Corrections appended
The back wall of UCLA’s Taco Bell is unassuming in its
presence, making a modest home among chalupas and gorditas, chips
and salsa.
But this is no ordinary collection of bricks and plaster.
According to university officials, it’s a historic
landmark.
The on-campus building that houses the popular fast-food
restaurant is a lean-to, containing three front walls of its own
and using the brick wall surrounding the Student Activities Center
pool as its fourth.
That fourth wall, a part of the activities center ““ known
as the Men’s Gym prior to its recent renovation ““ was
built in 1937. As a long-time fixture on campus, the university has
deemed the wall to be a historic landmark.
As such, the aging fortification is protected by the Secretary
of the Interior’s “Standards for the Treatment of
Historic Properties,” federal guidelines set in place to
“promote responsible preservation practices that help protect
our nation’s irreplaceable cultural resources,”
according to the National Park Service Web site.
“Certainly the campus is keen to protect its
artifacts,” said Jerry Mann, director of Ackerman Union.
Since Taco Bell’s building is aging and possibly does not
comply with current building codes, officials are considering how
to continue providing food service at that location ““ termed
Campus Corner ““ while preserving the wall’s
integrity.
“The Taco Bell building could be replaced, and I believe
that it would be appropriate to construct a new facility in this
location to serve as a new food facility,” campus architect
Jeffrey Avrill said in an e-mail.
If a new building were constructed, Avrill said it would need to
fit into the “context of UCLA,” which would include
characteristic exterior red-brick facade and buffs of stone,
concrete or plaster in order to “reinforce the unique
character of the UCLA campus.”
Such changes would also make the building look more like the
wall.
But such a project could be prohibitively expensive amid a
budget crisis and fewer customers as a result of decreases in
enrollment.
Roy Champawat, associate director of UCLA’s on-campus
restaurants, said renovating the structure has been included as a
part of the Food Service Master Plan, a long-term plan to revamp
food services on campus.
The Plan is a project of the Associated Students of UCLA, the
organization that manages many restaurants on campus, including
Taco Bell, and is being constantly revised to deal with a
troublesome financial climate.
Original estimates to remove the lean-to and construct a new
campus building have been much higher than originally expected,
ranging from $1.5 to $2 million, Champawat said.
Avrill said the high cost of construction at UCLA is due to a
number of factors, including limited access for contractors and
high regional construction costs in urban Los Angeles.
Paying back the cost of a new building would be another area of
concern, as the restaurant’s profit margin is low.
Also, a decline in student enrollment means fewer customers,
which is predicted to affect business for Taco Bell, the second
most popular eatery on campus behind Panda Express.
The fate of the Campus Corner site hinges in part on the future
of Taco Bell, which was given an ultimatum by ASUCLA in December to
produce a report about working conditions for the
restaurant’s tomato suppliers or face losing its
contract.
ASUCLA’s board of directors told the restaurant to hire a
third-party investigator and show it is in compliance with the
University of California’s Code of Conduct, as well as the
restaurant’s own code.
The restaurant had requested an extension on the deadline for
the report two weeks ago, but the board denied the request. The
report is due today.
If Taco Bell’s contract is renewed after the board’s
analysis of the report, Champawat said it would probably be moved
inside Ackerman on the same level as the Cooperage while a plan is
devised for the Campus Corner location.
Even if the restaurant is forced to leave campus, another
restaurant would likely move in to A-Level in Ackerman to fill the
“low-cost, high- value” niche that Taco Bell
represents, Champawat said. The new restaurant would be operated by
ASUCLA, and might serve Mexican food.
Champawat said the move to Ackerman could be done as soon as the
end of the summer, but will probably take longer, as Taco Bell
would have to approve a new location for the restaurant if it stays
on campus.
In either case, the current Taco Bell structure would probably
be taken down to be replaced by food carts or other temporary food
venues which would be geared toward convenience in the high-traffic
location.
But the wall will remain.
“Certainly if we were to pull out of the site, that
wouldn’t necessarily affect the wall, since we’re only
leaning up against it,” Champawat said.
Over the years, the structure, originally thought to be a
temporary solution, has served sandwiches, pitas, burgers and now
tacos to customers on Bruin Walk.
Taco Bell, which has been on campus since the 1992-1993 school
year, is the only third-party restaurant to operate out of that
location, Champawat said.
“It’s a great little facility. It’s certainly
done heroic service over the years,” Champawat said.
Regardless of the eventual fate of Taco Bell or the site of its
current residence, one thing is certain.
“The wall stays,” Mann said.
Corrections:
May 12, 2004, Wednesday In “The Great Wall” (News,
May 10), Jeffrey Averill’s name was misspelled.
May 18, 2004, Tuesday The Student Activities Center (formerly
known as the Men’s Gym) was completed in 1932 (“The
Great Wall,” News, May 10).