 = Last Exit on Brooklyn = 
 
 The Last Exit on Brooklyn was a Seattle University District coffeehouse established in 1967 by Irv Cisski . It is known for its part in the history of Seattle 's counterculture , for its pioneering role in establishing Seattle 's coffee culture , and as a former chess venue frequented by several master players . 
 
 = = History = = 
 
 The Last Exit on Brooklyn opened on June 30 , 1967 at <unk> Brooklyn Avenue <unk> near the University of Washington campus in a small light @-@ industrial building leased from the University . It was one of the pioneer espresso bars in Seattle , adding an espresso machine shortly after <unk> Allegro opened the first in 1975 . The Last Exit was known for its original espresso <unk> named the <unk> <unk> – " a <unk> poured over chocolate syrup and orange <unk> with <unk> cream on top " . Described in 1985 as " America 's second oldest , continuously running coffeehouse " , it was also known for its inexpensive food and as a venue for folk music and <unk> conversation . 
 The Last Exit was also notable as a popular destination for Seattle 's amateur and professional Go and chess players including Peter <unk> , <unk> <unk> , and <unk> <unk> , who wrote of the venue , " Those first chess lessons soon led me to the legendary Last Exit on Brooklyn coffee house , a chess haven where an unlikely bunch of unusual people <unk> to do battle . " <unk> by Sports Illustrated in 1981 , <unk> described the Last Exit as " <unk> players , <unk> players , chess and game <unk> ... This became my home . This was to become my family . " 
 When interviewed by Mary <unk> of Chess Life in 1985 , owner Irv Cisski said , " So what if games @-@ people turn away business . They add flavor . Chess and Go are assets to a coffeehouse . " The Last Exit was the subject of a 1987 retrospective in The Seattle Times in which Cisski described his intent to " create a haven where students and the benign <unk> " were welcome and where " everyone felt equal and there were no sacred <unk> " . It was later described by Seattle writer and journalist <unk> Berger as 
 one of Seattle 's great ' 60s landmarks , a gathering place for <unk> students , radicals , poets , nut jobs , chess masters , teens , intellectuals , workers , musicians , artists , <unk> , and <unk> ... I remember the <unk> , the open @-@ <unk> music , cigarette smoke , impromptu poetry readings , the arguments of <unk> , <unk> , <unk> , and <unk> . You could hear the rhythm and <unk> of the counterculture as it lived and <unk> . 
 Cisski died on August 25 , 1992 . In 1993 the University <unk> the building occupied by the coffeehouse , and the Last Exit 's new owners moved it to upper University Way . The Last Exit on Brooklyn closed in 2000 . The space the original Last Exit once occupied now houses staff members from the University of Washington 's Human Resources Department . 
 
 = = In popular culture = = 
 
 The Last Exit was included in Clark Humphrey 's 2006 book of historical photographs , <unk> Seattle . 
 <unk> of the interior and atmosphere of the Last Exit appear in Kristin Hannah 's 2008 novel , Firefly Lane , in David <unk> 's 2008 novel , The Other , and in Marjorie Kowalski Cole 's 2012 The City <unk> the Snow : Stories . 
 
 