Talk:Pendennis Club

Latest comment: 5 months ago by Chroniclerk in topic Discrimination

Club address controversy edit

I am a former Louisville resident. I remember hearing something 25 years ago or so that the club, which is located at 2nd & West Muhammed Ali Blvd, changed its address for a while to 2nd Street when Walnut Street was renamed Muhammed Ali Blvd. This, of course was when the club did not admit African-Americans. I see that they currently list their address as Muhammed Ali Blvd. Does anyone have any info on this? --rogerd 19:21, 24 September 2006 (UTC)Reply

I didn't find anything about that when I was searching through the CJ database (back to 1999 or so) to write this article. Without a source, I don't really feel comfortable adding it to the article, and I have a bad feeling that to actually find a source, one would have to find the period newspaper articles (in other words, sift through a bunch of microfilm). So... I'm kind of stumped, sorry. If anyone has a source, this would seem like a meaningful thing to mention in the article. --W.marsh 19:44, 24 September 2006 (UTC)Reply
No, of course not. I don't think my 25 year old memory is a reliable source. I was just hoping to stir someone else's memory or if someone had a good source of information. --rogerd 20:14, 24 September 2006 (UTC)Reply

If this is true, I'll bet it was a protest against Muhammed Ali himself (rather than a racial thing). The "Louisville Syndicate", mostly prominent members of the Pendennis Club, were the ones who financed Ali's early training and boxing career and promoted Ali to the point where he could get a title fight, and then felt betrayed after he severed ties with them upon defeating Liston.--salvisa 16:49, 22 March 2008 (UTC)Reply

I checked the CJ index which covers stories through 1976 and it didn't mention this. I did learn there was apparently going to be a block-sized development across the street called "Pendennis Plaza" in the early 1960s but it never happened. Unfortunately it seems like the street renaming occurred during the period between where the CJ microfilm index ends (1976) and electronic archives begin (1988). I did find this:

Two decades ago, after Ali had won the heavyweight championship an unprecedented third time and was possibly the most recognized man in the world, Louisville renamed a major downtown street Muhammad Ali Boulevard. Shortly thereafter the Pendennis Club, an all-white, all-male bastion of old-line money and influence that fronted on the newly renamed street, changed its address to an out-of-the-way side door on Second Street.

That's from the 11-27-1999 Philly Enquirer. The citation would be:

Cawthon, Raad (11-27-1999). "LOUISVILLE, ALI SETTING THINGS RIGHT / THE BOXER'S BIRTHPLACE HOPES ITS BIG PLANS END HARD FEELINGS". Philadelphia Inquirer. pp. A1. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) --Rividian (talk) 15:23, 21 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

DYK edit

What from this article made the DYK? I'd like to add it to the Louisville Portal.--Bedford 07:30, 17 May 2007 (UTC)Reply

  • That the Old-Fashioned was (probably) invented there. --W.marsh 13:32, 17 May 2007 (UTC)Reply

WP:FOOD Tagging edit

This article talk page was automatically added with {{WikiProject Food and drink}} banner as it falls under Category:Restaurants or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. You can find the related request for tagging here -- TinucherianBot (talk) 10:42, 2 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Discrimination edit

The assertion, under the heading "Discrimination", that besides charter member Levi Bloom, a Jew, "the club did not admit another Jewish member until 1974", is not borne out by the historical record. The club yearbook of September 30, 1904 shows in its membership Bernard Flexner (1865-1945), a prominent Jew of Louisville. Flexner was admitted to membership in 1902. (Louisville Free Public Library, Kentucky History Collection, 367 P397a Vol. 1904) An anecdote is that Bernard Flexner financed the club's debt during the Great Depression so as to keep it from bankruptcy (per the club's informal historian John C. Johnston.) Chroniclerk (talk) 19:56, 18 November 2023 (UTC)Reply