Ten years ago, the Underground would be packed at night, filled with noisy students holding cups and bottles over the crowd as they weaved through groups of people swaying to Dave Matthews Band in the dim light of neon signs.
Back then the Underground was called the Wolf Pub, complete with pool tables, karaoke and a bar.
“See, that’s what they liked,” said current Underground employee Daisy Montgomery. “There were more things going on, it was more entertaining … you had to squeeze through the crowd to get out.”
Like a college student’s dream, the Pub accepted Wolfbucks, and students could put everything, from the food to the beer, on their cards.
“No one wanted to eat upstairs,” said Catherine Rumpf, A ’97.
“My meal plan could buy me beer for lunch and dinner,” said Christine Albert, A ’99. “Diet of champions.”
The Pub frequently held sorority and fraternity events and housed activities such as air guitar contests.
But the upcoming renovations to the Underground are bringing back what students in 1998 wanted to get rid of.
Chris Cameron, director of Co-Curricular Programs, said the Wolf Pub resembled an old English pub, but by the late 1990s, students wanted something more modern.
“No one was really utilizing it,” he said.
Students weren’t playing pool or hanging out at the bar, and student focus groups were asking for a coffee shop atmosphere instead – a place to plug in their three-inch-thick laptops and see if they “got mail.”
But present-day focus groups are now asking for a night hangout again.
The university may finish renovations for a bar, a performance stage and a high-end deli by the 2008-2009 school year. Additions will also include a pool table and gaming equipment.
“Everything that our current students are asking for was there in the ’90s,” said Cameron.
Red and white wine will be available by the glass at the bar. And in keeping with the local theme of the renovations, like the CC’s to be installed on the ground floor, Abita beer will also be served.
“It’s not going to be The Boot,” according to Cameron.
“It’ll probably be a lot safer,” said Andrew Hartsock, graphic design senior. “It might discourage kids from venturing off campus to shady bars. It would be cleaner, too.”
“If you’re stumbling,” said an Underground employee, “you only have to walk right across the grass.”
Many students think it might bring the Loyola community together.
“It would be refreshing to have something new and modern, so it’s not like the high school cafeteria,” said Sara Silvestri, visual arts senior. “(The Underground) isn’t welcoming. There’s nothing to do.”
“It might add to campus spirit,” said a sophomore. “It would bring people together to one collective event. People go all different places to go drinking. How cool would it be for everyone to meet at the same place … I turn 21 next year, I’m really excited about (the renovations).”
Psychology senior Sean Duffy said, “A bar would help bring campus life back to life without having to orchestrate all these events. They spend all this time planning all these events that nobody goes to. A bar would make it more natural.”
English junior Shalane Loehn asks, who wouldn’t want to head down to the campus bar to wind down after a hard day of classes?
“I think that’d be great. I get out of class, and I just want a beer,” she said.
But both employees and students expressed their doubts about a bar on campus.
Both Mario Bocaletti, classical studies freshman, and Chris Rogers, mass communication senior, said they wouldn’t go to an on-campus bar to get away from campus-centered stress.
Additionally, a college’s reputation often doesn’t mix well with alcohol.
“You know there’s going to be minors trying to get beers,” Duffy said. “That would be sending the worst message possible.”
“Loyola’s supposed to be a Catholic school,” Montgomery said. “If the first thing you walk into is a bar … It depends on where they want to go with it,” she said. “The drinking age has changed. Parents might complain … Everything has two sides to it. (Students) think it was good back then, but it had flaws.”
Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at
