Hopping no more: Yale boots Toad's

The Herald has learned that in only a month Toad's Place will close its doors after over 25 years as one of the premier music venues in the country. But not because it wants to.

"We had no idea that this was coming," Toad's owner Brian Phelps said. "We were right in the middle of what I thought were very smooth negotiations to renew our lease. It's obvious that Yale has been trying to bring new tenants to Broadway and York Streets, but we never thought that this would, or even could, happen."

In a move reminiscent of the University's dealings with Schiavone Management Co., the company once responsible for managing 13 buildings on College and Chapel Streets, Yale notified Toad's without warning that its lease had been terminated, effective Mon., Apr. 30. The termination would make Toad's the next victim in a long line of contractual dismissals that began with the eviction of the Yale Co-op to make room for a Barnes and Noble in the fall of 1997.

ERIN LEWIS/YH

But according to Yale University Properties Director John Maturo, TD '76, the circumstances regarding the Toad's lease were completely different. "There will no doubt be much said about how this was done subversively or secretively, but those accusations are completely false," Maturo said. "For anyone to say that this decision simply came from nowhere would be ridiculous."

ACCORDING TO MATURO, YALE WAS PREPARED TO TERMINATE Toad's lease in April 1996, when the University was finalizing the original plans for Broadway redevelopment. "In 1996, we truly began the push to clean up the Broadway area," then-Director of University Properties James Tilney, SM '65, said. "The Co-op was preparing to move, Quality Wine's lease had only three years left. Many of us thought that if we were ever going to end our commitment to Toad's, then that was the time to do it. But even though we decided not to tackle the Toad's question, everyone involved suspected that the issue would most likely arise again later."

Still, despite Maturo's attempt to distance the Schiavone situation from the current issue with Toad's, the termination notice Yale officials handed the storied club reads much like the one Schiavone Management received over six weeks ago. The same goes for a statement released yesterday by acting Office of Public Affairs Director Tom Conroy, DC '84.

"The contract was terminated, of course, for failure to live up to certain performance requirements in the contract," the statement noted. "The University has had problems for a long time with the management of those properties."

But what specifically are these problems? While Conroy could not be reached for comment, Phelps had an idea.

"Last year Yale tried to create a controversy over that lot we lease from Yorkside," he said. "And they have been trying to stir up trouble ever since the issue was resolved."

RICHARD PUFF-BESUCHER/YH

The lot to which Phelps refers is a 25-square-foot area on which Toad's illegally constructed part of its game room. Yale owns the land on which that corner was built, and University Properties informed Phelps last April that he would be responsible for the estimated $63,000 it would cost to build on that area.

"The whole situation is really just awful," Phelps lamented. "It's just like that joke where the scientist cuts off all the legs of a toad and tells it to jump but it doesn't, so the scientist concludes that the toad is deaf. Except here Toad's is the toad and Yale is the scientist. And also the real situation isn't funny."

What few specifics Conroy's statement disclosed about Toad's location merely revealed possible replacements for the most expensive land in New Haven. According to the statement, Yale is already in negotiations to bring an IKEA, a Petco, a NAPA Auto Parts, or a new pizzeria to Toad's ex-York Street home.

"Personally, I would love to see the University bring in any one of those fine establishments," Conroy said. "It is important that we give students a place that they can really make use of." Maturo emphasized that issues of practicality are the University's top priority in deciding who gets the coveted lease. "The departure of Toad's gives us a wonderful opportunity to bring in something big, something that students can really use, like Origins, Team Computer, and the soon-to-arrive Alexia Crawford Accessories," he

COURTESY SPICE PHOTOGRAPHY/YH

said. "We've already received dozens of proposals regarding how to fill the space, but we really think that what the Broadway-York area needs most is some kind of late-night pizza place."

In fact, on Thurs., Mar. 29, University Properties officials said that Yale is "super-duper close" to negotiating a lease with pizza mogul Kadir Catalbasoglu, the man responsible for both Brick Oven Pizza and 21 Broadway, to bring Slice of Life Pizza to Toad's York Street spot.

"Slice of Life will offer students something completely different than AAA, A-1, Aladdin, Alpha Delta, Brick Oven, Crown, Domino's, Est Est Est, Luigi's, Modern Apizza, Naples, Pepe's, Pizza House, Pizza Empire, Pizza Hut, Sally's, XandO, Yorkside, or even 21 Broadway," Catalbasoglu said. "First of all, the 21 Special Pizza consists of freshly-made pizza sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, onions, and green peppers. The Slice of Life Special Pizza will consist of freshly-made pizza sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, onions, and red peppers. Secondly, Broadway is Turkish-run, while Slice of Life will be staffed by a bunch of Tajiks."

Quick to dismiss any similarities between the two eateries, Catalbasoglu did admit to one. "There's no way in hell we'll take Flex Dollars," he said.

Yale University Properties student recruiter Andrea Pizziconi, PC '01, lauded the University's vision. "I think that anything Yale does to make Broadway look like a budget East 86th Street is fabulous," she said. Sipping one of Toad's signature dollar drafts—taken light and sweet—her demeanor was a disarming mix of the peppy, the trendy, and the coolly professional. Her power suit of the day? Black pants (Banana Republic, $120), black tube top (Donna Karan, $800), go-go boots (Pizziconi calls the color "butt-pink"), and glitter (Chanel, $50).

"I think Yale is right to think that what New Havenites want and what students want are not that far apart," Pizziconi added. "They both like pizza, they both like stylish clothing, and they both like generic Swedish furniture."

LARIE FROM FLARIDA/YH With Toad's closed, some Yalies have taken to flashing passers-by on York Street in order to make up for the loss of the booty cam. From left to right, Esperanza Mendez, TD'03, Karen Kiewe, BK '01, and Kate Kelley, BK '01, before being arrested for indecent exposure.

WIDELY REGARDED AS THE STAPLE OF Yale's weekend party scene, Toad's exit is sure to leave students scrambling for a Saturday night hangout. "I have absolutely no idea what to do with myself anymore," Dan Surly, BR '01, said. "I mean, my mind is totally blank. Totally blank."

As a member of the Yale football team and the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, Surly notes that his opinions likely represent the attitude of both the University's athletes and fraternity members, "who are pretty much one and the same anyway," he said. "Except for those Jews in Alpha Epsilon Pi."

Some Yalies believe that it is the responsibility of the Univer-sity's Greek system—except for Sigma Chi—to step up and fill the late-night gap vacated by Toad's Place. But with the Administration and the Yale Police Department cracking down on under-age alcohol consumption—several students wonder if last weekend's raid of Naples by the state Liquor Control Commission is pure coincidence—some fraternity members believe that solving the Saturday night problem won't be that easy.

"Don't expect to get your underage groove on here," Sigma Alpha Epsilon President Clay Armistead, JE '01, said. According to Armistead, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is still under pressure from the national chapter after a September fraternity party that resulted in seven arrests, an incident that forc-ed Sigma Alpha Epsilon to cut back on its number of parties. "We're hiring off-duty police officers and checking IDs now," he said. "No, seriously, I swear we are."

Delta Kappa Epsilon President Paul Ardire, SY '02, explained that there are more pressing issues for his fraternity's members than helping ex-Toad's dependents get beer. "Without Toad's, we have no place to hold our formal," he said. "We'd use T.J. Tucker's, but it's just too damn exotic. They have karaoke."

Frustrated with Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Delta Kappa Epsilon, and the other fraternities' lack of initiative, one student has taken an altogether different course of action, going so far as to form a student group with the sole purpose of saving the music hall.

"This deal with Toad's is an absolute tragedy," Susanne Baker, TC'03, said. "First Temptation Island goes off the air, now this. It's even worse than that time I was arrested for prostitution."

To protest the closing of Toad's, Baker and seven other girls formed "Butt Out Of Toad's Yale!" (BOOTY) a student group intent on keeping Toad's in business. Having already successfully organized a petition with over 300 phone numbers, the BOOTY members also intend to sit in University President Richard Levin's, GRD '74, office and go on a thong strike until the situation is resolved, "or at least until Risk on Wednesday," Baker said.

Levin remained unimpressed with BOOTY's demands. "I've been through this once already with those sweatshop kids," he said. "So I'm pretty confident I won't have my hands full with eight underage girls." Levin's certainty may be buoyed by the Yale Corporation's recent acquisition of Toad's old booty cam—purchased on Ebay for $7.50—which he intends to give to Class Day speaker Hillary Clinton, LAW '73, in lieu of an honorary degree at Commencement.

ANDREW HEID/YH

Nonetheless, soccer player Vanessa Galasso, CC '02, thinks the thong strike is the only way to get the University's attention. "There's no way any of us Yale girls could go on a hunger strike for five days," Galasso said. "But I promise to not wear another thong, even if it means President Levin sees that awful pantyline through the ass of my pleather pants. I know that I can do it—just as long as I don't have to give up my tube tops."

Still, it's hard to gauge whether all that many Yalies will really notice that Toad's is gone, for there are plenty of students who could not care less about the club's upcoming disappearance from the University's social scene. "Going to Toad's on Saturdays hasn't even crossed my mind once this year," Miriam Korn, DC '04, said. "I'm a freshman girl. I'm not even 21. There's no way I'd get in. I mean, they even took away my roommate Barbara's ID."

AMONG THE MAJOR ACTS THAT APPEARED ON TOAD'S stage over the past 20 years are musical legends like the Rolling Stones, De La Soul, and Darik and the Funbags. "I'll never forget when we first got to play there," said Rino Ferrarese, DIV '94, who plays keys for the Funbags. "There were all these girls going crazy and stuff, climbing on our bus, trying to get in our dressing room, yelling `Darik! Darik!' They mainly wanted Darik. Well, really they only wanted Darik. They always want Darik...Man, I hate Darik. I'm just a freakin' Funbag."

But with Toad's leaving, there will be little reason for bands like the Funbags to look at New Haven when they drive by in their souped-up Greyhounds. So where will Yalies turn for good music?

"They'll come to Spring Fling, duh!" Spring Fling Chair Joey Lee, SY '03, exclaimed. "Ben Harper's exploration of the lyrical themes of freedom and the restraint of self-expression, not to mention the profound depth of his emotions, are exactly what a bunch of completely wasted, hornball students want to listen to on Yale's biggest party day of the year."

Stevie Zimmerman, BK '04, applauded the selection. "Ben is an excellent choice," she said. "I only wish I could have been here back when the Indigo Girls rocked the place. I heard that everyone was sitting on their blankets, just going crazy. And that was before the simultaneous ovulation."

With Toad's gone, the consensus among students is that the Yale College Council (YCC) must step up to the challenge of entertaining a University devastated by the loss of concerts headlined by bands like Pork Tornado and Toots and the Maytals. But the YCC has shown time and time again that it has its finger right on the musical pulse of today's average lesbian college student, so Yalies should have no problem finding good music around campus.

"I have faith that everything will work out wonderfully," Maturo concluded. "If students really are worried about lack of music around campus, they can always come listen to any of the live musicians who will perform nightly at the new Starbucks? Too we plan to put next door to Koffee? Too—opening fall 2001."

None of the above is true. Happy April Fool's Day.

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