A Tea Room, Nixon’s Lies, Grunge & More 

If a bar ever personified a middle finger to the rich and a free pint for the poor, it was the legendary Robin Hood Inn near the home of Kent State University.

An actual tea room near campus in the roaring twenties, the four walls of the Robin Hood could transport locals, and bar historians alike, into a time-warp through fine dining, Vietnam War protests, punk, grunge, and, later, the best damn pour of Keystone Light a bartender has ever seen.

In the 1930s, The Inn would serve as the “go-to” spot for classy dining in Kent and Sunday dinners for students, parents, and faculty. 

Through WWII, the ‘50s, and into the times of “American Graffiti,” The Robin Hood remained primarily a restaurant. Home to the Kiwanis Club of Kent, elected officials, deans, and business owners would all rub elbows with locals and undergrads. 

Each decade in American history challenges different businesses and industries, well…differently. But big cultural changes in America often bring along cultural changes to our favorite watering holes and their clientele as well.

By the 1960s, college students had become more involved in peaceful protests for various causes at home and abroad. Local bars became the ultimate hang-out spots for intelligent discourse and rebellious crusades of music and poetry. The Inn’s namesake would’ve dug it. 

The Vietnam War protests of the late ‘60s trickled into 1970 like the over-poured head of a pint on a bar with no coaster. And the puddle got bigger.  

Four days after Richard Nixon’s “plans for peace” were revealed to the world as nothing more than deeper involvement, Kent State and other schools around the country weren’t having it. 

On May 4, 1970, The Robin Hood Inn became a temporary sanctuary to its patrons while hundreds of National Guardsmen invaded campus. A handful of students threw rocks. In return, guardsmen shot 67 rounds from their M-1 rifles. On the orders of the Ohio Governor (and many think Nixon himself), four were dead, nine were injured, and Kent State was forever immortalized in the song “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young.

As time passed, so did several owners, name changes, and exterior and interior “upgrades” to The Robin Hood. The ‘80s and ‘90s welcomed plenty of music acts, comedy, and various stages of operation as a bar, grille, or “bar & grille.”

Always for the people, punk, grunge, ska, and other genres were welcome at The Robin Hood, and countless ideas, shots, and 25-cent wings were shared.

The Robin Hood Inn closed its doors in the summer of 2010. The city of Kent is on record saying it was not their choice, and it’s unclear to this day if the slew of violations in 2009 were a factor.

The Robin Hood was finally demolished in May of 2011 when Kent State University was on the verge of a massive project connecting the downtown businesses with the campus. President Obama spoke at Kent State sixteen months later as new jobs, funding, and excitement flooded the region but the irony of the closest bar to campus being torn down wasn’t lost on its regulars. 

The original structure of the Robin Hood Tea Room, approaching the century mark, remains today as the beautifully renovated Cleveland Bagel Cafe on E. Main St. 

A home for many, a “no thanks” for others, an outlaw ‘til the end. Cheers to The Robin Hood Inn! It was a bar that certainly kept the good times… IN.

- Tribute by Drew Biada, photos courtesy of Kent Alumni and Matt Fredmonsky