Printers Alley Nashville: our backyard, and the city’s best-kept secret
Step out of Noelle and you’re already in Printers Alley Nashville, one of the most storied corners of downtown Nashville. Our hotel occupies the former Noel Hotel, which opened in 1930, and has been part of the neighborhood’s history for nearly a century. Tucked between Third and Fourth Avenue North, Printers Alley is a narrow brick lane of neon signs, hidden doorways and live music, with more history per block than almost anywhere in the city.
From printing presses to speakeasies
The alley earned its name honestly. Around the turn of the 20th century, this was the heart of Nashville’s printing and publishing trade. The Tennessean and the Nashville Banner both had headquarters here, alongside more than a dozen publishers and print shops. If you were a printer in Nashville, this is where you worked.
When Prohibition came to Tennessee, the alley went underground. Speakeasies served politicians, newspapermen and anyone else who knew which door to knock on. Today the whole district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. You’ll sometimes see it written as Printer’s Alley, with an apostrophe, but the street sign has always read Printers Alley.
The nightclub era
By the 1940s, nightclubs had taken over, and Printers Alley became the place Nashville went after dark. Clubs like the Rainbow Room, the Black Poodle Lounge and the VooDoo Room gave early stages to a remarkable list of performers: Hank Williams, Chet Atkins, Boots Randolph, Dottie West, Waylon Jennings and even a young Jimi Hendrix. While the Opry crowd filled the Ryman Auditorium a few blocks away, the alley was where musicians went to play late into the night.
Skull’s Rainbow Room and the bars of Printers Alley
The alley’s best-known club is Skull’s Rainbow Room. It first opened in 1948 and was run for decades by David “Skull” Schulman, a figure so beloved that the city named him the “Mayor of Printers Alley.” After a long closure, Skull’s Rainbow Room reopened in 2015. Today it serves dinner with live jazz and burlesque in a room that still feels like a 1940s supper club.
Elsewhere in the alley, Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar brings New Orleans-style blues most nights, and Lonnie’s Western Room is a go-to for karaoke. Craft cocktail bars fill in the rest, all within a few steps of each other under the alley’s glowing neon arch. The live music here moves at a gentler pace than Broadway, and that’s the point.
Visiting the alley
Printers Alley runs between Church Street and Union Street, parallel to Fourth Avenue. It’s easiest to explore after sunset, when the neon is on and the doors are open. Most venues are 21 and over at night, so check before you bring the family.
Why we’re here
Noelle chose this corner of downtown Nashville for a reason. The alley is where the city’s creative, slightly rebellious history still feels close at hand. Start your night with a cocktail at our hotel bar, wander down the alley as the music picks up, and you’ll be home in a few steps.