuary — and, with $17,000 in cash and buckets of sweat equity, he opened Café Allegro in May 1975. He had assembled all the essentials: an Italian espresso machine, fresh-roasted beans, recipes and techniques.

Then the first customer strolled in.

“He walks up to the counter and orders a cappuccino,” Olsen says. “I did the best I could, slid it across the counter, and took his money.”

They made eye contact, and Olsen had a lightbulb moment.

“I suddenly realized it’s all about connecting with people and taking care of them,” he says. “That has served me ever since.”

After 11 years at Allegro, Olsen accepted a job under a

rising young executive at Starbucks named Howard Schultz.

“We really hit it off,” Olsen says. “Howard was the creative force with business acumen and ambition. I was sleeves-rolled-up behind the counter, roasting coffee and training people.”

Schultz bought Starbucks’ original six Seattle storefronts and within a decade expanded to more than 1,000 shops. Olsen served as the chain’s first green-coffee buyer, scouring the world in search of beans.

Former manager and co-owner Nathaniel Jackson in 2010. In 1990, Dave Olsen sold the coffeehouse to Jackson and Chris Peterson, its current owner. “I surfed the Allegro’s wave of connection for 36 years,” recalls Jackson. “It was a safe place where everyone came to be themselves.” (Jean Sherrard)

In 1990, Olsen sold Café Allegro to then-managers Nathaniel Jackson and Chris Peterson, who continue the traditions Olsen established. Peterson juggles his day job as a lawyer with managing

Chris Peterson, roasting Sumatra beans upstairs (Jean Sherrard)

the café and takes pride in roasting Allegro’s signature coffees.

“Our focus has always been the coffee and the community,” Peterson says. “We encourage people to hang out all day — to socialize and connect. And we’ve always been that way.”