THIS IS what Alkmaar looked like when Alfred Peet left it behind. Father owned a coffee roastery, and wanted his son to succeed him. But World War II was over, Holland was too small, and Alfred emigrated to California.
What lousy coffee they drank there. Mr. Peet started roasting his own beans, and the students at Berkeley liked that a lot better. Three of them went into business with him, starting a café they called Starbucks, after the boatman in Moby Dick, the book written by the son of Marie Ganzevoort from Groningen.
It became an unmitigated success. They served Peet’s Coffee, and they called themselves Peetnicks. Alfred Peet died this week in Oregon, 17 years ago.
* Alfred Peet in California.
