The Blue Wall is a former dive bar and current food court at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

. Opening inside the

Murray D. Lincoln Campus Center Murray D. Lincoln Campus Center is a high-rise building on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Building The concrete building and attached parking garage were designed by Marcel Breuer, in the Modernist and ...

in the 1970s, the bar made upwards of $600,000 in the late 1970s (over $2,300,000 in 2013 dollars), and went through 1,800 kegs a year. This made it one of the largest beer-consuming establishments in the Northeastern United States. Following the raising of the drinking age to 21 in the United States, the bar experienced a decline in sales, before finally going dry in the 1980s. In the early 2000s, alcohol was again served, although it proved to be unprofitable. In 2014, the dining facility underwent an almost year-long nineteen million dollar renovation, which saw it connect to a nearby restaurant and increase

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

by thirty percent. The new combined area totals 42,000 square feet and has space for 900 customers. The campus center also includes several other food and drink options, including the UPub (bar for 21+), the grab and go Marketplace, and People's Organic Coffee.

References

External links

UMass student work on the Blue Wall

Images of bands performing in the Blue Wall
University of Massachusetts Amherst Restaurants in Massachusetts {{pub-stub