Rothschild notes another reason for the presence of young members. When asked whether the club was a place where people could make "connections" in the business world, he replied, "We hope it is." However, younger members deny that they made business contacts in the club and in the years of expanding membership, the club seems to have lost some of its reputation as an outpost of the "old boy" network, a place where socializing and climbing the ladder could be accomplished in the same afternoon or in the same conversation.

Two forces seem to be at work in the club today. On the one hand, the older graduates see the club as a social gathering place, an oasis of old Ivy League gentility in the hubbub of New York. To these members, the Harvard Club is much like a final club in Cambridge, a place to meet their kind of people.

Rothschild, however, was not in a final club at Harvard. He says with more than a hint of bitterness in his voice, "when I was at Harvard, guys named Rothschild were not in final clubs." He adds, "I think the final club aficionados tend to gravitate more towards the more social clubs, like the Knickerbocker and Union."

Howard, who declined to give his last name, a graduate of the Class of 1910 and a Harvard Club member since 1919, is a representative of the older attitudes. He remembers when more people in the club knew each other and when the atmosphere used to be more "friendly."

Calling the club his "second home," he eats lunch there every day. Nothing that the membership is probably less friendly than it used to be, he adds, "but I'm prejudiced; all my friends are dead."

Howard's club is a more leisurely and social institution than the Harvard Club of today, one where efficient service, reasonable rates and a convenient location now attract younger members.

The Harvard Club is the only "pure" university club left in New York, since the Yale Club now admits Dartmouth graduates and the Princeton Club allows Pennsylvania alumni to join. Rising costs, the flight of some businesses to the suburbs, and a period of reaction against the idea of selective clubs forced many New York clubs to either close or to change with the times.

While the Harvard Club chose not to open its doors to other universities, it decided to allow almost any Harvard graduate to join. The exclusivity and prejudice are essentially things of the past; the club is, as more than one member described it, a "service facility."

The only vestige of the old years that remains is the atmosphere: the comfortable, genteel elegance that pervades the building. The wood paneling, carefully polished floors and gracious service of the staff remind elder members of a bygone era and appeal to the younger members as part of a Harvard they never knew. The club has changed over the years, but "conspicuous displays" remain out of order at the Harvard Club.