The Harry’s Coffee Shop legacy is family, which has ensured the longevity of this iconic La Jolla restaurant through two generations and counting.
If you’ve spent any time in La Jolla, either as a tourist or a resident, you know Harry, as in Harry’s Coffee Shop, the Girard Avenue staple pouring out coffee and community since 1960.
Even if you never had the chance to meet Harry himself, you’ve experienced his warmth and care, passed down through his children and served on every plate of eggs, pancakes, club sandwiches and more.
As Harry’s Coffee Shop marks 65 years in business with no signs of slowing down, two of Harry’s sons look back on growing up behind the counter and ensuring their dad’s commitment to family – which extends beyond the last name – lives on.
Harry’s then
Whether you’ve had breakfast or lunch at Harry’s (or dinner! The eatery used to stay open through evenings its first 30 years) and whether you’ve lingered in a booth or at the counter, you’ve likely experienced reliably satisfying meals there, a consistency crafted over the decades.
Harry Rudolph Jr was born and raised in Brooklyn, honing his cooking and restaurant skills at a small cafe owned by his father (the original Harry), in which he met his wife, Catherine.
Harry and Catherine moved to California (following the move of Harry’s beloved Dodgers team) in 1957, working at a few restaurants in and around Pacific Beach before moving to La Jolla and opening Harry’s Coffee Shop in April 1960, in what was previously Gene’s Waffle Shop.
Harry, and Harry’s Coffee Shop, quickly established themselves as La Jolla fixtures, going beyond the menu to serve up a space for “community gathering, especially over caffeinated conversation,” said Harry’s son James Rudolph, also a La Jolla resident.
James is one of Harry and Catherine’s nine children; the restaurant is currently owned by John Rudolph, the youngest of the nine.
“It’s kind of incredible that the business has lasted this long,” John said. “I think part of it is that my folks had so many kids.”
Running Harry’s Coffee Shop has always been a family affair, John said, with all nine siblings, along with Harry and Catherine, working in the business in some capacity or another, from busboy to owner.
Even Harry’s mother, Susan Rudolph (“Nanny” to John and the siblings), helped manage and work the cashier station from the early 1960s until right before her death at 90 in 1990.
“All the guests called her ‘Mom,’” John said.
John himself started as a host, also working as a server and manager in high school, learning how to manage others much older.
James started as a busboy but also has had several positions at Harry’s.
“You have to work your way up,” he said, adding through his first jobs there he learned responsibility, valuable social skills and accountability, having to open up at 4:30 or 5 am in those days to greet people for their first cup of coffee, people who were disgruntled if he were late.
Both John and James, the second-youngest, had a sense, more than the older siblings, James said, of how important Harry’s was to the community.
“There was a bit of an identity associated with Harry’s,” James said.
“None of us in the family know any different, because it’s always been a part of our lives,” John said.
Harry’s “legacy is the family,” James said, as the eatery was a place for the Rudolphs to grow up, eat and socialize. “The legacy is growing up in the community.”
That honorific extended to the wider La Jolla community, James said, as people outside the family often say to him, “‘that was my first job’; ‘I was in high school and I worked there’; ‘I love your dad.’ …
“Most people in town have grown up with Harry’s,” James said.
James hopes his three children will have jobs at Harry’s and added the kids are already seeing Harry’s impact.
“My son now wears the [Harry’s] shirt,” James said. “Other people ask him if he’s connected. That’s fun for him. … He’s going through exactly what we went through.”
Harry’s now
John bought the business with his siblings, Harry III and Elizabeth, when their parents retired in 2005. Harry died in 2009 at 79; Catherine still lives in La Jolla.
Owning Harry’s Coffee Shop has “been tough,” John said. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and [I’m always] trying to get better.”
Running a restaurant, “you have to stay humble and grateful,” he said.
Nowadays, running Harry’s is solely John’s venture, and he strives daily to ensure a great guest experience by taking care of his staff, he said.
“Essentially, it’s really the staff, the team that we have, running the day-to-day operations,” John said. “They’re having the most interaction with the guests.”
It’s “been a lot of work the last 15 years,” he said, finding “the right people.”
The biggest challenges, John said, have been maintaining the business through the COVID pandemic and a subsequent incident in May 2021 when a car crashed into the restrooms, injuring three people and damaging the building.
“Luckily, my sister Elizabeth was able to help a lot with getting the business back open,” John said, adding the consequences of the crash could “easily” have left Harry’s closed for a year “if things had gone differently.”
John said “now is probably the most challenging environment I’ve encountered,” however, with rising costs for food, insurance and electricity.
He’ll get through it the same way Harry’s always has, with family and effort.
“I think any business is like a garden,” John said, “where somebody has to be tending to it on a daily basis, pulling weeds, adjusting for weather.”
That garden keeps growing: John has opened three locations of Harry’s Taco Club in recent years and opened Harry’s Coffee Shop in Del Mar in 2023.
Harry’s ahead
Harry’s legacy in La Jolla is also growing, as John seeks to serve new generations of La Jollans while continuing to welcome those who’ve sat at the counter for decades.
John’s goal for the future is to just leave Harry’s as unchanged as possible to honor his dad and the community that counts the restaurant as a La Jolla staple.
“We’ve updated a little bit of stuff in the kitchen [and] there was a little bit of a remodel up in the front area, but not too much has changed, which I think is one thing that people like, especially now,” he said.
“People are looking for more comfort and stability and things that they can count on that aren’t changing. … Diners have come back. I don’t know that they ever completely fell out of fashion.”
In that sense, Harry’s will always be in style, and though John doesn’t have children of his own, he hopes one of his many nieces and nephews – most of whom have already passed through Harry’s for job experience – will express interest in continuing Harry’s Coffee Shop for the next generation.
Whoever takes on the legacy, John said, “would have to really be willing to put in the work.”
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