A Day in the Neighborhood: Why South Fourth Street defines Louisville more than we realize

A funny piece of Louisville lore bookends one of my favorite parts of downtown. 

The historian at The Brown Hotel, 335 W. Broadway, will tell you a tale about how the historic hotel's founder once tried to get a room just up the street at the Old Seelbach Hotel, 500 S. Fourth St. — but was confused for a bum and turned away.

Ten months of construction and $4 million later, that "bum" opened his own hotel just two blocks away in protest in 1923.

Those blocks today, which stretch along South Fourth Street from Broadway to West Muhammad Ali, are a historical and local oasis near the highly commercial and bustling Fourth Street Live in downtown.

It's a mashup of storied wig shops, newer art galleries and boutiques, modern developments and downtown icons like the Louisville Palace Theater, 625 S. Fourth St.

One of my colleagues said the neighborhood had an "identity crisis" as I walked out of The Courier Journal building, headed for that spot. 

I called it an adventure. 

It was just before lunch and too early to cozy up to The Brown's piano (yes, you can actually sit at the piano) with a classic Manhattan cocktail, so I headed for the nearby Marketplace Restaurant at 651 S. Fourth St.

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More often than not, if I'm taking my lunch break, you're going to find me a few steps north at Safier Mediterranean Deli, 641 S. Fourth St., with a Greek salad and a side of rice — but in the spirit of that adventure and this column, it wouldn't be fair to order my usual. 

Instead, I indulged in some blackened fish tacos with spicy mayo and vinegar slaw at Marketplace, while show tunes like "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" from the Broadway musical "42nd Street" played on the speakers and business people in suits seemingly chatted numbers and spreadsheets around me. The atmosphere was smooth and romantic, but during the day, this was clearly a hub for downtown workers. 

With a full stomach, I turned my attention back to the sidewalks — quite literally.

Earlier this year, Louisville Metro Government and the Commission on Public Art installed 21 poems on the concrete sidewalk between Broadway and Chestnut Street for the "Love in the Streets" public art project.

One reads:

From lands far away, I came here

To grow up, to grow old

And then I met you, my darling

You made this place, 

This wonderful place

My new Kentucky home

It's hard not to love this city when you walk over those panels. The poems nod to our bridges, bourbon, culture and good people. It's a warm welcome to outsiders who may not understand our city and its charm the same way we do.

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That's another thing I noticed as I wandered through shops and restaurants during this tour. This is the first time I've done a "Day in the Neighborhood" column where the people I met were more likely to ask me where I was from than Louisville's lovable "Where did you go to high school?" question. 

Working right around the corner from South Fourth Street, I don't think of this area as a exceptionally touristy place. My colleagues and I have been to spots like the effervescent and quirky The Limbo at 411 W. Chestnut St. and the more sophisticated Meta at 425 W. Chestnut St. for no other reason than happy hour. Safier, as delicious as it is, certainly doesn't draw out-of-town guests like the Old Forester Distillery and Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory a few blocks to the north on Main Street. 

But when I sat down at the bar beneath the star-like chandeliers at Mi Casita Mexican restaurant at 520 S. Fourth St. for a margarita, the waitress asked where I was from. Only then did we launch into a conversation about how much downtown had changed since the toll bridge opened on Interstate 65 a few years ago. 

Likewise, when I was browsing the jewelry at Beaded Treasures at 564 S. Fourth St., first the clerk told me how the store teaches women to become self-sufficient artisans through the nonprofit Volunteers of America. Then she asked me if I was local and explained how I could use the shop as an event space if I wanted to book a party. 

That's not the kind of question you get when you order a beer at The Back Door on Bardstown Road or spin the wheel of drink deals at The Pearl of Germantown on Goss Avenue. They just assume you know the drill there. 

But with South Fourth's proximity to those historic hotels, the Kentucky International Convention Center, 221 S. Fourth St., and newer properties like the Embassy Suites at 501 S. Fourth St., there's a bit of a phenomenon in this area. You've got a mix of downtown workers, tourists and yes, a collection of residents who have moved into new residential developments, such as The Edge on 4 at 555 S. Fourth St.

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I wasn't spinning that wheel of drinks, but in this part of town, you really are rolling the dice on who you'll sit next to at a bar. 

We'll get back to that in a minute, though. 

I had a little bit of Christmas shopping I wanted to do before I rounded out my afternoon with a second bar stool and some good conversation. 

Honestly, it's hard not to get into the holiday spirit on South Fourth Street. There are igloos you can rent out at the rooftop 8UP Elevated Drinkery & Kitchen, 350 W. Chestnut St., and the street lights are wrapped along Fourth Street to look like candy canes. 

Feeling holly and jolly, I ducked into CRAFT{s} Gallery & Mercantile, 572 S. Fourth St, and browsed its exquisite collection of art and gifts. A few doors down, Regalo at 562 S. Fourth St. had me laughing with a bizarre, newly installed collection of clocks behind the register. Think whales, trailers, unicorns, wiener dogs and unicorns all with swaying pendulums.

Both Cellar Door Chocolates at 601 S. Fourth St. and Art Eatables at 631 S. Fourth St. can help fill your stockings with Kentucky bourbon balls, but the clerk at Art Eatables took my Kentucky sweet tooth a step further. When we were talking about the Old Forester syrups they have in stock, she suggested I put the Old Fashioned one in pancakes. 

Who knew? 

With my wallet a little thinner and my Christmas shopping list a bit shorter, I headed north to the site of that timeless Louisville story. I wandered through the doors at the Seelbach where, in theory, Mr. Brown was turned away nearly a century ago. 

The Old Seelbach Bar, truly, has a timeless elegance to it.

It also has an extensive bourbon collection. 

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Even so, I kept it simple and ordered a shot of Buffalo Trace, neat. I didn't even have time to wonder how that dice roll of barflies would fall before a woman with a South African accent sitting to my left spoke up. 

No, Berniece Van Der Berg didn't ask me where I went to high school, but she did ask me how to pick a bourbon.

I rattled off a highly elementary answer about flavor profiles and the "Kentucky chew," before she told me that she owns Moonlight Meadery in New Hampshire and our conversation spun into fall foliage and what airport is best to fly into if I was visiting the area.

And really, that might be my favorite thing about this part of downtown Louisville. 

Even with only two blocks to walk, the variety in both people and places on that street can send your afternoon in so many different directions. 

Reach Maggie Menderski at 502-582-7137 or mmenderski@courier-journal.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @MaggieMenderski. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/maggiem.