Louie's Lower Level was the place to be on campus

The restaurant sustained damage due to fire, in October 1973. It was a grease fire that temporarily closed down the Student Union. Over 800 people were evacuated from the building and the fire caused $80,000 in damages.

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_{1973 Star photo}

_{Firefighters battled the fire in Louie’s kitchen.}

In 1993, the basement eatery was threatened with closure. The university wanted to turn the area into a fast-food mall. But, loyal Louie’s fans turned out in force, (well, more like 500 of them) and signed petitions to save the place.

The restaurant got a reprieve when the university determined the cost of renovations was too high and the expected revenue was too low. The petition drive did not enter into the decision.

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_{1993 Star photo}

_{Supporters sign a petition to keep “Louie’s Lower Level” from being closed.}

Following another fire in November 2000, Star columnist, Bonnie Henry, took a historical look at Louie’s.

A UA hangout, Louie’s Lower Level, may have sizzled its last

By Bonnie Henry

November 5, 2000

If anything on campus shouted, “Hey, kid, you’re not in high school anymore,” this was the place.

Not a window anywhere, hamburgers sizzling all hours of the day and night, and half the diners with a cigarette in their hands.

This was Louie’s Lower Level – at least in the days before smoking was banned.

When the popular eatery in the basement of the University of Arizona’s Student Union closed after a grease fire on Wednesday, Louie’s was still dishing the chow.

But even before the fire, its days were numbered.

Louie’s is slated for demolition next spring. That’s the word from Dan Adams, director of Arizona Student Unions.

The news only gets worse: There are no plans for another Louie’s in the new Student Union, set to open in July of 2002.

As for whether the current Louie’s will be rehabbed and reopened for the immediate future, that’s up in the air.

“If it’s in the $150,000 range, it’s probably wiser for us to do a portable operation,” says Adams, who was still gathering estimates as of this writing.

Either way, Louie’s Lower Level made an indelible mark in the memories – not to mention cholesterol counts – of thousands of Wildcats.

When the Student Union opened in 1951, there was no Louie’s – only a basement area with dirt floor and unfinished ceiling.

A year or so later, students turned it into a meeting and party place, complete with sawdust over the dirt and portable lighting.

So who, everyone wants to know, was Louie?

“It came from a kid on the student activities board,” says Bill Varney, Student Union director from 1958 to 1984.

“He said, ‘This is just like a place in Chicago where you went down the stairs and there was sawdust on the floor. It was called Louie’s Lower Level.’ “

The name stuck, says Varney, who comes by that story from his predecessor, the late Marvin “Swede” Johnson.

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_{UA Special Collections}

_{The cafeteria in “Louie’s Lower Level.”}

In November of ’57, Louie’s opened as an “ultra-modern cafeteria lounge,” complete with card-playing section, television and pastel-colored booths.

Jack Redhair, then student body president, was among the first to partake of Louie’s menu, which included everything from pizza to salads.

He remembers burgers for breakfast and a jukebox that cranked out the hits, three for a quarter.

“The place was jumpin’ seven days a week,” says Varney. “Kids studied there, read their mail there, met their future wives there.”

Perhaps the grandest entrance anyone ever made at Louie’s belongs to Redhair’s wife, the former Diane Vance.

Back then, a UA publication called Arizona Kitty-Kat had a little feature called “Kitten of the Month.”

In March of ’58, Diane Vance won the “honor.” The publication also sponsored “A date with Diane,” which turned into several dates, including one at Louie’s

“They flew me in a helicopter, and I landed on the girls’ athletic field,” says Diane Redhair, who then proceeded to Louie’s.

The times, they kept on a-changin’.

Nov. 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was shot: “Service cancelled in Louie’s as crowd huddles before TV,” read the headline in that day’s Wildcat.

Kids were still watching TV at Louie’s a decade later.

In fact, when the grill caught fire in 1973, some had to be pulled away from their favorite soaps.

In 1993 there was a brief push to shut down Louie’s in favor of name-brand franchises. Never happened. Costs were too high.

But this time, it truly looks like the end.

Thanks for a great run, Louie – whoever you are.