'It Was Chaos' As NU Students Engage In Mass Looting At Nevin's

EVANSTON, IL — Days after its owner announced it was closing, a beloved bar in Evanston was ransacked by Northwestern University students, staff said. Police said they're reviewing surveillance tape and employees are still searching for stolen items after more than a hundred students allegedly looted Tommy Nevin's Pub last week. Staff tell Patch a mob of mostly undergraduates tried to steal everything that wasn't nailed down between 11 p.m. Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday, leaving the bar barren inside.

Owner Rohit Sahajpal announced the imminent closure of Nevin's at 1450 Sherman Ave. during public comment at a council meeting Nov. 13. Later in the meeting, aldermen voted to approve construction of a 273-unit, 15-story mixed-use tower on the site, but Sahajpal confirmed the site was already listed for sale and revenue had been declining for years.

Three days later the pub began filling up with Northwestern undergrads earlier than usual, according to staff. Thursday is a popular night for students at the bar, which hosts about 300 on a normal week.

That night, Nevin's reached capacity at about 11:45 p.m., according to bartender Dustin Osakada. He said the place was so crowded it was impossible to see the wall or the back exits, so about 20 minutes passed before employees realized what was happening.

The first person to notice was a manager at the neighboring Prairie Moon Restaurant, who saw students streaming out of the bar carrying stolen memorabilia. Some of them appeared to be photographing themselves with stolen items, staff said.

“By the time we caught on, everything was taken off our walls. They took everything. They took absolutely every item that was hanging on our walls," Osakada said. Thieves stripped the walls, they stole dart boards, pool cues, balls and more. "They cleared the bar out. They completely destroyed it."

Nevin's staff, including one overwhelmed bouncer, attempted to chase down students one by one, but every time they returned after recovering an item from an exiting thief, more items would be taken.

"It wasn't a great night," said Bar Manager Brian Davenport, who's worked at Nevin's since 2011. "It was chaos." He said staff managed to catch the majority of the looters in the act, and eventually decided to lock the doors around 12:40 a.m. and start checking people on the way out.

"We basically stopped serving and all got on the door and tried to salvage what we could," he said. "We ended up closing early just to do damage control."

Bartender Osakada estimated there were about 100 students left in the bar at that time and roughly half of them – 40 to 50 of the students remaining in the bar – were caught on the way out trying to steal things.

"[They were] hiding things under their coat, hiding things in their pants. stealing old trophies that leagues that we supported won, pictures of the teams. They took literally everything," he said.

Osakada said the incident, which he described as "mass looting," seemed to be organized.

“We’re all pretty sure it was a concerted thing," he said. "Everything disappeared in such a short amount of time. There was so many kids, over a hundred kids with stolen items. I’m pretty confident it was planned ahead of time.”

Evanston police said they received a report at 1:51 a.m. of more than a dozen stolen items. Detectives are now reviewing surveillance video from inside. Cmdr. Joseph Dugan confirmed no one had been arrested in connection with the matter.

"We are deeply troubled by the incident at Nevin’s last week and are working with local authorities in an attempt to identify those involved and, if they are indeed members of the Northwestern community, take appropriate action," Northwestern Dean of Students Todd Adams said in a statement to Patch Wednesday. He added that the Northwestern University Police Department has been in contact with Evanston police regarding the investigation.

The day after the alleged looting occurred, the bar's owner carted off recovered items and placed them in storage. Davenport said some may be auctioned after the closing party on Nov. 30, which is set to include Trinity Irish Dancers and a live Celtic band, along with a $15 cover charge and $1 drinks.

Each stolen item could have told a rich story from the 27-year history of the pub, Davenport said, and many are now lost.

Davenport wrote a letter to the Northwestern student newspaper ("Stop Stealing From Nevin's") asking students not to make the nuances of Evanston's relationship with the university into a "blinding neon metaphor by trying to steal from us because you don't know how to decorate your dorm room."

After his letter was published Saturday, seemingly remorseful students began returning some of the pilfered items, including one of the dart boards.

"Since then, stuff has somehow magically been trickling back in,” he said.

Despite last Thursday's unseemly scenes, Davenport said meeting customers and hearing their stories and histories with Nevin's has been deeply rewarding.

“I’ve been listening to people’s stories. And in a small way, I’ve been going from table to table and – poorly – playing the role of grief counselor” he said.

Davenport said that to the long-time Evanstonians who've been lovingly sharing their stories and memories of Nevin's – including parents who have been dropping in with children who are literally products of relationships formed at the pub – it doesn't much matter that the walls have been stripped.

“The people that are coming out, there are a lot of them that are coming because they want to be there specifically," Davenport said. "And even though they can’t play pool because all the balls were stolen and not very many of them can play darts because the dart boards were stolen, they just want to be there and relive something from five, 10, 25 years ago. And it’s a cool thing to facilitate because Evanston’s full of really good people.”

Watch Now: NU Students Engage In Mass Looting At Nevin's

» UPDATE: Last Call At Nevin's: Tommy Nevin's Pub holds closing party, going-out-of-business sale

_{Top photo: Items from Tommy Nevin's Pub staff said they recovered from students who tried to steal them Thursday night | Credit Dustin Osakada, used with permission.}