Melissa Bailey Photo
Leo “Big Daddy” Vigue is throwing in his bar towel after 50 years, as his storied watering hole moves to a more upscale location on Chapel Street.
Vigue (pictured) has poured drinks and cracked jokes since 1960 at Rudy’s Bar and Grille at 372 Elm St.
Omer Ipek, who owns Rudy’s, said Monday he’s planning to move the legendary saloon to the spot most recently occupied by Ahimsa Restaurant at 1227 Chapel St., at the corner of Howe and Chapel.
Signs of the pending departure are already visible. On Sunday, Ipek removed the sign out front that boasts the bar’s origins: “Rudy’s, est. 1934.” He stripped the walls of memorabilia. He said he was worried they would get stolen when word got out.
Ipek plans to open the new bar in October. Rudy’s would close at its current location sometime before that, he said.
“I can’t believe it,” said Vigue. “A lot of people are going to be upset.”
At 76 years old, Vigue is the bar’s most recognized character, often mistaken for the bar’s namesake, Rudy. Generations of regulars gathered to celebrate his 75th birthday, and to thank him for building a sense of community at the neighborhood watering hole. On Monday, Vigue said he’s taking the opportunity to end his bartending career.
“It’s a shame,” he said, leaning on his cane outside the bar.
Ipek said he doesn’t want to relocate Rudy’s, but he had little choice. He rents the building from Hang Seng Inc., owner of the adjacent Chinese fast food joint, Main Garden. The landlord has been asking Rudy’s to leave for a year, according to Ipek.
The reason is neither a rent dispute nor financial troubles, according to Ipek.
“Business is steady at Rudy’s,” he said. “Main Garden wants to expand — that’s the only reason.”
Reached Monday afternoon behind the counter, Main Garden’s owner declined comment and waved a reporter back to Rudy’s.
“It’s too bad,” Ipek said about the move. “I tried everything I could do. I paid more than anybody can pay to stay there.”
“I would rather stay,” Ipek added, “but the building is falling apart. If you don’t have a [long-term] lease, you’re not going to put any money into it.”
Rudy’s has rented the space from the beginning, when it started out in 1934 as a working-class, one-room bar next to a barber shop. In the ‘70s, the bar took over the barber shop, too. In the ‘90s, Rudy’s grew again, adding a room with a pool table in what used to be a backyard garden.
The dark, wooden rooms are soaked with history: Names of bygone patrons are carved into wooden tables, and their photos — playing rugby, catching fish, raising a cold one — covered the walls, until recently. Ipek packed those photos away on Sunday as a precaution, before he went public about the move. On Monday, no faces stared back from the walls of the bar’s back room.
Bartenders said the news has traveled fast. Phone calls have poured in asking if Rudy’s is closing, and a man showed up with a videocamera Monday, shirtless, demanding confirmation of the rumor.
Omer Ipek said he’s doing all he can to bring the “old Rudy’s” feeling to the new location.
Ipek said he has negotiated a long-term lease on the new space on Chapel Street. The spot is the former home of the Indian vegan restaurant Ahimsa. The restaurant’s awning (pictured) promises a “chic vegetarian experience.”
The new location will be “bigger, and nicer, too,” Ipek said.
The new Rudy’s will occupy three rooms, he said — the former Ahimsa spot, plus two adjacent spaces.
Ipek, who’s from Belgium, has long sought to expand Rudy’s kitchen to add more traditional Belgian foods. At last, he’ll have room in the kitchen to do so. He said he’s planning to run a restaurant with a full kitchen, so that beers may be coupled with mussels or Belgian waffles, in addition to his famous Belgian frites.
Ipek also co-owns two successful, upscale Belgian restaurants in Manhattan called the B Cafe East and West. They’re known for their selection of Belgian beers.
He said the new Rudy’s on Chapel Street will be a little nicer than the Elm Street joint, but without losing the old Rudy’s character. The new spot sits a block away from a lively strip of ethnic restaurants frequented by Yale students, downtowners and visitors. He said he hopes the foot traffic on Chapel will bring more customers to Rudy’s expanded restaurant.
Then, when customers enter two back rooms, then they’ll “see the old Rudy’s,” Ipek said. One room, a former juice bar, will hold a stage for live music and karaoke. A second will hold the Rudy’s pool table, he said. Characteristic Rudy’s decor — a carved bench, and the boxes of salvaged memorabilia — will sit in those two rooms.
“When you get there, you’ll feel like you’re at Rudy’s,” Ipek promised. Only “the bathroom will be cleaner.”
Ipek said there may be a gap between when the current Rudy’s location closes and the new one opens. He declined to give a closing date for the storied Elm Street haunt. He said he’ll try to keep Rudy’s open on the weekends during the move.
Ipek said he plans to keep patrons in the loop through the bar’s Facebook page.
The move was news to Karl Vaillancourt (pictured), who was smoking a cigarette outside the bar on Monday afternoon. He said he’s been drinking at Rudy’s since he was 15, when he would visit from West Haven, using his older brother’s ID.
“I don’t know how it’ll possibly be the same,” he said.
As he sat outside, Vigue walked over to Rudy’s from his house on nearby Howe Street. He stood outside for a minute, dressed in a characteristic Red Sox World Series Champion t‑shirt and hat, and reflected on the passage of his home-away-from-home.
“It’s going to be a big change,” he said. As the years took their toll, Vigue had already cut his hours back to Saturdays between noon and 4 p.m. He has trouble standing for long periods of time, and often needs to rest on a stool near the door.
“I was going to retire anyway,” he offered.
Vigue was asked if he’ll make the trip to Rudy’s new home, two long blocks down Howe Street. He asked three times where the new spot was, drawing his ear closer to this reporter.
After pinpointing the location, he gave his reply.
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” he said.
Melissa Bailey Photo