Now that CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø students have discovered the Hard Drive Cafe in the Kittredge Commons complex for weeknight study breaks, Web surfing, socializing and espresso, its staff is trying to draw bigger crowds on the weekend.
The six-month-old coffee and computer hangout has received high marks since it opened on Halloween last year. Students are taking advantage of the cafe's pool table, 19 televisions, a wide assortment of coffees, juices, pastries and appetizers, and eight Imac computers for surfing the World Wide Web.
Since March, another new attraction has been swing bands, a cappella groups and a local DJ to attract more students on weekends and to make better use of the cafe's dance floor.
According to Tagen Watson, student marketing director, the cafe is attracting 150 to 200 students a night on weeknights but attendance drops off on weekends, except when entertainers are brought in.
"We had a big crowd on March 14, a Sunday night, when we brought in two a cappella groups called The Princeton Nassons and All Rights Reserved," said Watson. "The place was packed. That's what we're trying to do for the rest of the weekends this semester," she said.
The idea to create an evening gathering place on campus that would not serve alcohol but would also be inviting to students was first conceived by Housing Director Carl Jardine during the fall 1997 semester. A committee of students and staff was formed to explore the idea, students were surveyed and a plan to create a "cybercafe" featuring coffee drinks and computers for Web access was born.
"We've found that students really like the Hard Drive Cafe because it doesn't look like a typical, ordinary Housing facility," Brew said. "And they love the pool table and the computers and the fact that we have so many TVs."
Once a plan was developed and approved, the Housing Department was given a $500,000 budget to remodel the space in the ground level of the Kittredge Commons building and to purchase equipment and furnishings. The remodeling incorporated the stone walls of the building and parts of the flooring but the rest of the interior was redone with bright colored tables and counters, mounted TVs and a commercial-quality food and beverage bar. The space-age looking Imacs add to the techie ambience and the cafe's modern look.
Now that the "Hard Drive" has a core clientele on weeknights, the big push is to spread the word that the campus cafe has great free entertainment and a dance floor.
A Celtic music band and Irish step dancers performed in March to large crowds, according to Deb Brew, the Housing Department's cafe manager. A professional DJ from Soundscape Productions of Denver, Damon Alums, has been running the cafe's sound system to full crowds in March and will continue on Friday nights in April through the evening of May 7. Student bands also are booked on Saturday, April 17, and on April 24, when the Sam Creek band will perform.
Because of resurging interest in swing bands among college students, the Residence Hall Representative Council is considering paying for swing dance lessons for students who want to learn from professionals, Watson said. But student rock and folk bands still may dominate the entertainment scene because their fees are much lower, she said.
Watson also is working with campus designers to develop a cafe logo and to produce flyers and other promotional materials, some of which will be used in orientation packets distributed to new students this summer to promote the cafe.
The Hard Drive Cafe is open seven nights a week from 6 p.m. to midnight. Hours may be extended next year in response to demand for afternoon and late-night hours, Brew said.
The Hard Drive serves espresso coffee from Java Gear in Denver, desserts from Â鶹¹ÙÍø Cheesecake, fries and onion rings, dips and pretzels, hot wings, mozzerella sticks and Ben and Jerry's ice cream bars and pints.