ST PAUL, Minn. — For more than 20 years, June Berkowitz has been the heartbeat of Nina’s Coffee Café in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood in St. Paul. She’s been serving coffee — and creating a place where conversations flow as freely as the java — to everyone from artists to politicians, parents with toddlers to retirees reading the morning paper.

The café has become a cornerstone for connection, and for many, Berkowitz is more than a barista or business owner. She’s a friend.

Jason Ross, a regular who now considers Berkowitz part of his family, says, “She’s been a very important person in my life — and in my children’s lives.”

Ross says Berkowitz has created a sense of community at her corner on Selby Avenue. It's exactly what she set out to do when she left her teaching job to open the

See Full Page