LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tom Owen, archivist for regional history at the University of Louisville, wants to invite the public to join him in a walk down memory lane with a free, public viewing of his latest DVD on Louisville history.
The documentary, “Life in the Old Neighborhood: How Soon We Forget,” will be shown to the public on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2 p.m., in Chao Auditorium, Ekstrom Library. Paid parking is available next door at the Speed Museum garage.
This is Owen’s sixth historical DVD on Louisville neighborhood life. He says his first five videos were walking tours of specific older neighborhoods while this one focuses more generally on the way people lived in the 1940s and 1950s and the landscape-altering changes they faced.
“It was a time of the corner grocery store and tavern, the neighborhood movie house and a whole lot of front porch living,” said Owen. “I also chronicle the dynamics of change in race and gender relations, public health, entertainment and transportation.”
Owen’s colorful story-telling is illustrated with historic images of scrap drives, home delivery of block ice, milk and bakery goods, yo yo contests, and even skinny-dipping at the downtown YMCA.
“To this day,” Owen says, “I marvel that a way of life so familiar could disappear in a few short years.”