Now and then: The Hub’s makeover
If students entered the south doors of the Taggart Student Center 50 years ago, they might think they stepped into the wrong building. Bowling lanes and pool tables took over much of the space that students now know as the Hub.
“I was a member of ASUSU, and I remember going down there after meetings to bowl,” said Eric Olsen, associate vice president for Student Services. “It was a place to hang out between classes and play foosball or grab a cinnamon roll.”
Hazel’s was even a Hub food staple back then, and at the time was making almost 200 loaves of bread each day to feed hungry students and members of the community who couldn’t get enough food elsewhere, said Alan Andersen, executive director of Dining Services.
A fan cooling racks of bread in the morning wafted the smell of the warm loaves into the main first-floor hallway, luring students to the counter, he said.
Now, students passing time in the Hub are found studying, eating and sometimes playing on the single pool table still there. A thick slice of Hazel’s bread is still some students’ favorite campus snack. But decades ago, the Hub was a central place where students socialized, Olsen said.
“There would be a crowd that would monopolize the billiard tables,” Olsen said. “You had your foosball aficionados and air hockey and then bowling. It’s interesting, because the foosball and the pingpong we started putting into what is now the Marketplace area, and then ASUSU said they wanted them, so they are up there on the third floor.”
In the ’70s, the Hub was decked out in bright orange furniture – fitting with the decade – from the booths to loose chairs. The food stations were arranged in a “sawtooth design,” according to the USU Dining Services Annual Report and History, and were colored bright yellows and oranges. Almost every design in the TSC was complemented by wood paneling.
Before the TSC received its current name, it was called the Union Building, and was the place where the bowling team met daily for practice.
“It was the place to go,” said Mike Reyes, an alumnus and former member of USU’s bowling team. “We would practice in the afternoon and … a lot of couples would come and bowl.”
One year, the bowling team beat Brigham Young University’s team, which is one of many fond memories Reyes recalls, proving old rivalries never die. The best bowler on the team averaged a bowling score of 200, Reyes said.
In a tournament at San Jose State in the ’60s, Reyes said he placed 12th overall among 50 teams competing.
After supplying years of memories and recreation, the Hub’s bowling alley was outdated and required more maintenance to keep than what its profits could support, so in 1985 a decision was made to remove it, Olsen said.
Pool tables and game machines, like pinball, used to fill the area where Gicci Ona Pizza and Hogi Yogi are. When the bowling alley was torn out, the games were moved to the “Bull Pen” – a room that is now occupied by USU’s campus newspaper The Utah Statesman. This is where all the gaming happened until 2004.
“Handheld devices made it so people weren’t as interested, and the game room concept was losing money,” Olsen said. “So they moved the billiard tables to the HPER Building where the billiards class is taught … and I think we gave six of them to Housing. A vendor owned the video machines and took them.”
The Hub was completely remodeled when the bowling alley was torn out, and food counters located in the northeast corner were removed, adding more seating.
Andersen joined USU’s Dining Services team in 1992 and is also an alumnus. The Hub’s revenue increased by $160,000 in 1992 as the result of a full-scale makeover. Meal options expanded, and the Aggie Express Program was offered to students for the first time.
The majority of food choices offered at the time were different than what USU students see today. Hazel’s and Taco Time have been the only operations that withstood the test of time, Andersen said. The first restaurant that opened in what students now know as the Hub was called Ming Dynasty and served Asian cuisine. The Hub used to house a Pizza Hut franchise, Logan Subs, Outback Chicken and the Hub Wok.
“Ming Yan made great Chinese food,” said Andersen of the Hub Wok’s chef. “A lot of people loved the food, but he moved and now actually runs a Chinese restaurant in Idaho.”
In the early ’90s, Hazel’s was still the Hub’s hot spot, Andersen said, and every morning there would be two long lines coming from their counter.
“This was before the whole carbohydrate phase, and then everyone started to learn about the evilness of bread,” Andersen said.
The Hub also had an Aggie Ice Cream dipping well, and though the location was profitable when it was warm outside, business struggled during winter months. By moving Aggie Ice Cream to its current location, it was more accessible to the community, Andersen said.
Before the TSC Copy Center was full of paper and office machinery, it was also a place students flocked to for a treats. For decades, The Sweet Shoppe existed and thrived in this room, Andersen said, and was where all the bread was sliced – a slice of bread with one topping was 75 cents.
Shelves behind the shop’s counter were lined with jars of candy, and students could also buy ice cream there, Andersen said
“We moved it because we just wanted to incorporate with all the other food here in one location,” Andersen said. “There were a lot of operational efficiencies it helped out with.”
After decades of transformation the Hub has became more and more efficient financially and for students’ needs, he said.
Reyes, who still has awards, a pair of bowling pins signed by the bowling team and hundreds of photos depicting the Hub as it once was, said he will always think fondly of the memories he has of spending time in the Hub.
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu
The Hub, circa 1974ish … rumor has it they had GREAT enchiladas.
The Hub entrance, early 1980s