Central Business District (Louisville, Ky.)

Old Louisville neighborhood interview series. Gossman, a neighborhood activist and leader, discusses moving to Old Louisville in the 1980s, and changes he has seen in the neighborhood since then. He discusses the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council and various people who have been involved with it along with him. He also talks about the role of the University of Louisville, and how its presence stabilizes the neighborhood.

Hawkins, retired from the Louisville police force, recounts his work in the old Walnut Street area from 1939 until his retirement. He discusses the businesses and people in the area.

Born to Tal and Laura Moorman in Daviess County, Kentucky, Frank Moorman, Sr., came to Louisville in 1926 to rejoin his former employer, Dr. White, at his new drugstore in the Mammoth Building. Moorman later opened a drugstore with Dr. J.C. McDonald on the corner of Sixth and Walnut. He later opened a service station at Eighth and Walnut; this station became Frank's Super Service. Moorman discusses his grandparents and parents in the Buckhorn community in Daviess County, the evolution of his business, his feelings on the civil rights movement and race relations.

Ms. Bonniebell Porter was 85 at the time of this interview. She was widowed at an early age. She recounts her experiences growing up in the area around 4th Street and Armour Place, and her later businesses as a landlady and a restaurant proprietor. She enjoyed growing up in Old Louisville. She describes the time period following world War II, after many of the Victorian buildings in Old Louisville had been converted to rooming houses and apartment buildings. At one point, she believes she owned a dozen properties; she stresses that at that time, one could buy properties in Old Louisville at low prices. She also discusses crime in Old Louisville, then and now. While she generally believes crime in Old Louisville is worse now, she does recount a number of stories about prostitution. While drugs are more of a problem now, alcohol was a problem in an earlier era. She bought her first property before she turned 18, and continued in this entrepreneurial vein for the rest of her career. As she was a single woman, this was rather unusual at that time.

The Reverend Ray is a 87-year-old Black man who is a long-time resident of the Parkland area. He discusses his life, his childhood in downtown Louisville, the growth of the downtown area, Fourth of July celebrations in the Chestnut-Walnut-Eleventh Street area as well as the changes and growth of the Parkland area.

Woods, owner of a barber shop in the 1200 block of old Walnut Street from the 1940s until the area's destruction in the 1960s, discusses his personal history and experiences as a businessman in the Walnut Street area.

Zipp discusses his work as real estate director with Urban Renewal and Community Development on the West Louisville Downtown Renewal Project. He recounts the history of the project, its outcome and effects, and elaborates on the role of urban renewal. He also defines urban renewal and its goals and problems surrounding the Walnut Street project.