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114 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 8.17 THE SPREAD into a modern office building for his wife's chiropractic practice. A sign affixed to the roof bears a picture of original owner Joe Murrow, John Murrow's grandfather, who died in 1981, a year after John was born. "It says, 'A Neighborhood Tradition, Established 1944,'" John Murrow says. "Everything has that 1944 sticker on it, but it's not actually correct. e business was actually open in 1939. At that time, it was just a bar, like an old-style spittoon type. Cup of whiskey and some beers and that's it." Murrow's grandfather purchased the bar in 1943. Joe's portrait hangs behind the cramped and crowded bar. "Everybody that I've ever talked to tells me basically the same story about my grandpa, about coming in the first time they met him," Murrow says. "ey didn't come back for a while and as soon as they walked through the door, he remembered their name. Of course, my grandmother said, 'He used to kick me and ask me what the name was.'" Murrow says that, in the 1950s or '60s, his grandmother's recipes were added to the menu and, like the decor, they've hard- ly changed. In its heyday, Check's would close for only two hours, between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. Billy Reynolds, a bartender, has been working at Check's since 1994, but he first came in as a customer when he was 18. Joe Murrow served him a beer. When Reynolds came back a few years later on his 21st birthday, Joe simply said, "Oh, you're 21 now?" and gave him another beer. Check's established itself as a place for family long ago. Murrow believes this is the main reason for the restaurant's staying power. He hears the same story from patrons: ey first came to Check's with their parents, and then they grew up and took their kids, who, in some cases, are now taking their kids. "I always say in the restaurant business I kind of have it easy because most of the people I deal with have been here before," Murrow says. "ey've already made their mind up. ey're saying, 'Let's go to Check's.'" "I grew up probably six blocks from here on Ellison," longtime regular Ed Mar- tin says. He has been coming to Check's for more than 50 years. He sometimes sits at the bar during the Wednesday trivia nights, guessing answers with friends. Clockwise, from left: Club sandwich, fish sandwich, chili.