How They Met: Steven Hopkins and Adrienne Caddell-Hopkins + Evan Hopkins and Rachelle Guzy

Steven and Adrienne in late spring of 1980, Yosemite, California.

Steven, Evan, Adrienne, and Rachelle enjoy a glass of sparkling rosé. Photo: Rachelle Guzy

Evan and Rachelle in front of Café Isla in Media. Photo: Evan Hopkins

It’s a charming, romantic coincidence that these two couples met in the same way. The younger couple, though, took it all a big step farther.  

Isla Vista California, U.C. Santa Barbara’s student community, was briefly famous in the late 1960s when Vietnam war protesters burned down the local branch of Bank of America.

Across the street from that bank stood Borsodi’s Coffeehouse, a Turkish-style, candlelit nighttime gathering place for students and other locals, mostly staffed by artists, writers, and musicians — not to mention philosophers and mystics, and a palm reader who held court in the back booth on Friday nights.

In the early 1970s, Adrienne was studying music at the university and moonlighting as a folk singer and waitress at the coffeehouse. She served the endless varieties of coffee and food delights that Steven, English literature major and poet moonlighting as a barman, would conjure in the tiny open kitchen. Romance was inevitable… as were the poetry readings, special concerts, and plays produced by co-owner Robert Borsodi. Well, one thing led to another, and here they are, 44 years later. Adrienne has been teaching piano here in Swarthmore for almost 27 years, and Steven is Professor of Comparative Religion and Asian Studies at Swarthmore College.

The coffee, food, and music culture of their home was a part of their son Evan’s upbringing, and he developed his own passions for them. His guitar was his constant companion, and the cappuccino machine in his college dorm room was a harbinger of things to come. He and his roommate sold cappuccinos to the guys on their hall, running a virtual café out of their room. By the time he graduated, Evan had the goal of owning his own café.

Working at Seven Stones Cafe in Media, Evan met the love of his life, Rachelle. Rachelle’s passion for food started with family. Her grandmother was a professional chef, and Rachelle started cooking at an early age. Instead of watching Saturday morning cartoons, she watched cooking shows. She dreamed of opening her own café.

At Seven Stones Café, Evan, a barista, and Rachelle, a cook, each had a passion for quality. Neither of them failed to notice and admire the extra care the other put into making things the best they could be. After months of working together, and closing the café at the end of their evening shifts, they dreamed of having a café together.

They bought Seven Stones Café in July 2018, ready to build on the traditions of that wonderful place. This February marks the one year anniversary of its new name, Café Isla. Isla (pronounced EES-la), means island in Spanish and is meant to suggest a place of respite, neither home nor work.

The food and coffee Evan and Rachelle make express their love for their craft. They welcome everyone, and strive to share their passion with their community. They use locally sourced and seasonal ingredients as much as possible, and their pesto is made from Adrienne’s recipe, with local, hydroponically grown basil.

Both couples will mark Café Isla’s one year anniversary with a special Valentine’s Day celebration.