Romatic Hotel Dallas

MC 2000

My ol' Kentucky homo

Each May, eyes fall upon Kentucky’s pastoral Bluegrass area as Louisville holds the Kentucky Derby, the world’s most celebrated Thoroughbred race. But from spring through late autumn, it’s a fine time for touring the hilly, verdant swatch of northern Kentucky that includes the state’s two largest cities, Louisville and Lexington. Despite the region’s generally conservative demeanor, Louisville has a growing core of hip neighborhoods, an increasingly locavore-driven restaurant scene, first-rate culture and one of the world’s largest gay nightclubs, while collegiate Lexington makes a charming base for exploring nearby horse farms and acclaimed small-batch bourbon distilleries.

A large, modern metropolis (city-county population 721,000) on Kentucky’s Ohio River border with Indiana, Louisville’s West Main Street area boasts an impressive stock of grand, Victorian cast-iron buildings and a few of the city’s gay nightspots. A paved RiverWalk affords great views of the city as well as the Louisville Slugger Museum, the excellent Frazier International History Museum and Muhammad Ali Center. Louisville excels at the arts, with respected opera and ballet companies and the Actors Theatre of Louisville, which hosts the acclaimed Humana Festival of New American Plays every spring.

You’ll find a number of gracious residential districts both downtown and south of it, and a particular lively and gay-popular stretch of businesses and restaurants along Bardstown Road in southeastern Louisville’s Highlands and Cherokee Triangle neighborhoods. Many of the city’s most gay-popular eateries are on Bardstown, including the community’s favorite java joint, Days Espresso, and Lilly’s, where you can sample such contemporary regional American specialties as catfish spring rolls with Asian dipping sauce, and locally farmed pork confit and braised shoulder.

One of Louisville’s most distinctive emerging neighborhoods is East Market, a relatively compact stretch of cafes, galleries and funky shops just a short drive east of downtown. Here be sure to check out Bodega at Felice, a trendy market, deli, and coffee bar all in one, and Toast on Market, which serves tantalizingly tasty breakfast and lunch fare, including a memorable Monte Cristo.

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