The Highlands
The mainly residential area contains the city’s highest density of restaurants, swingin’ night spots, eclectic shops, and oddity businesses. Centered along a three-mile stretch of Bardstown Rd. and Baxter Ave., it is so named because it sits on a ridge between the Beargrass Creek’s Middle Fork, which runs through Cherokee Park, and the South Fork, which divides Germantown from the Tyler Park neighborhood.
The commercial area extends from the intersection of Baxter Ave. and Lexington Rd. in the north, to the intersection of Bardstown Road and Taylorsville Road/Trevillian Way to the south. A 1/2 mile section of nearby Barret Ave. contains similar businesses.
The former ‘streetcar suburb’ corridor thrived up until the 1960s, but as the suburbs expanded the business district fell into decline. After many older buildings had already been razed to make space for modern fast-food restaurants and drive-in banks, the Highlands Commerce Guild was organized, and in 1977 they began to address the problems, the area began to rebound commercially in the 1980s.
Because of the large collection of nightclubs and restaurants, it is known locally as “Restaurant Row”. The 900 block of Baxter Ave. is one of three late night bar districts in the city that benefit from 4 AM liquor licenses. The Highlands is the cultural center of the city.
The area’s elegant architecture attracts young professionals because of its location near downtown and other amenities such as Cherokee Park and the pedestrian-friendly shopping. Today, many of its neighborhoods have among the highest percentage of college graduates and average income in Louisville. The gentrification of the Highlands has had a spillover effect on adjacent areas, such as Germantown, Nulu, and Clifton, as they’ve developed their own shopping and nightlife districts.
Individual neighborhoods in the Highlands include the Original Highlands, Phoenix Hill (eastern 1/3 of the neighborhood), Irish Hill, Cherokee Triangle, Tyler Park, Deer Park, Bonnycastle, Highlands-Douglass, and Belknap.
The Highland’s landmarks include the Mid-City Mall, which was the city’s first indoor mall, completed in 1962; and the Barnstable-Brown Party, held at a home on Spring Dr. in the Bonnycastle neighborhood, is Louisville’s most famous Kentucky Derby party.
GALLERY
Vic’s Classic Bikes
900 block Baxter Ave.
Steel City Pops
Bardstown Rd. near Highland Ave.
Cahoots
Former bar on Bardstown Rd.
Jack Fry’s restaurant
Bardstown Rd. @ Highland Ave.
Bardstown & Longest
The corner where Louisville’s preservation movement began.
Discoveries
Bardstown Rd. near Longest Ave.
Barnstable Brown Party
Bonnycastle’s bell on Spring Dr.