The New
Year will bring a new eatery to Germantown, and you have probably noticed a bit of
construction at 1045 Goss Avenue as new owners, Laura and Nash Neely, build
their pizzeria – The Post.
Some people
may think Laura and Nash are a little crazy.
Nash is
leaving a corporate job in finance to jump back into the restaurant industry. Laura is working as an attorney while simultaneously
helping her husband run the restaurant.
The restaurant, nestled between Yesternook and Hali B. & Co. Salon,
is an old VFW Post that many would have thought should be razed instead of
rebuilt; followed by a lengthy rezoning process and a thoughtful reimagining of
the vacant building.
Crazy or
not, the Neely’s are ready to serve Germantown a slice of pizza. They believe in their pizza and believe it
fills void for hungry Germantowners and Louisvillians.
A big,
floppy slice of New York style pizza is hard to come by in Louisville. Papalino’s disappeared in 2014, Luigi’s Pizzeria’s
hours are only conducive to the Monday through Friday work crowd, and the
skuzzy, punk theme of Spinelli’s isn’t for everyone.
Germantown
pizza options, outside of major-chain-delivery, are limited to two. The Come Back Inn offers “casual,
Italian-American dishes” that includes traditional Italian pizzas, yet most
diners come for the heaping servings of pasta or chicken breast bake. Their forte is home-cooking, not pizza. Danny Mac’s Pizza is home of the
“Schnitzelburg Square,” a name given to his pizzas for their square shape and
square slices. Danny Mac makes a
delicious pie, perfect for take-out or enjoying during a square dance intermission, but the AmVet’s Post* where Danny Mac’s is located isn’t a likely
hangout for those looking for a restaurant experience (you can order drinks at
the bar and catch a game on a flat screen TV, but there’s no table service).
Insert The
Post.
The Post
will offer New York style pizza by the slice or by the pie. Their largest pizza will be 20”, creating an
easily foldable slice. Cheese,
pepperoni, and a specialty pie that changes daily will be by-the-slice options
(ideal for late night customers); while more formal, larger parties can order a
whole pie they can customize or choose from their house specials. Chef Brian Cunningham, transplant from The
Mellow Mushroom, is working on the menu and perfecting the pies.
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Brian Cunningham and Brandon Driver |
The beer
and wine selection will be “simple at first,” according to Nash. It will feature beers, both craft and
domestic, from breweries across America.
Beer snobs will be satisfied, but the Neely’s stress that there will be
plenty of frosty Budweisers and Miller Lites to go around. Acknowledging Germantown’s blue-collar roots,
The Post will be a place anybody can walk in and get a slice of pizza and a
domestic longneck for a reasonable price.
The Post will be open from 4 pm to 2 am, with the possibility of opening for
lunch in the future. The Neely’s were
quick to shutdown any notion of extending their hours to 4 am in the
future. They are, first and foremost, a
restaurant. They don’t see Goss Avenue being
home to late-night, party bars, akin to Baxter Avenue. They love the small town, Main Street feel of
Goss Avenue and respect the residents that live on the street, especially those
who live across from The Post.
They really
care about The Post and the neighborhood, and that is apparent.
____________________
We first
met Laura and Nash at The Post in September.
The young couple biked over from their house in German-Paristown.
Despite the
daily buzz of construction, we didn’t expect much, judging by the exterior. We were wrong.
Shine Contracting and Pickett/Passafiume Architects are largely to thank for the transformation
of the VFW Post into The Post. Shine
Contracting’s impressive portfolio includes an old firehouse that has become
the ultra-trendy, Bakersfield-themed Silver Dollar in Clifton, and the NuLu
eatery, Decca, that includes a fabulous
rathskeller and outdoor area.
The
contractor and architect team didn’t just want to renovate; they wanted to
rethink the VFW Post to have strong, functional bones and seem larger and more
open.
The entire
building has been gutted, leaving only the original hardwood floors. All new electrical, plumbing, and HVAC
systems have been installed. The kitchen
in the rear of the building boasts new concrete floors, a new walk-in cooler,
and new appliances. The floor plan
changed and a new bar replaces the old one.
The camelback
floor that creates a literal hump in the middle of the building was gutted
and split. Half of the upper level
houses a mechanical room, while the other half was removed to make a high,
vaulted ceiling for the first floor.
New
windows, including a large floor to ceiling window the size of a garage door
across from the bar, helps this long, narrow shotgun style structure feel
monumentally larger.
The
capacity for inside the restaurant can hold 160 people and a combined 200 when
the front patio is open.
____________________
Even though
there is a lot of new in The Post, there remains some old.
“When they
left, they left everything,” said Laura about the previous occupants, the
Veterans of Foreign Wars. Among the
found items were a bunch of trophies, an American flag missing some stars,
and a ton of pictures, including pictures of “women with really big hair.”
The Neely’s
kept most of what was left behind and are using some of it as décor for the
restaurant. The flag has been hung on
the wall. Pictures of the VFW’s Ladies Auxiliary (those ladies with big hair) have been framed and hung. Hand painted signs advertising chicken
dinners and picnics at the VFW Post are now vintage wall décor.
The name
and décor are nods to the building’s history, but 1045 wasn’t always a VFW Post;
it spent most its life as a residential property.
Originally
1045 Goss was built between 1885 and 1886, although when the house was first built, it was
numbered 1041 Goss Avenue. The first owner of the property was John
L. Rudloff who operated Rudloff, Settle & Company, a chair factory on
Vine Street between Clay and Hancock, with his business partner, William
Settle. Following John’s death in 1894, his widow, Catherine,
resided at the location with her daughter until 1907. From
1907 to 1910, the property was occupied by a carpenter, Dennis L.
Thompson. In 1908, the property was renumbered to 1041A and the
property next door (where the current business, Hali B.’s is located today) was
numbered 1041B. In 1909, the Post property was renumbered by the
U.S. Postal Service and has been known as 1045 Goss since then.
![]() |
Marriage announcement for Albert & Mattie Bayens. The Kentucky Irish American. August 27, 1904 |
____________________
Mo’s Food Mart updated
their look and added a hot plate lunch.
Yesternook continues to grow and now boasts new owners, Lynn Gould and
Autumn Rhodes. Four Pegs is under new
management and will soon roll out a brunch offering. Three Points Beautification Project has added
a mural to the Abell Elevator building and transformed the intersection of Goss
Avenue and Logan Street. Miss Kay’s has
moved out of the corner of Goss and Texas and a new occupant will soon take over
the space (more on that soon). Underhill Associates have moved into the old PVA building on Goss and removed the chain link,
barbed-wire fence in the front of the property.
And, most notably, Underhill Associates are converting the old cotton
mill into 184 loft style apartments, called Germantown Mill Lofts (the loft
project actually caught the attention of the bank and solidified The Post’s
loan).
The Germantown Times recently ran a headline: “Germantown Resident Expresses Concern that New Pizza Place on Goss May Inspire Other Good Ideas.” Despite our laugh at their satirical article, we genuinely hope no one sees this positive progress as a concern. And while The Post can’t take credit for changes already underway
on Goss Avenue, their presence will most likely encourage positive change for Goss in the future.
For now, you can sit at The Post, enjoy a slice of pizza, and watch it all unfold.
____________________
The Post plans on having a
soft opening soon and being fully operational by the end of the month. Stay tuned to The Post's Facebook for more information.
*Laura and
Nash realize The Post and the AmVet’s Post may cause confusion because of their
names. They don’t think customers will
make the mix-up, but if they do, said Laura, “we hope they go in and have a pizza
and support a small business wherever they are.”
Story written by Jennifer Chappell
Story written by Jennifer Chappell
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