Key Points:

  • The University Club of Phoenix was founded in 1965 and closed in July
  • It served as a local hub for political networking and fundraising in Arizona
  • The club’s closure leaves a void in Phoenix’s political community

Barry Aarons has many fond memories growing up in New York as a young boy, but one of the biggest treats from his childhood was attending events at New York City’s historic Harvard Club with his father once or twice a year.

The club in New York was founded in 1865 by Harvard alumni and was among the first buildings in the city to be designated as a landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

“It was a remarkable and memorable event in my life with my dad,” Aarons, a lobbyist and the owner of the Aarons Company, said. 

His experience with New York’s club left such a lasting impact that it led him to seek out a similar club in Phoenix during the early 1970s with the University Club of Phoenix, where he would eventually become a president of and a member of the club’s board of directors. 

The University Club has held a strong presence in Phoenix’s political and business community for over a half-century, but closed its doors in July after the board determined it could no longer afford to remain open with a declining membership. 

“The prestige of being a member of a lunch club kind of dissipated over the years and it made it that much more difficult for us to be able to keep on and keep open,” Aarons said. “It was tough to get members, and frankly, we couldn’t remain alive on just special events and walk-in traffic.”

The club was founded in 1965 and first operated out of the Westward Ho hotel until 1970, when club leaders bought the property at 39 E Monte Vista Road, where the club has been located since.

Aarons said the club is a remnant of a bygone era where breakfast and lunch clubs flourished across the country in the 20th century. 

The University Club was often the venue for large events, including weddings and parties, but it was also a popular destination for political fundraisers and business meetings. 

“Some of the most significant movers and shakers of the Valley and politics and business were there and they would be discussing issues and making deals,” Aarons said.

Kevin DeMenna, the senior adviser and longtime lobbyist at DeMenna Public Affairs, described the club as a pillar of Arizona’s political community and said the club saw great use annually during the Legislature’s “Hell Week,” the period of time where lawmakers and lobbyists engage in a frenzy of fundraisers and events to stock up campaign fundraising before the start of the legislative session. 

State law prohibits lobbyists from making campaign contributions to legislators during the regular legislative session. The law was passed in 1992 as part of a comprehensive overhaul to lobbying regulations, according to a 2002 attorney general opinion of the law. 

“It’s like the week before Christmas, where you’ve had 100 weeks before Christmas, but for some reason, this one is special,” DeMenna said. 

Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said he’s been to the club plenty of times for fundraisers or to meet with constituents and lobbyists, but never during Hell Week. 

“It was more a restaurant than it was a university club, which conveys images of overstuffed chairs and men in suits smoking stinky cigars,” Kavanagh said. “I think a better term would be calling it the University Faculty Lounge.”

With the club’s closure, Aarons said he’s ready to find a new spot for his lunch meetings, although he will miss the club dearly.

“When I joined the University Club, I thought, wow, you know this is terrific. I’ve done something that was so important to my dad, and now it can be important to me too,” he said.