To the Editor:
The Doodle closed? What a shame! I had my first meal in New Haven there in the fall of 1964, a newly arrived freshman who had been tipped off by one of Yale’s invisible “campus cops” (they wore business suits in those days and tried hard to blend in) that the Doodle was the place to grab a tasty and inexpensive meal.
Indeed, the Doodle became a fixture of our undergraduate days — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in the evenings for a study break. The place was always as full of patrons as your photo indicates. As chance would have it, I’m pictured in the middle of that photograph, sandwiched in between the guys wearing glasses. I can’t recall what was being said at the time, but clearly we all were enjoying ourselves. Judging from the reflection in the mirror, this shot must have been taken during an evening study break.
Of greater note: your photograph contains the image of Yale’s former Dean, and now Duke University President, Richard Brodhead (seated second from the right). Dick was my roommate through all four years of my Yale experience — a splendid person then, as now.
My last visit to the Doodle was just after this year’s Yale-Harvard game. I’m glad I saw the Game (it was hard to watch) and, retrospectively, especially glad I visited the Doodle. Surely the restaurant, like our team, will rebound from its recent misfortune. The latter is a certainty, of course. And I’m sure that a host of Yalies, old and young, will wish for the former as well.
Gene Lyman
Jan. 30
The writer is member of the Yale College class of 1968.