After 15 years on the Syracuse University Hill, the popular Darwin’s Restaurant and Bar has announced it’s closing time for good.

Owner Dirk Oudermool said he failed to renew the lease for the property at 701 S. Crouse Ave. on Sept. 30, and his landlord gave him 30 days notice to vacate the building.

‘This place has been good to me and a lot of kids have had fun here, but I’m done,’ said Oudermool. ‘My landlord wanted me to sign a long-term, five-year lease, and I just wasn’t interested.’

Darwin’s employees were shocked and saddened when they found out about the closing on Sunday afternoon, said manager and bartender Clarke Gilbert. Oudermool informed the two managers, who called each of the other employees to break the news.

‘I feel like someone died,’ said Gilbert, an SU senior entrepreneurship and marketing major. ‘This is a really tightly run bar, and Marshall Street will be missing something without it.’

On the Facebook group ‘The Shamelessly Self-Admitted Drunks of Darwin’s,’ someone posted a bulletin saying, ‘To all those who might have heard that Darwins is Closing, you all have heard wrong. Darwins is in no way shape or form closing.’ But the news is traveling quickly, Gilbert said.

Former employees have been receiving phone calls and text messages from SU alumni and former employees who are devastated by the news, Gilbert said. He said he thinks the overwhelming response is due to the close, friendly atmosphere on which Darwin’s prided itself.

‘It was a bar where everyone was accepted,’ said Gilbert, who was a Darwin’s employee for four years. ‘It was regular kids having fun, not a clique. The ‘regulars’ were good friends of ours. Everyone just came to get away and have a good time.’

The welcoming atmosphere is what made Darwin’s an important institution in the Marshall Street area, Oudermool said.

‘We were a significant presence on the Hill,’ he said. ‘We wanted to come here and take on Faegan’s, and I think we did that. Our 350-person capacity is the largest of the bars on the Hill, and we were often filled to capacity.’

But Darwin’s and other bars have seen a decline recently, Oudermool said.

‘The bar scene is just not what it used to be,’ he said. ‘Students aren’t coming out as much. There’s an anti-alcohol attitude on all college campuses, and that’s taken hold here to some extent. The scene is flat economically.’

Gilbert said the bar business changes each year, depending on which establishment is most popular.

‘With the bars, you’re hot one year and not the next,’ he said. ‘Also, Darwin’s was very strict with not letting young kids in here and some other bars let underage kids in more easily. Darwin’s had a little bit of a decline, but all the bars have seen that this year.’

But the years of owning a business in such a fickle area have been enough for Oudermool, who is also an attorney.

‘I’m 66 years old, and I’m just going to practice law at this point,’ he said. ‘I want to enjoy my free time instead of worrying about this place.’

Oudermool said he also missed the emphasis on fine dining that Darwin’s menu once boasted.

‘We were always interested in focusing on the food here,’ he said. ‘We’ve had wonderful parties and banquets here over the years. But when you think of fine dining, you don’t think of the Hill.’

Oudermool said the landlord of the property has no idea what will replace Darwin’s space. But in any case, Oudermool is thinking more about what he is leaving behind.

‘It’s very bittersweet,’ he said. ‘There have been wonderful, talented young people we’ve had the opportunity to associate with. I like to think that they acquired managerial and marketing skills here. And I’ve learned a lot from them.’

The students who worked at and patronized Darwin’s are losing a close-knit community, Gilbert said.

‘We’ve been more like a family than coworkers,’ he said. ‘None of us can believe Darwin’s is really gone. A lot of people lost a lot of things with the closing of this bar.’

Published on October 24, 2006 at 12:00 pm