Donning a different look, an upgraded menu and new hours of operation, staff members of Northeastern’s local nightclub are preparing for a new year, with plenty of changes.
Club Manager Jacqueline Indrisano said this year’s efforts to bring more students into afterHOURS is “just the start of it all.”
Beginning with a revamped logo, Indrisano said updating the old moon and stars slogan was an important change.
“Students needed to look at the name and start conjuring up the place in their head,” she said.
The logo for the 2004-05 year is an adaptation from the old logo, dolling up the typography to create a punchier product. The “after” part of the logo is very thick, which represents the night, Indrisano said. The remainder of the name is taller and thinner, since the club is still open into the wee hours of the morning. The star, used in the old logo, remains, to represent not only the students, that Indrisano says are stars, but people in general, from the employees to the celebrities brought there. There is also the traditional moon as the “o” in the “hours” portion, keeping some of the old characteristics of the name.
“We wanted to maintain the integrity of the first logo,” Indrisano said. “People were attached to it.”
The staff worked with Nib Lopes, their Chartwells liason, to change up the menu, an ongoing effort throughout this summer. The menu introduces eight to 10 new items, bringing more salads, specialty desserts and sandwiches with various breads and new beverage choices.
What used to be primarily a smoothie bar in afterHOURS is now a cafe serving Starbucks products, similar to the Cafe on the Atrium on the first floor of the Curry Student Center.
“The concept is the same,” Lopes said. “We’re trying to give afterHOURS its own identity.”
Another addition to afterHOURS’ agenda are new hours. The area will now be open Monday through Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. and on Thursday from 11:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., daylight that afterHOURS has never seen.
Changes in the hours of operation came after meetings between the Student Advisory Board and the Vice President for Student Affairs Ed Klotzbier. Daytime hours will allow for more seating for the lunch crowd, and help more people get acquainted with the space.
During those hours, the kitchen will be closed but the cafe will be open, serving a variety of coffee beverages as well as smoothies and juices. Also available will be a new “grab and go” menu, including various sandwiches, salads and other items prepared daily to ensure freshness.
Indrisano and her programming advisor, grad assistant Debbie Zenofsky, have joined forces to bring not only local acts of all caliber to the space on the ground floor of the student center, but also to bring national acts, such as Gavin DeGraw.
Kay Hanley, formerly of Letters to Cleo, started off the more nationally-recognized artist series, Indrisano said, last Sunday, and will be followed by a performance by Full Fledge, a hip-hop def poetry band, this Saturday.
Also planned for this year are such acts as JS1, DJ for Rahzel of the Roots, Dizzy Reeds Hollywood Bulldozer, Juliana Hatfield and the Von Bondies.
“We also want to support the music industry student on campus,” Indrisano said. “We as a university need to support their music industry needs.”
In the works are also various lecture series, and Indrisano is working with such student groups as the Allied Student Coalition to bring speakers and forums to afterHOURS. They are also planning a “progressive” fashion show with the help of some Newbury Street shops and Avanti Hair Salon to bring students some options for holiday gifts in December.
A “Dinner and a Movie” series is also set to launch this fall featuring just released flicks. Monday nights Indrisano hopes the new “Pigskin and Poker” will draw students into the space, offering 25 cent wings, Monday night football and Texas Hold ‘Em – minus the gambling.
With all of the change coming to the night club, some items and events will remain the same as last year, such as some classic menu faves and shows such as NU ‘ Improv’d. Indrisano stresses that there are more changes to come as the year progresses.
“This is only the beginning,” she said.
