This post was written by Hatchet Reporter Eve Chan.

Sign of the Whale, a local bar that has been in business since 1971, reopened Wednesday evening after a week of renovations and changes in management.

The recent changes were made to make the bar and restaurant, located at 1825 M Street near Chipotle, friendlier for people coming in and drinks more easily accessible, said Jayne Barrickman, the bar’s director of Marketing and Events.

The Whale recently switched ownership and is now owned by East Coast Saloons, the same company that owns McFadden’s, a bar and restaurant near GW.

“We realized that Sign of the Whale has established a name over the years. They built a great business for themselves and we simply wanted to build on that,” said Jason Lawrence, director of operations,

Lawrence, who is part of the management at McFadden’s as well, oversees operations at Sign of the Whale. The two bars, however, are not affiliated with each other, Lawrence said.

While there is new corporate ownership at the Whale and four new bar managers, the bar’s overall atmosphere will not change, and the target clientele will remain the same, Barrickman said.

Senior Katie Ross, who has been to the bar “over 30 times,” said she enjoys the Whale’s friendly atmosphere.

“Friends and I started going every Thursday because it was a relaxed atmosphere and the bartender there, Liz, is really fun and nice,” she said. “My impression is that it’s the type of bar that changes weekend to weekdays.”

The bartender, Liz Warner-Osborne, is also a GW alum, and is at the Whale three nights a week.

“We would love for people to come in to watch sports and enjoy what they’ve been experiencing for the past 50 years,” Lawrence said.

The bar has alumni affiliation with Syracuse University and the University of California at Los Angeles, and many of their sports games are on televisions at the bar. Lawrence said, however, that the bar attracts a “diverse clientele, whether you’re 25 watching sports or 65 sitting down for a meal.”

The Whale, which will host a reopening kickoff party Wednesday evening through Sunday evening, now boasts a new 30-to 50-person private event room with a bar on its second floor and a new bar added to the restaurant’s back dining room in addition to 15 new plasma televisions.

This week the bar has various promotions planned for each evening, and both Lawrence and Barrickman said they were excited for the reopening.