Omaha Exploration

Pay a visit to Rudy’s to celebrate Christmas in July. Or on Halloween if you prefer. In fact, you can get in the Christmas spirit all year long at Rudy’s Christmas Bar.

Its home is at 8503 Maple Street in a building just east of the Little Papio Creek, most remembered as the home to the Wayside Tavern. Built in 1969, it was originally the site of Horton’s neighborhood grocery store.

Walter Horton was born in Massachusetts in 1870 before making his way to Omaha and opening his grocery store by 1924. It wasn’t until 1956 that grandson Lee Horton filed for a liquor license, thereby converting the one-time country store into a neighborhood bar called the Wayside Tavern. Just one year later, the longtime owner-operator of Christensen Dairy Products, Hank Christensen, took over the bar.

By the time the area was annexed by the City of Omaha in 1964, the farmland surrounding it had been converted to an industrial/manufacturing area. Hank decided to raze the old building in 1969 and replaced it with a new modern structure. The Wayside proved popular with workers and residents of the area. The bar was targeted by armed robbers in 1979 who, after demanding customers line up against the wall, collected their wallets and the money from the cash register. Fortunately, the four men involved were later arrested following a chase involving a getaway car and motorcycle.

2007 and 2017 photos of the Wayside Tavern before being turned into Rudy’s Christmas Bar.

Jerry Hayek’s long run at the Wayside started in 1981 and continued for 40 years. He said that the secret to his success was to keep the bar clean and the prices low. He was proud that his bar remained in business for decades despite increasing competition from newer bars. Jerry’s old-school dive shunned the emerging craft beer scene and its seasonal offerings by keeping just three beers on tap: Budweiser, Bud Light, and Miller Lite. Perhaps the Wayside’s best kept secret, however, was its pizza.

It wasn’t until 2022 that Jerry turned the keys over to a new owner who had a new vision for the old bar. Rob Rutar, the owner of Jerry’s Bar just down the way in Benson, bought the place and set to work fulfilling his vision of making it a Christmas bar. The Benson native once expressed his passion for the bar business in an interview with the Omaha World-Herald: “I live for this. I am never happier than when a bar is full and people are having a good time and I’m behind the bar.” It shows, as Rudy’s was named one of the best new bars of 2023 by The Reader. As for its name, Rudy’s is, of course, named after the famous reindeer whose nose is red.

Rudy’s is the opposite of a holiday pop-up bar. It proudly keeps its decorations up year-round, even on St. Patrick’s Day. Its Facebook description sums it up perfectly: “a throwback to a better era. Combination old school restaurant feel in the glow of a Christmas memory.”

I’d love to hear what you have to say so please feel free to comment. Until next time, keep exploring!

More pictures

Sources

• Omaha World-Herald archives