CheeseBurgers, Out With the Old, and Hysterical Preservation: Welcome to the Ville

My house is old. Not quite a century, but pretty near it. My kitchen has seen a few updates over the last 90 years, but update no longer fits the description. It is the classic galley design. The original was a porcelin sink perched atop 48 inches of wood. Two overhead cabinets, a small fridge to the left and cornered right was where the stove sat. Somewhere in the fifties a few more overhead cabinets were added and two base cabinets were saddlebagged around the sink base. It was around this time the heavy formica tiles were placed over the original hand embossed linoleum, along with a quarter of inch of adhesive material. In the seventies the stove moved to where the fridge sat and the fridge was moved to the far wall. This did create the classic triangle, but alleviated the operable "eat in" description. A bad goldenrod sheet linoleum covered the bad formica tiles. The 90's found a tri-tone blue laminate counter top, a poorly constructed pantry by the stove and a two by four framed alcove for a dishwasher. Oddly enough the sheet linoleum was left and the walls were painted the same goldenrod hue.

My wife and I purchased the home six years ago and have been rehabbing it at a snail's pace every since. The kitchen was operable and clean, so our only touch at the beginning was to paint the walls a margarita hue (which proved to be little improvement). As we have explored and researched possible changes along the way other area eateries have been faced with changes as well.

Kaelin's only a few blocks from where I live was a Louisville landmark, and claimed to be the birthplace of the cheeseburger. Numerous other cafes and grills make the same claim. A couple which would trump Kaelin's by nearly a decade except with a technicality. The cheeseburgers listed before Kaelin's were listed in the menus as a hamburger with melted cheese on the West coast and a hamburger on cheese buns in the East. Kaelin's seemed to be the first to call it a cheeseburger. The establishment was bought a little over a decade ago from the original family and the name and cheesburgers remained until it abruptly closed last year, and was re-opened as some kind of sports bar.

The Douglas Loop (so called because it was the trolley turn around for the downtown to highlands trolley) is anchored on one corner by the Twig and Leaf. In the twenties cafes of chrome, steel, glass brick started springing up in the Northeast of the country. These were made common by the long bar that surrounded a semi open kitchen where one could perch upon vinyl covered swivel stools or slouch in the fixed booths that ran along the outer wall. The Twig is an example of that type of structure. It isn't five star, but for decades has provided Louisville a place to hang on while avoiding the hangover, and shines at breakfast. CVS drugstores has expressed interest in buying the property and tearing it down to drop one of their big box unimaginative turd stores in the area. While capitalism is good and the Douglas Loop is a mixed service economic area, The Twig is a somewhat irreplacable piece of history that services many happy families and hipsters alike. The effort to "save" the Twig seems to be a grassroots facebook page. To my knowledge no civic leaders have picked up the greasy spoon banner as of yet. I know the food can be found at almost any truckstop, or Waffle House, but the Twig & Leaf does offer an original dish to Louisville's cheeseburger history. "The Womb from the Tomb" is an open faced two beef patty, melted cheese covered in chili salute to a stroke waiting to go.

On the other hand the most infamous cheeseburger in Louisville would be found at Genny's Diner known as the "Sweet Daddy Burger". One and a quarter pounds of triple layered cheeseburger about the size of a football. The owner of this diner has been all over our news because a decade ago he bought the Queen Anne Victorian that sat at the edge of his parking lot with the intention of tearing it down for more parking. Unfortunately for him he held on to the property for a couple of years and the area was deemed a historical preservation district. Instead of being able to tear it down he was slapped with heavy code violations a couple of hefty fines and a home incarceration for not bringing the property up to code. Most recently he was told he must either sell or give the property away. The estimate for making the once beautiful house habitable again is $500,000. Now while it was a formerly grand example of Victorian architecture it is a huge shack, whose only claim to historical is its age. Nevermind the block it sits in is a nod to pre-restrictive building and once restored the house will look like a beauty queen sitting in a pig sty.

The point a local business is punished at every angle to preserve the already lost, and the city seemingly looks away while another local business is in danger of being lost to big out of town business.

My own kitchen. It is old enough to fall under the crazy preservationist, but its history is a private one that offers little to the current community. I did hand wash the original linouleum and say a farewell as I buried it under the 2010 additions. My kitchen is now up to a more modern standard and is a fitting place for my addition to Louisville's cheeseburger legacy "The Arrogant Bastard". Ground free range organic beef and organic hot italian sausage, topped with melted gruyere cheese, sauteed baby bellas, onions and shallots carmelized in balsamic, with German hot senf. Created for consuming with stout beers and conversations about why everyone else is just dead wrong.