University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

Page 24 text:

wait to get inside. Photos by jeff Schotland Crowds Find Wheel Unique ne of the first things a stranger in town might notice about the Wagon Wheel Cafe is the pizza parlow directly below it. But most KU students hear about the Wheel as soon as they get to Lawrence, if not before. This notoriety among students could be due to the Iayhawks painted on the bar's walls, or the fact that the bar sits less than two blocks from campus. Or bartender Jeff Siebeos could be right about why the Wheel is so popular when he says, I'm a tradition. Whatever the reason, the Wheel is definitely a favorite among Jayhawks past and present. Talk to the Greeks, and nine out of ten will name the Wheel as one of their hottest hangouts. If the bar's doors are open, members of KU's fraternities and sororities are there. Dee Dee Leach, Independence sophomore, calls the wall-to-wall, sweatshirted, top-sider footed, Izod-wearing, bandana-bearing crowd ultra conservative pre . The Wheel even offers as a standard order the Kappa burger. Patrons of the bar remember it after they leave Lawrence, and they tell others about their good times. Tom Steider, Overland Park junior, heard about the Wheel from his father. He grew up with the Wheel, Steider says, almost seriously. He became an alcoholic, and I decided to follow in his footsteps. Graduate students like the place, too. Doug 'Egbert is working on his MBA and still goes to the Wheel for cheap beer and good times. He received news about the bar in Dighton, Kansas. We started coming here when we were in high school for KU - K-State games, he says. And ever since then . . . Katherine Seymore, Wichita freshman, heard about the bar from older brothers and sisters. And Tammy Lawrence, also a freshman, knew about the Wheel long before she came to school at school at KU. I was in high school, and a friend of mine brought me here, she says. I was fifteen. Brinker Harding from Okoboji, Iowa, doesn't go to the Wheel to drink. Leona, the cook, makes the best specials in town, he claims, It's my home away from home. I'm down here every day. The Wheel's daily kitchen specials are well known. So are the 254 draws sold from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Monday through Thursday. Although there are no specials on Friday afternoons, or on Saturdays after football games, these are traditionally the Wheel's most crowded times. The specials, the crowds, the Hawks on the walls - all have a charm unique to the Wheel. And as long as the University lasts, so will these time-honored customs. Shayla Williams At left, students and their parents celebrate Dad's Weekend after the KU football team s victory over Colorado. Below, Wheel patrons

Page 23 text:

Ns. The young lady at the right looks as though she just had a good time at the Hawk. Below, a trio is ready to start on a new pitcher of ' beer. Jeff Schotlancl I-lavvk's Traditions Attract S tudents have been walking down the hill from Ja hawk Boulevard to 14th and Ohio since the Jayhawk Cafe opened 62 years ago. As the matchbook says, The Hawk: a campus tradition since 1920.' Until prohibition ended in 1933, the Jayhawk Cafe was just a cafe, but the repeal of the 18th Amendment brought a new tradition to the cafe . . . beer. And beer continues to be a tradition. Specials at the bar make the tradition easier to come by in one way and harder in another. Hur Miller Night, Pitcher Night, Fri ht Night, and the new Thursday nigimt Drinkathon lower the price of beer, but the crowds at the Hawk make it harder to get a bartender's attention in order to get a beer. In fact, lines outside sometimes make it difficult to get inside in the first place. People go to the Hawk for different reasons. Andy McClean, a junior from Londonderry, Northern Ireland, simply found the Hawk. I walked out the door of Ste henson fScholarship Hallj and wafked down the road, and I came to a door and I walked in. I said, 'Give me the most famous American beer.' They ave me a Budweiser, and I thought this was the worst beer I'd ever had. So I said, 'Give me a Bush.' Of course, I'd never heard of Bush before. And I've been here ever since. Customers Even people who don't go to school at the University end up at the Hawk. Julie Tieperman and Julie Olson from Cowley County Community College were in Lawrence in November for a conference on student overnment. We'd heard about tgis bar and the Wheel, Olson said. We went by the Wheel first, but we couldn't find a parkin place. So the air found thernseTves playing pool at the Hawk.' Hawk traditions keep people coming back. The Hawk is the only bar in the nei hborhood with schooners, and a opular lassware special early in the year offered to let customers Get mugged at the Hawk. Celebrating T.G.I.F. fThank God It's Fridayj is also customary. And like other neighborhood bars, the Hawk traditionally draws a large crowd after football games and during Country Club Week in August. Perhaps beer itself is the actual campus tradition. In that case, anyone at 1340 Ohio will boast that the Hawk is one of the best places in town to practice drinking it. Shayla Williams

Page 25 text:

O a gm - jeff Schotland City's Private Clubs Popular he Lawrence community offers a variety of social entertain- ment, and quite popular among the col- lege students is meeting friends at the local private clubs. Private clubs have been around for several years, and just as the students have come and gone and changed with the times, so have these clubs changed to fit the crowds. Three of Lawrence's most frequented clubs are the Mad Hatter, Gammons, and Sgt. Preston's of the North. Each of these clubs has a special quality of its own and offers KU students and mem- bers of the community a different atmo- sphere to suit their preferences on a ni ht out on the town. The Mad Hatter, 700 New Hampshire, has been around for several years, origi- natin in 1966. Although its appearance has changed since bein remodeled in 1979, the general friendly atmosphere has remained the same over the years. The Hatter was one of the first private clubs in Lawrence to attract the students, and it is one of the only clubs that has continued to keep the student clientele. Owner Jim Pender feels a precedent has been set b older brothers and sisters who have told' stories about their good old days at the Hatter. And once a stu- dent visits the bar, meets a few familiar faces, relaxes in the easygoing atmo- sphere, and begins part ing with friends, he develops stories of, his own to tell that keep peo le coming back. Although the clrub has been predomi- nantly Greek over the years, Fender feels the atmosphere has made everyone feel at home and has contributed to the close- ness and rntermmglrng of all students Entertainment is provided by a DJ who plays a variety of music including many songs from the popular Top 40 hits This music is especrall appreciated by those who choose to ance on the small dance floor Occasionally a live band is brought in to perform The greatest aspect of the Hatter rs knowing that one can almost always run into a friendly, familiar face. With this type of close relationship among stu- dents, the Hatter is boun to be around for many years. One of the newer clubs, Gammons, has quickly becorne one oltlgmost pop- ular night spots in town. H Gammons, in the Southern Hills Mall on 23rd Street, was designed with a disco nightclub background and was present- ed with a sophisticated atmosphere. Owner Mike Kirsch said he wanted a classy establishment, and he chose Law- rence because he was impressed with the caliber of people here. A wide variety of entertainment, in- cluding Backgammon and Pente board games, music and dancing and constant projections displayed on a huge screen gives patrons versatility while socializ- in . Music is supplied by a disc jocke offering a broad mixture to cator to afl preferences. Gammons also cffers a menu containin dishes such as ham- burgers and Ries, steak, chicken, shrimp, and all kinds of fried ve etables. At first Gammons attracteg a pre- dominantly older crowd, but now stu- dents are 75 to 80 percent of the clientele. Gammons tries to cator to students since Lawrence is a college town. The club door is presented in KU crimson and blue, the lightin overhead is also red and blue, and Jaihawks are amon the images projected on the south wai throughout the evening. But Gammons does not like to dis- criminate. Those who o erate the club try to make everyone wellcome by offer- ing them a sophisticated yet comfortable atmosphere in which to visit with friends. ' Kirsch has high hopes for Gammons. In fact, he intends to expand and add a restaurant for both public and private dining. Sgt. Preston's, in Lawrence for only two years, has quickly become associated with the college community. Just a block from the Hatter, Preston's isbasically visited by the townspeople but has also become ver popular among many stu- dents and their parents. One of Preston's main attractions is the special attention iven to alumni on game days. The bar offers free transpor- tation by bus to and from all home games. This gives alums a nice place to eat and drink before and after the games without worrying about parking hassles at the games. This feature of Preston's kee s stu- dents and their families in touci with university life even after they have graduate . It is this quality that will make S t. Preston's one of the most memoraile clubs in Lawrence. Each of these private clubs, alone with several others, has contributed to the ac- tive social life of college students, and each club has its own unique qualities that distin' uishes it as a traditional part of life at the University of Kansas Pam Seuferling 7 X SW I V n e 4 J g . . ' .H . l . gl N x 1--1, .-H M K. if In A . - . . ' , . QS ...t V up l f ' 1 1. . 1 f uf, . . , ' - ' - . I ' l t 4 37' 371' ,MX M io- hh., FJ X get 11 'W I -1 1 1 J- ,.,, -f I-. . .A 'iff' ' f f ' f I ff x . 'I :U L 1.-ff.. .-tuna, N V Y V fx- 1 V Y YYYWWw, ' -lf ! ,.v, - Y WY Y Ynn Y Y . A - x 'N . H V -9 S' V9