Robin Garr wrote:Seems fair, James. I confess to a little instinctive unease about 4SL mainly because, while it does serve a growing cluster of downtown visitors, it leaves them with an image of Louisville that's essentially corporate and that fades into paleness if you compare it with Beale Street, Bourbon Street, Duval Street. Why can't we have nice things like that?
I guess I'm ok with 4th St Live because I find comfort in the general expansion heading east from Whiskey Row down Main and Market, and even towards Butchertown. In addition to several hotels that have recently opened in that direction we find several more being built at 1st and Main ( a dual hotel concept of 11 stories) and at the former Connections location. The new soccer stadium will have 1-2 hotels next door at the Butchertown site. The Big Four Bridge is also a big draw this time of year. Jeffersonville makes a nice impression for those who take that route.
So the tourists are finding their entertainment more and more outside of the center nucleus clustered around 4th St Live, and more and more towards NuLu, the Highlands, and elsewhere. I'd also venture to guess that even the 4th St Livers have probably hit a distillery, a museum, of something similar during the day before retreating to Guy Fieri's place or Hard Rock Cafe.
That all said, my main qualm with 4th St Live is the monopolization by Budweiser products--this really sucks!.....oh, and I almost forgot, Beale St has some serious issues. I think it is at a crossroad.
James J. Natsis