BELLEVUE, Ky. — In northern Kentucky, one couple remembers the life of their best friend and the namesake of the bar they opened a few years ago in her honor. Even tragedy couldn’t come in the way of the special bond they created.
Keith and Alison Gwynn wanted to open a bar like ‘Cheers,’ a place “where everybody knows your name.” A few years into the process, and they’ve been able to do just that with Danyelle’s Bellevue Tavern.
It’s something Keith always envisioned.
“I’ve always had the aspirations of owning my own bar. I’ve worked as a bartender, paying my way through college,” he said.
Despite the community they’ve built, the one name they wish was sitting next to them at the bar instead hangs on a sign over everyone.
“I know Danyelle is my guardian angel,” Keith said. “And I think she would be very proud of us, with the exception of naming it Danyelle’s, because she was a very humble person. She would not want her name on the building, but that’s how we wanted to honor her.”
Danyelle’s Bellevue Tavern can be traced back to the relationship that formed between Alison and Danyelle Byrd, formerly Danyelle Echoles, who met when they were both nine years old, and grew up together playing basketball in Cincinnati. Byrd played at Colerain High School, while Alison played at Anderson High School. They also played together on AAU teams, where they met Jess Byrd, who would eventually become Danyelle’s wife.
Danyelle Byrd played on NKU’s 2008 National Championship team (Spectrum News 1/Sam Knef)
Byrd went on to play at Northern Kentucky University. She was a sharpshooter on the 2008 Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship team.
Meanwhile, Alison went to Drexel University in Philadelphia, where she met Keith, who was born and raised in Philadelphia.
“We fell in love, and she’s like you have to meet my best friend Danyelle. So we drive nine hours, and I walk in, and she was a little bit cold to me. So I said alright, you guys go ahead and talk. Nice meeting you,” Keith said. “Fast forward five years later, we become best of friends. We always talked about owning our own bar together. And we just built on that relationship.”
Keith and Alison’s relationship progressed quickly. They got engaged.
“I just said, I’m gonna bite the bullet now. I know she’s gonna want to eventually move back home when we get married. So we just moved here right away,” Keith said.
The Gwynns moved back to the Cincinnati area, but, despite the distance, still became inseparable with the Byrds, who lived in Atlanta. Alison and Keith were both in Danyelle and Jess’ wedding in 2016.
“Her wife and my wife and the four of us were like the four amigos. We did everything together, hung out together, vacationed together at times,” Keith said.
Keith and Danyelle continued to talk about one day opening a bar. Danyelle had been a general manager for both Longhorn Steakhouse and TGI Friday’s.
“Once our relationship started to bud, that was a commonality we had of being in the service industry,” Keith said.
But before that day would ever come, a sudden, shocking tragedy occurred in October 2018.
“It was a huge shock, because you know, I’m at work, and I get this phone call from my wife, and she’s like, ‘D’ passed. And I’m like, who? I couldn’t fathom or comprehend my friend passing. She’s like, Danyelle, and I’m like, what? Who? I couldn’t. And then once it hit me, I’m just like, I got to go. And we get the news that Sunday. She was laying in bed with her wife,” Keith said. “Sometimes I can get through the story, telling that story, without getting emotional. Sometimes I can’t. It’s tough, because it’s a reminder of my friend not being here.”
The Gwynns later learned only about 15 percent of brain aneurysms are sudden ruptures, which turned out to be the case with Danyelle.
Their best friend was taken from them at 31 years old on October 14, 2018.
“They said even if they would’ve done a brain scan at some point, she played collegiate basketball, was always heavy into athletics, she wasn’t stressed at the time. There were no indicators to say this is why it happened,” Alison said. “Until you have somebody close to you that experiences it, people don’t know much about it, and there’s so much unknown in the medical field about brain aneurysms still.”
Keith and Alison Gwynn opened Danyelle’s Bellevue Tavern in 2019 (Spectrum News 1/Sam Knef)
Danyelle’s death lit a fire in Keith to make the dream they shared a reality.
“I told my wife we have to do it now. Life’s too short,” he said.
He called up the previous owner of what was then called Brozzart’s, Rob Brozzart.
“He said two things: my wife wants me to sell, but I’m not ready. So once he said my wife wants me to sell, I had a teammate on the inside,” Keith said.
Keith would come into the bar, which had been Brozzart’s for 47 years, and get to know Rob.
“Ironically, we were sitting right here at Brozzart’s on a Friday night,” Keith said. “And he comes over and says, ‘Keith, make me an offer.’”
The building was never for sale. It never hit the market. But they struck a deal.
Keith worked as hard as he could to have it open by the one-year anniversary of Danyelle’s passing.
“I was in here from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. Lack of sleep, but adrenaline kept me going,” Keith said.
After taking over the place on October 1, 2019, they finished renovations in 18 days, and successfully opened Danyelle’s Bellevue Tavern. The grand opening was Oct. 19, a few days past the anniversary.
Two and a half years, and a pandemic later, they’re still going strong, with a lot of help along the way.
“I feel like her aura exudes through the bar,” Keith said. “We’re just very fortunate, because this is like home to me. You know? We’ve just been very fortunate to have a lot of people around that support us. Without them, I don’t know where we would be.”
Alison said Danyelle would be happy with the environment they’ve created.
“I think one of the greatest things she would be so proud of, he had this vision, we all had this vision, of having a place that was so welcoming to everybody, from all walks of life,” she said.
The Gwynns are still as close as ever with Jess Byrd, who was remarried in March, and now lives in the Cincinnati area. Keith sang at the wedding.
Danyelle’s basketball memorabilia hangs on the walls of the tavern. At the bar “where everybody knows your name,” the Gwynns get to share their friend’s name, and her story, for years to come.
The Gwynns said they’re planning to open a food trailer outside their bar this summer. On the menu will be, of course, Philly cheesesteaks.
