photo by: Contributed Photo

A pub in Portland, Maine, named "LFK" has been the recipient of gifts from Lawrence residents who like the establishment's name.

For a pub owner in Portland, Maine, what started as an ambiguous abbreviation for his establishment’s name has sparked an accidental yet prized relationship with the city of Lawrence.

John Welliver expected a bit of confusion from the Portland locals when he named his pub “LFK” with no explanation of the abbreviation’s meaning. For years, people would guess what the letters could stand for. In fact, it’s such a mystique of the establishment that every check now includes a question at the bottom: “What does LFK mean to you?”

But a couple of years after his restaurant opened, Welliver discovered that in one faraway part of the country, LFK means something quite specific.

photo by: Contributed Photo

John Welliver stands outside his restaurant, “LFK,” in Portland, Maine on Jan. 27.

LFK is an abbreviation for Lawrence, Kansas, that some Lawrencians embrace as quirky and others spurn as crass. (Let’s just say the “F” doesn’t stand for friendly.)

Welliver first learned of the nickname not long after his pub opened in 2012. Two tourists from Lawrence who were at LFK informed him of the abbreviation’s meaning in the Sunflower State. They chatted for a while, and then, not long after, Welliver received an LFK car sticker in the mail from the couple.

As the restaurant grew in popularity, an increasing number of tourists from Lawrence stopped in to eat or drink. And about once a year now, Welliver receives packages from people in Lawrence who either visited his restaurant in the past or heard about it through a friend.

This winter, his gift was a bottle of Malbec wine with the letters “LFK” written in large print on the label. In the past, it’s been copies of the Journal-World or a painting of downtown.

photo by: Contributed Photo

A Lawrence resident brought a bottle of LFK Malbec to the pub, “LFK,” in Portland, Maine, in December 2019. The wine is pictured next to one of multiple old University of Kansas yearbooks the restaurant owns.

Welliver feels the restaurant now has a small connection with a place halfway across the country.

“We always wait for someone from Kansas every year to pop in. We look forward to that,” Welliver said. “We feel kind of honored that people in Kansas would know about us.”

3 Jayhawks stumble in

University of Kansas alumni Alex Fischer, Jessica Gowen and Jenny Jordan were “shocked” when they stumbled upon LFK during a vacation in Portland in the fall of 2015.

“How random, first, that we went to Portland, Maine, and second, that we stumbled on LFK,” Fischer said.

The three Jayhawks, who graduated in 2010 and 2011, go on yearly trips together, and were walking around the city looking for a place to lunch when they saw LFK written at the top of a restaurant.

“We were like, ‘There’s no way.’ And that’s what drew us in,” Gowen said.

photo by: Photo contributed by Alex Fischer

University of Kansas alumni (from left) Jenny Jordan, Jessica Gowen and Alex Fischer took a photo outside “LFK” in Portland, Maine in the fall of 2015.

Fischer said he remembered being told by an employee that the pub was named after Lawrence, but then heard later from other friends who knew of the pub that that was not true.

Despite the confusion surrounding the meaning of its name, Fischer said the trio was pleased to discover the pub, noting that “Lawrence and KU is what brought the three of us together.”

Gowen added that the food was “amazing.”

“And I was like, ‘Good. A place called LFK has to have great food,'” she said.

Not all Lawrencians find LFK by chance — some seek it out.

Amanda Davis was on a Northeastern cruise in the fall of 2016, and when the ship stopped in Portland, she knew she wanted to make it to LFK. She and her husband found the “one Uber driver in Portland” and beelined to the restaurant, but were disappointed to find it closed.

Despite not even tasting the food, Davis said she would recommend that any person from Lawrence visiting Portland stop by the restaurant. The couple had their Uber driver take their photo outside.

photo by: Photo contributed by Amanda Davis

Lawrence residents Amanda and Josh Davis took a photo outside “LFK” in Portland, Maine during a vacation in the fall of 2016.

What LFK means in Portland

Welliver’s pub is located in Longfellow Square in Portland’s West End. For him, the abbreviation was a silly yet gallant nod to the pub’s location.

The space used to house a beloved bookstore, Welliver said. The nod to Longfellow in the restaurant’s name reflects the literary tradition of the space.

It stands for Longfellow Knights, Welliver said, noting that he and fellow founders of the pub are slightly “old-fashioned” and that they wanted the establishment to be somewhat representative of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was born in Portland in 1807.

Books remain in the restaurant today — including some KU yearbooks from the ’30s and ’40s. Welliver said a former manager purchased the KU yearbooks online to add to the restaurant’s growing Lawrence souvenir collection. They also have a 1953 Lawrence High School yearbook.

photo by: Contributed Photo

A pub in Portland, Maine, called “LFK” has a 1953 Lawrence High School yearbook.

For employees of LFK, the pub’s peculiar connection to Lawrence has started a running joke. Andre Tranchemontagne, who has worked at the restaurant since 2013, said employees say that if someone ever wants to pack up and leave for the middle of nowhere, they’ll go to Lawrence.

“If you don’t live in Maine, Maine is the middle of nowhere for people,” he said. “But if you live in Maine, where are you going to go? Lawrence, Kansas.”

photo by: Contributed photo

At the bottom of checks at the pub “LFK” in Portland, Maine, a sentence reads: “What does LFK mean to you?”