Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1971)
by John Luna TOGETHER CLUB: ‘Things just happen ’ A “private club for the people” has been opened at 230 Polk St. in Eugene. “We wanted to give people a place to come together,” explained Harris Gottlieb, one of the owners. Naturally enough, the name of the club is “Together.” Gottlieb, 29, and Irvin Coffee, 33, both of 1517 Walnut St., are operating the club as partners, although Gottlieb said, “The com munity really pitched in to get this place going. It’s their place.” A $5 membership fee is charged to join the club—if you can afford it. If you can’t, you can join and pay a little at a time or work in the place. Coffee explained that the membership club idea was to give people “a feeling of togetherness,” as well as to raise money to start the business. Much remodeling was needed in the 3,600-square-foot building— used formerly as a cannery, laundramat and mattress company. Floors were swept, walls were built and painted, a stage and kitchen were built, all by volunteer help. The result was the transformation of the old factory with its high, peaked roof into a rustic, comfortable “night club.” Several rooms offer different activities and atmospheres: a room with a stage and jukebox for dancing, an art gallery featuring local artists, a game room with a pool table, and a “healthy foods” restaurant. Musicians, preferably playing acoustic instruments, are invited to jam, and Gottlieb says they soon hope to have plays and movies. The restaurant, under Coffee’s direction, is one of the main features of the club, serving dinner seven days a week from 5-9 pm. The dinners range from brown rice & vegetables for 55c to full meat dinners for $1.50. A wide variety of natural bread sandwiches are also offered. Coffee, who helped start the People’s Cafe, has achieved somewhat of a reputation around town with his culinary art. His bar be-que chicken made a hit at the last two Renaissance Faires and he has fed a lot of hungry people at the Saturday market. As a “night club,” the Together Club is unique in many ways. No alcoholic beverages are served and no entertainment is planned by the club itself. “The people themselves must provide the entertainment,” Gottlieb explained. “It’s spontaneous. Things just happen.” And things were “just happening” last Friday night. In one room, dimly lit from the jukebox lights and a few colored bulbs, several couples dance, while others sit on the floor or in over-stuffed furniture talking. In the game room a young woman leans over the pool table and makes a long shot—sinking the 4-ball in the corner pocket. Her opponent frowns and slowly chalks her que stick. On the restaurant side, several couples huddle together talking quietly. The candles on the tables and the low beamed ceiling give the room a soft, cozy feeling. A waitress bustles about with orders of food and dec-a-page wooden menues. Music from the juke box muffles through from the dancing room. A tall man with a light beard and another, stockier man stroll about picking bango and playing guitar. People mill about, going from room to room, talking and laughing. Most of the people are young—between 16 and 30—although Gottlieb says he hopes the club will attract “people of all ages.” Before long someone unplugs the jukebox and the minstrels climb onto the stage and start playing. A twangy, foot-stompin’ song. Gottlieb and a few others start dancing, a jerky, hill-billy kind of dance, then six or eight others join in. Whooping and hollaring, they join hands and go round and round in a circle dance. The clapping and footstomping blend with the steady drone of the bango and the singer’s voice to form a Hindu-Arkansas chant. Tiring, Gottlieb breaks from the dancers. “What can you say,” he grins, “things just happen.” HARRIS GOTTLIEB, one of the owners of “Together,” shoots pool at his new establish ment, a “private club for the people.” Gtvyther’s arson conviction upheld Former University student Dave Gwyther’s conviction on third degree arson charges in con nection with the student-eviction of Navy recruiters from the EMU two years ago was upheld by the Oregon Court of Appeals last week. Gwyther had appealed his conviction on grounds that the instructions given the jury by Lane County Circuit Court Judge F. Gordon Cottrell were prejudicial. The Appeals Court upheld Cottrell’s action. Gwyther had been given a suspended three year sentence and put on three years probation by Judge Cottrell. The arson charges were filed in connection with a blue Navy cloth which was removed from the recruiting table and burned on the free speech platform during the removal of the recruiters from the second floor of the EMU. The removal incident, which took place ^n. 22, 1969, was the culmination of a day-long student trial of the recruiters. Gwyther had acted as judge during the “mock” trial. Gwyther had also appealed his conviction on the grounds that the state failed to use its strongest evidence. His attorney said that if a jury receives weaker evidence than is available, then the evidence should be viewed with distrust. The court, affirming Judge Cottrell, said there was nothing in the record to indicate that stronger evidence was available. Gwyther still has an appeal on another case pending with the U.S. Supreme Court. He and former ASUO President Kip Morgan were con victed of disrupting draft board meetings Jan. 8, 1969, in Roseburg and Jan. 16, 1969 in Eugene. An appeal was filed for both men in September. The disruption charges were filed in connection with “mock” trials conducted at the two draft boards. 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