The new location has been a hit with students. More tables and outlets for laptops are available to those who need a place to hang between classes or a place to catch up on some work. Natural light streams in from windows that adorn the entire south side wall. And caricatures of great scientists, such as Einstein and Maxwell, drawn by one of the café’s artistically talented student workers, decorate one of the larger shelves.
Also known as SEAS Café, it has served UCLA since around 1949-50, according to Felipe Lamug, manager of the café. The Engineering Society at UCLA (ESUC) was just getting started when the organization decided to sell donuts and coffee. Six decades later, it now includes prepared sandwiches, salads, sushi, bowls of instant ramen along with a substantial assortment of the college student’s favorite snacks, drinks and of course, “lo-tech” and “hi-tech coffee” and donuts. Additional photos of the café can also be found in the photo section of the UCLA Engineering Facebook page.
The new SEAS Café is part of a series of Boelter Hall improvement projects that includes a new student creativity center to open on the 2nd floor. The building is also being renovated for several new collaborative laboratories, or “collaboratories,” that will conduct research in the areas of renewable and alternative energy production and storage, sustainable infrastructure, and environmental engineering. The new lab construction is being funded by the National Science Foundation.