Elizabeth
McGaughan '96 says that she always knew that whatever career
she picked would be a way of life – either as a
college professor, a furniture-maker, or as the owner as
a coffeehouse.
Lucky for Union students, faculty, and
staff, she picked the latter – at least for now.
In mid-February, McGaughan opened the
Pedestrian Café in a brick Victorian house at the corner
of Union Street and Nott Terrace, directly across from
the Blue Gate. Formerly a doctor's office, the café
offers light fare as well as coffees and teas, and live
music on weekends and evenings.
“I had been talking about opening
a coffeehouse the entire time that I was a student at
Union,” McGaughan says. “When this building
became available, I knew I had to do it.
“I love art and artful thinking,
and a café is a place where that traditionally happens.
I wanted to create a place where I could express myself
creatively and offer an opportunity for others to express
themselves as well,” she explains.
With diverse interests, McGaughan says
that she loves the unpredictability of running the cafe.
She says that she never knows what will happen each day,
and that being around creative people means that
inspiration for art is everywhere. A classics major at
Union, McGaughan says that one of her greatest dilemmas
has always been choosing what to do; she always wants to
do everything. “One of the reasons I was drawn to
classics was because it is a real eclectic mix of
disciplines – philosophy, science, literature,
poetry, art, mathematics. I am just sort of exploding all
the time, so the café is a good place for me because I
can do creative things.”
The café itself reflects
McGaughan's creativity, blending contemporary
lighting and bold colors with the antique look and feel
of the building, contrasting cool blue walls with the
dark, ornate woodwork. “I love aesthetic tension,
and so that was what I was trying to achieve here,”
she says, pointing to contemporary lampshades contrasting
with traditional Victorian wainscoting. McGaughan's
goal is to appeal to a diverse crowd, not just Union
students and faculty. She says that she's already
drawing from local neighborhoods, the county offices, and
Annie Shaffer retirement home as well as the Union
community. “I knew that people would walk downtown
if we offered them something more interesting than their
own houses,” she says.
This is not McGaughan's first
entrepreneurial experience, but her first since finishing
college. After high school, McGaughan worked in sales for
a couple of years before starting her own auto leasing
business at the age of nineteen. Ultimately, McGaughan
says that her business failed but she learned a valuable
lesson from Ken Lally, a longtime friend of the College
and recent donor for the renovation of Schaffer Library.
Lally's office was located in the same building as
McGaughan's and she often went to him for advice,
unaware of the magnitude of his success. “He was
kind of like my grandfather,” she says. When she was
coming to terms with the impending doom of her business,
she looked to Lally for advice. “He said to me,
'Cut your losses. Go bankrupt, but go back to
school, and when you're ready, try something
again.' And that is what I did,” she says.
“Declaring bankruptcy was totally
humiliating, but there was this successful man who was
telling me that it was OK, but to do something about
it,” she says. “That made a big difference in
my life.”
She took his advice and went to
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and then Schenectady
County Community College for a couple of years before
finally transferring to Union. An accomplished student,
she graduated summa cum laude from Union and also
received several awards for her accomplishments at the
College's Prize Day ceremony.
After graduation, McGaughan spent a
year putting together the financing for the café, and in
February, her dream finally came true. “I love the
whole creative and artistic experience of operating the
café and love that I can be part of the community right
across the street from some of the most brilliant
professors,” she says.
Looking back, McGaughan remembers often
saying to a friend at Union studying economics,
'Don't kill the poet,' while he countered
with 'Don't kill the entrepreneur.' As
owner of the Pedestrian Café, McGaughan is an
interesting blend of the two.