Distinct Districts: Chevy Chase

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Arts & Culture

Our Distinct Districts series highlights some of our favorite local corridors — thoroughfares ripe with clusters of unique businesses, interesting architecture and use of space and other factors that work in tandem to make Lexington a wonderful place to live, shop, work and play.

When Will Pieratt, a Lexington native who was living in Indianapolis, was approached 11 years ago by a co-worker about opening a New Orleans-style restaurant together, he agreed, but under one condition: They’d do it in Lexington, and to be more precise, they’d do it in Chevy Chase.

“I loved Chevy Chase as a kid, and I wanted my son to grow up there, too,” said Pieratt, who’s now been a co-owner of Bourbon n’ Toulouse for more than a decade. “Besides, there’s no better location for a good restaurant – it’s a hub area, where people come from all over the city.”

Just across the street from Bourbon n’ Toulouse, Dave Fuller is a veteran compared to Pieratt. His iconic Charlie Brown’s restaurant has been in business for more than three decades. He located in the area because of its appeal to customers with traditional taste.

“Chevy Chase has been a real classy area, and many of the businesses have been here a long time,” he said.

Rosa Plage, a hairdresser who opened her Simply Blue Salon just months ago, said she picked Chevy Chase because it’s a “cool, hip part of town.”

“Our mission is to give a very unique, wholesome experience to our customers, not just a haircut, and I felt that this part of town is the best for a business like us,” she said.

Bourbon n’ Toulouse, Charlie Brown’s and Simply Blue Salon are three out of more than a hundred businesses that thrive in the district, which lacks many of the modern shopping mall amenities but possesses different and unique qualities that more and more customers are seeking.

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Danielle Montague, the owner of Mon Tea shop and the founder of Chevy Chase Business Association, chalks up the district’s longstanding popularity with both business owners and customers to its unique features. It’s walkable; it’s historic; there’s a great mix of businesses; and “everyone is passionate about what they do.”

“We truly have it all,” she said. “Chevy Chase is becoming the Lexington place to shop and hang out.”

Bill Farmer, who owns Farmer’s Jewelry, said that when Chevy Chase was first developed in the 1930s, the area was on the outskirts of Lexington.

“That was the last street light, the edge of town,” he said, referring to the street light at the intersection of Euclid, High and Fontaine.

The land that was to become the present 20-acre, business-zoned Chevy Chase was originally owned by Henry Clay; part of it was his estate, and the rest was his adjoining horse farm. Started as a residential area, Chevy Chase slowly transitioned into a business district.

“Houses gave way to shops,” explained Farmer, who also serves as the Fifth District city councilman and who edits the district’s newsletter. He said that in the early days of the business district, many people opened businesses in their residences and continued living upstairs. “Chevy Chase wasn’t planned. It happened.”

Part of the appeal, according to Farmer, whose father, William Farmer Sr., first opened his jewelry business in January of 1950, is the blend of “new and old.”

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One of the patriarchs of the area is Fred Moore, the owner of Ashland Avenue’s Fred Moore Music. Moore reminisced about places long gone and those still standing after many years.

“There were three service stations in Chevy Chase, and they’re all gone. The IGA Grocery store was torn down. [Local drug store chain] Bagley Drug Store went out of business, and so did The Saratoga restaurant near the corner of High and Euclid,” he said.

The Saratoga was a legend, Moore said.

“They had great food, and by 4 p.m. on weekdays, everyone was there, a mayor, the city council, the judges and the lawyers,” he said.

Moore added that “some serious card game” was going on in the back of some businesses at the time.

“Things were different back then,” he said.

Moore grew up in Lexington, and while he didn’t live in Chevy Chase, friends from his Boy Scout troop did, and he often rode his bike to the area from his parents’ house on Westgate Drive off Versailles Road, another edge of town at the time.

Moore went into the Air Force after graduating from high school, and when he returned in 1967, he helped his father, who previously ran his music instrument rental business out of his car, to open a brick-and-mortar shop on South Ashland Avenue, between Ecluid and Ashland Terrace.

Nearly 50 years later, Moore feels that being in Chevy Chase helps him to withstand the competition from the bigger chain music stores in town.

“I have my own customers, and they stay loyal,” he said.

Brittany Stephenson, who came to the Moore’s store with her three children, Lendon, 13, Callie, 8, and Beckett, 10 months, said that she’s a third-generation customer. She said that she doesn’t mind driving all the way from Hamburg to shop at Fred Moore’s and other places in Chevy Chase.

“You get excellent service, and everyone is willing to go out of their way to make you happy,” she said. “Plus, there’s a lot of history is in this place, and it makes every trip here interesting and educational for the children.”

While Farmer’s and Moore’s businesses are 65 and 47 years respectively, they are not the oldest in Chevy Chase.

Just a few doors from Farmer’s Jewelry is Chevy Chase Inn, a bar that opened in 1933, at the end of Prohibition, under the original name of Grey Goose. Next door is Oram’s Florist, the oldest flower shop in Lexington and one of the oldest businesses in the city. First opened on Main Street in 1877, Oram’s moved to its Euclid Avenue location in 1948.

Anne Oram, the great granddaughter of the founder who now owns and runs the store with her sister, Susan Baker, said that times are tough for local florists due to increasing competition with Internet sellers, but she is not going to give up.

“My ancestors worked their behinds off to keep this business running. During the Depression, my grandfather sold fish, birds and even his own furniture to be able to pay salaries to his employees,” she said.

Oram said that being in a community like Chevy Chase helps her succeed, with a loyal client base that ranges from University of Kentucky departments to local residents.

“We have customers who have known us for years, and we continue getting business from them,” she said. “I wouldn’t trade this location for the nicest place in the mall.”

John Sensenig, the owner of the popular John’s Run/Walk said that when he was first starting out in 1999, he picked the Chevy Chase location over a few attractive downtown spots that were available because of its “unique feel.”

“It has a nice neighborhood feel to it,” he said.

Sensenig was a UK psychology professor for 13 years before opening his shop in 1999.

“I thought I can learn about shoes, and I did,” he said. His added that being in a busy area with diverse client base helped his business grow.

“Our customers stay loyal,” said Sensenig. “Some of them would move to another state and ask me to send them their shoes.”

First-time business owner Plage (Simply Blue Salon) was surprised to find supporters instead of competitors among neighboring businesses in Chevy Chase.

“When we first opened, we got goodies from Donut Days, Danielle [Montague, from Mon Tea] sent us tea, and we kept getting flowers from Oram’s,” she said. “It was very sweet. People came in, introduced themselves, they were very supportive.”

Pieratt said even though everyone is in business for themselves, “the whole area is more like a co-op.”

“We have genuine interest in each other, and we help each other as much as we can,” he said.

The examples of the mutual help are endless.

“If we are out of plates or forks or, even, onions or flour, we go to Charlie Brown’s. When our fridge broke, we got ice from Tomo, the sushi restaurant around the corner,” he said.

Employees of the iconic Chevy Chase Hardware store are always willing to fix things or lend the tools, Pieratt added.

“We truly share our lives,” he said. ss

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