DIANE BELL
sold his art, customers tried out stand-up comedy routines, regulars staked out their own tables.
It became a home away from home for some folks, who even had their mail delivered there to a cubbyhole set aside by Coster, recalls Rippo. The coffee bar was his refuge, and Rippo credits it with changing his life for the better.
Enduring relationships brewed along with the coffee. Couples met there on a first date, and one liaison even led to a marriage at Coster’s Hillcrest home. Some referred to the coffee house entrepreneur as the unofficial mayor of San Diego; others called him a hero.
Quel Fromage closed in the mid-’90s after three Starbucks opened within blocks and offered coupons for free drinks, sometimes boldly sending emissaries into Quel Fromage to hand them out.
Persistent plumbing problems ignored by the landlord added to the problems, and Coster decided it was time to retire. He returned to Hawaii, where he previously had lived, then relocated to Massachusetts, then moved to Florida.
Coster was one of 16 children, says his younger sister, Ellen Coster, who lives in Long Island. “It’s a very big loss for me. He and I were very close.” She is planning a memorial service sometime in June in New York state, where he grew up.
“He was very loved wherever he went ... interesting, complex, quiet but very funny, poetic ... I have 55 of his poems,” Ellen says.
Evelyn Goldman agrees. She bonded with Coster over their love of New York Times crossword puzzles,
and she shared Facetime calls with him until a week before he died.
“For me, he was like family,” says Goldman, an attorney who enjoyed winding down at the coffee shop after a long day’s work at the San Diego Public Defender office.
She hosted a Quel Fromage reunion for Coster at her home when he visited San Diego in 2019.
He was beloved by his employees and others, in part, because he encouraged people to express themselves but remained nonjudgmental, she recalls.
Coster once told Goldman he started Quel Fromage because he couldn’t get a good cup of coffee anywhere in town. The shop grew so popular that customers sometimes lined up down the sidewalk.
The coffee shop is gone, but Coster’s spirit remains: “Whenever I see that Hillcrest sign lit, it will remind me of Gene,” says Rippo.
Foreign exchange
San Diego businessman Phil Blair didn’t give the shirt off his back, but he did give his sport coat to a visiting
Marine from the United Kingdom.
Reuben Bairstow-Binns is in San Diego with wounded and injured Marines from the United States and six other countries competing in the 2023 Marine Corps Trials at Camp Pendleton.
These adaptive athletic events are in preparation for the Department of Defense Warrior Games Challenge to be held in June at Naval Air Station North Island.
Nearly 100 soldiers and staff from seven foreign countries were co-hosted for lunch on Tuesday by the San Diego USO and the Little Italy Association.
The nattily dressed Blair,
who heads the San Diego USO advisory board, greeted the group.
“I like your sport coat,” Bairstow-Binns commented. “Oh, really? I like your vest,” responded Blair, eyeing the attendee’s navy quilted vest with its gold military insignia of the U.K. Royal Marines elite fighting force.
“I’ll trade you,” responded the Brit with a chuckle.
After confirming he was serious, Blair tugged off his blue and gray designer jacket and donned the vest. The sizes were a perfect fit for both.