Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Day 144 - I love...Dutch's

Dutch's was a tavern here in Louisville, established in 1929.

After 80 years of business, they closed their doors for good in June/July 2011.

It was a sad day.

My sweetheart and I wanted to grab a beer and decided to swing by Dutch's for a cheap pitcher. We pulled up, got out of the car, walked to the front door, and gawked at the "Thanks for 80 great years" sign painted in grease paint on the window.

What?!

Not Dutch's!

Dutch's was a place I visited several times when I lived in Louisville in the late 90's and early years of the new millennium. Dutch's was the first bar we visited when we moved here in February 2011, and where I promptly ran into an old friend's dad.

It had groovy bartenders. great atmosphere. a sleazy swanky ladies room, and a rockin' RED men's rest room that my sweetheart took a few frames of one night and was planning to go back and re-shoot for a series he's been working on.

It was a Green Bay Packers bar. Memorabilia adorned the shelves above the taps, including a glorious cheesehead.

The building that once housed this fantastic bar is now being re-purposed. It's going to be a Mellow Mushroom. They are in the process of tearing everything down to just the beams in order to rebuild. At least, I assume, they are leaving the beams.

Yesterday, driving by, I noticed an old sign had been exposed in the demolition process.

A piece of history...about to be knocked out. taken away. destroyed. gone for good.

So today...my sweetie grabbed his camera in order to preserve this little piece of St. Matthews history.

Because, while I don't know the full history of Dutch's, how long it sat in it's St. Matthews location, or what kind of expansion they may or may not have done...it's quite possible...that the sign...buried under years and layers of siding, awning, etc...may very well be something that existed in the early 1900's. It's certainly at least mid-1900's.

kinda cool.

Dutch's - found this photo on Google
The glorificus Red bathroom - Scornphoto


awesome...old signage - Scornphoto



No comments:

Post a Comment