The Café Espresso opened its doors in 1962 ushering in a new music scene that would become famous worldwide. Folksingers came from all over to play here including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Rambling Jack Elliot and Peter of Peter, Paul and Mary. There is a room upstairs that Dylan retreated to when he needed a quiet place to work. The White Room with a view of Tinker Street is where it is said he wrote “Another Side of Bob Dylan”.
Long time Woodstock resident, folksinger and banjo player Happy Traum remembers the early days of the Café Espresso.
The Café Espresso changed hands and so did the Woodstock music scene. After the festival in 1969, rock and roll dominated the musical landscape as the once small arts colony stepped onto the world stage. But the site of the old Café has remained a cultural anchor of the community. First as the Tinker Street café and in 1977 as The Center for Photography at Woodstock.
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