Lexington’s original hip dining district keeps coming back. What is Southland’s secret?

If local is what you want, Southland is where you need to be.

The neighborhood and the drive were built before the retail model settled into the monotony that developed as a few national interests defined how we shopped and what we bought.

Southland Drive, one of Lexington’s first shopping districts developed in the middle of the last century, has of course evolved but it’s stayed true to its roots as a place where people in the surrounding neighborhoods can come to find pretty much anything they need, from pad Thai to fried chicken, guitar strings to tax services, a trim for yourself or your pet. Southland was eclectic before anyone used that word.

It’s telling that Good Foods Co-Op has called Southland Drive home for almost 35 years and the Lexington Farmers’ Market chose Southland in 2005 as home to a Sunday satellite market that has become a popular destination for fresh-local-food fanatics from all over. (It will be open on Sundays this year from April 7 to Oct. 27.)

While there are longstanding anchors like The Ketch and Winchell’s, the corridor has stayed relevant and vibrant, with newcomers always ready to fill any gaps that open up.

Southland’s central location, well-traveled main drag and food tradition have also in the past year attracted Critchfield Meats to open a new, larger store there and Aguascalientes to add a Southland location to its small but growing chain of supermarkets and restaurants.

Early this year Critchfield brought back a Southland tradition, resurrecting what many considered to be the best fried chicken in Lexington when they revived the Save-A-Lot recipe in the former store’s location.

Southland’s central location and local vibe attracted Ally Hanna when she began making plans to open her own wine store after working at Corner Wine in Chevy Chase for a decade.

“Honestly, it’s such a hodgepodge in a really fun way,” she said about the Southland shopping area. With Critchfield’s moving in and opening Butch’s Grill, and the surrounding neighbors becoming home to more and more millennials she saw it as “an up and coming place,” that could use its own boutique wine shop. Hanna opened Vine & Branch Christmas week 2020 and, despite the limitations of the pandemic, has been welcomed in her new neighborhood. She already has regulars who “all say they love to shop local, they don’t like big box stores and they want local shops to survive.”

Southland has a long tradition of local restaurants, having been home to the first Long John Silver’s as well as local outlets of Lum’s, Jerry’s and Ireland’s, a onetime watering hole for University of Kentucky sports figures and their hangers-on.

Those are gone now (the Long John Silver’s location is now home to Fantasia Styling Salon) but there are plenty of other eateries like Mai Thai, Marikka’s, Donut Days, Southland Bagel, McLeod’s Coffee House, Ali Baba, Stein’s, Once Upon a Dream Tea Room, LaRosa’s Pizza (not exactly local but Cincinnati-based) and a new Taco Tico (again, not exactly local but a small chain that lays claim to offering Lexington’s first taco in the 1970s.)

Southland can also easily satisfy a craving for sweets with Caramanda’s Bake Shoppe as well as two chocolate specialists: Old Kentucky and Sharp’s.

Other food and beverage options include Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe, Columbia Steak Express, the grill in Southland Lanes bowling, Wing Zone, Subway, Unlimited Spirit liquor store and Wong Wong Chinese Restaurant.

There have been significant public investments in the Southland corridor in recent years, transforming what was long a huge, gaping culvert into new sidewalks and a series of attractive and well-engineered water gardens, beautifying the area and cleaning the water that ultimately makes its way into our streams and the Kentucky River.

Southland is currently home to an 18-month outdoor sculpture exhibit organized by LexArts that features the work of local artists honoring Southland’s musical history. Still home to Don Wilson Music, the Drum Center of Lexington, Doo-Wop Shop, and Willcutt Guitars, Southland has long been a place where musicians came to both buy the tools of their trade and to perform.

Although the music scene has, lamentably, suffered during the pandemic, the Southland Jamboree, on Thursday nights during the summer gained such a loyal audience over a decade for its Bluegrass music that it was moved to the MoonDance ampitheatre in Beaumont but retained its Southland name. The Tahlsound (an anagram for Southland) Music Festival came to life in 2017, had a show last October to celebrate the installation of the sculptures, and promises to be back this year. The organizers describe it as “not a festival for the ages; it is a festival for the neighborhood.”

Today, as always, Southland is a place where you can choose bowling or ballet, bagels or beer, go to a barber or a hair stylist and get your nails done, too (and get your pet groomed!) There are doctors for humans and animals, places to do yoga and learn massage, tax preparers, a wine store and a gym, and it’s home to both Planned Parenthood and the Republican Party of Fayette County.

While Southland Drive has been spruced up and improved, it’s held on to the essence that has drawn families to the area for decades, where business is local and you can find pretty much anything you need.

This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 6:00 AM.