(In which I share capsules about “shuttered” bars from my dive bar book.)
We’ll begin with…
Ruthie’s Place
1829 Richmond
I grew up less than a mile from Ruthie’s and walked by it a thousand times and never went in. Nobody I knew ever went in there either, which led me to believe that like a few of the other dives not far away on Lower Richmond, that Ruthie’s was a gay bar. (In Ruthie’s case, I had it fixed in my head that it was a lesbian bar.)
About five years ago, the owners updated the exterior with some shiny aluminum that makes the place look much less dive-y from the outside than it is on the inside. Once inside the door, you’ll find a place that pretty much defines no-frills beer joint – an oval bar in the middle of the room, a sassy barmaid, cheap beer (no liquor), a jukebox crammed with wisdom and sadness. The men’s room is a standout – the walls are papered with pin-ups from magazines like Maxim and FHM.
Ruthie’s doesn’t seem like anybody’s bar of first resort. It’s the kind of bar you go to when you are either thrown out of your favorite place, or are avoiding someone else, like an ex, a creditor, or some combination of both, or are ending the night on a note you might not quite remember in the morning.