I am sure a number of Forgotten Fans will have stories to tell about Rudy’s, a mainstay for decades in Hell’s Kitchen on 9th Avenue north of West 44th Street. The joint is hardly classifiable as “forgotten,” but FNY is also an infrastructure blog, so I’d like a word about its incredible red neon sign that burns night and day. Whoever crafted it is a stone genius, with its angled sanserif lettering. Not only that, it may be the original, as it shows up in this 1940 photo…
I have been in Rudy’s, but it was several years ago. It’s genuine. The booth seats are in red leather that is several decades old and repaired with duct tape (which I hear has been replaced). The house beers are Ruby’s Red and Ruby’s Blond, but unlike another ancient dive, McSorley’s, you can have other brands of beer and other liquor. And, you can still have a free hot dog with every beer you purchase. It is a perfect place to sit with friends, drink and chew the fat in addition to the hot dogs.
Crowned by antique Tiffany lamps, the booths are all covered in duct tape. The house beers– a red and a terrific blonde — run you $2.50 for a pint and $7 for a pitcher….there’s little space among the young bankers and advertising types who long ago elbowed out the boozy neighborhoodies who used to dominate. Nowadays old timers who wander in seem out of place, especially after sundown whe the post-work crowd settles in. I witnessed a septuagenarian trying to get the atention of another septuagenarian. Though they were standing only five feet away from each other, it was too loud for them to hear one another. –Ben Westhoff, New York City’s Best Dive Bars, 2nd Edition, IG Publishing 2010
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12/8/22