Gameroom to Be Nixed In Elsie's Renovations

The roast beef jumbos will taste the same, but the trademark ambience will be a little different next week, when a newly renovated Elsie's sandwich shop reopens for business next week sans pinball machines and video games.

Renovations on the Mt. Auburn St. restaurant, a popular student hangout for 35 years, are scheduled to begin tomorrow, according to owner Philip Markell. In place of the game machines, Markell said he plans to add tables and chairs so that customers can sit down and eat.

Markell, who has owned Elsie's for 25 years, said he was eliminating the gameroom because he wanted to attract "the right kind of customers, the kind who'll come in and have a nice sandwich and relax."

"The fad is over," Markell said of the machines. "We want to make Elsie's a better restaurant, so we have to cater to the public more."

Eating at the counter is not appealing to the kind of clientele Elsie's hopes to attract, Markell said.

The renovations at the restaurant, which is located on the corner of Mt. Auburn and Holyoke Streets, will also include new flooring, plumbing and electrical wiring, he added. Several different contractors will do the work, he said.

Elsie's standard bill of fare, which includes Elsieburgers, Turkey Deluxes and oversize Jumbo sandwiches, will not change with the interior, Markell said.

Thomas Stefanian of Tommy's Lunch, a longtime rival establishment down Mt. Auburn Street from Elsie's, declined to comment on Markell's decision to eliminate his gameroom. Tommy's Lunch, established 33 years ago, also has several pinball and video game machines.

"Everybody runs his own business. I can't tell him how to run his," said Stefanian. He added that since he does not visit local restaurants, the change at Elsie's will have little significance to him.

Stefanian said he does not think the machines in his restaurant attract any particular type of crowd to the restaurant. For that matter, he said the machines probably do not attract any customers at all.

"I only keep them here," Stefanian said, referring to the machines, "because I've had them since we opened."