Rudy’s Barbershop, a Sibling of Ace Hotel, Has Opened in Williamsburg

Rudy’s — the rock-n-roll barbershop that Alex Calderwood and Wade Weigel launched in Seattle in 1993 before going on to create the Ace Hotel — has finally opened its Williamsburg outpost.

After expanding along the West Coast, Rudy’s debuted its first NYC location in the Ace in 2012. Calderwood picked out the Williamsburg location — inside of a 125-year-old bank at 33 Grand Street, adjacent the waterfront — about three years ago, before his unexpected death last year. A quote from him (“I’m just a barber and a tattoo pimp”) now hangs from the tall ceilings of the new spot along with banners quoting Oscar Wilde and Charles Bukowski.

Rudy’s had previously operated a retail store and coffee shop out of the Engelhardt-designed bank building, which was previously home to the A.P.C. Surplus store. But now 10 barber chairs have been installed — and so has a mural by Romon “Rostarr” Kimin, as we mentioned while covering his installation at Le Bain earlier this week. Here’s a snazzy video of the artwork going up.

As you can see in the vid, the barbershop shares space with a “dedicated pop-up shop” for Portland-based Tanner Goods, which will sell limited-edition leather items and collaborations.

Keep in mind, Rudy’s is the second concept-driven barbershop to make a move from the Flatiron area to Williamsburg. The first was Barber Bart.