The sign for New Lucky's has been elusive in a number of ways. I first saw it on Back to Oakland, but described as "new Ricky's" and wondering if it was related to Rickey's Sports Bar in San Leandro. It took me a while to find the sign itself, at 496 23rd St. behind the Rock Paper Scissors Collective on Telegraph. I noted it on my map, but my research on what establishment it was for turned up nothing. I discovered when I actually went to take a picture of the sign that it's "New Lucky's", not Ricky's, and armed with that info I was able to turn up more info.
New Lucky's was a bar at 2268 Telegraph, more formally known as Burnett's New Lucky's. I don't know if it's still visible, but I found a photo of a faded sign on the back of the building. I also found pictures of some glass ashtrays from New Lucky's, one with a drawing of the front, the other listing the phone number as HI4-5708 (HIghgate=44).
I even found a picture of a lighter from New Lucky's -- clearly the heyday of smoking. The named telephone exchange suggests sometime between the 40s and 60s, which fits with the smoking.
1951 – Art G. Moniz
22 hours ago
5 comments:
My grandmother worked as a waitress here back in the late 60's 70's... all i remember is her bosses' name was RUBY and I think she was an owner...
Cool bit of personal family history!
Cindy, your grandmother's name wasn't Tammy, was it?
It was definitely still open into the mid-80s because my family used to eat there. I was in my teens and I used to always order their shrimp louis. You entered by going down the stairs from the back parking lot. I don't remember that the front door was in use at all - it might have been blocked off.
The interior decor was very gangster/speakeasy -ish. Low lighting, big red booths, and the wallpaper was blood red with a plush, velvet texture that was completely awesome.
I always felt like we had stepped into a gangster movie when we entered Lucky's.
My father was the chef Tony Falconio
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