NASHVILLE — When this city wanted to clean up downtown more than two decades ago, it looked to honky-tonks to lead the way.

In 1992, Lower Broadway was a sea of pornography shops, peep shows and handsome old buildings sitting vacant.

That’s when Steve Smith bought venerable honky-tonk and country music hangout Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, whose back door was across the alley from Ryman Auditorium. Smith gave the bar critical repairs and restoration and then watched as Tootsie’s helped reform Lower Broadway, along with the city’s convention center and Bridgestone Arena, into a world-renowned tourist district.