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thursday, december 7, 1972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 53
ip capitalists
life,
rd times
ha
by Adella Wacker
"The only certainty," 3 id one Lincoln small shop
owner, "is that if you unlock your shop door in the
morning, you know you'll be in business for the
day."
Business administration maxims aside, that was
about the only certainty voiced by any of the young
local shop owners about their attempts to garner a
piece of today's glittering youth market.
The business people, young by virtue of the goods
they sell, work in shops near UNL. They cater to the
young buyer in a different way-small shops.
For various reasons, the shopowners are in
business selling youth their own kind of music and
blue jeans, paperback books and pottery, patchouli
mint candles and oatmeal soap, greeting cards for
conveying young messages of love, t-shirts printed
with stronger messages, posters, pipes, happiness,
love, protest and on and on.
Some went to business college to fulfil this
ambition of owning a business someday. Others
dropped out of college to run a store. A few just fell
into it. Others created their business with the ideals
surrounding the freak culture. But it's hard to say
how many of these originals no longer stand behind
the counters of stores they once owned.
Other cities have grown fre: k-shop communities
and already have seen then transformed from
counter-culture experiments to more chic and
expensive boutiques: Omaha's Old Market at 10th
and Howard Street, Denver's Larimer Square and
Chicago's Old Town.
Lincoln has somewhat the physical makings for
such a district in old Haymarket Square near the O
street viaduct; like the fruit warehouses, railroad
produce centers and old abandoned hotels that freaks
made over into the brightly painted shops of Omaha's
early Old Market nmunity. But in Lincoln, maybe
the community feeing is lacking.
Although there are rumors about a French cafe
and other small shops starting in Haymarket, several
present shop owners wonder if any concentrated,
small-shop area can grow that far away from the
campus.
The dominance of strong downtown businesses
close to campus probably has much to do with the
failure, up to now, of a concentrated shopping area
catering to students, according to Bill Coveney,
developer of the Glass Menagerie boutique center at
1 2th and Q Street.
Several young shop owners also predicted that
growth would remain strong close to campus; that the
center of Lincoln would move toward P Street with
the opening of the Cooper Plaza Four Movie theaters
(12 and P) and Douglas III theaters (on 13th ) and
the later opening of the new Hilton Hotel (9th and P
Streets).
Said one poster joint entreprenuer about trends:
first of all, freak shops can't make it.
Another person stated that freaks weren't serious
and never expected their shops and co-ops to be
permanent. The failure of many shops mainly
occurred because they didn't have enough capital,
according to Dirt Cheap owner Terry Moore.
Nobody in their right mind would have started a
record store on the amount of money Dirt Cheap did,
he said, but then they weren't faced with the fierce
competition that existed in Omaha's Old Market.
When Linda and Terry Moore and another partner
started Dirt Cheap Enterprises at 227 No. 11th in
September 1970, other folks rented space from them
in their building for a head shop and an art gallery.
Those shops didn't last, Moore said.
Moore said he planned on opening a store back in
Turn to page 9
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Officials
ponder
fire code
remedies
by Debby Fairley
It is possible that all fire safety violations at UNL could be
corrected within a year, Physical Plant Director Harley
Schrader said Wednesday.
Possible but not probable.
The University has been given until Dec. 1, 1973, to correct
278 violations which were turned up during a two-month
inspection of the University by the state fire marshal's office.
And that's not enough time for much of the necessary
work, said Schrader. "I don't even know it we can contract,
design and build stairs for Westbrook Music Building in one
year."
Other violations will take less time, he said. "Ninety per
cent of the items in Temple Building already have been
completed. We haven't enclosed the stairways with fire
resistant material yet, but the critical things, like cleaning up
the basement, tl.ose are done."
The University could be granted a deadline extension,
Schrader said. "We've been working with the fire marshal on
this, and he's indicated that he knows we have a big job to do
here."
The large number of violations is partially due to the
adoption of the Life Safety Code by the Legislature in 1969,
Schrader said. Besides being much more specific than previous
statutes, the code was retroactive.
This meant old as well as new buildings suddenly became
substandard in the eyes of the law.
Despite the number of violations, Schrader said he feels
most University buildings are "not really that bad."
"Most are made of fire resistive construction and don't have
boilers or any open fire heating devices," he said. "And we
keep our buildings reasonably clean."
Part of the problem is not the physical condition of the
buildings, but students, said Schrader.
Schrader's office is now working on cost estimates for the
necessary repairs.
The last thorough inspection of the University by the fire
marshal's office was in 1960. The cost of correcting the
violations found that year was estimated at $1.6 million.
A comparison of the 1960 and 1972 reports shows that
many 1960 violations were never corrected. In September,
Physical Plant Administrator George Miller estimated those
I960 violations would cost about $4.5 million to fix today.
And that was before last week's report which ordered even
more repairs.
"I don't know where the money is coming from; all I can
do is make estimates of costs," Schrader said.
Board of Regents President Ed Schwartzkopf said the
University is "trying to make do with insufficient funds right
now," and repairs depend on money received from the
Legislature.
"Give us the dollars and we'll do everything we can to
comply," he said.
"Temple building has been on our list (to be rannovated or
replaced) for years. But they're not going to put a half a
million dollars into a building that old."
Schwartzkopf said chances are "very slim" that Temple
would receive major funding this year.
Asked if the University could shift funds from one part of
its budget to cover the repair work, Schwartzkopf replied "I
don't know where you'd find it. I just don't know where
you'd find it."