Melissa Bailey Photo
As Rudy’s bar prepares to leave its home of 76 years this weekend, staff removed the wooden carvings on the walls for safe keeping — and revealed a mysterious image from the past.
The long forgotten 40-year-old mural by an artist named Faust (pictured) was revealed as staff began to move furniture out of 372 Elm St., where the bar has stood since 1934.
Along with the mural revelation, a member of the original Rudy’s family emerged this week to share his memories of the early days in the beloved Dwight neighborhood watering hole.
Rudy’s plans to close its doors after last call Sunday, according to owner Omer Ipek. The bar will be closed for an interim period of a couple of months, then will reopen at a new spot two blocks away at 1227 Chapel St. Ipek has previously said he’s aiming to reopen in October. He said Wednesday that he doesn’t have a fixed opening date.
As he arranges the move, Ipek is taking pains to keep the Rudy’s old look intact. He’s taking with him the wooden furniture and the wooden paneling that lined the walls. Both hold decades of carvings, with deep ruts spelling words like “rugby,” “Johnny,” and “Ska.”
Ipek said he considers the carvings “furniture,” as much as the tables and chairs. Those carvings, as well as the many photos, license plates and memorabilia, will all travel with Rudy’s to the new space at the corner of Chapel and Howe Streets, most recently home to the restaurant Ahimsa.
In the front room, removing the wood paneling revealed a surprise: A large mural of a woman, with her head leaned back, her hair flowing into a cloudy sky, with a backdrop of stars and Egyptian pyramids. The mural is signed “Faust, ‘69.”
Ipek said he doesn’t know anything about the mural, beyond that it was painted in 1969.
“I have no idea,” he said. “Nobody knows.”
Bartender Jeff Petrin said the only person who knew it was there was longtime bartender Leo Vigue, Rudy’s 76-year-old unofficial mascot.
The Original Rudy’s
Meanwhile, for another longtime Rudy’s stalwart, the move has opened up a different part of the past.
Donald Siclari, part of the original Rudy’s family, said he read this Independent article with a tear in his eye.
“You see, Rocco ‘Rudy’ Conti was my uncle,” he said.
Wooden wall panels await transportation to the new Rudy’s.
Rudy Conti founded Rudy’s in 1934 as a one-room bar and grille next to a barber’s shop. He died of a heart attack when he was in his 30s. Rudy’s brother Joe Conti — Siclari’s other uncle — ran the family restaurant from the ‘40s until the mid ‘70s.
At the time, the place was a “family restaurant,” Siclari recalled. It was known for its subs, made with fresh roast beef, salami, and other Italian meats.
Every Thursday, Conti served lasagna, which he made at home with using a family recipe.
“Everything was good, and everything sold out,” recalled Siclari, who’s now 63 years old. He favored the meatloaf. “We always had food just like home.”
The Contis were a prominent Italian family. Siclari said his mother’s father, Agostino Conti, immigrated to New Haven from the province of Messina, Sicily.
Siclari recounted with regret how the Conti family came close to buying the building — then saw the building and business pass on to other hands.
All along, Rudy’s retained its name and its trusty bartender, Vigue.
Rudy’s is part of a cluster of buildings, from 370 to 376 Elm St., that were owned as a package.
In the mid-‘70s, the owner, Dr. Luca Celentano, wanted to sell the property. Conti tried to buy the whole package from Celentano, Siclari said, but the two couldn’t come to terms. The family’s offer fell just $10,000 short of the seller’s, he said. Siclari said his father “begged [Conti] to go the extra $10,000 to protect his interests and retain Rudy’s,” but the deal never happened.
“Rudy’s was stolen from the family — legally,” he recalled.
After the Contis failed to strike a deal with Celentano, he sold it to another owner. Later, Philip Wieler, Jr. bought the cluster of buildings in 1987 for $400,000, according to land records.
Rudy’s back room, the former barber shop.
The property ended up in its current hands by way of foreclosure. Founder’s bank moved to take the building in 1991. Tuen Pang Chan, owner of Main Garden Chinese restaurant at the corner of Howe and Elm, bought the property out of foreclosure in 1992 for $227,600. Chan used the corner building for the Chinese restaurant and let Rudy’s stay in the building as renters. Rudy’s has been leasing the space from them since then. A longtime lease expires at the end of this month. Chan and Ipek couldn’t come to an agreement on a new one; click here for more info on that.
Since the ‘70s the business, like the building itself, has passed through a series of owners. Ipek has owned the business since April 2002.
Siclari was crestfallen to hear about the move.
“It’s all happening so fast,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
“If I could buy Rudy’s and put it back in the family,” he said, “I would.”
He now lives in West Haven. Most of the Contis have either died or moved out of state, he said. Until this week, he hadn’t been to Rudy’s since the ‘70s.
Siclari stopped by Rudy’s Monday and ran into Vigue. The two used to tend bar together. They both shed a tear, he said.
Despite the sadness, Siclari said, the move had an upside — “It put me back in touch with such an important part of my family’s past.”
When he heard that the Rudy’s last day was set for this weekend, he called his remaining relatives in the Conti clan. They’re planning to raise a few drinks together on Saturday at their old haunt.
Siclari said while he can’t keep Rudy’s from leaving its longtime home, he’s looking forward to the reunion.
“All I know is, we’ll be together,” he said.