St. Paul’s Chapel on Columbia Campus is known for its religious significance and impressive architecture, but it has another reputation in the eyes of some university students. Since 1964 it has been the site of the Postcrypt coffeehouse, a tiny venue in the chapel basement that features performances from students and community musicians alike. "It's sort of word of mouth," says Rose Donlon, co-manager of Postcrypt. "I think the people who want to know about it know about it. You know, we try to reach out and we will reach out more." 

Annika Christensen co-manager of Postcrypt adds: "The chapel is our home, it's really the only place I can imagine Postcrypt being. And the ambience of that little space! When I first came in there I was a freshman I was just completely awed. It's just this little stone room with all these great people and you're all there together listening in this intimate environment to great folk music."

Postcrypt generally has shows every Friday and Saturday. An open mic night is typically held on the first Saturday of every month. Notable artists including Suzanne Vega have performed at the Postcrypt in recent years.

Postcrypt has had its share of controversy in the past, almost getting shut down two years ago after selling alcohol to underage students. Making the decision to stop selling beer altogether rather than hire security to monitor sales, Postcrypt has had to rely on selling baked goods and cider to keep the coffeehouse afloat. Speaking about the difficulty in running a weekly performance venue on a low budget, Donlon said: "It's just a matter of finding people who want to help out and people are pretty interested in helping out here. We always have to make sure the bar is stacked, that there are volunteers, that there's a manager here, but in the end, I love being here, so it doesn't feel hard work."

With the Occupy Wall Street movement underway, folk musicians have come to the Postcrypt singing protest songs, making the coffeehouse a hotbed for political expression as it was in the 60s. "We have certainly been discussing that as a board, whether we will show support or stay neutral," says Donlon. "But we want Postcrypt to be a place where people can voice opinions through music through spoken word-we're trying to get Lit night started actually. The occupy movement is not something we have endorsed as venue, not that it would mean much if we did."

In the spring students can come to listen or perform at the annual Postcrypt Folk Festival. Until then, the Coffeehouse has some notable folk acts lined up for the weeks ahead including Tall Tall Trees and Andrew Rose Gregory of The Gregory Brothers.

Visit Postcrypt's website http://postcrypt.virb.com/ to see who will be performing soon.