KCRag Forum

Broadway between Valentine and 39th (or Armour to the Westport really) is prime for redevelopment. This should be a really nice, safe Boulevard full of pedestrian oriented retail and restaurants.

One building that I think is in much need of a restoration is this one. It houses Chez Charlie, a really great dive bar that I would want to be retained (vintage interior and all).

The building has been covered in ugly siding and its tile roof has been replaced with plain shingles.



Some of the building's details are still viable here



Here is how it once looked:

Ahh yes good call pointing out a little known fact of that building. It would be great if they ripped out that dreadful siding, though I wonder what kind of shape the original building is in. I'm sure it is in fine shape since it's brick and they only put siding on it, but no doubt the shingles would need to be replaced.

You're right about Broadway between Armour and Westport. This stretch of midtown is probably the most consistently active and vibrant, though it has so much potential to be much more. As it stands right now it is pretty run down and way too suburban. With as much pedestrian activity as there is, it is ridiculous how pedestrian unfriendly it is. The biggest problem I see is that with all these suburban businesses there are about a thousand curb cuts within these few blocks. This creates a terrible cluster fuck of people pulling onto and off Broadway the whole way down the street. In an ideal urban street this should only happen at the ends of blocks, but on this street it usually happens a few times mid-block as well. This is not only super annoying to drivers, but also very dangerous to pedestrians and bicyclists.

To make Broadway more pedestrian friendly a few things need to happen. We must get rid of as many of the mid-block curb cuts as possible. This coincides with replacing suburban buildings, as well as dinky, underutilized properties, with mixed-use urban buildings. Once this happens we can redesign the street. Now, the street really isn't too bad right now, however there are improvements that can be made. There are positives though. The last time Broadway was redesigned it left us with bulb-outs and brick pavers, trees, and nice Broadway signs. The brick pavers need to be replaced, but it is something that will help make Broadway glorious in the future. Those bulb-outs are a great part of any urban street, especially a wide one. The sidewalks are pretty wide for the most part too, so I don't think that would need any changing.

Now the problems. It is far too wide and encourages speeding. The bulb-outs don't really solve the wide street problem. I think it would be great to have a median running down the middle of Broadway, a nice one much like the median on 47th in the Plaza. Since there would no longer be mid-block curb cuts this could actually work. This would make crossing the street much easier for pedestrians. Including bike lanes would also be a crucial step in making Broadway more pedestrian friendly and slow traffic down. A few more stop lights would be good for slowing down traffic too. As is, between 37th and 39th and then between 39th and Westport people really try and gun it so they don't have to hit the lights. This is quite dangerous, especially coming up on Westport. Going downhill with that curve is super duper risky and there really needs to be a stop light somewhere around that gas station. Maybe someday we can get a streetcar to run down Broadway. It would be a great street for it, and in that situation we wouldn't have room for a median. That's okay though, as it would really be ideal to have rail transit on Broadway.

So here's an idea I just thought of while typing this up. Never once thought of this, but maybe it would work. Anyone have thoughts on a roundabout at 40th and Broadway? This is where the curve starts and several different roads meet up. You have Broadway, 40th street, that alley way, and the side road with parking next to Corner Restaurant and Freaks all coming together. This would also be a great spot to slow traffic down and the distance from one side of Broadway to the other suddenly becomes twice as far for just a couple hundred feet or so. It is a really weird stretch of road and needs something to make it more pedestrian friendly. I wonder if a roundabout would really make it any more pedestrian friendly though. Might make it worse... I don't know. Something should be done here though. Thoughts?

Okay I feel like I've been rambling... it's way too late.

Demosthenes wrote: So here's an idea I just thought of while typing this up. Never once thought of this, but maybe it would work. Anyone have thoughts on a roundabout at 40th and Broadway? This is where the curve starts and several different roads meet up. You have Broadway, 40th street, that alley way, and the side road with parking next to Corner Restaurant and Freaks all coming together. This would also be a great spot to slow traffic down and the distance from one side of Broadway to the other suddenly becomes twice as far for just a couple hundred feet or so. It is a really weird stretch of road and needs something to make it more pedestrian friendly. I wonder if a roundabout would really make it any more pedestrian friendly though. Might make it worse... I don't know. Something should be done here though. Thoughts?

I agree, something should be done here. Roundabout with a big-ass fountain? What about a Savannah style square? The later might be nice because it would force all cars to stop as they enter. Ideally, this spot would be swarming with pedestrians so a square might work better than a roundabout.

This spot has a great southern exposure...would be a wonderful place to chill in the sun.

Volker Dad wrote:

Demosthenes wrote: So here's an idea I just thought of while typing this up. Never once thought of this, but maybe it would work. Anyone have thoughts on a roundabout at 40th and Broadway? This is where the curve starts and several different roads meet up. You have Broadway, 40th street, that alley way, and the side road with parking next to Corner Restaurant and Freaks all coming together. This would also be a great spot to slow traffic down and the distance from one side of Broadway to the other suddenly becomes twice as far for just a couple hundred feet or so. It is a really weird stretch of road and needs something to make it more pedestrian friendly. I wonder if a roundabout would really make it any more pedestrian friendly though. Might make it worse... I don't know. Something should be done here though. Thoughts?

I agree, something should be done here. Roundabout with a big-ass fountain? What about a Savannah style square? The later might be nice because it would force all cars to stop as they enter. Ideally, this spot would be swarming with pedestrians so a square might work better than a roundabout.

This spot has a great southern exposure...would be a wonderful place to chill in the sun.

I like the square idea a lot. Unfortunately I don't think people would be okay with Broadway coming to a stop here. An actual square as opposed to the small plaza that is currently on Broadway. This could be a really popular spot in Westport.

A roundabout would work well for traffic flow and look pretty cool but I don't think it would be a very good idea for Westport all around. We need a more pedestrian focused plan.

Wow. A square there would be awesome. Never even thought about that before (with the exception of idly wishing there was a plaza in The Plaza).

PS - the vintage Terry Riley shamrock, aka "WHITE NEIGHBORHOOD!!!!!!" billboard is fucking sweet.

Here are some interesting observations from 39th Street (near Wyoming)

These Apartments:



Used to be Colonnaded. You can see the doors to balconies are still there, but open to a tiny little Juliet balcony:

Always thought this was a strange building and wanted to see how it used to look:



It was also a colonnade, with a central bay of stacked porches:

Wow cool finds MidtownKid! I like the look of those first buildings today, though obviously I wish they were still colonnades. They sure looked pretty back in the day. And yes I always wondered the past of that second building too! Crazy that it used to be a colonnade. What happened to it?? Really looks like shit today, though I will give it some credit for being one of the most unique looking apartment buildings in the city.

And I can't tell from the picture but I wonder if the house to the right is still the same house but without the porch. Looks like the house to the left of the apartment is still the same stone house.

It's the same house, just missing the porch. All these buildings are just missing their porches!!

I wish the ones i posted could be restored to some degree. Colonnade buildings really give KC it's own sense of place. Not too many are still around the main drags.

Midtownkid wrote:It's the same house, just missing the porch. All these buildings are just missing their porches!!

I wish the ones i posted could be restored to some degree. Colonnade buildings really give KC it's own sense of place. Not too many are still around the main drags.

Yea it seems that at one point the owners decided the porches interfered with the commercial aspect of 39th. Went for a uniform street wall. I wonder if one owner owned all these properties?

Man I am so curious about the funky ex-colonnade with the pitched roof right now! I want to see what's behind the flimsy looking exterior they put up.

Lets go rip the boards off tomorrow, blame it on the St. Paddy's crowd. Though, I guess I really will be part of the crowd...

Demosthenes wrote:Wow cool finds MidtownKid! I like the look of those first buildings today, though obviously I wish they were still colonnades.

This is so interesting! I've always thought the 39th and Wyoming property was one of the better-maintained apartment buildings in the neighborhood, but perhaps that wasn't always the case, if the colonnades had to go away. Now I want to know more.

Midtownkid wrote:Lets go rip the boards off tomorrow, blame it on the St. Paddy's crowd. Though, I guess I really will be part of the crowd...

Damn that would have been a good idea. How about next time we get severe weather? Oh no... a tornado dropped down and hit one building on 39th and dissipated! No one even saw it lol!

Now this, i truly wish we still had:



Was somewhere near the Madrid Theater I believe...forgot now

Yep, SW corner of 38th & Main. You can recognize the building in the background: http://goo.gl/maps/CWeuI

Woah. That is literally a mini castle. All White Castles should look like that... in fact, KC should have White Castles again, and they should all look like that.

I believe this building near 7th and Grand used to be a White Castle restaurant. In fact, it was the first White Castle in Kansas City. Later it became Truman's White House restaurant.




http://tinyurl.com/kdp7yvr

http://www.pitch.com/FastPitch/archives ... es-to-hate

http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/blanc-b ... id=2190026

There also used to be one on Independence Avenue near White Avenue.

http://tinyurl.com/l4h8qhv

The Church's Chicken at Linwood and Gillham used to be a Whitey's

kc isgoing to have to upgrade its sewer system before white castle returns, theres going to be some serious damage with all those people hitting the head at once after the grand openings.

warwickland wrote:kc isgoing to have to upgrade its sewer system before white castle returns, theres going to be some serious damage with all those people hitting the head at once after the grand openings.