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Spent some time on TripAdvisor a short while ago during a thunderstorm. I’d like some pointers on some local businesses:
Chill Bar
Hi-Five Donuts
Please & Thank You
Quills Coffee
Royals Hot Chicken
Stout’s Burgers and Beers
The Bard’s Town
Wild Eggs
Rough itinerary:
-Check-in at 2 PM when we get to our AirBNB in The Highlands
-Walk around the corner to Quills Coffee
-Drive to Old Louisville. Park. Check out St. James Court.
-Drive back to AirBNB
-Walk to East Market Street. Do Royals Hot Chicken for early dinner.
-Get a chocolate chip cookie from Please & Thank You for dessert.
-Walk down to the Bardstown Road Corridor.
-Possibly see a show or improv at The Bard’s Town.
-Possibly grab a drink at Chill Bar
-Back to AirBNB to sleep.
-Breakfast at 7 AM at Hi-Five Donuts.
-Leave Louisville for Missouri
^ Sound good? I know Peter1948 will tell me “you have barely scratched the surface...” but as I said we only have an overnighter (for now). Might be back for Labor Day Weekend.
Spent some time on TripAdvisor a short while ago during a thunderstorm. I’d like some pointers on some local businesses:
Chill Bar
Hi-Five Donuts
Please & Thank You
Quills Coffee
Royals Hot Chicken
Stout’s Burgers and Beers
The Bard’s Town
Wild Eggs
Rough itinerary:
-Check-in at 2 PM when we get to our AirBNB in The Highlands
-Walk around the corner to Quills Coffee
-Drive to Old Louisville. Park. Check out St. James Court.
-Drive back to AirBNB
-Walk to East Market Street. Do Royals Hot Chicken for early dinner.
-Get a chocolate chip cookie from Please & Thank You for dessert.
-Walk down to the Bardstown Road Corridor.
-Possibly see a show or improv at The Bard’s Town.
-Possibly grab a drink at Chill Bar
-Back to AirBNB to sleep.
-Breakfast at 7 AM at Hi-Five Donuts.
-Leave Louisville for Missouri
^ Sound good? I know Peter1948 will tell me “you have barely scratched the surface...” but as I said we only have an overnighter (for now). Might be back for Labor Day Weekend.
That's a nice "intro." But it's bareeeeely scratching the surface. It's basically staying in downtown Pittsburgh, hitting a couple spots in Southside, and saying you saw Pittsburgh. Louisville, once explored at the nook and cranny block by block, is a very surprising city.
I'd say as before going to Bards town (I don't think that is much of a hot spot but I got no idea), make sure you get to see Cherokee Triangle...streets like Everett, Willow, Longest, Cherokee Rd as it parallels Bardstown Rd. If you are going to hit the Bardstown, that's also close to the Barnstable-Brown Mansion, where the famous Derby party is held every year, usually on E! news. This is best explored on Lime scooters.
Nearby, the Commodore is a nice example of several historic midrises which overlook Cherokee Park, which is also a beauty (Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead). 1412 Willow Ave is another prominent example.
The best ways to get to Old Louisville are along the Oak/Mary and St Catherine corridors....there you will get a side glimpse of the corner by corner rapid gentrification occurring between these areas. Full Stop is a nice pit stop for coffee in between. You may even want to see the Germantown Mills Lofts and the area around it to see where the millennials are pouring into the city. Mr. Lee's is my favorite speakeasy cocktail lounge over there. That neighborhood is a WHOLE other beast with block by block very very dense gentrification, flips, and tons of corner spots filling with the young and hip. Think East Nashville.
Also, the walk from Nulu (near Garage Bar), and Bardstown Rd to Bardstown is a loooong one (5 miles). I'd suggest the best way is to rent a Lime or Bird Scooter. Just make sure you got the app. I can tell you that with the exception of two blocks near Liberty and Baxter, there is near continuous hip, urban commercial from I-65 and market street, east, and southeast down baxter ave, to where it turns into Bardstown Rd, then for another 3 miles south to the Douglass Loop (an old streetcar loop anchored by hip restaurants like Migo and Havana Rumba)
Other than St James Ct, I'm not sure Old Louisville would be the first place I'd spend the majority of my time. While it is indeed the largest victorian neighborhood in the country, the commercial is very hodge podge. It actually feels like a slightly more southern St Louis in that area.
Also, if you are not sure you are coming back, a drive onto main street downtown is a must from around Hi Five, west to the Frazier Museum.
Likewise, I think you need to drive 4th street from the river to UofL campus to even get a 25% overview of the city.
If you PM me, I'd be happy to try to do a tour. Chill Bar is a gay bar in the center of many other gay bars....Louisville's nightlife is very spread out and that's not the main area, but very fun. Near Chill Bar, Nowhere Bar is probably a bigger party.
I think leaving out Frankfort Ave from River Park Place, the Big Four Bridge and Botanical Garden, and heading south on Frankfort Ave to Tin Roof (heart of St Matthews) is a likely a big miss. Lots to see in that area, even historic mansions like the Peterson-Dusmenil house.
Either way, you will find 12 hours in the city cannot even give you a cursory overview. Have fun and you will still have missed soooo many hip neighborhoods.
Are you okay? Literally take a breath, not sure why you’re back to back posting huge walls of text, but you may need help. We’re all glad you found the utopian anti-Louisville that exists out there. The rest of us here are doing just fine and would welcome you back if you want to visit. lol
I am the original poster who asked for advice a few years ago. (almost 3 - whoa!!) I appreciated all the information and differing opinions. I thought I should repay the favor and give an update.
We moved to the Highlands in the spring of 2019. I really like the beautiful architecture, the trees, and living so close to Cherokee Park. I also like how inexpensive real estate is here. It's great to live in the midst of beautiful houses while paying a relatively low price. I also like the large Cuban population, which was a surprise. Great restaurants and culture from that immigrant group!
Bardstown Road is not as nice as I expected it to be. There are restaurants I like there, but overall the street has a gritty feel, and it seems like many of the merchants don't make much effort to keep the sidewalk and store entrance looking nice. Obviously, this doesn't apply to all of them, and like I said, I do like many of the restaurants and I do make a point to patronize independent businesses.
Overall, the main negative for me is exactly what I was concerned about from the beginning: an insular feel.
ServoMiff said, "I think it's next to impossible to make friends if you're not from there (unless you specifically seek out those who aren't from there originally). Strangers will talk to you in public all over the place, but it's a surface level friendliness not unlike the same you get in southern towns. It's kind and genuine but they generally don't want to add friends to their group."
I understand that a lot of 50-something people have their friend groups set decades ago, and don't have the time or interest in making new friends. I guess I had thought there were be more transplants, as that seems to be one's best bet for making friends. The Highlands, in particular, seems very settled. I did join two book groups that I found on MeetUp, and that has gone well. I also got involved in my neighborhood association. It's not a super-active group, but I do participate when there's an event. The "New 2 Lou" group was recommended to me, but it had disbanded in late 2018, unfortunately.
Louisville does have a lot to offer, but I'd caution middle-aged people considering a move here to be prepared that it may be difficult to meet other newcomers. I realize now that I had not fully appreciated that aspect of the northern suburbs of Dallas, where I lived for 2 years before Louisville. Their tract housing there is not my thing, BUT... so many transplants! I didn't fully realize what I was giving up there. Ah... tradeoffs.
As an aside, we may now be considering a move to Nashville, working downtown. It will be interesting to see how that compares.
I am the original poster who asked for advice a few years ago. (almost 3 - whoa!!) I appreciated all the information and differing opinions. I thought I should repay the favor and give an update.
We moved to the Highlands in the spring of 2019. I really like the beautiful architecture, the trees, and living so close to Cherokee Park. I also like how inexpensive real estate is here. It's great to live in the midst of beautiful houses while paying a relatively low price. I also like the large Cuban population, which was a surprise. Great restaurants and culture from that immigrant group!
Bardstown Road is not as nice as I expected it to be. There are restaurants I like there, but overall the street has a gritty feel, and it seems like many of the merchants don't make much effort to keep the sidewalk and store entrance looking nice. Obviously, this doesn't apply to all of them, and like I said, I do like many of the restaurants and I do make a point to patronize independent businesses.
Overall, the main negative for me is exactly what I was concerned about from the beginning: an insular feel.
ServoMiff said, "I think it's next to impossible to make friends if you're not from there (unless you specifically seek out those who aren't from there originally). Strangers will talk to you in public all over the place, but it's a surface level friendliness not unlike the same you get in southern towns. It's kind and genuine but they generally don't want to add friends to their group."
I understand that a lot of 50-something people have their friend groups set decades ago, and don't have the time or interest in making new friends. I guess I had thought there were be more transplants, as that seems to be one's best bet for making friends. The Highlands, in particular, seems very settled. I did join two book groups that I found on MeetUp, and that has gone well. I also got involved in my neighborhood association. It's not a super-active group, but I do participate when there's an event. The "New 2 Lou" group was recommended to me, but it had disbanded in late 2018, unfortunately.
Louisville does have a lot to offer, but I'd caution middle-aged people considering a move here to be prepared that it may be difficult to meet other newcomers. I realize now that I had not fully appreciated that aspect of the northern suburbs of Dallas, where I lived for 2 years before Louisville. Their tract housing there is not my thing, BUT... so many transplants! I didn't fully realize what I was giving up there. Ah... tradeoffs.
As an aside, we may now be considering a move to Nashville, working downtown. It will be interesting to see how that compares.
I appreciate the follow-up. It's not often on here where we see the requests for information and the loop closed after moving in. The pandemic was hard on Louisville IMO, and yes Bardstown Road was getting grittier before the pandemic. NuLu has kinda become the new "hip" district for food and bars, and I don't think a city like Louisville has enough room for more hip areas than it already had, so it naturally cannibalized some of Bardstown Rd.
The city itself ran into some major budget challenges because of state pension issues and cutbacks on officers, and basic utility services suffered as a result. Before we left in late 2019 our trash service was cut back to once a week and recycling once every two weeks I believe. It made for a mess in the alleyways of the metro. I haven't followed the goings on this year so far, but I don't see anything that would point to a major financial turnaround.
Peter is a good person, of that I am sure. However, he has drank the Louisville Kool-Aid to the point of poisoning because he lacks true objectivity to the shortcomings that the city has. He's right that the number of transplants has grown a lot, but when you start from next to nothing, there's only one direction to go.
Nashville will probably remind you more of Dallas. It has WAY more transplants nowadays than it used to and it always had a bit more because of the music scene there. I went to Austin to visit friends back in June, and that city seems in terrible shape with large homeless encampments right in the middle of the CBD. I was way more impressed with San Antonio than Austin.
Best of luck and sorry Louisville didn't work out for you. I think the city needs to attract way more white collar jobs than they do today if it's going to ever be a place with more transplants - Papa Johns, UPS, Humana and the manufacturing stuff can only garner so many. It's a blue collar town and that doesn't really attract the types like yourselves. It has to shed that blue collar image if it wants to be something more.
I appreciate the follow-up. It's not often on here where we see the requests for information and the loop closed after moving in. The pandemic was hard on Louisville IMO, and yes Bardstown Road was getting grittier before the pandemic. NuLu has kinda become the new "hip" district for food and bars, and I don't think a city like Louisville has enough room for more hip areas than it already had, so it naturally cannibalized some of Bardstown Rd.
The city itself ran into some major budget challenges because of state pension issues and cutbacks on officers, and basic utility services suffered as a result. Before we left in late 2019 our trash service was cut back to once a week and recycling once every two weeks I believe. It made for a mess in the alleyways of the metro. I haven't followed the goings on this year so far, but I don't see anything that would point to a major financial turnaround.
Peter is a good person, of that I am sure. However, he has drank the Louisville Kool-Aid to the point of poisoning because he lacks true objectivity to the shortcomings that the city has. He's right that the number of transplants has grown a lot, but when you start from next to nothing, there's only one direction to go.
Nashville will probably remind you more of Dallas. It has WAY more transplants nowadays than it used to and it always had a bit more because of the music scene there. I went to Austin to visit friends back in June, and that city seems in terrible shape with large homeless encampments right in the middle of the CBD. I was way more impressed with San Antonio than Austin.
Best of luck and sorry Louisville didn't work out for you. I think the city needs to attract way more white collar jobs than they do today if it's going to ever be a place with more transplants - Papa Johns, UPS, Humana and the manufacturing stuff can only garner so many. It's a blue collar town and that doesn't really attract the types like yourselves. It has to shed that blue collar image if it wants to be something more.
Ah...the Nashville bandwagon. Bleh. You can have it. It's shiny and new and will wear off.
Bardstown Rd gritty? Meh, it's a city. I see the same stuff in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Williamsburg in NY, and Center City Philly. I have traveled all over. The stereotypes posted here are grossly exaggerated. I do agree Louisville is much different than tract home burbs of sunbelt Dallas. For one, Louisville is 1/5 the metro.
The Highlands has generations of families, many Catholics of Irish, German, and a few Italian ancestry, who have NEVER left. They go to the same schools and live in the same areas? Why? It's one of the best urban neighborhoods in the USA.
It's true you moved at the WORST TIME EVER in the history of the city and country. It's simpy not fair to compare Louisville during the world's worst pandemic and insane race riots with a crap mayor to suburban Dallas especially day to day life you had pre pandemic.
Louisville absolutely has what you want. Please move to Norton Commons. You will love it. Many transplants and clubs of people wanting new friends. Several new bars opening a private bourbon social club. This will combine the urban look you love but cleaner, newer, and with more transplants. There are so many 40-70 yo singles. It reminds you of a resort town in FL like Celebration.
But moving to a city a year before it was closed for the last two years and comparing to suburban Dallas? You are entitled tyo your opinion but I am also entitled to inform it. I didn;t drink any Kool-Aid....I just traveled all over and know Louisville is special, a big city in a smaller city guise.
Please. Please do not fall into the Nashville trap. It's shiny, it's new....it's fun if 30 and single...but the rent and prices are as high as NYC! It's insane and for WHAT?
Louisville isn't the best city in the USA. It has flaws. The crime and cleanliness has gotten much worse since roughly 2017 under a sloppy, useless mayor. But the stereotypes are just all off. The Highlands is close to 70% college educated. This blue collar vibe that Servo is blaming....maybe in the south end but not the Highlands.
I'd suggest moving to Prospect or Norton Commons a year and see how you like that. It will be sooooo much cheaper and easier living than Nashville. No traffic, no worries.
Okay, Peter, you are really getting a bit extreme here! I have no desire to move to Prospect. I had never lived in the suburbs in my entire life until 2 years in the Dallas suburbs a few years ago. I am comparing to the Dallas suburbs simply because that is what I had experienced immediately before the Highlands neighborhood of Louisville. My "comparison" was not meant to imply that the two are similar or even have much at all in common. It was just my stream of consciousness ramblings as I evaluate things 2.5 years into my move to Louisville.
Also, I lived in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago for many years, even during the gritty '90s. In fact, I'm going there tomorrow after many years away, and it will be interesting to see how it feels.
As for Nashville, that move (if it happens) would be a for a good job and financial & career reasons. I didn't mean the mention of Nashville as a "Buh-bye, Louisville, we're done with you!" kind of thing. As I said, there's a lot to like about Louisville. I live having a large old house for a reasonable price, just for starters. And I do walk to Bardstown Road restaurants quite frequently.
ServoMiff, thanks! I frequently read these threads and the OP rarely comes back to report how things worked out, so I thought I would.
I'm curious to hear what cities you think are better.
In Louisville's size range? Very few. I'd say New Orleans. Possible Salt Lake City. That's it under 2M!
This isn't a versus thread though. I have not found a major metro under 2M as urban and unique as Louisville outside those two.
The only ones that I would have said before are now larger than 2M....Portland, Austin, and perhaps Nashville come to mind.
Other than that, Louisville is bar none, pound for pound, the best city in America under 2 M. I can do almost ANYTHING in Louisville that I want as a city lover without any of the prices and hassle and worries.
You really have to get to the big true cities to notate a major difference. Once you get into the DC and SF types....there's just no comparing them to Louisville. Louisville is more comparable to suburbs of major metros.
I have traveled extensively for many many years and lived in 7 cities to make these assertions. Louisville, bottom line, can only be matched by New Orleans in the under 2M club for its culture, vibrancy, festivals, food, and urbanity. That's saying alot.
Okay, Peter, you are really getting a bit extreme here! I have no desire to move to Prospect. I had never lived in the suburbs in my entire life until 2 years in the Dallas suburbs a few years ago. I am comparing to the Dallas suburbs simply because that is what I had experienced immediately before the Highlands neighborhood of Louisville. My "comparison" was not meant to imply that the two are similar or even have much at all in common. It was just my stream of consciousness ramblings as I evaluate things 2.5 years into my move to Louisville.
Also, I lived in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago for many years, even during the gritty '90s. In fact, I'm going there tomorrow after many years away, and it will be interesting to see how it feels.
As for Nashville, that move (if it happens) would be a for a good job and financial & career reasons. I didn't mean the mention of Nashville as a "Buh-bye, Louisville, we're done with you!" kind of thing. As I said, there's a lot to like about Louisville. I live having a large old house for a reasonable price, just for starters. And I do walk to Bardstown Road restaurants quite frequently.
ServoMiff, thanks! I frequently read these threads and the OP rarely comes back to report how things worked out, so I thought I would.
Do you have any idea what Norton Commons is? It really isn't a suburb. It is one of the best New Urban communities in the country, and maybe the best. I'd strongly encourage giving it a try!
Nashville has absolutely nothing like the Highlands. Louisville was a major city in 1850;Nashville was a hamlet. So it doesn't have the same historic urbanity. Sometimes that age comes with grit. Look at Philly as the big city example and IMO Louisville's underrated big brother.
Why does no one on this forum mention Frankfort Ave? Very urban, very walkable, beautiful historic homes, and it has really none of the grit issues being basically very clean and few if any homeless. Have you tried over there much? Also Butchertown is amazing.
4 cranes are about to go up in Nulu. The Bunkhouse hotel, like Austin, broke ground. Then you have the Louie, a beautiful midrise in Butchertown which will start soon with ground level retail and two new eateries by world famous chef Ed Lee.
The third crane will be for a yet unannounced apartment building, either highrise or midrise, on the old Service Tanks building on E Main. That building now has a demo permit thankfully. The 4th crane will be for another hotel, this one at the site of the old Joe Ley antiques as it gets redeveloped into a 5 star boutique hotel. Across the street, Churchkey will bring next level light shows from Miami to the area. Louisville is primed and ready to go, the so called "leaders" who are horrible just need to step to the side.
This is just one neighborhood...there is billions in development elsewhere including a planned Dream hotel downtown, one of the only ones in flyover country (Nash has one).
I am not extreme....I am just pointing out that your logic doesn't jive. Comparing a city post Covid and riots to one where you lived pre pandemic in the suburbs....it is apples and oranges. Louisville has lots of unposted job opportunities but I wish you the best in your career. I'd suggest networking here to find something. I appreciate your comparisons and stream of consciousness and I am glad you realize that they are two totally different experiences in suburban Dallas pre pandemic vs urban Louisville post pandemic (and horrible riots from Breonna)
Last edited by Peter1948; 09-07-2021 at 11:11 PM..
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