Ruby's Diner is a restaurant chain aesthetically designed after American diners of the

Swing Era The swing era (also frequently referred to as the big band era) was the period (1933–1947) when big band swing music was the most popular music in the United States. Though this was its most popular period, the music had actually been arou ...

. It first opened on December 7, 1982 by Doug Cavanaugh and Ralph Kosmides. Ruby's Diner serves

breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night.Anderson, Heather Arndt (2013)''Breakfast: A History'' AltaMira Press. Various "typical" or " ...

lunch Lunch is a meal eaten around the middle of the day. It is commonly the second meal of the day, after breakfast, and varies in size by culture and region. Etymology According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the etymology ...

and

dinner Dinner usually refers to what is in many Western cultures the largest and most formal meal of the day, which is eaten in the evening. Historically, the largest meal used to be eaten around midday, and called dinner. Especially among the elite ...

, with a menu that includes classic American diner fare of

hamburgers A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or c ...

French fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips (Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

, chili and

milkshake A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, fruit syrup, or whole fruit into a thick, sweet, cold mixtu ...

s along with

soups Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingr ...

salads A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

and

sandwiches A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

. To date, Ruby's Diner operates a total of 20 locations. 16 are located in Southern California. The remaining four are located in the states of Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada respectively."Ruby Cavanaugh, namesake of Ruby's Diner, dies at 93"
Orange County Register, December 29, 2015 While the basic decor remains the same for every Ruby's Diner, creative touches are added to some locations by developing modified themes to fit the local area. For example, the Ruby's AeroDiner in

Laguna Hills Laguna Hills (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in south Orange County, California, United States. Its name refers to its proximity to Laguna Canyon and the much older Laguna Beach. Other newer cities nearby—Laguna Niguel and Lagun ...

(located near the former El Toro Marine Air Base) has a collection of miniature

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

aircraft that "fly" through the restaurant on a track.

History

The first Ruby's Diner opened on December 7, 1982, in a converted bait shop at the end of the

Balboa Pier The Balboa Pier is one of two piers in the city of Newport Beach, Orange County, California. The other ocean pier on the Balboa Peninsula is the Newport Pier. The Balboa Pier was constructed in 1906 as a sister project of the Balboa Pavilion. Th ...

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws ...

, California. On that day, founders Doug Cavanaugh and Ralph Kosmides worked the grill and the cashier station and earned a total of $63. Ruby's Diner has locations on the historic Southern California piers of

& Oceanside. A former Ruby's Diner at the end of the Seal Beach pier, which was closed in 2013, was destroyed by a fire on May 20, 2016. In late February 2021, another at the

Huntington Beach Pier The Huntington Beach Pier is a municipal pier located in Huntington Beach, California, at the west end of Main Street and west of Pacific Coast Highway. At in length, it is one of the longest public piers on the West Coast. (The longest is Ocea ...

had shut down. Huntington Pier Terminus

In 2013, Ruby's Diner introduced Ruby's Dinette, a 1960s themed

fast casual A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate conc ...

concept, and began opening restaurants under this name and style starting in the Westfield Plaza Bonita shopping mall in

National City, California National City is a city located in the South Bay region of the San Diego metropolitan area, in southwestern San Diego County, California. The population was 58,582 at the 2010 census, up from 54,260 at the 2000 census. National City is the ...

.
On January 20, 2020, Ruby's Diner closed at Suburban Square after nearly 25 years. On September 8, 2020 the Redondo Beach location also shut down. From mid-March 2020 to March 2021, all restaurants had to abandon in-room dining to combat the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. There was still

take-away A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...

& pickup service available. April 2021 saw most restaurants open patio dining besides in-room dining, provided the tables are separated for

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dis ...

Origin of the Ruby girl

Ruby Cavanaugh, the mother of founder Doug Cavanaugh was the inspiration for the restaurant name and its logo. The Ruby girl cheesecake character was derived from a photograph taken of her while cheerleading for Fremont High School in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. In recognition of Ruby, every Ruby's Diner location has a copy of Ruby's high school graduation picture near the cash register.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.rubys.com 1982 establishments in California Companies based in Irvine, California Diners in the United States Hamburger restaurants Restaurant chains in the United States Restaurant franchises Restaurants established in 1982 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018

History

Origin of the Ruby girl

See also

References

External links