Ruth’s Chris, the massive, high-end corporate steakhouse chain, will soon be opening its first location in Long Beach as construction crews move forward on the entire re-imagining of the first floor of the office building where it will eventually move into.
It will be at 180 E. Ocean Blvd., just slightly east of where Ocean meets Pine Avenue and kitty corner to Solita, the space taking over the former Rock Bottom space.
A Ruth’s Chris spokesperson said they “have no details to share at this point” but patrons can expect an opening sometime next year.
Thrifty Oil Co., the owner of the 12-story tower that sits directly across from the historic Ocean Center building now under renovation as well, submitted their plans to update their building in November of 2019.
While the rest of the building will have a different feel, the Ruth’s Chris aesthetic is prominent along the building’s first floor, facing north toward Ocean and wrapping around the building’s western edge to open up onto the Convention Center esplanade.
The NOLA-based restaurant did not start off as a chain: Ruth Fertel mortgaged her home in 1965 in order to buy what was then the Chris Steak House in New Orleans. Fighting against nearly all forms of patriarchy at the time, the single mother was a black sheep in terms of business—and through constant fighting, eventually built a name for the steak house.
Come 1976, the steak house suffered from a fire and she was forced to relocate but unable to take the name with her, hence the birthing of “Ruth’s Chris Steak House.”
Ruth’s Chris will be located at 180 E. Ocean Blvd.
