Lynn's Paradise Cafe owner wants out

As the business district surrounding the defunct Lynn's Paradise Cafe struggles, business owner Lynn Winter said Thursday that she has empathy for residents concerned with the closure's effect on the area.

"I can sympathize with their pain," she said. "I can sympathize that it's tough right now because it is tough for me too."

The popular destination restaurant, which Winter said drew 300,000 visitors a year, closed abruptly two years ago. Since then, several businesses near the vacant restaurant property on Barret Avenue have closed.

Mounting concern about such closures — blamed at least in part on reduced foot traffic from Lynn's — led to a one-woman protest Saturday outside the property that drew some 20 supporters.

The protest included signs that said, "Lynn Stop Holding Our Neighborhood Hostage" and "Lynn Move On."

Winter said that hurt. "I am very highly motivated," she said. "I'm getting nothing. I'm getting smeared."

But she said she is in talks with three groups interested in buying the property. She declined to name her price for the restaurant. She also declined to identify interested parties.

Winter said two of three potential suitors interested in the property "would keep Lynn's as Lynn's and one would not."

"I am working tirelessly to get this into good hands, really and truly," she said.

Winter said she spends about $15,000 monthly to maintain the building, landscaping, utilities and more. She added that when the cafe closed in 2013, "the profit was very close to zero."

"I have invested in the neighborhood whether they know it or not," Winter said of upset neighbors. "I could easily have let the restaurant or the property go down."

Businesses that have closed in the area following Lynn's closure include art galleries like Revelry and Regalo and the Nuts And Stuff shop. The owner of the hardware store on the street has announced he will retire soon.

But other businesses, like the Nitty Gritty clothing store, remain open.

Lynn's opened in 1991. The restaurant went on to have an eclectic retail space called "The World of Swirl" and Winter became known for the annual "International Ugly Lamp Contest" at the Kentucky State Fair.

Lynn's long run of rich Southern cuisine and kitsch ended Jan. 11, 2013, amid controversy over a new employee policy that governed how servers shared tips with support staff. The cafe employed between 80 and 100 people.

"Lynn's was about happiness. It's always been about peoples' flow. I think that's why I evoke such a strong reaction," Winter said. "I am getting my swirl back on. I lost it. You just have to go under sometimes to come up with a new way to look at the world."

Jere Downs can be reached at (502) 582-4669, @JereDowns on Twitter and Jere Downs on Facebook.