I had three stops prior: 34th Street, Water Street, and a Momo stop in Jackson Heights. Then I showed up at Rudy's a little after 7:30. The winter tent is on in the backyard. The heater is on. There was a crowd there sure. This was more than five people. Josh, the other person on Drinking Liberally payroll, was holding court. I spent a minute with that huddle, then walked over to a corner crowd, one woman, about five men. Laura and Lucas were engaged and Lucas had organized a gathering with his fellow city planner friends. The guys were from all over the place, Bronx, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Westchester. I talked mostly to Laura to start with, then to Lucas, then to others, there was a Tom.
Justin Krebs showed up late. He gave a shout out to Lucas from the other end of the tent. A little later he walked over. He was his garrulous self. Trivia: this guy is not on Facebook. Now you know why the organization is not growing faster.
He bragged about the 99 cent menu items in his neighborhood, which was right there. "I live right round the corner." Laura asked him if he ate vegetables. What are those? He asked. I feared he might ask me what a cow looks like. Like Bill Clinton says, most New York politicians could not tell one end of the cow from another. Nepal is the Arkansas of the world. We are poor and proud too. Then she asked if he had sheets. He said he had blankets. Standing back to back he mentioned "truck driver." A little later he said it was Rudy's 75th anniversary in a few hours, on the 5th. I guess the place was around also during prohibition. That might have been a Mirza reference.
Laura went out and brought food for her crowd, shared the fries with me. She gave me her card to become Facebook friends with.
Hello Stephanie. Hello Brooke.
There was some kind of a loud beer game going on at the other end of the tent, more than a dozen people participating.
A little after 10 I left.
When he talked about the 99 cent pizza place on 41st and 9th, he said, "I wonder how they make money." He is right on the dot. To me that place is in the same league as Dell and Walmart, it is a terrific business model. You drive the price down and make money on volume. I don't go there just for pizza, I go there for business inspiration.
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