For almost seven decades and through numerous moves, UofL students, faculty and staff enjoyed socializing and dining at the Cardinal Inn.

The first Cardinal Inn was located on Shipp Street and opened in 1926 (shown in the photo above). Hot lunches could be had for just 30 cents, and students gathered to drink Oertel’s ginger ale, play pinball and buy clothing.

In 1931, UofL President Raymond A. Kent was concerned about rumors of unruly student behavior at the restaurant. He hired two undercover detectives who reported that students met there to eat, smoke and play cards.

The Shipp Street Cardinal Inn was razed in 1967 to make room for the Humanities Building. A new Cardinal Inn was opened by the same managers, the George brothers, on Brook Street across from the current location of the SAC (Swain Student Activities Center). The Inn’s popular steam table offered Lebanese and American dishes, and patrons were known place horseracing bets in the back hallway. The Cardinal Inn later moved to Brook and Lee Streets (north of DuPont Manual High School) circa 1986, and closed in 1995.

Later, new owners opened the Cardinal Inn on S. Floyd Street, across from Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. The location is now home to the UofL Athletics Ticket Office.

Adapted from Cox and Morison, The University of Louisville (Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, c2000), pp. 103-4, 167 and UofL Digital Archives’ University of Louisville Images collection.