Louisville, KY

[PaperChaser]

Where are good places to live in walking/short commute to U of L? Decent cost of living? Fun stuff to do? Any avoidance suggestions?

[Mumbet]

You might want to use search, I'm not sure if there's already been any Louisville threads or not but there probably have been.

I've lived in Louisville my whole life. Best place to live in my opinion (that combines both low-cost and the type of community) is Old Louisville, which is slightly north of campus. Basically, go in with a couple others on renting an old house or an apartment within a house. I'm rooming with 2 other friends there and only paying $300 a month for rent, $13 for cable internet, and nothing else. It's a very pretty area, though it is kind of a common pathway for panhandlers to walk through.

I've tried living far away from campus (Jeffersontown/Hurstbourne area) and I absolutely hated the commute. Louisville highways are notoriously horrible and have several obvious / easily fixable problems that never go away, and I hear that the highways are about to get all their funding pulled too. Definitely wouldn't want to fool with commuting. Also, living not right next to campus made it easy to get completely out of touch with campus life, with it being a big city and all. Not good.

Also, I'm a little jaded about transportation in Louisville right now, because today was the second time that my rather nice car has been towed here because of the city's failure to upkeep the signs along its roads. Be very careful about parking, because even if the signs been totally overgrown by trees or if the paint has totally peeled away, you'll still get towed, and the appeals won't go through because they just don't give a damn.

The Bardstown road strip is the hot-spot for young/progressive people in town as well as music people, and I like the bars and restaurants along it. Fun place. There's a dive bar called the Granville near campus that I recommend, a neat little dive bar in Germantown, and a lot of more expensive bars in the Fourth Street Live complex downtown.

I think you'll find cost of living in Louisville to be relatively cheap. I would definitely avoid certain areas of it though. Firstly, know that income generally goes down as you travel further clockwise along the city, with the east end being the wealthiest, but everywhere and especially downtown near campus there are pockets of crime-ridden places among otherwise good areas. Even out east in the hurstbourne area I managed to find and live in a rather shady (though cheap) place that I'm glad I'm out of.

Campus itself is a high-crime area, actually. There's a lot of leakage from the surrounding low-income areas into campus. I'm talking about getting panhandled on your way out of class. Armed robberies in the student center (well, at least one). Reports of weekly gang beatings and muggings at gunpoint. Campus stores and stores nearby getting robbed. A few months ago I walked through a spot on campus where an armed mugging happened ten minutes later. Also, a couple months ago a mugger fired a gun at some Frat kid who was chasing him, right outside one of the dorm window where my girlfriend was working the desk. She was about fifteen feet from it when it went off. I've also had six bikes stolen from various parts of campus, some nice and some not; they actually hacked down part of a tree on campus to get to one of them. This was right in front of the dorms, right where students are walking.

So be aware that no matter where you live, the University of Louisville campus itself is not the safest area. Again, there are some really obvious / easily fixable problems that never go away, such as the total lack of lighting (much less security cameras) in the Stansbury park / 4th street bottleneck where most of the muggers come through. A simple spotlight placed right there would prevent so much crime, or perhaps a fence to force would-be muggers to go along a well-lit sidewalk if they want to get to the dorms or the rest of campus, but of course the university hasn't done that. From what I've heard there's only two cops patrolling campus at any given time, so a lot of crime slips through the cracks and next thing you know some kid's being held at knifepoint, no big deal, whatever. So yeah, stay away from the whole place at night.

Like I said, I've lived in Louisville my whole life so if you have any specific questions I might be able to field them; you can PM or e-mail me if you want, or if I don't notice a reply here.

Edited February 19, 2010 by Mumbet

[wordslinger]

Mumbet,

I am a bit alarmed by your post... I've been accepted at U. of L. and am excited about the potential move. But I know that I'll be taking classes on campus at night. I would also prefer to live in walking distance to campus, but it doesn't sound as though that's a good option. Is the east side of campus better than the west side?

Thanks for any info you can give me!

[Mumbet]

Mumbet,

I am a bit alarmed by your post... I've been accepted at U. of L. and am excited about the potential move. But I know that I'll be taking classes on campus at night. I would also prefer to live in walking distance to campus, but it doesn't sound as though that's a good option. Is the east side of campus better than the west side?

Thanks for any info you can give me!

After reading my post again, I did make it sound pretty bad. There definitely aren't "weekly gang beatings"; I worded that wrong. There's a random crime incident about every month (oftentimes an attempted mugging, usually not with shots fired) and unreported incidents probably happen at least weekly, which might be about average for inner-city campuses. In my whole time here I've only heard of one gang-style beating on campus though (it was to steal a guy's wallet). Two, if you count a fight that happened around the same time last year where a bunch of racist white kids mouthed off at a black kid and then ganged up on him outside between all the dorms (the beating didn't end until the black kid's girlfriend came out of the dorms with a knife and started stabbing). But in general it's not what the wording of that one sentence seemed to suggest. Also, I've only experienced the panhandling in the middle of campus thing once, so it might have been an isolated thing. And during the daytime, almost nothing could ever happen in the middle of campus.

Most students never run into any problems their whole time at U of L, so don't let me scare you too much, but definitely be careful while you're there and always be aware of what's risky. Even a low chance of something horrible happening, if it's horrible enough, is worth being prepared for. I'm taking night classes there right now and I don't expect anything to go especially wrong (nothing ever has so far) but when I walk / bike home, I'm still constantly looking over my shoulder just in case. I carry mace at all times as a last resort.

Unforuntately the east-west rule in Louisville doesn't apply at the micro level. All sides of campus have their pockets of bad areas. Definitely don't consider any apartments or houses directly southwest of campus (like, down 4th street), because that goes towards the real low-income housing area I was referring to; also, in Old Louisville, stay away from the eastern parts of it near I-65. I know a couple folks who live in University Park Apartments who like it, but some say it's not the safest, and at least one person I know had their door kicked in and her VCR (yes, VCR) stolen from there while they were home. Plus, there's always a small gaggle of really destitute people waiting at the bus stop outside those apartments, yelling at cars or publicly urinating or other unpleasant things. Another friend lived in an apartment farther from campus (not exactly sure where) where he was robbed twice, the second time being a gang-style rush of 6 armed guys who stole everything. Where I live in Old Louisville, your car window will get smashed if you park in the parking lot in the alley out back (not even a 90% chance, it's 100% for sure getting smashed as my roommates and neighbors will attest), and if you've got a flashy aftermarket stereo they'll steal it even if you park on the main street, but as far as violence goes I think my area is significantly safer than the real bad places.

Other than the areas I mentioned, I think everything's really up to chance no matter where you are, and that most areas are generally safe and boring most of the time. Most people get through their time at U of L just fine, it's just that the unlucky ones get it so bad that you don't want any chance of being one of them. I've never been in any particularly dangerous situations and I've walked around here at night all the time, but I make sure to always look alert and cautious, and never drunk/timid/incapacitated, when I'm walking around at night. You should too if you're going to be doing the same.

Edited February 21, 2010 by Mumbet

[wordslinger]

Thanks for the clarifications! It's very useful to me, especially since I'll also have my 7-year-old son with me wherever we decide to live. I've also been told that public transportation is good in Louisville, so I'm considering trying to get by without a car, which on the positive side would eliminate any chances of having its windows smashed in. Do you think it's reasonable to live in Louisville without a car?

[Mumbet]

Thanks for the clarifications! It's very useful to me, especially since I'll also have my 7-year-old son with me wherever we decide to live. I've also been told that public transportation is good in Louisville, so I'm considering trying to get by without a car, which on the positive side would eliminate any chances of having its windows smashed in. Do you think it's reasonable to live in Louisville without a car?

Louisville does have a functional bus system called TARC, and I know a few people that have for long periods relied on it solely. Some have used it in conjunction with a bike since they let you mount bikes to the buses, which really extends your range if you're a biker. Louisville is not much of a bike-friendly town at all, and although there are some good routes most bike travel through Louisville is totally impractical (and good luck if you need anything exterior to I-264), but a lot of people solve that by using the bus to get to the immediate vicinity, and a bike to take them the rest of the way, once they're through with all the major roads. So, the bus can be for long range travel and then the bike attached to it can be for short range. Be aware, even though the buses let you mount bikes to them, if there's already two bikes mounted you're going to be waiting for the next bus (if there is one), because there's only two racks per bus... so that option has its limits.

The TARC system in general can be unreliable. Last time I actually scheduled out a bus trip somewhere at about 10PM, the first bus just flew right by my stop above the speed limit and ignored me. At peak times, they will definitely fly by right you when they're too full, and if you're not right downtown that will mean waiting half an hour for the next bus if you're lucky enough for there to be a next bus.

They also aren't the cleanest buses and tend to be crowded with people from downtown even if you're getting on at campus, so I'm not sure if using them every day for months or years would be a great experience for you and your 7-year-old, but I hear there's people with kids that do use them like that regularly. When my girlfriend was in high school she rode the tarc downtown to school regularly.

The coverage of the bus routes is quite limited relative to the city as a whole, especially if you look at sparse schedules of areas that are farther out from downtown. Still, they're free for students if you just flash the driver your student ID as you're getting on, so they're definitely a better resource than nothing. And several different routes are within walking distance of campus, since campus is so close to the center of where most of them meet.

Parking on campus and anywhere downtown is a serious pain, so the buses are good for relieving that (and that's what I use them for), but for any other areas I would want a car; the rest of Louisville besides downtown (and by downtown I mean interior to I-264) is rather spread out, where parking is a total non-issue and where a car would be a lot more necessary, and so I think of Louisville in general as a "car city."

Also, I just thought of something else, there aren't many stores at all in the campus area. There's a Krogers nearby but if you've got an armload of groceries it's not within walking distance of nearly anywhere that students live. If you tend to buy a whole lot of groceries at once, taking them all onto a bus every time might not be very comfortable. There's always the campus food, but it's all fast food and the rest is priced hilariously high because they can charge the undergrads (who are forced to buy meal plans) whatever they want, so you're going to want a real grocery store like Krogers most of the time. If you need to buy something other than food, your options are far more limited. The nearest Wal-Mart to that area is in Indiana, and stores in general don't really exist near campus.

So, in conclusion, I personally would much prefer getting a cheap beater car, and taking a hit for the gas and insurace and parking, over relying on the bus system here. But I could see maybe relying on the bus system for your first year here, as it's not all that bad and using it can help you familiarize yourself with the city. Any longer period than that and I think you'll find yourself wanting a car. The two people I've known that have extensively relied on the bus system ended up getting cars.

I might be biased just because I'm a car enthusiast, and because I've had a car here this whole time and couldn't imagine getting anything done without it, and because I frequently go out of town altogther to visit family or to go on trips with friends. But for the scattered out errands that I tend to run every week (oftentimes I find myself needing to go to the outskirts of louisville - that is, at and beyond I-265), being able to drive myself has definitely made up a huge part of my efficiency here.

Oh yeah, the window smashing thing is, like I said, restricted to isolated areas or isolated situations (i.e. you've got something inside worth stealing). When I lived in that shady apartment complex out in the east end / Hurstbourne area, someone tore through my Corvette's door panel with a crowbar to get in and then ran away when they set off the alarm, but I took that as an isolated incident involving a criminal who didn't exactly know what they were doing, rather than a sign that all cars there aren't safe. I've since parked the Corvette on the 4th street in Old Louisville for almost two years without incident; it's really only that one back alley where the window smashing thing happens, so really I only brought that up to demonstrate the whole "small isolated pockets of crime" concept of the different areas. The chances of you personally getting your window smashed are quite low.

Edited February 21, 2010 by Mumbet

[Mumbet]

More random places to see in Louisville:

There's some good shows that come in town each year, and I think the main places for that type of thing are the Kentucky Center for the Arts and the Palace Theatre (I noticed Alice in Chains up on their sign yesterday. I'll be doing some Greek singing competition there this weekend too, so I guess they do a bunch of stuff).

There's a lot of events that happen at the Fair and Exposition center near campus. The state fair happens in the Fall; there's something for everybody as you walk through that place during that. Unfortunately they're closing down the huge amusement park next to it (Kentucky Kingdom) that I went to as a little kid.

In the Spring, Churchill downs (right by the campus Krogers) is obviously a really big deal because of the Derby, so anyone near campus will be right in the middle of all that, which can be fun. To kick it off there's the largest annual fireworks show in the world or something called "Thunder over Louisville" each year downtown in the middle of the Ohio river. In I think August, the Iron Man super-triathlon cuts through campus. In October or November, the streets of Old Louisville close down and the St. James art show moves in and sets up all sorts of booths for people to visit and buy art from.

The Louisville Zoo is nice as far as Zoos go and it's in the middle of a lot of parts of town that students tend to frequent.

For mall-type shopping, the Jefferson Mall is close and can be accessed by I-65 or by Preston St. For nicer malls, in the east end there's two big ones right next to each other in St. Matthews, and there's a great new-ish shopping center called the Summit near Springhurst where there's another shopping plaza.

EP Tom Sawyer park out that way is a nice big park if you want to run or work out. There's also a nice one by the zoo, and a couple very big public parks (Cherokee and Seneca) downtown by I-64. If you're into biking, there's a really nice route that starts through those two parks, continues along the river downtown, then goes out towards Shawnee park and farther west all the way to where 265 ends. Iriquois park isn't the safest out of all the parks but it's perhaps the closest to school. I run downtown near campus and work out at U of L's Natatorium which is really a nice pool, and their gym is good too, but getting to those places can be an issue if you don't have a parking pass.

Edited February 21, 2010 by Mumbet

[PaperChaser]

More random places to see in Louisville:

There's some good shows that come in town each year, and I think the main places for that type of thing are the Kentucky Center for the Arts and the Palace Theatre (I noticed Alice in Chains up on their sign yesterday. I'll be doing some Greek singing competition there this weekend too, so I guess they do a bunch of stuff).

There's a lot of events that happen at the Fair and Exposition center near campus. The state fair happens in the Fall; there's something for everybody as you walk through that place during that. Unfortunately they're closing down the huge amusement park next to it (Kentucky Kingdom) that I went to as a little kid.

In the Spring, Churchill downs (right by the campus Krogers) is obviously a really big deal because of the Derby, so anyone near campus will be right in the middle of all that, which can be fun. To kick it off there's the largest annual fireworks show in the world or something called "Thunder over Louisville" each year downtown in the middle of the Ohio river. In I think August, the Iron Man super-triathlon cuts through campus. In October or November, the streets of Old Louisville close down and the St. James art show moves in and sets up all sorts of booths for people to visit and buy art from.

The Louisville Zoo is nice as far as Zoos go and it's in the middle of a lot of parts of town that students tend to frequent.

For mall-type shopping, the Jefferson Mall is close and can be accessed by I-65 or by Preston St. For nicer malls, in the east end there's two big ones right next to each other in St. Matthews, and there's a great new-ish shopping center called the Summit near Springhurst where there's another shopping plaza.

EP Tom Sawyer park out that way is a nice big park if you want to run or work out. There's also a nice one by the zoo, and a couple very big public parks (Cherokee and Seneca) downtown by I-64. If you're into biking, there's a really nice route that starts through those two parks, continues along the river downtown, then goes out towards Shawnee park and farther west all the way to where 265 ends. Iriquois park isn't the safest out of all the parks but it's perhaps the closest to school. I run downtown near campus and work out at U of L's Natatorium which is really a nice pool, and their gym is good too, but getting to those places can be an issue if you don't have a parking pass.

WOW Thank you for so much information!!!!! I wish I knew more (read: anything) about Louisville, but I guess I'll find out when I get up there. Since you have a lot of suggestions on what NOT to do which were very helpful, do you have any suggestions for finding a decent place to live? I do have a (relatively new/nice but not conspicuously so) car, so I CAN drive but really prefer either to walk (which sounds like a really stupid idea from what you've said...also, I'm a fairly small chick) or have a less than 15 minute commute. Are there any decent apartment complexes, or do you just have to wait and hope something pops up on Craigslist? Is there a way to find roommates who aren't totally sketchy? (Dumb question, but had to ask.) I just don't know how to find something from a distance (NC) that would be in my price range and not crime central. On the plus side, my dog is a pretty stellar theft-deterrent; on the other hand, not all places allow pets.

Do grad students have to buy parking passes? (I'm sure by this point you can tell I have NO idea about the university...) Are they the expensive but really kind or the $200 a semester "have a nice 2 mile walk" type? Hmmm, this is all information to factor into where to live, that's for sure! Thanks for all the suggestions, and please keep them coming!

[pewtered]

"Also, living not right next to campus made it easy to get completely out of touch with campus life, with it being a big city and all. Not good." "So yeah, stay away from the whole place at night."

These are two conflicting pieces of advice, so I thought I'd throw my 2c in. I would live east and deal with the commute because downtown Louisville has little to offer in the way of grocery stores, shopping, restaurants. I know several people who commute daily and don't routinely run into too much traffic. This requires you to have a car, but I think a car is a necessity in Louisville.

I wouldn't walk around at night alone probably anywhere in Louisville (downtown or elsewhere) because it isn't a big city that has tons of people out all the time. So in that sense it isn't safe, but I think it's just your run of the mill situation for smaller cities that don't have a lot going on.

[Mumbet]

"Also, living not right next to campus made it easy to get completely out of touch with campus life, with it being a big city and all. Not good." "So yeah, stay away from the whole place at night."

These are two conflicting pieces of advice, so I thought I'd throw my 2c in.

They don't conflict. Live near campus but don't walk around alone at night, pretty simple. You'll meet people on campus that you're a lot more likely to hang out with if you don't live 30 minutes away and need to hurry off all the time to go do your long commute. The Hurstbourne area is decievingly far away, about a 40 minute drive from campus at busy times because of the stupidly designed highways.

I personally hated living farther out east, because having a bunch of restaurants around is kind of useless if you have no one who lives nearby to go with. I'd definitely consider social factors over how many grocery stores a town has. There's sufficient shopping by campus for everyone to get by, provided that they've got a car (and if you don't have a car, you're not going to be commuting either). The Krogers right by campus will at least keep you fed.

[Mumbet]

I've read through your posts and am now somewhat cautious about the whole city as I contemplate whether I should go to that program at U of L. Your really didn't paint a pretty picture of the place from a safety standpoint.

Louisville itself isn't a bad city safety-wise; overall walking downtown and in most parts is just like walking through any other city, if not safer (I think we have some statistic for being a particularly crime-free city). The main point I'm trying to make is that there are some shady areas that happen to be right near campus, and they leak into campus all too often. So students tend to be the ones especially affected.

I don't think the crime concerns are a particularly strong reason to pass up going to an urban-located school. I'm sure bad stuff happens around the immediate area of most schools that are in cities. All I'm really saying is don't hold any delusions about what it comes with; you will have to be alert and cautious, especially in some areas and especially at some times of day. Crime has affected many U of L students and grad students that I know, and U of L's administration doesn't take necessary steps to isolate the campus itself from it and to stop the leakage in. It's not a huge deal for most students but triple-check any block you're considering moving in to, and try not to walk alone in certain places at certain times.

I had visions of some nice urban setting, walking to campus for classes, maybe walking to the more eclectic parts of towns to go to a bar or something. Now I'm thinking that wouldn't happen.

Walking to classes is do-able if you live in Old Louisville or off Eastern Parkway. As for everything else, nope, probably not. If you go to the more eclectic parts of town you'll be driving. Those areas are few and they're spread out. Louisville doesn't really seem to have the densely-packed culture that you might be used to seeing in other big cities. The Bardstown Road strip is basically the only place that does.

What about Phoenix Hill or whatever it's called? How safe is it?

I had a couple friends who were roommates out there in an apartment complex who didn't run into any problems, but I'm not sure I'd want to live out there for other reasons. Take a look around that area on google street view and see what's available in the immediate area; that will say a lot more than I can say.

Edited March 11, 2010 by Mumbet

[Mumbet]

WOW Thank you for so much information!!!!! I wish I knew more (read: anything) about Louisville, but I guess I'll find out when I get up there. Since you have a lot of suggestions on what NOT to do which were very helpful, do you have any suggestions for finding a decent place to live? I do have a (relatively new/nice but not conspicuously so) car, so I CAN drive but really prefer either to walk (which sounds like a really stupid idea from what you've said...also, I'm a fairly small chick) or have a less than 15 minute commute. Are there any decent apartment complexes, or do you just have to wait and hope something pops up on Craigslist? Is there a way to find roommates who aren't totally sketchy? (Dumb question, but had to ask.) I just don't know how to find something from a distance (NC) that would be in my price range and not crime central. On the plus side, my dog is a pretty stellar theft-deterrent; on the other hand, not all places allow pets.

Do grad students have to buy parking passes? (I'm sure by this point you can tell I have NO idea about the university...) Are they the expensive but really kind or the $200 a semester "have a nice 2 mile walk" type? Hmmm, this is all information to factor into where to live, that's for sure! Thanks for all the suggestions, and please keep them coming!

Sorry about taking a while to get back to you. Good places to live... hmm.... anything by Eastern parkway is nice, even if you have to go farther than Preston. University Park Apartments is at Eastern and Preston, and that's where that not-so-nice bus stop is that I mentioned, so I wouldn't live at UPA but anywhere else on Eastern is a really nice area. Eastern parkway as it passes through campus might still be closed down under construction at the start of the Fall, so that's kind of inconvenient (especially if you're an engineer - eastern parkway totally seperates those guys from the rest of campus, including any food / social life).

Going in with someone on a place in Old Louisville (north of campus) can be VERY cheap but I'd stick to 2nd-5th street and no where else. Old Louisville is very pretty, although you and your car may want to stay out of the alleyways depending on exactly which block you're in. Our place is rented from Broadway Management, which runs most apartments and properties in the area. They are not fun to work with and they let their places get rather run down, but if you search their site you can find some extraordinarily cheap places. And it takes a lot of complaining but they do fix things. My $313 a month situation is really atypical but you can pay some pretty low amounts. On the other end of the spectrum, I paid about $600 including utilities living in the Cardinal Village Apartments, which was a small 1Br right next to campus that had a good maintenance staff, so that's about the upper limit.

Pricing info for parking passes should be available on the website. I think grad students can get the green passes which are $126 for the whole year. Pretty cheap compared to some schools. I stopped buying them because they sell more passes than there are spots, so all the good spots right by campus tend to be full all the time. At worst you might get stuck parking out in the Papa Johns Stadium lot (~1mi from the opposite corner of campus) where all the overflow goes. I used to be forced to park there regularly because everything else was full. There's a shuttle from there, but I didn't use it because I wanted to use a bike on campus. That didn't work out for long, eventually the bike I kept planted down there got either stolen or confiscated because I was locking it to something I may not have been allowed to.

Also, campus is really bad about handing out unfair parking citations. You get your first citation free, but oftentimes that just causes someone to not appeal a citation that they should have fought, and then that resource isn't available for the next citation. One guy I know just got a $200 fine for parking in a handicap spot that....wasn't a handicap spot at all. I got towed twice last week for parking next to "yellow" painted curbs that were completely grey (the city let all the paint fall off and never repainted it), but that was city parking that did that, not campus.

Edited March 11, 2010 by Mumbet

[Mumbet]

Tell me - if I choose to go there, the building where I'd be going to would be on the southern half of the campus, not far from Parkway Field. Satellite maps show ample parking, but it sounds like you're saying that parking can be at a premium. Is the parking scene really that competitive? The parking passes come at a variety of costs - all the way up to nearly $600. http://louisville.edu/parking/fees

Which building exactly? The stadium where all the overflow parking goes is close to Parkway field but farther south. That lot always has spots because it's huge, they even do autocross events there. A cheap purple pass will get you there. It's the lot I used to use back when I commuted, because all the other lots were too unreliable.

The parking passes all have various requirements for eligibility; most of the more expensive passes are reserved for certain types of staffmembers.

[Bearclaw]

If you only read Mumbet's comments, you are likely to get a skewed vision of Louisville. He is right that there are times and places that are not as safe as you might like, but I have spent a lot of time in the city, and I've never had a problem. If you are walking in Old Louisville at night, you should be alert, but the odds of you getting mugged are pretty slim. I lived in Old Louisville for about 6 months (at Cardinal Village, which I would recommend if you want to be close to campus and don't mind a kind of generic apartment), and I never had any issues, but I did know people whose cars were broken into. That is something to be aware of. But, all of these problems are limited to Old Louisville. If you live east of campus, you'll be fine.

Also, no one has mentioned living in Clifton/Crescent Hill, which are along Frankfort Ave. Both of those are nice neighborhoods, and usually, you can find some decent prices on rent. Both neighborhoods are starting to get more expensive, but it's still affordable. As someone else mentioned, the Highlands (around Bardstown Road) is a great neighborhood and not far from campus. And, Germantown is an area that is starting to become nicer, particularly if you can find something on the right streets (usually between Eastern Pkwy and Oak St., northeast of Burnett). For all of those areas, you'll have to drive to campus, but you'll be near, if not right in the middle of, the best places to eat, drink, shop, etc. I would avoid living anywhere very far outside of the Watterson Expressway (I-264) because of the commute, unless you have a particular affinity for malls, big box stores and chain restaurants.

Like I said, I have been in Louisville for a long time (almost 9 years), and it's a great city. If you are considering going to U of L, living in Louisville is a bonus, not a drawback.

[jennyw89]

These posts have been really helpful! I'm finishing up my senior year at LSU right now, and just got accepted to Louisville's grad program. I was wondering the best way to go about finding an apartment... should I just search more online, or do yall have more specific names? I'm planning on getting a 1 bedroom, and I REALLY want washer and dryer in unit if at all possible. I'm going to be commuting to the medical campus, but from what I understand, that's not far at all from the regular campus.

It sounds like the two best areas are old louisville and east parkway. Since I'm going to try and be focusing on schoolwork more that in undergrad years, I'm wanting to find a place that undergrad neighbors won't be having parties every night.

Also, how soon do I need to sign a lease? Here in Baton Rouge, people are signing leases now, and if they wait much longer, they are bound to have a tough time finding a reasonable apartment (cost and distance). How is it in Louisville?

Any and all info is greatly appreciated!

[Mumbet]

These posts have been really helpful! I'm finishing up my senior year at LSU right now, and just got accepted to Louisville's grad program. I was wondering the best way to go about finding an apartment... should I just search more online, or do yall have more specific names? I'm planning on getting a 1 bedroom, and I REALLY want washer and dryer in unit if at all possible. I'm going to be commuting to the medical campus, but from what I understand, that's not far at all from the regular campus.

It sounds like the two best areas are old louisville and east parkway. Since I'm going to try and be focusing on schoolwork more that in undergrad years, I'm wanting to find a place that undergrad neighbors won't be having parties every night.

Also, how soon do I need to sign a lease? Here in Baton Rouge, people are signing leases now, and if they wait much longer, they are bound to have a tough time finding a reasonable apartment (cost and distance). How is it in Louisville?

Any and all info is greatly appreciated!

Eh, the medical campus is definitely not super close to the main campus. Not walking distance at least, or even biking distance if I'm thinking about the right buildings. Try to measure the distance on Google Maps before you decide about that.

A couple months in advance is probably what you should do in Louisville; any sooner and they won't know whether those units will even still be available.

[jnpull2]

How long will you be in Louisville? With your kid, you may want to consider living in Oldham County (Crestwood, Prospect, LaGrange) because the public schools there are very good. The area has a small town feel (very small town), but I didn't think that the commute to Louisville was bad at all. Once you get off of the interstate, you are basically there. Of course, that means driving...

The place to live in Louisville is the Highland area off of Bardstown Road. There are a lot of shops and restaurants, but I think the traffic is pretty bad.

I would honestly look for places to live on Craigslist. A lot of private owners post their listings there, and you are likely to find a fourplex with character or something along those lines.

Congratulations on your acceptance! I think that you will find that Louisville is a great city.

[sociologyplease]

Anyone know any details about the LGBTQ community in Louisville? I've done some searching online, but any experiences or thoughts would be helpful! Also, is being a vegetarian in Louisville doable?

[prettyuff1]

Bump. I'll be moving here in May

[mak_and_cheeze]

Hey everyone! I looked through all 11 pages and couldn't find a thread on Louisville, KY and was just wondering about life down in the blue grass state. They have a really good Micro & Immuno program and I would jump on the chance to go to U of L if I get accepted. Any info about the living down there would be greatly appreciated. 

 

- Mak_and_cheeze

 

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

There is some wonderful information here

Is there anyone who is local who I can PM for some updated info on the city?

:-D

[BeingThere]

I currently live in Louisville and have lived here for several years.  It's a very liveable city but it's small, as cities go.  Great bars, great arts scene, fantastic local music scene.  At the head of the Bourbon Trail, if you're into that sort of thing.  You can get anywhere in town in about 20 minutes. 

 

The bus system sucks so it's good to have a car.  Apartments near U of L are usually in older buildings in the area known as Old Louisville.  You will want to stay east of 6th Street and west of 2nd Street if you live in Old Louisville.  Old Louisville can be a bit sketchy at night, but I used to live down there and never had any problems.  

 

The downside of Old Louisville is that they close off 4th street and parts of 3rd just about every other weekend in the spring and summer for bike races and marathons.   Also, the first weekend in October is miserable down there due to the St James Art Fair, which takes up blocks and blocks from 6th Street over to 3rd Street and you will not be able to park or drive around there the whole weekend. 

 

The University has invested in building a lot of new apartments in the vicinity of the campus but they are overpriced and you can usually find something fairly decent in Old Louisville or further south along 2nd Street and Southern Parkway (a few blocks either north or south of the Watterson Expressway) for a fairly reasonable rate.

 

Oh, and then there's the Kentucky Derby.  The race track is close to the campus.  Schools usually try to finish up finals before Derby weekend because the whole city goes crazy then.  (Even elementary and high schools close on Oaks Day, the races held on the Friday before Derby.  That's how seriously they take it down here.)  Well, actually the whole month of April is full of festival events and races and ways and means to party.   But everyone should go to Derby and experience the "infield" at least once.  And usually once is enough.

 

Waterfront Wednesdays are nice also during the summer.  Free fairly-large-name bands down in Waterfront Park. 

 

Louisville is also not a bike-friendly city.  It's gotten better but it's a far cry from bike-safe.  Very few roads have bike lanes and it seems like a lot of drivers around here don't know what a bike lane is.  Although, as I've said, it has steadily improved in the time I've lived here.

 

Feel free to message me if you have specific questions and I'll do my best to field them.

Edited March 8, 2014 by Bren2014

[geographyrocks]

I've lived in Louisville for, well, my entire life.  So I'm available for questions as well. 

[geographyrocks]

I just want to add that whatever you do, do not live in the "university approved" apartment complexes or the dorms.  Both have complaint lists miles long.  And the apartment complexes are way overpriced compared to all of the apartments in the surrounding neighborhoods.  Also, take a hard look at the bus maps.  There are only a few buses that actually travel by the campus.  It's very easy to live within a mile of campus but have little access to buses. 

 

And while biking used to be a problem, it is light years better than where it was just 4 years ago and it will probably continue to improve. 

[doctorinmaking]

Hi -

 

I have applied for a PhD program at the University of Louisville - College of Business.Fall 2015 program.

 

If accepted, I would be moving there with my family and three kids.

 

Could anyone give any information about:

 

1. Place in general for a family ? 

2. Cost of living off-campus ? ( I don't think the University offers on-campus family accommodation?

3. If I have to live off-campus - good school districts ?

4. The environment in general at the university ? Profs ? students ? etc/

 

Thanks for all your inputs!

 

Cheers!

 

V