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Yankee Doodle, unofficial greasy spoon of Yale, shuts its door
Web exclusive
January 29, 2008, at 2:07 p.m. EST; revised January 30, 2008, at 2:40 p.m.
by Mark Alden Branch '86

For 58 years, the Beckwith family has provided generations of Yale students with burgers, pigs in a blanket, and a listening ear. But on January 29, their Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop closed without fanfare -- for good, its owner says. "I think a lot of people felt as though it wasn't going to happen because we were an institution," says owner Rick Beckwith, whose grandfather Lew Beckwith Sr. opened the tiny 12-stool diner in 1950. "But it happened."

Rick Beckwith at the grill in 2006. ©Bruce Fellman

Beckwith says that declining business and increased costs made it impossible for him to stay in business. Some Doodle partisans claim that the building's owners, Michael Iannuzzi and John Parker, were trying to force Beckwith out with high rents. But Beckwith says that the rent was "not the sole issue" in the closing of his Elm Street storefront.

Iannuzzi, an owner of Tyco Copy Center, which is also in the building, says that the rent has not gone up in the past two years, and that increases in the 25 years he and Parker have owned the building have been minimal. Beckwith agrees, but points out that the rent of $77 per square foot is nearly three times the per-square-foot market rate in the Broadway area. Iannuzzi says that comparing rent rates per square foot is misleading because the space is unusually small, and there is a minimum value for street frontage in the area. "I've tried to assist in any way that I could," says Iannuzzi. " I've been friends of the family for 37 years, and I gave the eulogy at Rick's father's funeral. The closing saddens no one more than me."

Yale's vice president Bruce Alexander '65, whose portfolio includes both Yale's own commercial properties and community relations, says the university was sad to see the Doodle go. "If they had been in one of our properties, we would have made every effort to keep the business going," he says, "so future generations of Yale students could enjoy the same pigs in blankets we did."

But changing times and changing eating habits among Elis may well have played a role in the closing. "These young people -- they work out, they don't smoke, they eschew grease," says Richard Nash Gould '68, another longtime Doodle fan. "That's probably one of the reasons for its demise."

As the Doodle's financial woes began to come to light recently, Yale alumni and friends of the Beckwiths had begun trying to help out. New Haven mayor John DeStefano Jr., a longtime Doodle patron himself, had sent an official to see if economic development incentives could be used to help Beckwith and the building's owners keep the business open. Phillip McKee '94, a friend of the Beckwiths who runs the Doodle's website, tried to spark an online "Save the Doodle" campaign earlier this month, offering 50 percent lifetime discounts and brass plaques on Doodle stools to donors of $2,000 or more. But McKee says people didn't believe the campaign was genuine.

The day after Beckwith announced the closing with a sign on his front door, he found himself overwhelmed with phone calls, media inquiries, and more than a thousand e-mails. He has heard from fans who would like to buy the building or pay his rent for up to ten years. "People want to do anything to keep the Doodle going," he says.

For now, Beckwith says he just needs the clamor to die down so he can think about what to do next. " I need to go to a secluded island and get rid of my phone and e-mail," he says. "Of course, the island would probably end up being owned by a Doodle customer."