“HOO-HA.”
“Cool kids.”
“89 PAT VS. BEAKER.”
All phrases - and perhaps thousands more - are immortalized on the graffiti-laden walls of Shaw Hall’s Totally Takeout. It’s a tradition that has been cited by former Shaw employees going back to the early ’60s.
Students, employees, hall residents and war veterans have been carving, painting or drawing their names and images in the cedar paneling for at least 40 years.
“It’s great,” said Sam Work, who was a Shaw resident from 1962-65 and an assistant manager from 1989-2000. “People would be driving back from St. Petersburg (Florida) and they would want to see their (old) room, but of course they weren’t excited. So they would go to the Loon and they would get excited when they saw the initials of someone they knew.”
Work said the American Legion started the tradition in the early ’60s. Legion members, many of whom were returning seniors, had meetings in Totally Takeout - which was originally called the Shaw Loon, he said. Legionaries started carving their name in the paneling and tables, spawning a tradition.
The Loon started in 1951 as a snack shop. During 1985, it became a western-style steak house called “The Alternative,” but it returned as a snack shop the following year. The next transformation was to Caf-II-Go in 1993 and Totally Takeout this fall.
Students who stare at the Cleveland Indians logo, skulls, lightning bolts or other images on the wall today will most likely see the creations from students throughout the past 20-30 years.
The paneling was so crowded with names from the first 20 years of scribbling it had to be turned over to make room for new artistic expressions like “FLASH.”
Shaw Hall Food Service Manager Carolyn Roy engraved her name and colored it pink on a Loon wall during the early ’80s as a customer. A dividing wall, which Roy’s name and several other’s were on, has since been removed.
“If you got caught doing that in a restaurant, they’d throw you out,” Roy said. “But here if you don’t sign it, we’re like, ‘What are you doing, ding dong?’
“It’s all cool. There’s so many writings on the wall. It’s interesting to see how language changes.”
Mike Rice, Shaw Hall manager from 1981-84, said the wall has a historic feel.
“Shaw had a reputation of having a lot of upperclassmen in the hall,” Rice said. “It was a way to have a lasting memory.”
