Jill DeGroff - Ruby Jacobs, Coney Island

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Price: $245.00

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Producer	Jill DeGroff
Country	United States
Item Type	Artwork
Sku	JD0011

By Jill DeGroff
Watercolor 12 x 16

Ten-year-old Ruby Jacobs ran as fast as his feet would carry him along the surf at Coney Island Beach. Running after him was a local cop who had busted Ruby for illegally selling 5-cent ice cream fudgie-wudgies. With a big smile on his face, Ruby ran and ran as the Coney Island breeze pounded against his face. Eventually he got tired and ran into the ocean. The cop stood on the beach and said, “I’ll get you when you come out of the water.” But Ruby knew better. After all, everyone on the beach knew Ruby. He had grown up in the area, and everyone loved him. So when they saw him in trouble, they crowded around the cop, giving the ice cream felon ample time to escape.

In 1972, he bought the Hebrew National Deli and Bar on the boardwalk, which had opened in 1934, and turned it into Ruby’s Bar & Restaurant — a legendary Coney Island institution that is still run by his family. Up until his death 2000, Ruby’s favorite pastime was still to talk about the good old days on the beach he called home: “It’s an exciting place to grow up in. Once you get the sand between your toes, you can never get it out.”
--article by Seth Mates http://rubysbar.com/history

Ruby Jacobs