It was a sad day for Aggie employees when Woodstock’s Pizza announced it would be segregating Thursday trivia night. Like many regular participants of the trivia night, we developed a routine of showing up early and quickly pooling our knowledge of possible trivia categories.
Some of us bought soda, some of us bought beer. But whether or not our drinking options were limited by the law, we all consumed massive quantities of pizza. Yes, some might say we were the perfect trivia team: a group of students of many ages and disciplines, hungry for knowledge and hungry for Woodstock’s.
Well, that’s all over now. Since Woodstock’s has gotten a full liquor license, those under 21 can only participate in trivia from an isolated loft. Questions are delivered through a speaker.
Like many places in Davis, Woodstock’s has opted to stratify its customer base. You either go out to the bars, or you go to bed by 10 p.m. But Woodstock’s is not a bar. It is a college town staple, invited into cities like Davis in order to draw people together. While alcohol licenses bring in profits, and profits are tempting, local business should never fail to remember the community they are serving. It is disappointing that what is essentially the pizza joint of UC Davis (have you ever been to a department event that wasn’t serving Woodstock’s?) would choose exclusivity over community.
(Not to mention, the drinking age in the United States is ageist and arbitrarily discriminatory.)
College towns contain a great deal of people of many ages, and there is a decreasing amount of places opting to host heterogeneous social groups. And while there are some options, with all due respect, we do not want to host late-night staff bonding at the Taco Bell.
It should be acknowledged that de Vere’s Irish Pub has an all-ages round of trivia at 7 p.m. on Mondays. Additionally, The Graduate hosts their all-ages Pub Quiz at 7 p.m. on Sundays. And KetMoRee has all-ages trivia on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. We mixed-aged teams do have options, albeit early ones.
Nonetheless, the local night scene is limited and exclusive. So open your doors, Davis businesses. Sometimes we just don’t want to bother with the fake IDs.
