Louisville’s historic Main Street business district around sunset, with the beautifully restored State Mercantile building in the center. The “sun” on the left is the Empire Restaurant’s decades-old, refurbished neon sign.
2013 Louisville Labor Day Parade – Classic Thunderbirds.
Louisville’s Waterloo Restaurant, with John Lennon’s Rolls Royce – courtesy of the building's owner, local real estate mogul Stephen Tebo. The limo is part of Tebo’s classic car collection. (Tebo let the Waterloo park it out in front of the restaurant during their 2009 anniversary celebration.) The Empire Restaurant and Lounge is reflected in the Waterloo’s front windows. Vic’s Espresso is on the left.
Waterloo’s dining room, with the four Richard Avedon Beatles posters on the wall behind the stage. The pictures are all music-themed, and include many photos of a wide variety of historically important musicians. The Waterloo’s name and logo (which resembles the London Underground’s Waterloo Station logo), were inspired by the name and logo of “Waterloo Records,” the independent record store created by the owner’s family in Austin, Texas. The restaurant was built “to be a neighborhood gathering place … in which to enjoy all genres of original music.” The Gasoline Lollipops are the Waterloo’s “house band.” Click here to play their music.
Looking out the front rolling garage door of 12Degree Brewing, toward the State Mercantile building, with the Waterloo and Louisville Rex restaurants to its right. The Empire Restaurant’s outdoor seating is immediately to the left of the 12° sign.
Interior view of 12Degree Brewing, looking through the front rolling garage door down the length of one of the four long community tables. The tables are constructed from flooring recycled from old railroad boxcars. The mash tun, the kettle, and the three fermenters are visible in the rear, but there are a lot more tanks of various kinds in the basement. The building apparently housed a Temperance Hall during Prohibition, according to this old picture at the very end of their Facebook Timeline Photos album.
Samantha Fish and her band performing on the Steinbaugh Pavilion stage during Louisville's Downtown Street Faire, 08/08/2014.
The Steinbaugh Pavilion stage when empty. The black & white photo (in the upper right corner of the stage backdrop) is the Steinbaugh blacksmith shop which previously occupied the site.
The Empire Restaurant and its historic neon sign. The sign originally read “Colacci’s,” since it was installed when the Empire building housed the Colacci family’s famous Italian restaurant. Chef and owner Jim Cohen runs the Empire and its kitchen.
2013 Louisville Labor Day Parade – Harleys and City Hall.
Waterloo’s flaming guitar and fountain in the back patio.
Waterloo’s “altar” with statue (yep, that’s Padmasambhava).
