Should Nulu (or a better name) cover all Main and Market?

[Robin Garr]

Zagat came out with the 20 hottest neighborhoods for food; we're #19:


"Louisville: NuLu
NuLu, or the East Market District, is undoubtedly Louisville's hottest neighborhood for restaurants right now, particularly East Market Street, which is stacked with eateries and cafes like Rye on Market, Harvest, La Coop Bistro à Vins, Taco Punk, Garage Bar, Please and Thank You, Decca and Wiltshire on Market. "

And this illustrates the problem: Doc Crow's, St Charles Exchange and Proof get left off (among others), because they're outside the arbitrary boundaries, even though they are in similar quarters a few blocks away on the same streets.

Doc Crow's, St Charles Exchange and Proof get left off (among others), because they're outside the arbitrary boundaries, even though they are in similar quarters a few blocks away on the same streets.

This is the disconnect for me. They are close to or over a mile apart and not that is really matters, not the same street.

Harvest to Doc Crow's - .8 miles (closest walk to bridge to areas)
Rye to Proof - 1.5 miles (farthest walk to bridge the areas)

[Robin Garr]

This is the disconnect for me. They are close to or over a mile apart and not that is really matters, not the same street.

Harvest to Doc Crow's - .8 miles (closest walk to bridge to areas)
Rye to Proof - 1.5 miles (farthest walk to bridge the areas)

Okay, that's fair, too. But bear in mind that my agenda here isn't to serve the walking public. I'm thinking, frankly, about all the national publicity Louisville is getting over our hot dining scene. When we restrict it to "official NuLu," we're covering the epicenter but overlooking about 40 percent of the interconnected near-downtown-restored-old-building-gentrifying-hip inventory, and that's unfortunate when people are reading about us in Zagat or Southern Living or The New York Times. It's all about image, which is pretty much what the NuLu neologizers had in mind when they came up with a New Yorky-sounding name for the nabe.

I would never think of Blind Pig as NuLu. I would say Butchertown.

Not to quibble, Robin, but Proof is not part of NuLu- that's too far . They are part of Museum Row on Main- which starts at KCA and ends at at Slugger/Frazier Museums.

Deb

I like the fact that downtown Louisville is/has been broken down into different areas. I think the areas are divided nicely into easily walkable areas. I choose the area to town I want to enjoy and can easily walk to 5-6 places in each area. Museum Row and Whiskey Row blend/transition nicely, but there is a dead zone between Whiskey Row and NuLu.

Museum Row
Whiskey Row - Arena
NuLu
Butchertown

I agree with both the thought and the list. (Then there is the other walkable district- 4th Street Live- but I never go there.)

Deb

When we restrict it to "official NuLu," we're covering the epicenter but overlooking about 40 percent of the interconnected near-downtown-restored-old-building-gentrifying-hip inventory, and that's unfortunate when people are reading about us in Zagat or Southern Living or The New York Times. It's all about image, which is pretty much what the NuLu neologizers had in mind when they came up with a New Yorky-sounding name for the nabe.

Agree 100%. Downtown dining as a whole has improved greatly over the past few years and Frankfort Ave and Bardstown/Baxter districts are also fantastic.

I think all the buzz is about Nulu and not Louisville as a whole because of how fast the Nulu restaurants popped up and how concentrated the area is. Nulu is new so its going to be talked about more than the old favorites.

Heading out the door for a Garage Bar, Decca, LBS hop right now.

I think all the buzz is about Nulu and not Louisville as a whole because of how fast the Nulu restaurants popped up and how concentrated the area is. Nulu is new so its going to be talked about more than the old favorites.

I agree with Justin, but part of the NuLu buzz is a function of their marketing. They make ( as you pointed out Robin) a concerted effort to package it together and market it. A number of the NuLu restaurant use professional PR ( I know Harvest, Decca, La Coop, Garage Bar off the top of my head), so it shows up on the national radar ( repeatedly). And present company excepted, Robin, alot of reporters nowadays are lazy and pulling stuff from existing sources, rather than find new material- thus the same restaurants keep getting the buzz- because it's already buzzing...

Deb

[Robin Garr]

professional PR ( I know Harvest, Decca, La Coop, Garage Bar off the top of my head)

One of those is a frappin' disaster, but I'll be kind and keep the specific thought inside my head.

professional PR ( I know Harvest, Decca, La Coop, Garage Bar off the top of my head)

One of those is a frappin' disaster, but I'll be kind and keep the specific thought inside my head.

The marketing/pr is a disaster, or the restaurant/food?

[Robin Garr]

The marketing/pr is a disaster, or the restaurant/food?

Marketing/PR. I love the food and mood at all those places.

Whatever you guys decide to name it please include Blind Pig because that would put my business in that district too!

Dude, the whole point is to be 'exclusionary'. Not inclusive. How can they be special if they include Butchertown, Museum Row, et.al.

Not to put a really fine point on that, but Manny & Merle is not close to NuLu... it is a nice NuLu "like" setting, but the 100 block of West Main St is NOT NuLu of East Market.

You know, this is going to be a rant, but not at you, Richard.

I don't think the commercial entities that chose to make up a goofy New York-like name for an emerging hot strip have any particular right to name its boundaries.

In as much as my comment to Robin Birthed this thread, even if it was ripped cesarean-like from the original thread, I think I should add some more comments.

Gill and others who decided to begin using that name have every right to establish boundaries, else, we would have Viet Nam Kitchen joining the NuLu Business association. OK, that may be a bit far, but certainly under Robin's reasoning West Main Street Eateries could join up the renamed EAST MARKET STREET BUSINESS ASSOCIATION.

There is NOTHING wrong with having multiple named areas in the Downtown District. Breaking up the whole is a good thing. Telling a cabbie to take you to Museum Row, means something if you are wanting to see things in that area and lunch at Proof, as opposed to saying to a hack driver, take me to NuLu and finding out you are on the wrong street and 13 blocks West of where you want to be.

Want to do some good? STOP defining things as East of Ninth or West of Ninth. That's an artificial boundary I can get behind doing away with. Mainly because you all know that West of Ninth is such a 'bad' part of town. RANT ON: For those of you who have an iPhone get Safety Check app and use it. Most unsafe place I have been in last two weeks according to it is 300-399 West Market St with a 7 Rating. Yes, right at the convention center. Second most unsafe place, Lowes on Hurstbourne. RANT OFF.

Neighborhood names mean something, and to expand them to include an entirely different neighborhood simply because they have restaurants makes no sense to me. And there is more to NuLu than restaurants too. Other businesses call it home. Gill's green building, IL and Why Louisville. All three of those are NEW (Nu) businesses.

I don't think an online business that chooses to use a made up name about food discussions by turning a word with one meaning into some other meaning because it is cute have any particular right to name the boundaries of the discussion. Just saying.... It's an opinion. And remember without PI all you have is an onion.

Well this pot is stirred up enough to last the weekend.

Want to do some good? STOP defining things as East of Ninth or West of Ninth. That's an artificial boundary I can get behind doing away with. Mainly because you all know that West of Ninth is such a 'bad' part of town. RANT ON: For those of you who have an iPhone get Safety Check app and use it. Most unsafe place I have been in last two weeks according to it is 300-399 West Market St with a 7 Rating. Yes, right at the convention center. Second most unsafe place, Lowes on Hurstbourne. RANT OFF.

It's not about safe or unsafe, and if by artificial you mean arbitrary, it's not an arbitrary boundary at all. That horrid 9th St. flyover connector to 64 is a barrier, any way you slice it. As is the width and high speed limits on the rest of 9th St. That has prevented downtown development from making its way past 9th, which makes it a functional divide. Just like I-65 is a functional barrier dividing NuLu from the rest of downtown - it hasn't prevented development on both sides, but this thread is proof that they remain conceptually separate. Nobody's walking from Nulu to downtown, or vice versa. I'm hopeful that the pending Pagano redevelopment at 921 W. Main will break the logjam, but until it does, the east-of-Ninth/west-of-Ninth distinction is valid.

Want to do some good? STOP defining things as East of Ninth or West of Ninth. That's an artificial boundary I can get behind doing away with. Mainly because you all know that West of Ninth is such a 'bad' part of town. RANT ON: For those of you who have an iPhone get Safety Check app and use it. Most unsafe place I have been in last two weeks according to it is 300-399 West Market St with a 7 Rating. Yes, right at the convention center. Second most unsafe place, Lowes on Hurstbourne. RANT OFF.

It's not about safe or unsafe, and if by artificial you mean arbitrary, it's not an arbitrary boundary at all. That horrid 9th St. flyover connector to 64 is a barrier, any way you slice it. As is the width and high speed limits on the rest of 9th St. That has prevented downtown development from making its way past 9th, which makes it a functional divide. Just like I-65 is a functional barrier dividing NuLu from the rest of downtown - it hasn't prevented development on both sides, but this thread is proof that they remain conceptually separate. Nobody's walking from Nulu to downtown, or vice versa. I'm hopeful that the pending Pagano redevelopment at 921 W. Main will break the logjam, but until it does, the east-of-Ninth/west-of-Ninth distinction is valid.

Well said, Jeff.
Don't overlook the importance of definition by "walkable" areas. No one I know wants to park multiple times ( though it's much easier in Lou than other cities). I want to go to one area and range out from there. Those barriers are real.

Deb

I wonder if this is similar to the legislature's discussion of redistricting.