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"Yankee Doodle went to town, a-riding on a pony. . ." The strains of "Yankee Doodle" during last week's serenade/protest by the Lancraft Fife and Drum Corps were merely the loudest manifestation of the outpouring of support for the Doodle and its owner, Rick Beckwith. Since the restaurant closed on January 29, Yale alumni have rallied around the longtime student haunt, and the university has come forward with its own offer to aid the restaurant. Relations between Beckwith and Michael Iannuzzi, the Doodle's landlord and an owner of the Tyco Copy Center next door, however, have worsened. At first, Iannuzzi pledged to keep the Doodle's space vacant for two months to allow "Save the Doodle" efforts to proceed. But Beckwith continued to complain publicly about the high rent that Iannuzzi charged. "Tyco still refuses to change the unreasonable lease terms that initiated the Doodle's financial problems," he said in a statement. "Once there is a new lease, we will know that Tyco is indeed committed to saving the Doodle." Days later, Iannuzzi revoked the offer and announced that Tyco would expand into the Doodle's old location in the coming months. There is still hope that the
Doodle will be revived. Late last week, Yale vice president Bruce Alexander '65,
who oversees the university's commercial properties, approached Beckwith about finding
a Yale-owned property in the area to house a reincarnated Doodle. Meanwhile, alumni-led
fund-raising has raised thousands of dollars for the restaurant through donations
and the sale of Doodle merchandise. And nostalgic young alumni are rallying on Facebook.com,
where the "Save the Doodle" group is calling for graduates to volunteer legal and
business expertise. |
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