Meet Scott

This is Scott and every night for fifteen years he went to the White Castles* in St. Matthews. Scott enjoyed going there to socialize and says that he met a lot of interesting people who would talk politics and hang around like at a general store. Each night he ordered one of his favorites, either the fish sandwich with fries, or a hamburger and an orange drink. The St Matthew's White Castle had a fair share of regulars with the work crowd during the day and the drunks and drug addicts at night. A regular himself, Scott became friends with many of the White Castle employees. He says the employees had a pretty good deal at that time. If they stayed for forty years they would get profit sharing without having to pay taxes on it. They also provided maternity leave and after fifteen years of service, White Castles would fly their employees to the corporate headquarters in Columbus, OH for a banquet.

Scott was born in Louisville in 1946 and attended St. Gabriel Grade School in Fern Creek, then Seneca and Eastern High School. Before moving to St. Matthews in 1979, he lived in the Highlands and worked as a clerk for The Louisville Courier Journal. He has also worked at hotels, factories and for twenty years at the Blue Boar Cafeteria on Gardner Lane. Today Scott works part-time at Rainbow Blossoms, a health food store in St Matthew's, “ I got that job on my own two and a half years ago and I really like it.” He says he does a little janitor work in exchange for good free soup and a little cigarette money. Scott likes Rainbow Blossom because they do not have robberies like they did at Blue Boar. The daytime the cashier would often announce over the intercom, “ Counters, personnel, we have been hit again”.

At the moment Scott lives in a halfway house downtown. He goes to St Vincent’s Soup Kitchen often and says its cool because they still have relics from the old church. He says crowds of people go there daily for food. Scott also thinks The Cathedral of Assumption Soup Kitchen has pretty good food and they even serve White Castles sometimes. On Easter he attends a banquet there in huge gymnasium where they hand out free t-shirts.

Scott's best talent is remembering faces. In his free time he likes to write and has written many short stories. He also listens to WFPK on the radio and has cable television but does not like it. Now that the St. Matthew's White Castle has closed he hangs out at Cahoots and The Seelbach Hotel Coffee Shop. Scott has not had a drink of alcohol in thirteen years but likes the environment at Cahoots and the young people, whom he calls “hippies”, don’t give him any trouble. “I have seen guys there (at Cahoots) who remembered me from White Castles.” Scott, perhaps unknowingly is a St. Matthew's White Castle icon. If he were to offer you any advice, he'd say for you to keep persevering.