LIFEST YLE TRAVEL
Above, the Ali Center at night. Left, the World’s Biggest Bat at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory is an exact-scale replica of Babe Ruth’s 34-inch Louisville Slugger bat. Below, a view from the harbor. Photos courtesy of the Louisville Convention Bureau.
36
Winter 2016 |
LIFESTYLE
njlifestyleonline.com
plus a haven for runaway slaves hoping to cross the Ohio into the free state of Indiana. Often called the northernmost of the southern states and southernmost of the northern states, Louisville was on the Union side in the Civil War, but welcomed so many returning rebels that pundits said the city joined the Confederacy after the war had ended. All was forgiven by 1875, when 10,000 spectators watched the first Kentucky Derby at the Louisville Jockey Club, now known as Churchill Downs. The winning horse had the aristocratic name of Aristides. There are all kinds of unusual attractions around town. The photogenic Louisville Water Tower, a white obelisk erected in 1860, is the nation’s oldest. Thirty years later, it survived an F4 killer tornado so devastating that a memorial was erected on Main Street. Happier memories were created at the historic Seelbach Hotel, which F. Scott Fitzgerald included in The Great Gatsby, and the Brown Hotel, original home of the Hot Brown sandwich. Those properties, and the Galt House, were frequented by Al Capone and conspiring criminal cohorts during Prohibition days. Thomas Edison left his mark on Louisville too; as a Western Union telegrapher shortly after the Civil War, he spent his spare time tinkering with new concepts. The Edison House that stands on Washington Street today features an early movie projector, phonographs, dictating machines, primitive light bulbs, and a more illuminating 18-minute video. Unlike Edison, Harold (Pee Wee) Reese was actually born in Louisville. A boyhood marbles champion who became a Hall of Fame shortstop, it was Reese who publicly befriended beleaguered Brooklyn Dodgers teammate Jackie Robinson while the latter was battering the baseball color barrier in 1947 (the public gesture was depicted in the movie 42). The largest American city outside Texas without a major-league team in any sport, Louisville does have Triple-A baseball — the well-named Louisville Bats play in Louisville Slugger Field as the top affiliate of the nearby Cincinnati Reds — plus a slew of successful college teams. The Louisville Cardinals, a college basketball power, routinely sell out their games, played in the new KFC Yum! Center, and the city always tops the attendance charts for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The University of Louisville has also done well in football, sending Johnny Unitas and other stars to the professional ranks. Because of its benign climate, Louisville has a long golf season and an appeal as a destination for tournaments. The Valhalla Golf Club hosted the PGA Championships as recently as 2014. Horse-racing is king of the seven Louisville sports that draw spectators. The Kentucky Derby Festival includes not only the celebrated race but the Kentucky Oaks, another highlight of the two-week prelude to the rose-colored finale. In all, there are more than 70 events — including steamboat and hot-air balloon races. The fun begins with Thunder Over Louisville, a fireworks display worthy of July 4, and features flirtatious female fans whose flamboyant and colorful fashions suggest a return to the flapper era of the Roaring ‘20s. The parade of pastels is a bigger hit than the thoroughbreds — maybe because they have more staying power. Louisville is also home to the world’s largest Beatles festival (Memorial Day weekend), the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival (July), and the St. James Court Art Show, an October event that draws crowds dwarfed only by the Kentucky Derby. Beyond the Derby, Louisville is also a mecca for culture, with ballet, opera, and symphony performances in the handsome Kentucky Center, where an informative half-hour multi-media show is narrated by Louisville native Ashley Judd. The Louisville Orchestra gives more than 100 concerts per year in a venue called The Louisville Palace, a distinctive structure in the downtown theater district. Every spring, the Actors Theater of Louisville, in a nearby venue, hosts the Humana Festival of New American Plays.