Apparently, the West End serves alcohol to minors.

The West End Café was shut down early Friday evening when officers from the 26th Precinct delivered a restraining order signed by state Supreme Court Justice Sherry Klein Heitler. The order closed the bar for selling alcohol to minors in violation of New York City law.

According to the court order, the bar was shut down after an undercover raid on Nov. 3rd, 2004, when police witnessed the illegal sale of alcohol to a minor without checking ID. If the West End is unsuccessful in its bid to rescind the court order, the bar could face a lengthy, perhaps even permanent, closure.

"Basically, the police came in [Friday] night and ... what they said is that they had sent somebody in undercover three times," said Jeff Spiegel, whose family owns the bar. "These three people were not carded during dinner by the bartender, and as a result they said that they [the authorities] had gone to get a court order because of these three incidents," he said.

Police officials said that the action was undertaken jointly by officers of the 26th Precinct and the New York Police Department's Legal Bureau, which brings civil suits against institutions engaging in illegal activity.

Among others, the court order listed the trustees of Columbia University as defendants—Columbia owns the building that houses the West End.

At least two parties were moved over the weekend as a result of the closing. A group from Brown University moved its gathering to Café Pertutti, and a party for Syracuse alumni was held at Amsterdam Café and Tapas Lounge instead of the West End.

"We're the primary place for students in the area, and we actually make an effort, day in and day out, to card people, and we hire people to stand at this door," Spiegel said. He added that bouncers begin working at 11 p.m. on the weekends.

Spiegel plans to go to court today to fight the court order with hopes of reopening the bar. A message posted by Spiegel on the bar's windows at 9:00 p.m. on Friday stated, "We have been closed down by the police for serving underage drinkers. We hope to be open again by early next week."

The West End Café has been a Morningside Heights institution since its establishment in 1911, achieving fame as the 1940s hangout of beat writers and Columbia students including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Lucien Carr. The Spiegel family has owned the bar for more than 20 years, since their daughter attended Columbia's Journalism School.

Spiegel said that Columbia supports the bar and its involvement with the undergraduate community.

"Our first responsibility is essentially to be a hangout for a University that is lacking in them," Spiegel said. "In our business, we live hand to mouth, and we're going to lose a lot of business. I would ask that students support us by coming in" when the bar reopens.

On Saturday, many Columbia students were treating the news as a joke. One group of students passed the bar laughing, as one student said, "The West End serves minors? No way!"

When Josh Breslow, CC '08, heard about the closure, he chuckled.

"I have been there when they asked somebody for ID. Once." Breslow was not surprised by the closure, and referenced t-shirts worn by bartenders and waitstaff which read, "I had my first drink at the West End."

"I didn't go much to the West End, but I did respect the fact that they were so studious in ignoring the underage drinking law," Tobin Chodos, CC '08, said. "I think they had it coming, because they were pretty negligent of the law."