LouLife

Illustration by Annette Cable
Shelbyville Road hurtles through St. Matthews like a broad, roaring ribbon of concrete and halogen. When I first ventured into Louisville to meet the blind date who would later become my wife, I thought this stretch of highway was like those in so many other towns — a bit of unfortunate necessity to meet the needs of shoppers and commuters. Twenty months later, Joie and I call St. Matthews our home (in Richlawn, a leafy enclave just off the soulless highway). And to give the devil its due, Shelbyville Road does meet our needs, from the post office to 24-hour gas stations to Walgreens.

But this is no neighborhood-come-lately arising simply from urban sprawl. St. Matthews dates back to the early 19th century, an outpost at what is now the juncture of Shelbyville and Westport roads, Breckenridge and Chenoweth lanes, and Frankfort and Lexington avenues. It was long called Gilman’s Point, after a tavern on the stagecoach route to the Bluegrass, until, in 1851, it piously switched to the name of the area’s first Episcopal church. Still, it has the gin-soaked credentials to connect with 21st century revelers in Bluegrass Brewing Co. and Brendan’s Pub.

The burgeoning area fought annexation by the city of Louisville, which succeeded in gobbling up business districts along the major roads, until St. Matthews incorporated as its own municipality in 1950. (It was believed at the time to be the most populous unincorporated community in the United States.) It was also in the 1950s that suburbanization spawned the first of the nondescript look-alike boxes we shop in today. But not all of Shelbyville Road is chain stores, strip centers and enclosed malls. A lineup of small establishments near the town’s center includes such independent names as After Glow (wedding paraphernalia), Kentucky Diving Society (scuba and snorkeling gear), Gerstle’s Place, Dutch’s Tavern, the Village Cobbler and Plehn’s Bakery, which many Louisvillians insist is the best of its kind in the metro area.

Just east of there is Trinity High School, where parochial school boys prepare for futures in law offices, operating rooms and bank boardrooms. And when the bells chime and the lights shine on fall Friday nights, their dreams turn to winning another state football title and perhaps someday wearing Cardinal red.

The Cremation Society of Kentucky sits on a stately plot of Shelbyville Road that originally was the Eline homestead. This is neither a society nor does it perform cremations or own a crematory. Rather, it’s a one-stop “funeral service provider” for the bereaved who want to learn about cremation or for those who’ve been scared off by the four-digit dollar figures the funeral homes have quoted. It was founded in 2002 by Danny Heady, scion of the Arch L. Heady & Son funeral home business, who passed away last year. It’s now run by his widow, Kimberly. “Cremation is becoming more acceptable,” she says. “The cost of burials is skyrocketing and we’re running out of green space.”

But let’s get off that subject — and off Shelbyville Road, for that matter.

The author and wife Joie in front of Lexington Road's spiffy new Vogue Center.

Gallery owners Susan Dotson and Mike Kavanaugh feel that the redevelopment of the area around the former Vogue Movie Theatre on Lexington Road has changed the character of this neighborhood, encouraging a more urban work-live-play environment in which people leave their cars and actually walk around and shop. And eat! A curiosity here is the existence of three no-nonsense fish sandwich places within a half-mile radius. Carolina Shrimp Co., Stan’s Fish Sandwich and The Fishery all have their loyal devotees. But since Louisville is on the Ohio River, not known for fresh oysters or just-caught tilapia, I’m guessing this fish story reflects instead some residual Friday eating habits. Let’s not forget that the Diocese of Bardstown was the first inland diocese in the United States. And Louisville is said to contain approximately 150,000 practicing Catholics.

A favorite neighborhood dining place of ours is Kayrouz, an intimate cafe owned by the second generation of a venerable Louisville restaurant family. The original Kayrouz was behind the once-upon-a-time Bacon’s Department Store on Shelbyville Road, where Burdorf’s furnishings now stands. Chris Kayrouz, son of the founder, runs the new place on Willis Avenue, as good as any I’ve found in town for terrific, creative sandwiches and salads. Oh yes, the fries are to die for — and not in the sense that nutritionists would mention.

Then there’s Lonnie’s Authentic Taste of Chicago on St. Matthews Avenue. I’m a Chicago native who has craved red hots and Italian beef sandwiches since I left the Windy City in the mid-1960s. Lonnie’s decor is predictable (Cubs and Bears pennants, signed photographs of Oprah and Michael) and — fortunately, I say — so is the food. The Vienna hot dogs are red and boiled, sprinkled with celery salt and placed in soft poppy seed rolls with tomatoes, onions and piccalilli. Lonnie and Diane Edwards moved here in 1996 for his job in telecommunications. (“All I knew about Louisville,” he says, “were the Derby and Muhammad Ali.”) But he’d run a restaurant on the South Side of Chicago and, realizing that a good dog is hard to find, opened this one in 2001.

The tastiest repast in St. Matthews, however, is a slice of chess or cherry pie, heated up and/or a la mode, at Homemade Ice Cream & Pie Kitchen on Lexington Road, my neighborhood’s outpost of the popular Bardstown Road fixture. The pies and cakes are fabulous, and some are even sugar-free. It’s important that you know about this place as an alternative to Graeter’s, just a few blocks away on Willis Avenue. True, Graeter’s has the best ice cream anywhere (those are my italics), but sometimes you just crave chocolate cake or lemon meringue.

Would that we all could live in a locale with such sweet endings.