The Smiling Irishman

When I was a kid, I remember "The Smiling Irishman" Bob Ryan, dressed in a green sport coat with wild white hair, advertising his little used car lot on TV. It sat on the NW corner of 7th and York. He opened for business in 1953 and over the years, many a big name - Muhammed Ali, Raymond Burr, Clark Gable, Hank Williams, Count Basie, the Everly Brothers, et al. - visited his lot. The place closed not that long ago, Mr. Ryan passed away in 2021, and it's now just another parking lot downtown. Interesting individual; great piece of Louisville history. An alley near there has since been renamed Smiling Irishman Alley.