Lexington’s second LaRosa’s restaurant opened in the Coliseum Plaza, at Rose Street and Euclid Avenue, in early February 1975. The popular Cincinnati-based pizzeria featured big-backed booths and stucco walls. Preparing to serve customers were, from left, Diana Cagle, manager Jim Hoff, and co-owners Lance Churchill and Kirk Seeberger. The first Lexington LaRosa’s opened in 1974 in Woodhill Shopping Center. Both restaurants were closed before 1979. Photo by Frank Anderson | Staff
The McDonald’s restaurant at 473 East Main Street in Lexington, Oct. 21, 1997. The restaurant was built more than 33 years ago under heavy protest because McDonald’s wanted a drive-through. Neighbors in historical Bell Court and the owners of Kerr Brothers Funeral Home, next door to McDonald’s, vigorously opposed a drive-through. The restaurant took its case to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which declined to review the case in 1985. The restaurant chain tried again in 1987 and in 1997 for a drive-through. McDonald’s eventually moved to Winchester Road. Cielito Lindo, a Mexican restaurant took over the building, but it closed in 2011 and the building was demolished. Recently a coffee shop with a drive-through — possibly Starbucks — was proposed for the site. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
Mary Martin served customers at Alfalfa in February 1975. The iconic Lexington restaurant opened here, on South Limestone across from the University of Kentucky, in 1973, started by six twenty-somethings with about $3,700. The restaurant’s menu was modeled after that of a health-food store. Items on the chalkboard in this image include eggplant stew with rice for $1.50, potato pudding with salad for $1.75 and a slice of cranberry loaf for 45 cents. Click on the image for a closer look. “Most of the things we cook are things we like to eat,” co-owner Artie Hoard, 26, said in 1975. In 1973, Alfalfa employed 25 people and didn’t have enough chairs. On opening day, the restaurant promised a free meal to anyone who contributed a chair. Alfalfa moved in 2005 to its current address, 141 East Main Street. In May 2017, new owners said they will update the restaurant’s offerings but keep their local-food roots. Photo by David Perry | Staff
Customers at Lynagh’s Irish Pub occupied a makeshift patio created from two parking spaces in front of the popular bar near the University of Kentucky campus on May 27, 2004. Lynagh’s and many other Lexington bars and restaurants created or added outdoor seats since Lexington’s smoking ban took effect a month earlier. Lynagh’s 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. business was down at least 30 percent because of the ban, owner Gina Scott said. Some restaurants, bars and other businesses said they were hurting because of the ban, but others said they felt less impact than expected. Some downtown spots felt the pinch because they have less room to add outdoor dining space. Police frequently stopped to make sure patrons with alcohol were seated; restaurants and bars with an outdoor cafe permit can serve alcohol to seated people. Additionally, there must also be room for 4 feet of walkway between tables and chairs and the street. That’s difficult in areas of downtown with narrow sidewalks. Lynagh’s, the bar on Woodland and Euclid, was recently sold. Photo by Matt Goins.
The Pavilion Food Court in Fayette Mall was packed with hungry shoppers on Nov. 18, 1990. A soothing mix of marble, sunlight and neon, the mall’s new food court opened 11 days earlier, just in time for the Christmas shopping season. There were 12 places to eat, with offerings as varied as enchiladas and ziti. There were fast-food favorites like Arby’s, Burger King and Subway. And there are some unexpected names in the lineup, too: Tumbleweed Mexican Cafe, Cajun Joe’s Premium Chicken, and Frank ‘n Stein, which offered a variety of hot dogs, Italian sausage, kielbasa and bratwurst for less than $3. It is visible in this image, third store from the right. Click on the image for a closer look. Tumbleweed is at far left. Three food stops that opened with the food court are there today: Gold-Star Chili, Sbarro and Subway. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
The 20,000-square-foot food court, shown here on Nov. 18, 1990, was built on the mall’s west side, where a courtyard near the movie theaters had been. It featured seating for 500 people and offered 12 restaurants; Arby’s; Burger King; Cajun Joe’s; Chao Praya, which served Oriental food; Freshens Yogurt; Gold Star Chili; Great Steak and Fry; Sbarro’s, which served pizza and Italian food; Subway; Tumbleweed Mexican Cafe; Coffee Beanery; and Frank ‘n Stein, featuring hot dogs and beer. Click here to see some other Fayette Mall photos from our archives, including an aerial image from 1967 of the 60 acres of land where the shopping center was later built. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
A Wendy’s fast food restaurant in July 1978, shortly after opening at 757 East New Circle Rd. in Lexington. It was the city’s third location for the old fashion hamburger chain that was founded in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio by Dave Thomas. The other two Lexington locations were at 1499 Boardwalk Dr., just off New Circle Rd. and 2575 Nicholasville Rd. Both of those locations are still open today. The location shown here has since closed and is now a Mexican restaurant. Today there are eight Wendy’s locations in Lexington. On the left side, in the background of the photo is Yates Elementary School. Photo by David Perry | staff file photo
Sam Smargon, left, owner and manager, and Gene Witheril, company field consultant, turn out some hamburgers at Lexington’s first McDonald’s in December 1961. The drive-in fast-food hamburger restaurant, located at 771 East New Circle Road, near Eastland Drive, opened Dec. 12 that year. It was the 306th Golden Arches to open nationwide in 37 states. The restaurant featured a limited 10-item menu the company said enabled it to serve people fast and keep costs down. Featuring a hamburger for 15 cents, McDonald’s limited its offerings to three food items – hamburgers, cheeseburgers and 10-cent french fries. Seven drinks were offered: milk shakes, Coca-Cola, root beer, orangeade, milk, coffee and hot chocolate. Their assembly-line technique promised delivery of a full meal in 50 seconds. The company said the cost for an average meal was 45 cents, which is $3.72 today adjusted for inflation. The restaurant featured no carhops or waitresses, instead letting customers get their own orders from a self-service window. The company promoted this in its low prices and no need to tip. The walls were a 900-square-foot expanse of plate glass, making “exhibition cooking” a feature of the McDonald’s. Some of that glass can be seen in this image with the Goodwin Plymouth sign in the background. Want-ads in the Lexington Leader for jobs at this New Circle location asked “for qualified young men of above average intelligence” and “no drinkers”. Herald-Leader archive photo
Full-page advertisement in the Dec. 15, 1961 Lexington Herald for the city’s first McDonald’s restaurant. The ad also ran that afternoon in the Lexington Leader. Click on the image for a closer look.
The corner of South Limestone and Avenue of Champions, April 22, 1993. Shown from left is a Dairy Mart convenience store, the 24-hour restaurant Tolly-Ho, sporting goods store Court Sports and a Dunkin’ Donuts location. Since 2000, Pazzo’s Pizza Pub has been in the spot where Court Sports and Dunkin’ Donuts were. Click on the image for a closer look. Tolly-Ho has been a popular campus hangout since since 1971, when it opened at what was then 108 West Euclid Avenue, today known as Winslow Street. Click here to see a picture from our archives of that location. In March 1985, the 24-hour greasy spoon couldn’t make a deal for a new lease and moved to this location in August 1987. The owners rented there until May 2011, when they opened at their current spot, buying the empty Hart’s Dry Cleaning building at 606 South Broadway. Today the Tolly-Ho location pictured here is a Noodles and Company restaurant and the Dairy Mart is vacant property. Photo by Frank Anderson | staff
A dining and entertainment guide for Lexington, published in the Oct. 3, 1976, Herald-Leader. Some of the popular places were The Springs, Blue Boar, The Zebra Lounge and Roger’s Restaurant. Dining establishments shown here that exist today include Alfalfa’s and Merrick Inn. Click on the image for a closer look.
Lexington’s second LaRosa’s restaurant opened in the Coliseum Plaza, at Rose Street and Euclid Avenue, in early February 1975. The popular Cincinnati-based pizzeria featured big-backed booths and stucco walls. Preparing to serve customers were, from left, Diana Cagle, manager Jim Hoff, and co-owners Lance Churchill and Kirk Seeberger. The first Lexington LaRosa’s opened in 1974 in Woodhill Shopping Center. Both restaurants were closed before 1979. Photo by Frank Anderson | Staff
The McDonald’s restaurant at 473 East Main Street in Lexington, Oct. 21, 1997. The restaurant was built more than 33 years ago under heavy protest because McDonald’s wanted a drive-through. Neighbors in historical Bell Court and the owners of Kerr Brothers Funeral Home, next door to McDonald’s, vigorously opposed a drive-through. The restaurant took its case to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which declined to review the case in 1985. The restaurant chain tried again in 1987 and in 1997 for a drive-through. McDonald’s eventually moved to Winchester Road. Cielito Lindo, a Mexican restaurant took over the building, but it closed in 2011 and the building was demolished. Recently a coffee shop with a drive-through — possibly Starbucks — was proposed for the site. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
Mary Martin served customers at Alfalfa in February 1975. The iconic Lexington restaurant opened here, on South Limestone across from the University of Kentucky, in 1973, started by six twenty-somethings with about $3,700. The restaurant’s menu was modeled after that of a health-food store. Items on the chalkboard in this image include eggplant stew with rice for $1.50, potato pudding with salad for $1.75 and a slice of cranberry loaf for 45 cents. Click on the image for a closer look. “Most of the things we cook are things we like to eat,” co-owner Artie Hoard, 26, said in 1975. In 1973, Alfalfa employed 25 people and didn’t have enough chairs. On opening day, the restaurant promised a free meal to anyone who contributed a chair. Alfalfa moved in 2005 to its current address, 141 East Main Street. In May 2017, new owners said they will update the restaurant’s offerings but keep their local-food roots. Photo by David Perry | Staff
Customers at Lynagh’s Irish Pub occupied a makeshift patio created from two parking spaces in front of the popular bar near the University of Kentucky campus on May 27, 2004. Lynagh’s and many other Lexington bars and restaurants created or added outdoor seats since Lexington’s smoking ban took effect a month earlier. Lynagh’s 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. business was down at least 30 percent because of the ban, owner Gina Scott said. Some restaurants, bars and other businesses said they were hurting because of the ban, but others said they felt less impact than expected. Some downtown spots felt the pinch because they have less room to add outdoor dining space. Police frequently stopped to make sure patrons with alcohol were seated; restaurants and bars with an outdoor cafe permit can serve alcohol to seated people. Additionally, there must also be room for 4 feet of walkway between tables and chairs and the street. That’s difficult in areas of downtown with narrow sidewalks. Lynagh’s, the bar on Woodland and Euclid, was recently sold. Photo by Matt Goins.
The Pavilion Food Court in Fayette Mall was packed with hungry shoppers on Nov. 18, 1990. A soothing mix of marble, sunlight and neon, the mall’s new food court opened 11 days earlier, just in time for the Christmas shopping season. There were 12 places to eat, with offerings as varied as enchiladas and ziti. There were fast-food favorites like Arby’s, Burger King and Subway. And there are some unexpected names in the lineup, too: Tumbleweed Mexican Cafe, Cajun Joe’s Premium Chicken, and Frank ‘n Stein, which offered a variety of hot dogs, Italian sausage, kielbasa and bratwurst for less than $3. It is visible in this image, third store from the right. Click on the image for a closer look. Tumbleweed is at far left. Three food stops that opened with the food court are there today: Gold-Star Chili, Sbarro and Subway. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
The 20,000-square-foot food court, shown here on Nov. 18, 1990, was built on the mall’s west side, where a courtyard near the movie theaters had been. It featured seating for 500 people and offered 12 restaurants; Arby’s; Burger King; Cajun Joe’s; Chao Praya, which served Oriental food; Freshens Yogurt; Gold Star Chili; Great Steak and Fry; Sbarro’s, which served pizza and Italian food; Subway; Tumbleweed Mexican Cafe; Coffee Beanery; and Frank ‘n Stein, featuring hot dogs and beer. Click here to see some other Fayette Mall photos from our archives, including an aerial image from 1967 of the 60 acres of land where the shopping center was later built. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
A Wendy’s fast food restaurant in July 1978, shortly after opening at 757 East New Circle Rd. in Lexington. It was the city’s third location for the old fashion hamburger chain that was founded in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio by Dave Thomas. The other two Lexington locations were at 1499 Boardwalk Dr., just off New Circle Rd. and 2575 Nicholasville Rd. Both of those locations are still open today. The location shown here has since closed and is now a Mexican restaurant. Today there are eight Wendy’s locations in Lexington. On the left side, in the background of the photo is Yates Elementary School. Photo by David Perry | staff file photo
Sam Smargon, left, owner and manager, and Gene Witheril, company field consultant, turn out some hamburgers at Lexington’s first McDonald’s in December 1961. The drive-in fast-food hamburger restaurant, located at 771 East New Circle Road, near Eastland Drive, opened Dec. 12 that year. It was the 306th Golden Arches to open nationwide in 37 states. The restaurant featured a limited 10-item menu the company said enabled it to serve people fast and keep costs down. Featuring a hamburger for 15 cents, McDonald’s limited its offerings to three food items – hamburgers, cheeseburgers and 10-cent french fries. Seven drinks were offered: milk shakes, Coca-Cola, root beer, orangeade, milk, coffee and hot chocolate. Their assembly-line technique promised delivery of a full meal in 50 seconds. The company said the cost for an average meal was 45 cents, which is $3.72 today adjusted for inflation. The restaurant featured no carhops or waitresses, instead letting customers get their own orders from a self-service window. The company promoted this in its low prices and no need to tip. The walls were a 900-square-foot expanse of plate glass, making “exhibition cooking” a feature of the McDonald’s. Some of that glass can be seen in this image with the Goodwin Plymouth sign in the background. Want-ads in the Lexington Leader for jobs at this New Circle location asked “for qualified young men of above average intelligence” and “no drinkers”. Click on the image for a closer look. Herald-Leader archive photo
Full-page advertisement in the Dec. 15, 1961 Lexington Herald for the city’s first McDonald’s restaurant. The ad also ran that afternoon in the Lexington Leader. Click on the image for a closer look.
The corner of South Limestone and Avenue of Champions, April 22, 1993. Shown from left is a Dairy Mart convenience store, the 24-hour restaurant Tolly-Ho, sporting goods store Court Sports and a Dunkin’ Donuts location. Since 2000, Pazzo’s Pizza Pub has been in the spot where Court Sports and Dunkin’ Donuts were. Click on the image for a closer look. Tolly-Ho has been a popular campus hangout since since 1971, when it opened at what was then 108 West Euclid Avenue, today known as Winslow Street. Click here to see a picture from our archives of that location. In March 1985, the 24-hour greasy spoon couldn’t make a deal for a new lease and moved to this location in August 1987. The owners rented there until May 2011, when they opened at their current spot, buying the empty Hart’s Dry Cleaning building at 606 South Broadway. Today the Tolly-Ho location pictured here is a Noodles and Company restaurant and the Dairy Mart is vacant property. Photo by Frank Anderson | staff
