1st weekend in June, wife and I are taking roadtrip. We have a whole Friday day and night in Louisville. We want to explore, but we don’t want to waste our 24 hours.
Looking for restaurants and shopping areas. We like funky indie shopping as opposed to mall shopping. Just like wandering around and exploring.
Any advice is appreciated.
Downtown there are some good options for both food and shopping. Main St. near the Louisville Slugger Museum is a hot spot of activity. (The Museum itself is an interesting hour or two, if you like baseball at all.) There are some good indie stores down on East Market, with some interesting restaurants. I think you’ll have even more luck if you head down Bardstown Rd., which is jam packed with indie-type stores and restaurants.
Last year when a couple friends and I were in town for Wonderfest, we had a late lunch at the Brown Hotel, where we had Hot Browns, with Chocolate Striptease for dessert. Delicious. We plan to go again this year.
The Brown Hotel has a very ritzy restaurant, but we ate in their lobby cafe, where a trio of tee-shirted model nerds felt perfectly at home.
Yes, Bardstown Road is the place to go for good restaurants and shops! Another fun thing to do is tour around Old Louisville, where there is one of the largest collection of Victorian homes in the country. St. James Court is particularly beautiful.
Joe Ley Antiques on Market is great for high-end “picking.” It’s not far from the area Munch mentions. Take a drive through Cave Hill Cemetery, located at Bardstown and Broadway in the Phoenix Hill area. The homes in this area are pleasant for looking and sightseeing too. Nearby is Cherokee Park, one of the city’s Olmsted-designed parks.
You could also stop by Churchill; I think it’s open even if they’re not racing.
The Frazier Museum has loads of militaria (which will bore most wives to death - so perhaps The Actor’s Theater instead). Then then there’s Cave Hill Cemetery, just the sort of thing you’ll like, if you like that sort of thing.
You can learn about the sculptor behind several of the beautiful monuments at Cave Hill by watching this program which I worked on about the now-deceased artist, Barney Bright.
I just now saw you gave the date of your visit. The spring meet at Churchill runs through June 29 so they’ll be racing Thursday-Sunday. You should go! There’s also a museum there. ChurchillDowns.com
Check out the Louisville Stigmatorium - a bit tough to find, but worth the visit if you’re into creepy stuff.
I can also vouch for the Louisville Mega Cavern tram tour - includes a recreation of the fallout shelter area from the 1950s, complete with creepy-looking mannequins!
Churchill Downs was neat to see in person and there are a ton of distilleries nearby (Maker’s Mark, Woodford Reserve, etc.) for bourbon tours/tastings.
There’s also a pretty commercialized strip of bars and restaurants called 4th street live with things like Howl at the Moon piano bar, Maker’s Mark bar, etc.
I was in Louisville a loooong time ago (1979) on a business trip for a month. Great town and friendly folks. My coworker and I frequented a downtown restaurant called 2-cents plain (with a cent sign). I have never forgotten this place as it had a great lunchtime atmosphere and the food was excellent. I would be surprised if it’s still in business (chime in, Louisville dopers), but if it is, I think it’s worth a peek.
Maker’s Mark and Woodford Reserve are about an hour away. The only stop on the Bourbon Trail in Louisville is Evan Williams Bourbon Experience (whatever that is!). Here’s a link to the site: Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
Thanks everyone, we have a lot of new ideas now and we’re really looking forward to it. The way things have been going this week, we’ll need it!
I live in Louisville, and I will second Ellen Cherry’s ideas of walking Bardstown Rd/Baxter Ave in the Highlands (that’s my neighborhood) and visiting Cave Hill Cemetery. You might want to check out the NuLu area on Market street. There has been a big revitalization effort there in the past few years and the restaurants keep showing up on national lists. It’s also a short trip from the Louisville Slugger factory and such. I also recommend the Frazier Museum, which is right across the street from Louisville Slugger.
If you happen to be on Bardstown Rd, my current favorite restaurants are Ramsi’s Cafe on the World (a mix of international cuisines, and outside tables so you can do some people-watching) and Havana Rumba (Cuban). Parking is awful on Bardstown Rd. If you use the Mid-City Mall parking lot, it is pretty central (right across from Ramsi’s) and you can walk all over the place. Here is a map of the Highlands that will give you some ideas for places to go and things to do. http://www.thehighlandsoflouisville.com/Neighborhoods.php