Is Louisville Southern or Midwestern? (Dixon, Columbus: movies, transit, areas)

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by ServoMiff

In 1981, my mother (originally from Manhattan) and father (originally from Minneapolis) moved to Louisville from Minneapolis with family in-tow, and fell in love with the place. We got a home in Prospect for $103k (which my parents still live in today, although no-kids are left in a 5BR home). I was 5 y/o at the time, and spent 17 years in that home, seeing Prospect grow into the fancy suburban neighborhood it is today from the pop 3,100 that it was in 1981 (don't quote me on that figure, but it was really low).

There were many aspects of living in Louisville that seemed southern to me (The general conservatism, climate for the most part, accents, friendly and helpful demeanor) and some aspects that seemed Midwestern (although I can't name specifics off the top). I found there were some generations of racism there, but I also saw more integration there than you see in the south. Bussing was likely one reason for that. I enjoyed that diversity.

There are parts of Louisville that I adore and wish I could be back there to take advantage of. I love the people in the city, even strangers. I love the parks and the Highlands area. I really enjoy going to Louisville basketball and football games, and enjoyed going to Redbirds games when I was younger too. I love pretty much every aspect of being in Louisville in the fall. It brings back a lot of happy memories.

There are parts that make me glad I don't live there as well though. I'm not a fan of the UL-UK rivalry and all of the hatred between the two schools fans. It bleeds into every essence of the city, and I can imagine would make working life miserable if you missed the lottery and worked with a bunch of fans of the school you don't root for. I really like public transportation, and Louisville fails miserably there - TARC is terrible, no train service, and it'll be many years before the bridge projects ever finally complete. SDF is usually too expensive to fly out of, and you usually have to go to CVG or IND to get a much better fare for non-hub travel. I'm convinced it's because of the lack of education among the majority of both fan bases, but more so because of the racial divide between inner city Louisville and rural KY.

The women in Louisville weren't my type either. Either granola/North Face types or southern basic chicks (the pumpkin spiced latte, scarf wearing, sorority types). I know that's a bit of a generalization since I wasn't in Louisville for much of my dating years, but it was my observation during high school and the early part of college before I moved to Illinois. It doesn't seem to be a lot different when I come back home to visit my family either. I much prefer a more northern midwestern girl with a sarcastic wit and a dash of charm and vanity. There are some incredibly beautiful girls in Louisville though, but the ones I knew in high school have all (every single one of them) turned into crazy chicks.

However, now that I'm married and don't need to worry about that, and my wife now adores Louisville as much as I did growing up there - the only thing that really keeps us from moving back is the awful job market. It's not very diverse. It's dominated by a few select industries, and if you don't really specialize in that stuff, or don't want to go into business for yourself, it's pretty tough to get things like tech jobs or other analytical work unless in the healthcare or foodservice industries, which are quite boring.

I've also learned how awful of a rag the C-J is over the years. So much biased "news", it's no wonder they've lost as much money as they have. The best writers have all left too. Eric Crawford is one of the best, IMO.

Nice post. Your memory is mostly of Louisville before what I call " the great change." That city was a stagnate industrial city--it was Cleveland's southern twin.

I believe the post merger Louisville changed the game. Since around the mid 2000's the city has grown, added more international diversity and college educated in migration, and gained all of its jobs backs it lost and then some. Is Louisville a big banking, tech, or financial center? No it is not, yet if you really look you can find a job in those fields...or CREATE your own jobs in those fields. Louisville is a great city for entrepreneurs. It has every thing you need and is now focused on building the best quality of place it can for a city of its size.

[Dayton Sux]

That city was a stagnate industrial city--it was Cleveland's southern
twin.

I think that would be Birmingham.

[Dayton Sux]

The women in Louisville weren't my type either. Either granola/North Face
types

Hah..I'd like to meet some of those! Those would be my type.

[censusdata]

Louisville started growing again in the 1990s well before merger in 2003... although I agree that merger is helping. In 1985 Louisville was basically what Dayton is today: pretty large, no nice museums, small / boring skyline, a few nice urban neighborhoods, no metro wide population growth, a lot of out migration, a sizable but declining industrial base, a downtown that had been abandoned, etc. I can think of only a couple cities that have transformed as much as Louisville in the same time frame.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by Dayton Sux

I think that would be Birmingham.

True but in the early 1990's Birmingham and Louisville were very similar. Although Louisville is an only slightly larger city, I think most of the nation and city folks would now consider it substantially more important than the Ham. Furthermore, people are not exactly taking weekend trips to visit Birmingham and they didn't do that for Louisville really until the 21C hotel open and museum row materialized. Places like that and the play on history and bourbon, the so called "vice" tourism that has fueled Louisville's renaissance. There are now a substantial amount of bus tour and city tour bus companies that were not around even a decade ago! A completely different city IMO.

[censusdata]

Think about how new most of the main Louisville area attractions are. Only Churchill Downs and the Speed Art Museum have been around a long time. The water tower museum just opened. It may be good enough to also make this list, I'd like to visit first

Speed Art Museum - 1927
Zoo - 1969
Kentucky Science Center - 1977 (mass expanded in early 1990s)
Kentucky Kingdom - 1989
Louisville Slugger Museum - 1996
Glassworks Museum - 2001
Frazier History Center - 2004
Muhammad Ali Center - 2004

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Think about how new most of the main Louisville area attractions are. Only Churchill Downs and the Speed Art Museum have been around a long time. The water tower museum just opened. It may be good enough to also make this list, I'd like to visit first

Speed Art Museum - 1927
Zoo - 1969
Kentucky Science Center - 1977 (mass expanded in early 1990s)
Kentucky Kingdom - 1989
Louisville Slugger Museum - 1996
Glassworks Museum - 2001
Frazier History Center - 2004
Muhammad Ali Center - 2004

You left out several big ones, notably the KY Derby Museum, the Museum of Arts and Crafts, and some of the smaller museums....notably the Filson Society and now the daughters of American Revolution. This obviously doesn't count big draws like Yum, an expanded Fairgrounds Convention Center, UofL moving to a better conference and building countless stadiums attracting out of state fans, etc

Now, with the new bourbon distilleries...you are seeing a boom....Already there is Evan Williams and Copper and Kings. Michters and Angels Envy are under construction as we speak. Old Forester bourbon museum should break ground by Derby and open in 2017. And I hear of 2 more that have not been announced! The Urban Bourbon trail is a hit. Every time I fly into Louisville (which is from all over because of my job), I run into a bachelor party going there for the bourbon trail.

Louisville has found its soul. It is nothing short of what Nashville did with country music in the late 80s and throughout the 90s, and continues to this day.

[Ball freak]

Louisville is a Southern city with Midwest overtones.

[EricOldTime]

Originally Posted by Ball freak

Louisville is a Southern city with Midwest overtones.

This is how'd I'd describe the city traditionally and at it's heart. But the guys here are right, the city is changing with lot's of folks from other parts of the US....and countries for that matter bringing in new things. I'd say really, Louisville sounds like a pretty cosmpolitan type place now adays compared to how it used to be I guess.

[McDougal66]

Originally Posted by mrfgsn

Thought I'd ask this because a whole bunch of people in the general u.s. forum are claiming Louisville has more in common with Cincinnati and Pittsburgh than Nashville or Memphis and is even more Northern than Cincinnati and Baltimore. This is contradictory to my experiences.

This is an old argument, and I actually had a conversation recently with someone whom I disagree with on this.

My position is that not only is Louisville not a southern city, Kentucky in general is not a southern state. It is, however, a state with strong southern influence, in my opinion. Yes, the Mason-Dixon line runs along the Ohio River, but it also runs between Missouri and Iowa. I think Kentucky is no more "southern" than Missouri, which is heavily associated with midwestern culture - prairie country.

IMO, Kentucky is in kind of a "regional purgatory" (like Louisville). I put a lot of weight into the Civil War when it comes to regional classification, and again, while Kentucky was formally a neutral state, it had strong southern leanings.

I'd say Kentucky has a culture unique to Kentucky, not the south. Appalachian culture to the east, more midwestern influence along the Ohio River.

If you ask southerners in GA, AL or MS if Kentucky is a southern state, many, many will say no. They say the same thing about Florida.