Coffee Call turns 50
The third place got their first. You don’t need an anniversary to eat beignets with friends.
Vincent Cannatella knew about “third places” before urban planners called them that. In 1976, he opened Coffee Call to serve beignets, coffee and, in the cafe’s own words, a “warm place to gather.”
He didn’t need to explain the concept. Baton Rouge learned it by walking through the door: a kid using four napkins to chase powdered sugar that always wins; parents talking family, LSU football and Baton Rouge politics; the door open for whoever walks in.
There are more coffee shops in Baton Rouge now, which is good. But Coffee Call crossed from serving community to being community sometime around the second generation of regulars. The stores around it have turned over. The place just circles the same College Drive corridor, binding people across time.
The family of the late Vincent Cannatella is marking Coffee Call’s 50th anniversary on Wednesday, May 20, with a brass band and in-house specials—a “gift to the community that made us a Baton Rouge tradition.”
For half a century, Coffee Call has given Baton Rouge beignets, coffee and a place to sit awhile. On Wednesday, the city gets to say thank you.