José Azevedo was born on 18th May 1925, in Horta, the capital of the island of Faial, Azores. He was the fourth of five children born to Leopoldina and Henrique Azevedo. He attended a local Primary school, at Angústias.
From a very early age, still in the 1930s and being about twelve years old, he started working at Café Sport, helping his father to take goods to the English people who lived in Horta and worked on the underwater cables. This relationship made him learn English very early in life.
During the Second World War, as a young man, he started working for the English, repairing and upgrading ships that sailed to Horta. A letter of recommendation, dated 3rd September 1944 and signed by the Royal Navy Commander, the Viscount Colville de Culross, states the following: “José Azevedo left his employment on board H.M.S. “Lusitania II” on August, 1944 at his own request. He had been employed on board for six months, during which time he always worked hard and with great enthusiasm. He is capable of taking charge. He is thoroughly honest and reliable and is to be recommended highly to any future employer. ”. It was on the Lusitânia that he was given the name “Peter” by an English officer who thought he resembled his son.
He stopped working with the English to join his father at Café Sport, as the passage of ships bringing troops to Europe meant a lot more work and required his permanent presence there.
When the war ended and Europe was rebuilt, Atlantic navigation increased and two Dutch companies of tugboats settled in the port of Horta; José Azevedo became their ship chandler (the person in charge of the catering), thus creating a strong friendship with the crew. This relationship was so close that it led to painting the external walls of the Café royal blue, the colour of the “Smith Rotterdam” company. Many marriages were made between the crewmembers of those tugboats and young Faial girls and José Azevedo was the interpreter of the official marriage proposals.
With the boat “Janeirinha”, belonging to his father and bought from Pan America, first as engineer and then as boatswain, José Azevedo transported passengers and traded several goods onboard the ships.
Work at the Café would often go beyond closing time, and José Azevedo would then take some of his customers on “Janeirinha” to their ships anchored off the coast.
The first yachts, known as “Aventureiros” (Adventurers) came to Faial even before the 1960s. A strong relationship was built with these yachtsmen and Café Sport was always willing and happy to help with anything necessary. This enthusiasm was recognized by many travelers and sailors and it is revealed in numerous letters, inscriptions and news dating from that period.
In 1967, the President and Founder of the Ocean Cruising Club, Humphrey Barton, proposed José Azevedo’s name for member and representative of the Club in Horta.
In 1969, Bernard Venables dedicated his book “Baleia! The whalers of the Azores”, to Henrique Azevedo and his son José Azevedo Peter, saying about them “No traveler ever found better friends”.
Another example of how strong these ties were comes from a book by Sir Francis Chichester, “The Romantic Challenge”. In the chapter “The most dangerous voyage of my life”, the author tells us that he was caught in a violent storm onboard his yacht “Gipsy Moth”, which was seriously damaged and got flooded. All alone, the skipper thought it was the end of the line both for him and his yacht. At this moment, when his rescue seemed impossible, Sir Francis Chichester writes that his thoughts flew to his wife Sheila, his son Giles and old friends, among whom “a man called Peter, the owner of a small café in Horta”.
Years before, another sea dog, Eric Hiscock, had made a point of mentioning in his work, “Around the World in Wanderer III”, José Azevedo’s helpfulness and solidarity on various occasions, in a picturesque note. “The proprietor of the Café Sport and his son went out of their way to assist us in many little matters and obtained for us daily supplies of sweet montain strawberries.” The year was 1955.
The year is 1977. In the summer, for the first time in his life, José Azevedo leaves the Azores by plane. At that time, as nowadays, most Azoreans leaving the archipelago were bound for the capital, Lisbon, or flew to America, which had become practically a second home for the Azoreans after the eruption of the volcano Capelinhos. However, this was not the case with Peter. Peter left the Azores to go visit his friends in England and Holland, so many were the offers and the friendships kept over the years. The company “Smith Rotterdam”, which years before had painted the walls of the Café, made a point of organizing Peter’s reception, getting together old and new employees of the firm, old acquaintances and friends, in order to welcome their friend José Azevedo with the dignity, the importance and the friendliness that they considered him worth of. Gifts were exchanged and they drank to a friendship that was as deep as the Azorean sea.
In 1981, José Azevedo was declared Honorary Member of the Ocean Cruising Club.
In 1982, “Correio da Manhã” wrote about Peter that: “…from exchange bank to poste restante, from yachts club to information agency, from weather station to charitable foundation, from tourist attraction to international living room, Peter is not a simple café but an internationally renowned institution…”
In 1986, José Azevedo tried to expand the cultural dimension of the Café and opened the Scrimshaw Museum, where he exhibited what is now known as the world’s largest and most beautiful private collection of “scrimshaw”, full of artistic samples of whale tooth and bone work, most of them crafted by Azorean artists.
In that same year, “Newsweek” included “Peter” in the group of the best bars in the world, acclaiming the “life story of a space which, more that a trading place, was the pretext for meetings, talks and lifelong friendships”.
During the Mostra Atlântica de Televisão (MAT) (Atlantic Sampling of Television), in 1994, he received the Crystal Falcon, an award given to those who have significantly contributed to the prestige of television or the protection of the sea or environment.
In 1998, he participated in EXPO’98, the World Exhibition dedicated to the Oceans, following an invitation of the people in charge of the event, and was allocated an important place near the marina of Parque das Nações.
1999. In its November issue, the magazine “Cruising World” published an article on some of the best known and most traditional bars that sailors and yachts people can find in their voyages around the world. The author did not hesitate to consider Peter Café Sport as being “undoubtedly the most famous sailors’ bar in the world. It’s run by the Azevedo family, who’ve been welcoming sailors to the Azores for several generations”.
At the turn of the century, in 2000, José Azevedo, together with his wife, Luísa Azevedo and his son, José Henrique, took Café Sport to the International Sea and Sailors Feast, which took place in Brest, France. It is the world’s biggest event of its kind, featuring an Olympic spirit and held every four years.
In 2003, he was awarded the Medal of Grau Oficial da Ordem do Mérito (an important decoration for merit) by the President of the Republic, in the 10th of June Commemorations - the day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Comunities- in a ceremony that took place in Angra do Heroísmo (Terceira, Azores).
In September, on the World Day of Tourism, he was given the Silver Medal of Tourism Merit by the Tourism State Secretary, for important services to Portuguese tourism.
Also in 2003, His Holiness John Pope II granted him “from his heart” the desired Apostolic Blessing, a sign of grace and celestial protection by the Virgin Mary.
In 2004, he was paid homage to by CTT and given the award "Correio de Ouro" (“Golden Post”), reserved to the most loyal to the spirit of the Post and justified by the CTT administration as the recognition for the “international postal service” rendered for decades to the sailors who cross the Atlantic and stop over in Horta.
In November of the same year, in the presence of the Minister for National Defence and Ocean Affairs and of the Minister for Tourism, he was hailed by the State Secretary for the Sea Affairs, Dr. Nuno Fernandes Thomaz, as one of the “New Sea Heroes”, in an official initiative that pays tribute to people and organizations who have rendered or render relevant services in making the sea known in the areas of Biology, Sports, Arts, Society and Gastronomy.
On the 18th of May 2005, on his 80th birthday, the Rotary Club of Horta paid homage to him for his services to Faial and Azores.
In August 2005, Café Sport was visited by his Royal Highnesses, the Kings of Spain and by the President of the Portuguese Republic, Dr. Jorge Sampaio and his wife, Dr.ª Maria José Rita.
Also in 2005, the group “Millennium BCP” recognized him as “Azorean Entrepreneur” for the “entrepreneurship, innovation and entrepreneurial dedication”, in a ceremony that took place at Teatro Micaelense in Ponta Delgada (S. Miguel, Azores).
And thus the story of a life is being made.
As the Trovante’ song, dedicated to Peter in 1990, says,
Há quem espere por nós assim
mesmo ao meio da rota do fim
há quem tenha os braços abertos
para nos aquecer
e acenar no fim
(There are people who wait for us like this
right in the middle of the last route
there are people who have their arms open
to warm us up
and wave us goodbye at the end)
 After the Trovante, in 2004, the specialized magazine “Voiles”, in its January issue, published a major cover story on Café Sport, presenting it as the “most mythical bar in the world”.
It was in the natural succession of family generations that José Azevedo, Peter, had the strength, the insight and the enthusiasm to embody the myth; he himself was the very source and support of that myth.
 Today his work endures. The myth goes on. In yet another family generation, the generation of his son and that of his grandchildren, in Horta, Faial. Smiling, always welcoming whoever arrives. Smiling, wishing well to those who leave wanting to return.
 Marcel Bardiaux, a solitary navigator, one of those who freed himself from the law of death, wrote one day about his stopover at Faial and his contact with the Azevedo family, “It was the most wonderful of all and one of the most difficult to leave.”
 To all of us, there is always, some day, something that is also difficult to leave. José Azevedo had always known it. That is why he always had his arms wide open for us, to warm us up and wave us goodbye at the end.