Houston Hall loses power at busiest hour

Houston, we have a problem.

A power outage forced Houston Hall's eating establishments to shut down for almost an hour yesterday afternoon.

The outage was caused by a mechanical problem in the building's transformer room, said Thomas Hauber, director of Vice Provost for University Life facilities.

Other buildings in and around Perelman Quadrangle experienced similar electrical problems for about three seconds - Houston was the only building whose electricity shut down for longer.

A woman was trapped in the elevator during the blackout and was freed by firefighters just before power came back on.

"A lady walked out [of the elevator] and said, 'Next time, I'm taking the stairs' and then they turned the lights back on," said College freshman Abby Schwartz.

Houston Market and other eateries were forced to close during the busiest time of day.

"We weren't open for lunch. That was disappointing," said Jenn Martin, marketing program manager for Penn Dining Services.

All food businesses - including Pari la Petite Creperie and Scoop deVille - closed immediately and reopened only once the power came back.

"I lost about $500 easy, maybe more," said Creperie owner Pete Goundis. "It's alright; after 15 years, this is the first time. No problem."

Workers at Scoop deVille had a similar response.

"It's a big hour, because, obviously, ice cream is a dessert item, so we lost the dessert crowd from the noon lunch hour," said Murray Shore, the spouse of Scoop deVille's owner.

Food was not the only commodity affected by the outage.

"I was trying to sell luminaria, candle lanterns, and it just happened there was a power outage," said College senior Chirayu Patel, who was manning a table at Houston on behalf of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

He said that, because the outage drove people out of the building, he was unable to capitalize on the sales opportunity.

But not everyone was inconvenienced as a result.

Because of its many windows, most of Houston gets light from outside, so many events going on at the time, like the Penn Health Care and Hospice Conference, were able to continue as planned.

"We were kept informed and in the know the whole time," said Stephen Phillips, an employee of Wissahickon Hospice, who attended the conference.

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