One Saturday at the beginning of my junior year of college, my best friend Arden Barnes invited me to get coffee at Third Street Stuff and Coffee. I had never been there, but it would soon become my favorite coffee shop in Lexington.
That day with Arden, we sat down with our coffee, complained about how much work we needed to do, then talked for several hours. (That’s how many, many trips to Third Street have gone over the years.) But I did do some work: I loaded the Kentucky Kernel’s management site and looked at what articles had been loaded but not yet published. As editor-in-chief, I reviewed all articles before they published. Slated for publication that day was an opinions piece by Sarah Ladd.
I clicked on the column and read Sarah’s lead: “The New York Times reported Thursday that Alice Dunnigan, the first African-American woman to cover the White House, will get a 6-foot statue at the Newseum, a Washington museum that celebrates the press and the First Amendment of our constitution.”
That was the very first time I read Alice Dunnigan’s name.
Anyone who subscribes to this newsletter knows what came next: I reported on the sculpture being made in Alice Dunnigan’s honor, with photos taken by Arden. Then I decided to expand the articles I wrote into a book. Eight years later, I’m still working on that book.
Earlier this year, Third Street closed permanently. I was really sad to see a beloved place close, especially because I wanted to someday take my published book about Alice Dunnigan there — the place where I first learned about her.
Third Street was filled with bright, eclectic decorations, many of them painted by the owner. Last month, a local vintage shop put those items up for sale. I was out of town that day and worried things would sell quickly, so Arden very kindly went to check it out for both of us. She sent me pictures, and once I picked out a box — painted with polka dots and stripes and squiggles — she bought it for me as an early birthday present.
I’m glad to have a small piece of a place that gave me so much.