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Tales of Elvis and 'The Great
Gatsby': 10 historic buildings in downtown Louisville
Rachel Smith
Louisville Courier Journal
From inspiring F. Scott
Fitzgerald, to rocking with Elvis and even gambling with Al Capone, Louisville
has an interesting tapestry sewn into its downtown streets. While downtown has
seen massive strides of redevelopment, there's also some brick-and-mortar
buildings that have been part of the city's skyline for decades ‒ or even
centuries.
Whether you're mining ideas for a
walking tour or just itching to hear about bygone celebrities' local
excursions, here are 10 cultural staples of Louisville's downtown landscape.
Once frequented by raucous
authors and hard-boiled gangsters, the Seelbach Hilton Louisville has been the
ideal of luxury living in Kentucky for over a hundred years. The hotel was
founded by Bavarian-born brothers Louis and Otto Seelbach in 1905, with the
brothers using ornamental touches from around the world - bronze from France,
hardwood from the West Indies, Irish linens and Persian rugs - to bring the
hotel to a level of opulence that would attract visitors en masse.
During the 1920s, one of those
visitors was Al Capone, who routinely visited the hotel for gambling and
bootlegging. According to the Seelbach's website, Capone's favorite room is
immortalized with a few of his personal touches, such as a large mirror he'd
sent from Chicago. That room also has hidden doorways behind panels the lead
directly into secret passageways.
The Seelbach is also widely known
to have served as inspiration behind F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great
Gatbsy."
While training in the army at
Camp Taylor, Fitzgerald is said to have used his weekend passes to visit the
Seelbach to relax and sip on bourbon. He was even allegedly banned from the
hotel at one point due to his behavior after having one drink to many.
During his visit, Fitzgerald met
George Remus, a gangster that became the model for Jay Gatsby. His experiences
in The Seelbach's elegant rooms inspired Fitzgerald to use the hotel as a model
while writing the classic American novel.
The hotel pays homage to
Fitzgerald with Gatsby’s on Fourth, an in-house breakfast spot.