For those of you who didn't attend Max's Upstairs''drawn-out string of "last nights," the bar closed for good during finals period last semester. Some may not remember Max's in its heyday, but I for one will look back longingly and remember six-dollar pitchers, Kevin at the door, and the sounds of "Lose Your Love Tonight" blasting inside. Max's lost some of its regulars this past semester, and for many of us, we didn't really appreciate it until it was gone (which might explain why "Last Night at Max's" lasted for two weeks).
But the story of Max's demise is an all too familiar one here at Brown. Over the last four years Brown's social life has lost Oliver's, Barrier Bar, Thursday nights at Z-Bar and, most importantly, the Underground. All of these closings were not due to lack of interest or attendance, but to crackdowns by the University or the city on underage drinking. Add to this series of closings the fact that over the years the University has made it increasingly difficult for student groups to throw parties - including the recent attempt to move all large parties to Sayles Hall. The result: fewer campus-wide parties last semester than any since I've been at this school.
I am not promoting underage drinking or faulting the city or the University for enforcing the law. But such enforcement has been disastrous for students seeking nightlife that caters to those under as well as those who are legal.
The problem is that with all of these removals from the Brown social scene, there have been no additions. The lack of alternatives or sanctioned spaces is killing campus social life, and means overcrowding for the few alternatives that still exist, however bad they may be. The demand for nightlife still exists at Brown, but there is not an ample supply of social options to satisfy it.
I think that it is about time for the Underground to re-emerge as a core aspect of Brown's nightlife. The Underground, for those of you who don't know, is a bar that resides in the basement of Faunce House next to the Lower Blue Room, and now shares space with the Hourglass Café. But this wasn't always the case. The Underground used to be open nightly: Thursday nights were hip hop nights, on Fridays they played 80's music and most other nights of the week were spent with more mellow games of darts or quarters. And with 80-cent beers each night it was the best deal in town.
The Underground was shut down for a year because of a string of issues revolving around underage drinking. Many don't realize that the Underground is now open again on Friday and Saturday nights, and a lot of the freshmen and sophomores who weren't here when it was a nightly destination don't even know that it exists. Where there used to be a line out the door by 10 o'clock on Thursdays there's now a relatively empty room.
So let me take this opportunity to remind you that the Underground is here, and on a campus where the only nightlife offerings are the Grad Center Bar, Liquid Lounge and Viva, it will be a welcome presence this coming semester. The 80-cent beers are still in full effect and, with DJ Lefty a frequent presence, good music (and good paninis) is usually a sure thing. It also has the advantage of allowing those of us who are 21 (or who have ID's from New Jersey saying they are) and those students who are not 21 to be able to hang out together. It's like Cheers, the Max and the Peach Pit all rolled into one. Plus, it has the obvious advantage of Jamie Sholem '06 tending bar.
The University ought to help bring people who would otherwise venture downtown back to campus by opening the Underground on Thursday nights. While Thursdays used to be the biggest night of the week, for the past semester it has consistently been the most disappointing night of the weekend (and by weekend I mean Wednesday through Saturday nights). Eventually the Underground should be open all week long like it used to be. I understand that the Hourglass Café would have to give up its Thursday nights and eventually relocate if my prescriptions were followed, but the Hourglass serves a similar purpose to other spaces on the campus (like the Blue Room), while the Underground is truly unique.
While opening up the Underground on Thursdays and similar measures to help increase the on campus social life may seem trivial, they are important. Without spaces like the Underground, drinking would occur increasingly in uncontrolled spaces like dorm rooms, where it becomes the primary activity rather than something to be enjoyed socially. The University, which takes nothing seriously if not legal liability, should also note that the further downtown undergrads travel to find the nightlife, the greater the risk of drunk driving. If social life at Brown continues to be decimated by a shortsighted attempt to stifle underage drinking, the University will become less attractive for some prospective students, and a less exciting place for its current residents.
Adam Nelson '06 likes the nightlife baby, she said.
