Blues take center stage at Mansion Hill Tavern

Blues lovers know it well. Lunch diners make it a regular stop. Newcomers quickly learn it’s a place where everybody really does know your name. With its casual atmosphere and neighborhood location, Mansion Hill Tavern tops the list for down home cooking by day and down South blues by night.

Located on the western edge of Newport’s historic Mansion Hill district, the laid back bar and restaurant is a self-proclaimed “no aggravation location.” The eclectic interior is just what you might expect – brick walls, neon pub signs, assorted posters - and something you might not expect, a larger-than-life wooden Indian. On the afternoon I stopped in, the lunch rush had just subsided. Cara Peluso, who owns the business with husband Lou, was taking a much needed break at the end of the bar (she serves drinks and food while Lou, pictured above, cooks). It was the perfect time to get a little background on the tavern’s colorful past.

Mansion Hill Tavern’s history dates back to 1875 when the original portion of the L-shaped building served as an inn for railway workers of the nearby Louisville and Cincinnati Short Line Railroad. In 1892, it was converted into a neighborhood grocery store, changing names and owners through the years, until 1944 when it became Ivy and Gill’s Café…and booking joint. Later Gill left and Bill took over and well, it gets complicated, but the re-invented Ivy and Bill’s closed after Ivy met an untimely death. Lou Peluso bought the tavern in 1988 and has since turned it into one of the area’s premiere destinations for blues.

Friday and Saturday nights the tavern features such home town favorites as Johnny Fink and the Intrusion and the Blue Ravens. Sunday nights Them Bones, third place winners in the 2010 International Blues Challenge, warms up the crowd, then it’s an open blues jam where wannabes and pros show their stuff. There’s a modest $4 cover charge on Friday nights and $3 cover charge on Saturday nights. Sunday nights are free.

The roster heats up this week on Thursday, May 27th, when the tavern hosts the Cincy Blues Society’s Solo/ Duo Challenge. Jammin’ starts at 7:00 p.m. and goes until 10:30 p.m. Winners in each category will represent the Cincy Blues Society at the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Admission is $7. Better bring cash though. The tavern doesn’t take credit cards but does have an ATM on the premises.

Mansion Hill Tavern is open 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 3:00 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Saturday through Monday. Lunch is served Tuesday through Friday; dinner is served Friday night only from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. For more information, call 859-581-0100.

Now get out there are start singing the blues.

Joseph Williams Home offers urban chic interiors

Located in the burgeoning Gateway Quarter on Vine St. in Over-the-Rhine, Joseph Williams Home is explosion of color and style in urban chic interior design. I first visited the store in its original location on Reading Rd. but hadn’t seen their new digs so I headed out for a little one on one with owner, Fred Arrowood.

The first thing I noticed on approach was the vintage black and white tile “welcome mat” outside the door, the kind used in turn-of-the-century pharmacies and dry goods stores. With care, Fred had chipped out just enough of the original design to update it with the store’s name. I liked it immediately. The store is actually a group of three attached buildings - two side by side and one in the rear - offering sweeping display spaces and streaming light from ceiling high windows. Inside, the over sized space is made cozy by room vignettes, arranged very much the way they would look in your own home. Bold color sets the stage for sleek chrome and leather sofas, fanciful area rugs and hip paintings from local artists.

Fred, an Over-the-Rhine resident, has been in the furniture business for 24 years. He started in sales at Lazurus (now Macy’s), then became a buyer for such notables as Thomasville, Broyhill and Furniture Fair. Along the way he also managed teams of display designers. Frustrated with the lack of management’s vision for changing trends toward urban contemporary style, he decided to open his own store and fill a growing niche market.

“My timing could have been a little better,” laughs Fred. “I opened the store just when the economy took a down-turn and home sales dropped dramatically. People were cutting back and interior design was not a priority.” Like many small business owners, Fred had to come up with innovative ways to reach and service customers. And he did. He now partners with interior design consultant Heric Flores who offers design challenged home owners expert advice on color, furniture arrangement, window treatments and flooring. “It’s really been a major boost to sales,” notes Fred. “If I had to rely on foot traffic to drive business, I wouldn’t be around very long.”

That, however, is about to change. Plans for the new Mercer Commons complex of condos and apartments adjacent to the store, the soon to open Lackman Bar across the street and the recently opened SENATE restaurant are colliding in a perfect storm to make the Gateway Quarter a thriving retail district and vibrant neighborhood. Looking out the window to watch a neighbor pushing a baby stroller, Fred pauses a moment. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”