Louie Canelakes wasn’t typically a hard guy to find: Generally, he was behind the counter at his namesake Louie’s bar and restaurant on Henderson near Greenville (across from Sprouts) serving up drinks and Chicago-style pizza. Canelakes died Sunday, leaving behind his wife, Bette, and three children, triplets who were all 2012 Woodrow graduates.
Canelakes’ place was featured on the TV show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives a few years ago, visited by the spiky-haired Guy Fieri and launched into national fame. Truthfully, it was none of the above — there wasn’t much parking, it wasn’t a drive-in and although you could eat a pizza there, it certainly wasn’t a diner in the traditional sense. It was more of a Cheers-style spot, a place that seemed immune to the passage of time, and the regulars who called it home continued to consider it a neighborhood hangout as opposed to a “local find”.
Much has been written about Canelakes’ urban pioneering of Henderson when he left his post as a bartender at the infamous Joe Miller’s on McKinney and Lemmon; Joe Miller’s was the go-to media bar in the 1980s, and there weren’t many nights you couldn’t find luminaries such as Dale Hansen and the like holding court before and after newscasts and print deadlines.
Canelakes and his brother dreamed of opening a Chicago-style bar, right down to the pizza, and the Henderson location was affordable because in the 1980s, that area was basically on the fringe of the Wild West in terms of crime and transients. So they took many of their media buddies with them and launched Louie’s. Today, that area is the gateway to hundreds of luxury apartment units and a growing number of trendy restaurants, bars and retailers.
Canelakes’ wife, Bette, has been a longtime staple of neighborhood volunteering, particularly at J.L. Long Middle School and Woodrow Wilson High School, where their two daughters (Nicole and Elizabeth) and a son (Jake) graduated.
David Tarrant with the Morning News has a great story about Louie, his business and his family in today’s paper/online.
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church will host a memorial service at 10 a.m. Friday. A visitation begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at Sparkman-Hillcrest Funeral Home, followed by a Trisagion service at 7 p.m.
