While most of Lexington’s landscape has transformed around it, one local gathering place has stood the test of time in the same location for four decades — and counting.
Rose & Jim’s Bar And Grill , which takes its name from original owners Jimmie C. and Rosetta Bayes, opened on a rundown motel property along US 25 (now Georgetown Road) just south of the Fayette-Scott county line in 1985, albeit under a different name than now.
“At first (the restaurant) wasn’t what my mom envisioned, so she took a couple years hiatus and rested up at home,” says daughter Jimalou Bayes, who’s run the restaurant and 12 motel rooms out back since 2007. “During that time my dad was there working and cleaning it up, so much so that she got back involved again a couple years later with top billing on the name. In those early days without her it was known as ‘Little Jim’s,’ but when she came back it became ‘Rose & Jim’s’ and has been that way ever since.”…