Melissa Bailey Photo
When a new bar opens on the grave of the old Rudy’s, will Leo Vigue return to pour the pints?
That’s a question Vigue (pictured) is grappling with, as the longtime bartender finds himself, for the first time in decades, left without a neighborhood hangout spot where everyone knows his name.
Vigue, who’s 76 years old, announced he was throwing in his towel when Rudy’s Bar and Grille left its longtime haunt at 372 Elm St. this summer after the bar owner could not come to terms with the landlord on a new lease. The storied watering hole held a rowdy last hurrah early on Aug. 1., capping 76 years of business at that spot in the Dwight neighborhood.
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Vigue poured drinks for 50 of those years. He touched generations of regulars and became a mascot for the bar. He’s known by the nickname “Big Daddy,” or “Buddy,” which he calls people, quite frequently, when he can’t remember their names.
As Rudy’s itself prepares to reopen at a new location on Chapel Street, Big Daddy is considering coming out of retirement — to go back to work at the same old spot on Elm Street, at a new establishment run by the landlords who booted his long-beloved bar.
“Yeah, they want me to work there,” Vigue confirmed Tuesday. “It’s not definite.”
Despite his retirement, Vigue continues to rein as mayor of the corner of Elm and Howe. In just a few minutes on the sidewalk, one man slowed down a car to call out “Buddy!” and several others waved and yelled, “Hey, Leo!” from across the street.
Founded in 1934, the year after Vigue was born, Rudy’s rented its Elm Street spot for the past 18 years from Tuen Pang Chan, who also owns Main Garden, the Chinese restaurant next door.
The prospect of Vigue joining Chans’ new enterprise comes in the wake of a moveout process that heightened tensions between Rudy’s and the Main Garden crew. When Rudy’s last lease expired, the Chans tried to buy the business from Rudy’s owner Omer Ipek. Ipek said he was given no choice but to leave. He moved out in August, taking with him years of memorabilia. During the moveout, the landlords called the cops, claiming the Rudy’s crew was stealing an air-conditioning unit. Ipek left the A/C unit there. No one was arrested and no lawsuit has been filed.
Ipek is now moving forward with the new Rudy’s, which he said will retain the old Rudy’s feeling but with a nicer restaurant in front and a cleaner bathroom. He got permission earlier this month from city zoners to relocate the bar to 1227 Chapel St. That’s two long blocks away from where the old bar stood.
Meanwhile, the Chan family is planning to resurrect Rudy’s former haunt as a new drinking hole called Elm Bar.
Punhon S. Chan has applied to the state for a liquor license for the new establishment. The application is still pending, according to state records. The family also got a city building permit to renovate the interior.
Perry Chan, whose dad owns Main Garden, said Tuesday that he plans to be a partner in the new Elm Bar. In an interview with a Mandarin-speaking student reporter at the Yale Daily News, a Main Garden representative announced last week that Vigue would be on staff.
Chan confirmed Tuesday that he has asked Vigue, his longtime neighbor, to resume pouring drinks at that spot.
“If Leo wants to, we’d be happy to have him back,” Chan said. He declined to comment further about the details of the new bar.
Vigue said the Chans approached him soon after Rudy’s closed about returning to work as a bartender.
“It’s too soon” to say yes or no, Vigue said Tuesday.
He spoke outside his Howe Street home, which is right next door to Main Garden and connects to Rudy’s through a backyard. He had stepped out the door wearing his characteristic Red Sox hat and holding a television remote control. Vigue used to own the home; now he rents it. He said he’s lived there for some 30 years. The corner has been very quiet, he said, since Rudy’s left.
While he initially frowned on the plan to replace Rudy’s with another bar, he said Tuesday, he’s looking forward to the Chans’ new place. “I was in there yesterday.”
Vigue said he wishes his neighbors well in their new enterprise.
“The Chinamen? They’re good people,” Vigue said. “I’m glad for them.”
Vigue was asked about his previous announcement that he had retired from tending bar.
“I did,” he said.
“I’m not going to work that much,” he continued — just a couple of afternoons.
“If I go back,” he quickly added.
Meanwhile, Ipek said he has a 20-year lease on the new space for Rudy’s at the corner of Chapel and Howe Streets. It comes equipped with 50 parking spots. He’ll open up shop in about two months, he said, after he completes major renovations. When he made the move, he took pains to take with him all the features of Rudy’s, including the carved wooden walls, the barber’s pole, and decades of photographs.
During renovations in the new space, Ipek has boarded over the windows with wood, painted green with yellow and white speech bubbles with quotes about the beloved bar.
“Hey Buddy!” reads one speech bubble.
“Where’s Leo?” reads another.
Vigue hasn’t been there to answer that question.
“I haven’t seen it,” he said.
