Images in the Alley: A profile of our local pub

On Thursday night, I walked into Punch's Alley feeling intimidated. I remembered that an acquaintance of mine once described it as "too cool for me to hang out in," and being underage, I wasn't feeling so suave.

The inside of the bar was brighter and more serene than I thought it would be. There were also fewer people than I imagined—no plates crashing, no Irish dancing.

A few were at the bar, one of whom was absorbed in a book. I situated myself at the far end of the pub, when I noticed that just two seats to my left was Nikki Rossetti, an editor of my high school newspaper. She's now a junior and a Neuroscience major.

She and her friend were enjoying a bottle of beer each and sharing a bowl of nachos. I asked her if she came to the pub often. "No, I've never really hung out here. This is only my second time. But I've wanted to come here since the beginning of the semester. And I just turned 21, so…" Hence the beer, I figured. "It's a good place to relax and meet up with some friends. Last time I was here, it was my friend's 21st birthday. That was fun," she said.

At that moment, though, there wasn't much "fun" happening. My watch was pointing twelve past nine. Except for the loud music, the pub was like the library with drinks. The barkeeper advised that I come back after 11 because, "At nine, things don't really happen."

Her name was Dotty Hernandez and she was a Davis Scholar. "I stay up really late, so I thought, I might as well earn a few bucks," she said. "I just started this semester. I like working here. I work two or three times a week, and we have weekly meetings to figure out who's going to cover when and decide on the themes for Thursdays." Apparently, Thursdays had themes. Then what was tonight? "Oh, tonight's Beyoncé. It's going to be Jay Z and Beyoncé all night."

Upon being asked how the pub is run, she directed me to the person reading a book. "You might want to ask that to her. She's our financial manager."

Rachel Salmanowitz '12 was reading the Bible at the bar. She is a religion major.

"We usually make the profit break even among us," she said when I asked about their finances. "But I'd rather not say anything about the money stuff. Apart from getting change and stuff, I'm just like everyone who works here. I do the shifts. I hang out here all the time."

I asked her how she could possibly do her work in this environment, with music blasting and bottles of alcoholic drinks on display. "Mostly through the week days, it's usually chill. Homework's doable on those days. Then comes Thursday. We are the social life on campus on Thursdays. People like to get out of campus during the weekends, so Thursdays are big for us. From 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., we have what we call the "Faculty Hour." The faculty members, the professors come in and just hang out. Art department professors are very loyal to us."

"Thursday themes are another thing," she continued. "We discovered that when the themes have something to do with some sort of eroticism, it draws in more people. So we work hard to come up with sexy themes. Last year, we hired a few drag queens to come in on one Thursday. It was a big hit. We are thinking of doing it again."

As for the more recent decision to accommodate a gallery in the pub, she seemed fairly excited about it. "The idea came up during one of the meetings. We thought about what we could do about this big empty wall." She turned her chair to point at the wall that stretched on the opposite side from the bar. "And we thought it might be cool to have some black-and-white artworks hung up. Because otherwise, it's just a red wall, and it's kind of daunting."

I could see what she meant by that. Although the pub was looking sleek with its monochrome walls and ceilings, it could use some variation.

"We got some really enthusiastic feedback from the students and the art professors. I'm not an artist, but for those who are, it will be exciting to have their art works on display. The artwork could be of any medium, as long as it's black-and-white. Submit your work by Oct. 25, and the gallery opening will be on the 26th."

Soon after Rachel left, people, in groups of ten to fifteen started coming in at two-minute intervals. I looked at my watch—it was half past ten. Another Beyoncé song was blasting through the sound system, and the beer jugs on the counter for collecting tips were filling up with dollar bills. When a mob of Hoopies, the student workers from the neighboring Café Hoop, flew in and took over the karaoke stage, things became even wilder. The bar was full and smelled of cigarettes. When someone snatched the microphone to sing "Single Ladies," that was my cue to leave.