Longtime bar in Hikes Point closing its doors after 64 years of business
After 64 years in business, a local bar is soon closing. It’s one of many considered an institution in the Hikes Point neighborhood.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE)—After 64 years in business, a local bar is soon closing. It’s one of many considered an institution in the Hikes Point neighborhood.
Since 1960, Hikes Point Bar and Lounge has invited customers in. The lit-up sign that hung in the windows let ladies know they were invited too.
”When we opened here, most bars in Louisville were stag bars. Women couldn’t sit at the bar, they couldn’t tend bar, you couldn’t have a credit card in your name,” Mary Lou Meyer said.
Meyer’s husband, Leonard, was just 25 years old when he opened the bar in a strip center on Taylorsville Road. Mary Lou says she and her girlfriends spent many nights there.
”We had a drink we liked. It was called Wild Turkey. We’d sit back there, and each get a little shot. We’d drink the shot, and we’d say, How was that turkey? Gobble, gobble, gobble,” Mary Lou said.
The McCubbin family owned a shoe store next door. Sharon McCubbin was just 13 years old when the Hikes Point Bar opened. Many referred to it as Leonard’s Place. Since then, four generations of the McCubbin family have been going there. The bar would close at 4 a.m. and reopen at 6 a.m.
”There were many times we’d go to Denny’s at DuPont and come back at six,” Rick McCubbin recalled. “Not too many times, but we did it.” Rhonda Lucas has been a bartender here for four decades. She could give the names of every person sitting at the bar.
Not much has changed since 1960, not even the ladies’ restroom. Leonard was in his bar most days, where he kept prices low.
“He said, ‘Who raised that price of fireball?” Mary Lou recalled. “And I said, Well, I did. A dollar.”
Leonard died in August at the age of 88.
His younger sister Teresa Meyer has been running the bar since then.
”It’s the original bar. So, it’s 60 years of wear. Which you can tell,” Teresa said.
The Meyer family decided it was time to sell the institution. They had a big party to celebrate, just like Leonard would have wanted.
”Hate to see it go. A lot of fun memories here,” Rick said.
The McMahan family, who owns the strip center, is buying the bar. They’re planning on renovating and adding an Irish twist. The ‘Ladies Invited’ sign is staying. It’s just being moved from the window.
“I don’t feel bad about it. We’ve had a great ride here,” Mary Lou said.
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