KCRag Forum

According to KC Studio magazine the area around 31st and Cherry has been rebranded as TowerEast, the hottest new arts district in town. Consists not of galleries, but actual makers of art.
There will be a festival with art food and music on Sunday November 5 from noon to 6p.m. called Wanderfest

Lol sure, why not?

Glad there is finally some creative momentum east of Gillham and over to 31/Troost. Slowly but surely, it will happen.

How long will we have to wait for the El Torreon to become the performance space/art venue/food hall/neighborhood center that Union Hill deserves? Man I would love to see something great happen there...

Wanderfest was strangely interesting. A dozen sites between 31st and Linwood east of Gillham. Some highlights were a ceramic studio where she makes sculptures of oversized magnolias and porcelain firearms christmas trees selling for thousands; a workspace of a childrens book illustrator where he also lives heated with a woodstove and sleeping bed in the showroom window; a place that sells expensive glass pipes and cannabis oils. Creative people looking for spaces with cheap rent in rundown buildings.

moderne wrote:Creative people looking for spaces with cheap rent in rundown buildings.

won't last long.

620 E Linwood is now for sale. This building is currently being used for an ice cream truck business. It is basically caddy corner from the Acme building and around the corner from much of "TowerEast".

http://clemonsrealestate.com/listings/m ... nion-hill/

Excellent mixed-use redevelopment opportunity in emerging area
Over 36,000 SF of space
Parking onsite and across the street with space for 50+ cars
Ideal for apartments and restaurant/retail

I think this building has huge potential. I have no idea what the interior is like, but I imagine it would make for some great industrial loft style apartments. Put some nice windows in and the exterior will look great.

The Acme building renovation, while being a nice improvement to a problem building, by itself wouldn't have that big of an impact on Linwood. But add in this building and momentum could be gaining.

What? Why? How? Who? Where?

Go on

sorry for the vague original post, i assumed i was late to the game on this. my impression is that people (developers?) are trying to "brand" the 31st/Gillham area as Tower East. clearly there is a bit of momentum going on over there with some new businesses and renovation of buildings. i was just curious where this came from, who is behind it, and why. i guess branding is fine (see, e.g., Martini Corner) but it also seems weird since the area is already called Hyde Park (or, i suppose, Longfellow on the north side...maybe this boundary is why the branding is taking place?)

for example:
https://www.facebook.com/towereastkc/

I am pretty sure Tower East refers to just the Businesses along 31st/cherry/gilham not the actual homes around this area. Kind of like W 39th - That is really marketed towards the businesses not the homes in that area, the homes in that area are in Volker/Roanoake, etc

chrizow wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 2:21 pm sorry for the vague original post, i assumed i was late to the game on this. my impression is that people (developers?) are trying to "brand" the 31st/Gillham area as Tower East. clearly there is a bit of momentum going on over there with some new businesses and renovation of buildings. i was just curious where this came from, who is behind it, and why. i guess branding is fine (see, e.g., Martini Corner) but it also seems weird since the area is already called Hyde Park (or, i suppose, Longfellow on the north side...maybe this boundary is why the branding is taking place?)

for example:
https://www.facebook.com/towereastkc/

Yeah, not sure where you've been, but my friends and I have been mocking this for months.

As noted above, I think it's just the shops east of "Martini Corner". Which I also hate the name for - but it certainly has stuck. Someone from the 'burbs asked me yesterday where Tower Tavern was and I used Martini Corner, and they knew.

WSPanic wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 4:11 pm
Yeah, not sure where you've been, but my friends and I have been mocking this for months.

ya'll were hating on this before it was cool to hate on it.

and yeah, "martini corner" is embarrassing. there may as well be a mural of the cast of "friends" on the side of a building down there.

This moniker has been around for over a year. Tower East also sponsors the semi-annual Wonderfest. This spring they made and installed concrete planters along 31st and Cherry.

Was Martini Corner named that way just because a bar or 2 served martinis. With the bars around there now it might be hard to even find a martini

For sure, there are no martinis at the Martini Corner, but the name and promotion made a place. The promoters of Tower East are trying to do the same at 31st and Cherry/Gillham.

I believe the name Martini Corner came into effect when The Drop opened. They definitely had martinis. I think the Velvet Dog has them too for a bit.

Names like that can take, and last for decades. I like Martini Corner because it came from something specific locally as opposed to calling a neighborhood "The East Village," and sort of stealing it from another city for place-making purposes. What is called "The East Village" neighborhood here was once called Happy Hollow, and I think that is a perfectly-fine historic name that should have been used.

My favorite rememberance of Martini Corner is the Royals chase for the World Series in 2015. Every bar at that corner was alive. We had to get to the bar at least two hours before the game to claim a table. I loved when Tower Tavern and Brick House had their windows open and we could shout between the two. The transmission between Tower Tavern and Brick House had a few second lag. People at Tower Tavern would be cheering . And people across the street needed a few a few seconds to enjoy the cheering. It was a magical time.

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:01 pm I believe the name Martini Corner came into effect when The Drop opened. They definitely had martinis. I think the Velvet Dog has them too for a bit.

Martini Corner was used well before The Drop came around. When I first moved to KC in the early '90s, Velvet Dog was one of the first area bars to latch on to the martini craze. There was literally nothing around that area at the time.

kcjak wrote: ↑Thu Aug 16, 2018 7:46 am

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 10:01 pm I believe the name Martini Corner came into effect when The Drop opened. They definitely had martinis. I think the Velvet Dog has them too for a bit.

Martini Corner was used well before The Drop came around. When I first moved to KC in the early '90s, Velvet Dog was one of the first area bars to latch on to the martini craze. There was literally nothing around that area at the time.

Correct.