Ruby Foo Wong ( better known as Ruby Foo, was a restaurateur who founded the historic Ruby Foo's Den in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in 1929. One of the earliest Chinese-American women restaurant owners, she went on to open similar restaurants in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, Montreal, and Providence.

Biography

Ruby Foo was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1904. In 1923, she moved to Boston, where she started a one-room restaurant in

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

. The venture was a success, and in 1929 she opened Ruby Foo's Den, a restaurant and nightclub, at 6 Hudson Street. Billed as "Chinatown's smartest restaurant", the "Den" was the first known Chinese restaurant in the U.S. to attract a large non-Chinese clientele. In the 1930s and 40s it was a nationally known gathering place for famous athletes, actors, and other celebrities. It became one of the first Boston restaurants to expand into other cities when Foo lent her name to similar establishments in New York City, Miami, Washington D.C., Providence, and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Foo was a mentor to many aspiring chefs in the Boston area. Foo was married three times and had two children, Earl and Doris Shong. Her third husband was William Wong. According to the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', after seeing the famous " Bloody Saturday" photograph of a crying baby in a bombed-out

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

railway station, she arranged to have the baby brought to the U.S., where she adopted him in 1938, naming him Ronald. Foo died of a heart attack in her Jamaicaway home on March 16, 1950, . Her funeral was attended by prominent city and state officials, as well as "stage, screen, and radio personalities". She is commemorated on the

Boston Women's Heritage Trail The Boston Women's Heritage Trail is a series of walking tours in Boston, Massachusetts, leading past sites important to Boston women's history. The tours wind through several neighborhoods, including the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, commemorating w ...

References

External links

Photo: Ruby Foo's in Boston, 1951.

* ttps://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/23/77/02/237702b9775e8d638e6403b27dc53a88.jpg Photo: 1937 menu* {{DEFAULTSORT:Foo, Ruby 1904 births 1950 deaths History of Boston Asian-American culture in Boston Businesspeople from San Francisco American women restaurateurs American restaurateurs American people of Chinese descent People from Jamaica Plain 20th-century American women