Pick Me Up On Your Way Down

With a sly grin, Kevin Heathcoat pointed to the top shelf of bourbon behind the counter at the Chevy Chase Inn, just above the old photographs and dusty trinkets adorning the wall. 

“That bourbon right there will ruin all bourbons for you after you taste it—it’s just that damn good.” Heathcoat, a co-owner of the inn, chuckled while watching the heavy-handed bartender reach for some legendary Old Rip Van Winkle 20-year and pour the liquid gold into two glasses. 

“When Prohibition ended in 1933, the inn was started up shortly after that. The first time I walked in here, about 15 years ago, it was mid-week during happy hour and the place was packed,” Heathcoat said. “Neighborhood dive bars like this are a dying breed in America, they’re either being torn down or renovated into gentrified townhouses and boutique stores.” 

Located in the Chevy Chase neighborhood of downtown Lexington, Kentucky, the Chevy Chase Inn is the oldest bar in the city; 86 years and counting. It’s the size of a one-car garage, where a few dozen folks (and the occasional horse that’s been rode in) would be considered “at capacity.” The walls and floors tilt and bow with the movement of the inhabitants, almost like a wayward pirate ship on the high seas of intoxicating spirits. 

“This place isn’t my bar, it’s the customers bar,” Heathcoat said. “We have people in here in their 80s who have been coming in for a drink since they were teenagers. The stories they have of the old days in Lexington, their wild and crazy personalities, you don’t find folks and bars like this anymore—the inn is a piece of Lexington and Kentucky history.” 

You couldn’t recreate the Chevy Chase Inn. Only time itself and an extremely loyal clientele that called the inn home for generations could ever construct such an iconic spot—its counter and tabletops covered with the blood, sweat, tears and spilled bourbon of Lexington’s finest. 

“This is a really old city, and everything is being torn down for condominiums. We’ve already lost some great old-time businesses and buildings, and if we were to lose the inn, it would be devastating,” Heathcoat said, in reference to rapidly changing downtown of new construction and high-end real estate. “Luckily, we own the building and the property on which the inn resides, and we’ll make sure it will be standing and serving for years to come.” 

Aside from the usual shenanigans of bourbon and laughter ‘round the midnight hour, the inn also offers a robust lineup of local and regional musicians on most nights. Scheduled or merely by happenstance, many of the raucous honky-tonk country acts and singer-songwriters that take the small stage got their start playing the inn, with several now becoming household names in Southern Appalachia and beyond. 

“This is a ‘tears-in-my-beer’ kind of venue. You come here to get drunk and you accidentally find yourself hearing some of the best live music in town,” Heathcoat said. “And it’s those local singers that really made the inn. We had this guy Roger BonDurant play here every Friday and Saturday night for about 35 years. And it didn’t matter what song you’d yell out—he’d either play it or make fun of you” for a poor suggestion.

Bellying up to the bar counter at the inn, newcomers are immediately welcomed and included in the rollicking conversations in seemingly every direction. It’s an atmosphere and attitude where the “golden rule” truly does apply—treat others the way you want to be treated or get the heck out. 

You’d be hard-pressed to stumble out of the Chevy Chase Inn on a typical night without a roomful of new friends waving you goodbye, people who a few hours ago were strangers, only to now be awaiting your inevitable return across the threshold of the establishment. 

“I walk in here every morning. I unlock the front door and, by the smell of stale beer and regret, I know how great last night was,” Heathcoat said. “All across the country these beloved dive bars are disappearing. You might be able to tear most of them down, but you’ll never tear down the Chevy Chase Inn.”