There is life before 21.

Area establishments such as the Coffeehouse, Huskies Den, and NIU Wesley Foundation are making an effort to offer a variety of events and entertainment available to students under the age of 21.

Located at 131 E. Lincoln Highway, the Coffeehouse is open to all ages and offers nightly live musical entertainment in addition to a lunch and dinner menu complete with healthy salads and entrees.

Specialty entertainment nights at the Coffeehouse include Clyde’s Open Stage on Sundays, quiet atmosphere on Monday, jazz on Wednesday; and Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights feature a mixture of folk, blues, jazz and rock and roll.

“I’ve been told that we have one of the biggest music scenes in town,” said Coffeehouse Manager Curt Halsted adding that their folk music scene is receiving a strong reputation in the Northern Illinois area.

Halsted said he would like to see the Coffeehouse become a popular hangout for people under 21.

“We’re offering something that isn’t available anywhere else to that age group,” Halsted said.

“They (minors) can come here as an alternative to their dorm doldrum. We want them to know that they’re welcome here, rather than excluded,” Halsted said.

He described the Coffeehouse atmosphere as “very relaxed…Three key words to the Coffeehouse environment are relaxation, education, and fun… We pride ourselves on being unpretentious,” he said adding that “things get a little nutty here.”

Future plans for the Coffeehouse include expansion to the basement for an all ages nightclub. Halsted said if all goes well with the Coffeehouse business this year he plans to install a performance stage, dance floor, and lounge in the basement for an all ages bar.

“One idea of the all ages bar is so that people who have friends of all different ages can meet and congregate in a club atmosphere,” Halsted said.

Halsted said the all ages bar idea is open to interested investors and buyers and a business plan will be available soon.

The Coffeehouse restaurant also offers an area for students to display their art work and a sales area for jewelry, tee-shirts, books and small art items.

The Coffeehouse is open from 11 a.m. to midnight everday with the exception of being closed on Tuesdays. Weekend nights are usually open unitl 1 a.m. he said.

Huskie Den Manager Dan Swan said he’s been to many recreation centers and “ours is one of the nicest in the country.”

“The Huskie Den is open to all ages and is economical for the students,” Swan said. Prices average around a dollar per person for bowling and two dollars per hour for pool.

The Huskie Den is centrally located in the NIU Holmes Student Center and Swan described it as “a place to meet people and relax as an alternative to alcohol.”

The Huskie Den facilities include 16 bowling lanes with automatic scorers, 16 pool tables, video games, pinball games, dart machines, and a brand new Compact Disc juke box, Swan said.

Also, bowling guide rails are availabe on two lanes in the Huskie Den for blind and visually disabled students, he said.

Hours for the Huskie Den are Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Friday 8 a.m. to 1 a.m., Saturday noon to 1 a.m., and Sunday noon to 11:30 p.m.

The NIU Wesley Foundation facility at 633 W. Locust is used about once a month to hold concerts open to all ages.

The concerts are prearranged by independent groups who schedule the concerts with their own money. One concert source said the average admission price for the concerts is five dollars and no alcohol is allowed on the premises.

Some past concerts include Jesus Lizard, local band Snailboy, No Empathy, and Sludgeworth.