Ray's Monkey House

Words can't express how glad I am to see this place gone. Ray's Monkey House was an ultra-left-wing coffee house that prided itself on being "child friendly". A coffee house that actually encourages parents to bring their toddlers just doesn't fly with me. And though there was a sign near the children's play area stating that kids were expected to behave properly, it was never enforced during the times I was there - it was a cacophonously noisy day-care-like setting.

You'd sit at dirty furniture and look at garishly painted walls that were plastered with lefty political screeds and pictures of Barack Obama, Hugo Chavez, and Cindy Sheehan. A malnourished-looking woman with tattoos on her face actually berated me angrily there for bringing a Starbucks travel mug into the place, and started babbling uninvitedly about "fair trade", corporate responsibility, blah blah blah, etc. Mind your own damn business, lady; this sort of preachy crap is exactly why I prefer Starbucks!

They had a blog that featured unappetizing things like Abu Ghraib photographs, exhortations to its readers to complain to Congress about Israel's presence in Gaza, and info on Vegan events like "The Great American Meatout". I always think of myself as a liberal until I go into hippie places like this, and then I realize that I want nothing to do with these sort of people.

Some may say I'm being way too hard on them. To be fair, I never went there at night when they had live music, which would probably have made a much more favorable impression on me. But the vibe I got from the place in the mornings was an offensive turn-off, and I just couldn't get past their goofy and disrespectful in-your-face politics.

(Before Ray's, this was one of my favorite bookstores, Twice Told Books. I keep hoping I'll wake up and find that it was all a bad dream and that Harold's Twice Told is still there.)

Pure

What was Pure, anyway? Last I noticed, this location at 2009 Highland Avenue was the Key Lime hair salon. Things move pretty fast in Lou-town.

House of Bleu

They've moved to 2208 Dundee, according to the sign.

Ear X-Tacy

No, Ear X-Tacy didn't go out of business after their desperate plea for more business- they've just moved down the street a piece, to the old Fed Ex/Kinko's building at 2226 Bardstown Road.

Presumably, the rent here is much cheaper and/or they have a landlord who's willing to work with them (which is something all too rare these days). Meanwhile, their old location at 1534 Bardstown Road sits empty.

But now who's going to move into a place this expensive? Good question.

Clothes Encounter

Right next door to Scrub A Dub Dog. Wash your clothes, wash your dog, one-stop washing. It was a perfect block. And now it's all gone. Sad, I tell you, sad.

Scrub A Dub Dog

Dog gone. Building at 816 Cherokee Road empty and their website is scrubbed.

Chevron, 2501 Bardstown Road

Why do some Chevrons live and others die? Some are in remote places with little traffic yet they survive, while this one was at a highly populated fork in the road between Bardstown Road and Taylorsville Road.

652 Baxter

I've always wondered about this little building at 652 Baxter that seems as if it should be part of the Phoenix Hill Tavern complex (their sign is actually mounted on the roof of this building) but apparently isn't.

Notting Hill Ltd.

The building that formerly housed the Notting Hill Ltd. antique store at 921 Baxter Avenue is now empty.

The Corner Dog Food Store

I dunno what's up with this one. A building with two different storefronts, both of which are now empty, and both of which are actually sort-of connected inside. I forget now what was here before, but after they left, a sign reading "The Corner Dog Food Store" appeared. But this theoretical dog food store is almost completely empty and I've never seen it open, except once I caught the landlord/owner puttering around in there.

I inquired about what it cost to rent the space but instead he gave me a looooong convoluted speech about unfair city zoning laws, flaky tenants he has known, minutiae of the circus-poster collecting subculture, and of course, dog food. And it was peppered with those annoying kind of leading questions that should be rhetorical but weren't: "And you know what happened next?" "Can you guess what that scoundrel told me then?" "Do you know what the single most important thing to remember is for a small business?", and so forth. (And of course, acknowledgement was expected for each question.)

I never did find out what he was asking for the place.

Home Skate Shop

After I snapped this pic of Home Skate Shop's old empty location on Bardstown Road, I then realized that they now occupy the building right next door. Guess the rent must have been seriously cheaper.

Jarfi's Bistro

Poor Jarfi's. First they left a cushy gig at the Kentucky Center, then they moved into the former Lentini's Little Italy spot on Bardstown Road, where it's reported by Louisville Hot Bytes that they were spending $10,000 a month on rent. Think on that. Ten Grand a month for an upscale bistro to hawk carpaccio and vichyssoise to Highland hipsters, in a sinking economy just an anchovy-hair away from Weimar-itude. What is past is prologue.

(Did I say "poor Jarfi's"? Well, don't shed a tear, friends, they're actually marshaling their forces for yet another reinvention that promises to be their best ever: Jarfi's Diner opens in September on the first and tenth floors of the newly-completed Zirmed Towers on 9th and Market. I'll be there on their opening night - come join me, won't you?)

Hollywood Video, Highlands

Another dead soldier in the fight against the end of all media - Hollywood Video at 2470 Bardstown Road. Google Maps Street View still shows it livin' and breathin':

J. Gumbo's, Highlands

There are several J. Gumbo's locations - I've eaten at this one, plus the Summit Plaza, Lyndon, and Frankfort Avenue ones and loved them all.

Last week, my theatre company had intended to have our weekly Thursday meeting here, but I was stunned to roll up and find it gone, finis, kaput. I hope the other ones survive - the Drunken Chicken Po-Boy here is grrrrrreat.

Nios at 917

Nios at 917 was one of Louisville's finest restaurants. So naturally, of course it didn't last, while some of Louisville's worst ones continue to persist and thrive. It was run by the great Jun Eugenio, formerly of Jicama Grill, another one of Louisville's finest restaurants that no longer exists.

Before Nios, it was a rather cheesy nightclub called @mosphere, and before that, it was Bazo's Baja Grill, and before that it was Jupiter Grill. There were a few other fly-by-night ventures in there as well, long since forgotten by me.

Then way back in the day, it was a Masonic lodge called Shibboleth Hall, which is a name I find fascinating. (Check out this Unusual Kentucky blog post to find out why.)

And way, way back in the day, this building began as the Gem Theatre, another subject of great interest to me. I'm trying to find out more about the Gem, and what sort of plays were staged there.

What's next for 917 Baxter Avenue? Something, I hope. It's too beautiful a building to stay uninhabited.

Highland Fruit Market

Three years ago, when I lived on Christy Avenue, visits to Highland Fruit Market at the corner of Christy and Barret were part of my morning routine. So it saddens me to see that not only are they out of business, the building itself seems to be in increasingly dilapidated shape.

Below, an image from Google Maps Street View showing Highland Fruit Market in happier times.

Miracle Cleaners

How many years has Miracle Cleaners on Bardstown Road in the Highlands been gone? I have no memory of it ever being in business. And I've never seen a "for lease" sign on it. It's like a perpetually abandoned building that's just always been there.

Anyone who's ever been a Wild & Woolly Video regular has probably parked in the Miracle Cleaners parking lot at one time or another, and the place has also been useful as a bulletin board for gig flyers and as a graffiti canvas.

Louisville Scientology Center

Hmmm... has the Louisville Scientology Center at 1277 Bardstown Road totally closed down? It appears so. Their sign has been taken down, the website is gone, and a Google search now points to the Cincinnati branch. However, no "For Lease" sign has yet appeared in front of the property.

Market On Market

Right next door to Primo on Market Street downtown is another empty husk of a failed venture - an upscale gourmet grocery store called Market on Market (get it? get it?). I remember checking them out shortly after they opened and though their food selection was excellent, I wondered even then how they were supposed to survive on one of the most deserted blocks of one of the most deserted parts of downtown. One might as well open a shaved-ice hut in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.

According to this article, the owners had been led to believe the hype that the much-vaunted "downtown growth" really was coming any day now. But it never happened. Some of the nearby planned condo developments remain unfinished, and most that are finished are sitting empty and uninhabited. It's a tragedy, because these businesses could probably have been successful in some other part of Louisville but bravely chose to be pioneers in some downtown developer's pipe dream.

Kaelin's Restaurant

Kaelin's shut down in March amid contradictory statements - either the place is gone for good or is just undergoing a temporary remodeling. There's still no signs of that remodeling happening. Let's hope it does happen though - Kaelin's (located at 1801 Newburg Road) was a grand Louisville tradition for many reasons.

And hey, just a month after they closed, they got a nod from Southern Living magazine as #15 in their Top 20 Louisville Restaurants! Don't pack it in yet, guys. Do whatever you have to, but get it together and reopen those doors.