Columbia College Today

Customers enjoy The West End’s sidewalk seating on a sunny April day just prior to the sale.

Photo: Marsha Volynsky ’06

The West End, home to Beatnik nostalgia, beer pong and the popular $5 hamburger special, will be getting a facelift this summer — along with a new name and Cuban food.

In April, the bar and restaurant was purchased by Jeremy Merrin ’00 Business, owner of two Manhattan restaurants called Havana Central. In addition to physical renovations in April and July, Merrin is changing the establishment’s name to Havana Central at the West End Café and adding to the menu. But he says he hopes to preserve what made The West End special to generations of Columbians.

“The West End is not going away,” says Merrin. “I spent a lot of time there, and I have a great respect for its history.”

Many hope the changes will not be too dramatic. “It’s sad about The West End,” says Ana Salper ’96. “I spent half my life at Columbia there. It was like our ‘Cheers.’ It was nice knowing there was a place right down the street where you would always run into someone you knew, a place that always welcomed you, whether you were a first-year new to the Columbia scene or a ‘veteran’ senior.”

Located on Broadway between 113th and 114th Streets, The West End has been a hangout for Columbia students since 1911. In the 1940s, it was a gathering place for Beat Generation Columbians such as Allen Ginsberg ’48 and Jack Kerouac ’44. After closing for a year and a half, it was purchased in 1990 by Katie Gardner ’81J, who has operated the burgers-and-beer joint for the past 17 years.

“We’re sad to leave The West End,” says Gardner. “It’s a place about relationships and friendships. The alumni walk in, and their memories are here. I’ve had people fly out from California to get married here. We’ve set up dinners for proposals.”

Though the beer and burgers will remain, the menu will add Cuban fare. “There will be the same booths and cheap beer, but you’ll be able to have great Latin food and great burgers and great salads,” Merrin says. His plans also include the return of live music, including jazz.

Music was one of The West End’s attractions, according to Dennis Klainberg ’84. “The best thing,” he said, “was Phil Schaap [’73]’s all day and night jazz festival fundraisers. For a few bucks, you could listen to a multitude of giants.”

Merrin plans to close the restaurant for two stages of renovations. Following a closing of few days to redo the bathrooms, repaint and improve the lighting in April, he plans to close the restaurant for three to four weeks in July. The more extensive renovations will include moving the kitchen downstairs and expanding the party room in the back, though he says the majority of the interior will maintain the current layout.

The new West End should be operational well before the Class of 2010 arrives. “Hopefully people will still have that visceral reaction when they walk in, that it is the heart and soul of the social life of Columbia,” Gardner says. “And I’m sure it will continue to be. It has too much history and heart not to continue to be that for everybody in this community.”

Alumni are encouraged to share their memories of The West End by sending them to CCT, 475 Riverside Dr., Ste 917, New York, NY 10115-0998, or e-mail cct@columbia.edu.

AROUND THE QUADS

West End Sold, Renamed