Most stories about Magic, the black cat who lived at the Nachbar, involve his penchant for scratching people after they petted him. “He could be cuddly for a second, until he was done with you,” says Shannon Kinsman, who found Magic as a kitten eight years ago, in Old Louisville, and brought him along when she moved to Charles Street near the bar. When she and her husband walked to the Nachbar, Magic followed.
“At first they tried to shoo him out, but he would just come right back in the back door,” Kinsman says. Eventually, Magic adopted the bar as his full-time home. He ruled over the place, lounging on the bar and stools and drinking water from the bathroom sink.
“The bartenders started warning people: ‘If Magic’s sitting in a chair, you probably don’t want to move him,’” Kinsman says. “One time, somebody moved him and he got mad and he just walked across the bar and knocked their beer over.”
Magic died in May after some bad injuries from what was most likely a run-in with a car. After the news broke, people started posting memorials on the Nachbar’s Facebook page:
“Magic literally saved my life once by refusing to get off the hood of my car when I wanted to drive home when I clearly shouldn’t have”; “When I was a single gal, roaming the streets of Germantown alone after visiting (the Nachbar), Magic would walk me all the way to my door a few blocks away and then immediately attempt to bite me if I showed any type of gratitude or affection.”
Rest in peace, Magic. Hopefully they serve good beer wherever you are.
This article is courtesy of Louisville Magazine. To subscribe to Louisville Magazine, click here.
Photo by Tiffany Monyham
