If ever someone was destined to sit at the odd intersection of mod vintage scooter culture and coffee, it would have to be John Quintos.

Who else could check all the boxes? Prime mover in the Bay Area’s vintage scooter scene, a businessman who opened a series of scooter themed cafes in San Francisco, Quintos surveys the landscape from a unique perch.

“I have to let people know I love scooters,” said Quintos, sitting in his newly opened Cento Coffee in San Francisco’s Financial District. “Italian scooters specifically.”

Quintos has been immersed in scooter culture since his teens growing up in Vallejo in the 1980s. He got bit by the scooter bug at a concert by the mod revival band Untouchables, which was attended by a large group of scooter riders.

“I was like, 'What’s happening?’” Quintos remembered.

The scooters from the local scooter scene – vintage Vespas and Lambrettas – were painted in bright colors, with engines that erupted in a percussive rattle and spit out clouds of two-stroke smoke. Quintos was enraptured. He soon bought a Vespa,and then went on to buy a friend’s Lambretta SX200, which is still his main rider.

“It was the lifestyle and the look,” Quintos said. “We were all teenagers.”

Quintos and his mod friends wore slim suits, button-down shirts and parkas. Quintos still has his original army green parka from the 1980s hanging in the storage room of Cento. He described the scooter scene as a true mix of diverse cultures, with clothes, music and scooters as its unifying force.

“When it comes to Asian and African American and across the spectrum, the Bay Area was probably the largest mix," Quintos said.

Quintos was born in Japan to Filipino parents. His Navy father was stationed there and moved the family to Vallejo and its Mare Island Naval Shipyard when Quintos was 2 years old. His world rapidly expanded in his teenage years when he got his first scooter and would ride all the way to San Francisco to see friends and bands.

His penchant for speed hit another RPM when he and five other scooter boys modified their scooters into legal track racing bikes around 1987, and Quintos started racing. The wardrobe transitioned from mod to scooter boy, with Doc Martens, flight jackets and heavy jeans. Quintos rode at races around the world until 1990 – the same year he first got the inkling to open a Lambretta-themed cafe.

That dream took a back seat as Quintos opened 330 Ritch nightclub, which he and his business partner ran for years. When he finally opened his first Cafe Lambretta in San Francisco’s Russian Hill, he decorated it with scooters, parts, pictures and other scooter memorabilia he’d collected over the years.

Within 10 years, he’d opened five cafes, including Cento, Vega and a second Cafe Lambretta – named for his beloved bike.

He can still remember when everything came crashing down — March 2020 — when he and everyone else were forced to shutter in the pandemic. Cafe Lambretta sat in a residential neighborhood a block from Oracle Park. And when things eased up a bit, his business was still down more than 80%.

“We were running five shops, we had over 20 employees, we were doing online shipping, and then the pandemic hit,” Quintos said, his voice trailing to a near whisper. “It was the most awful thing to happen to everybody.”

When the pandemic dust had settled, Quintos was forced to close four of his cafes and sold off the fifth. He was an emperor without an empire — the beloved scooter memorabilia was stashed in storage or given away.

But in late 2023, Quintos got back on the bike — as the metaphor might go. He dug out his posters, his decorative scooter parts and opened a new version of Cento in San Francisco’s Financial District in the Center of Architecture and Design on Sutter Street.

In a neighborhood that’s also still recovering from the pandemic, Quintos hung his shingle and has watched as the area’s workers trickle back to their offices.

The biggest change for Quintos is that in his previous role as cafe owner, he spent more time in an office. Since reopening, he’s now working behind the counter as a barista — even racking up an on-the-job repetitive strain injury.

“It’s really embarrassing because you can talk about scooter racing and motorcycles,” Quintos laughed. “Yeah, I have an injury from making coffee.”

Though he’s immersed in his new business, Quintos is still a prime mover in the vintage scooter world. He hosts other scooterists to his San Francisco garage to work on their scooters. And he continues to organize the annual scooter ride he founded called LALO — the Loose Association of Lambretta Owners.

As he eyes the future, Quintos is looking at several potential roads. He toys with the idea of getting out of business and coaching other people in how to navigate the business world. For now, though, his job is pouring lattes and fussily-crafted cortados, against a mélange of decor that includes entire scooters, helmets and pictures of Quintos dressed in mod attire back in the day, posing with his scooter.

“I’m sharing a bit of my history and my interests,” Quintos said.