The Justice

Ridgewood then: Built in the 1950s, the design of Ridgewood Quad ignored the campus Master Plan created by Eero Saarinen

Ridgewood Festival 1974: Groups of bell-bottom and peace sign-clad students gather on the grass outside of Ridgewood Dorm. Some eagerly discuss the latest campus poetry workshop, others groove to the beat of totally far-out rock.

Reflecting with nostalgia on events like "Ridgewood Festival," Brandeis alumni who roamed the hallways of Ridgewood more than three decades ago expressed fond memories of days spent hanging out in a dorm all the way at the campus' edge. After Ridgewood's five buildings crumbled underneath University bulldozers last summer, all that remained were the memories of wild times and indelible experience.

"It was the coolest place to be on campus," remembers Jim Daniels '74, who lived in Ridgewood his first-year, sophomore and junior years. "It breaks my heart that they're tearing it down."

Cliff Cohn '73 still recalls some of the distinct personalities that lived with him in Ridgewood. Once party-hard, thrill-seeking teenagers, many of the names he mentioned are now distinguished professionals, including Hollywood producer Marshall Herskovitz, whose works include Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai; Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Eddie Farhi; and head of the Anti-Defamation League David Friedman.

"Ridgewood was so diverse," he says.

Cohn's laugh grows louder, even more youthful-sounding as he begins to describe some of the pranks that his rowdy Ridgewood crowd pulled.

"We had a guy who was a genius on telephones," he says. "He had figured out a way for us to use the pay phone in the hall to make free calls all over the world."

Sounding as excited as if the scene were right now unfolding before his eyes, Cohn remembers, "One of our friends called the Vatican-he wanted to talk to the Pope!"

When Cohn returned to Brandeis years after his graduation, he was delighted to find record of the fun times he enjoyed in Ridgewood.

"My freshman roommate and I had a dartboard on our door," he explains. "It created a circle where the dartboard was and all around it were the holes. When we came back for our 25th reunion, the holes were still there!"

Remnants of destruction-also known as archaeological evidence of generations past-were not the only casualties of the Ridgewood demolition.

Continued...

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