Interview with Karin West

Partial Transcript: . . . How about you just tell me a little bit about yourself, just basic information.

Segment Synopsis: West provides a brief overview of her background. West currently manages the Lexington Diner. West describes herself as a traveler. West is from Lexington and attended the University of Kentucky. West also spent time in the military as an Military Police Officer.

Keywords: Lexington Diner

Subjects: Restaurants; Lexington (Ky.); Military police; United States. Military; Education; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: . . . You mostly like grew up, in terms of being a child in Lexington, did I hear that right?

Segment Synopsis: Karin discusses her early life in high school in Lexington during the late 80s and college in the 90s. She talks about the invisibility of gay identity in the 80s, and how she struggled with an early marriage before coming out in college. She began dating women around 1995 and started visiting Club 141 around the same time.

Keywords: Club 141

Subjects: Education; High school; University of Kentucky; Identity; Sexuality; Lexington (Ky.); Early life; Childhood; Adolescence; Marriage; Lesbians; Nightlife

Partial Transcript: . . . Briefly--um--tell me about Club 141, because you're--um--one of the few people whose mentioned that one to me actually.

Segment Synopsis: West describes the now-closed Club 141 as a small downtown nightclub with a dance floor and prominent drag representation. She describes it as more intimate than The Bar, another prominent gay bar at the time. Unlike The Country, Club 141 was more mixed in gender and was more known as a general gay bar rather than a lesbian bar.

Keywords: Club 141; Downtown; Drag artists; The Bar; The Country

Subjects: Lexington (Ky.); Nightlife; Nightclubs; Drag queens; Gay bars; Sexuality; Identity; Gays; Lesbians; Lesbian bars

Partial Transcript: . . . And so I wanted to ask what was UK like when you were there as a student?

Segment Synopsis: West discusses her membership in the UK Lambda Club, an organization involved in LGBT representation and education. West became involved during a time of great turnover in the organization and quickly became involved in leadership. She discusses their efforts in spreading awareness and incidents of harassment they experienced, including a meeting which was disrupted by fraternity students.

Keywords: LGBTQ; Lambda Club; Fraternities

Subjects: University of Kentucky; Undergraduate; Students; Lexington (Ky.); Leadership; Leadership; Meeting; Harassment; Discrimination; Prejudice

Partial Transcript: So, after UK, what happens in your life? Like what's the next step once you graduate?

Segment Synopsis: West describes her time spent as a Military Police Officer with the U.S. Army. West enlisted in the Army as a way to understand police operations so she could better act as a liaison between police and community service organizations like the Lexington Rape Crisis Center. West discusses the difficulties with returning to the closet in the Army under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy after being openly gay in college. Lastly, she describes the circumstances of her exit from the military after being injured in a training exercise.

Keywords: LGBTQ; Community service organizations; Don't ask, don't tell (Military personnel policy); Injuries

Subjects: United States. Army; Military police; Lexington (Ky.); Police; Understanding; Training; Lesbians; Sexuality; Identity

Partial Transcript: So, after the Army, the three years, it ends, what happens next for you in your life?

Segment Synopsis: After leaving the Army, West returned to counseling and work related to her sociology degree. In addition to work with domestic violence and rape victims, she took a number of other part time and odd jobs to make ends meet. She discusses her feeling of being called to service, in the sense that she felt a desire to serve and care for others. West also recalls her time as a Child Protective Services Officer and how the difficulty of that work prompted her to explore other career paths.

Keywords: Social work; Child protective services; Kentucky. Cabinet for Health Services

Subjects: Careers; Social workers; Lexington (Ky.); Counseling; Domestic violence; Rape victims; Income

Partial Transcript: Yeah, tell me about the transition to operations management . . .

Segment Synopsis: While working in Child Protective Services, West earned a degree in Business from Antioch College and wanted to pivot her career to the non-profit sector. West was unsuccessful in her attempts to become an executive director of a non-profit. This led West to begin working with corporate organizations and eventually returning to Lexington and opening the Lexington Diner. West briefly discusses of the history of the current property where the Lexington Diner is located.

Keywords: Child protective services; Non-profit organizations; Corporate sector; Restaurant managers; Lexington Diner

Subjects: Social workers; Change; Careers; Antioch College; Education; Corporations; Lexington (Ky.); Restaurants

Partial Transcript: Okay, well, let's get into this Lexington Diner question . . . what brought you into owning Lexington Diner, we'll just start there.

Segment Synopsis: West tells the story of how she and her partner came to own the Lexington Diner at its original location downtown. Her partner was a chef working at Natasha's and then at a country club, which was sold while the two were on their honeymoon. The sale resulted in West's partner losing her job and they started the Diner shortly thereafter, since they had been considering opening a business for some time prior. West discusses how they never intended for the diner to be be a publicly gay-owned business, but Karen and her partner's relationship was highlighted in a print interview shortly after they opened. The article prompted the restaurant to experience periodic harassment, which has subsided since they moved to their new location, which was where The Country was located, in a strip mall on Lane Allen Road in Lexington.

Keywords: Lexington Diner; Restaurant managers; LGBTQ; Gay-owned businesses; Chefs; Natasha's Restaurant; Small businesses; The Country; Strip malls

Subjects: Lexington (Ky.); Restaurants; Partners; Lesbians; Gays; Cooking; Country clubs; Interviews; Discrimination; Harassment

Partial Transcript: What does being owner involve for you . . .

Segment Synopsis: West states that her main responsibilities in running the diner are to conduct day to day management, manage the social aspects of the restaurant, and conduct major marketing campaigns. West describes the challenges of operating a restaurant during a pandemic and how it has been difficult to make guests feel safe. West predicts that the business will emerge from the pandemic stronger than when the diner began, since there has not been very much turnover. West discovered that the property had once been The Country shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic began, and describes her disappointment that her plans to celebrate the building's history were interrupted by the pandemic.

Keywords: Restaurant managers; LGBTQ; The Country; Lexington Diner; Gay-owned businesses; Customers

Subjects: Restaurants; Lexington (Ky.); Lesbians; Gays; Responsibilities; Work; Management; Marketing; COVID-19 pandemic, 2020-; COVID-19 (Disease); Public health; Safety; Crowds; Social distancing (Public health); Kentucky; Kentuckians

Partial Transcript: There was lots of things that were happening before [the pandemic] . . . we were looking at another kind of gay--um--community exhibit that was gonna be done here.

Segment Synopsis: West describes plans for events and campaigns to celebrate the history of The Country at the Lexington Diner after the pandemic subsides. Afterwards, reflects on how Lexington has changed since she was a child. West says that the city feels more safe and accepting of the LGBT community. West also describes how the Lexington Diner is embedded in the history of both the city of Lexington and the LGBT community, with entirely local art decorating the restaurant and menu items named after prominent LGBT figures.

Keywords: Exhibits; Events; Lexington Diner; Gay-owned businesses; Restaurant managers; The Country; LGBTQ

Subjects: Restaurants; Lexington (Ky.); COVID-19 pandemic, 2020-; Communities; Gays; Lesbians; Counterculture; Gay rights; Leaders; Leadership; Civil rights; Equality; Change