KC 1990

[grovester]

I moved to the area in '89 from the Bay area, shortly thereafter 2 friends came to visit, they had lived in OP as kids in the 70s.  So we went downtown to look around.  I'm pretty sure it was 1990, in any case it was the year that the triple bill of the Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads got rained out at Starlight.  Sorry for the pink tinges, the 110 film sat in a cartridge undeveloped for about 10 years.  Talk about a cool find.












I was disappointed there weren't any photos of the shuttered Union Station because we spent a lot of time peeking inside.  It was fun to send them photos of the grand reopening when it happened.

[DaveKCMO]

thanks for sharing! what corner is that in the 2nd pic?

[grovester]

wish I knew, I was new to the area when I took it.  The sign in the background pointed to the Longbranch if that helps.

[Midtownkid]

11th and Baltimore.  North East corner.  (Behind Pecks and 21TEN)

[Tosspot]

Great to see this... wish you had more.

Italian Gardens... back when I was 18 or so we'd go there for suds and manage to not get carded.

And the TWA building.... I remember it from such an early age. Like being in the back seat of my dad's VW Beetle riding up Baltimore on a late Saturday afternoon - it really felt like we were the only ones in the entire downtown, that's how vacant the place seemed. And that sign always stuck out to me.

[AllThingsKC]

Wow, cool!  Thanks for sharing these pictures with us!

It's interesting to see what KC looked like about 19 years ago.  Sadly, it almost looks the same, but's it's still interesting!

[Midtownkid]

Sadly, it almost looks the same, but's it's still interesting!

What?!  Every single shot looks different today.  Italian Gardens is gone, and replaced w/ a parking garage; Hereford House has been remodeled and looks less country (then got blown up); And the hotel president and surrounding area...well you know how that looks now.  It would be even more sad if we couldn't recognize anything...like in 'KC Then and Now'

[voltopt]

11th and Baltimore.  North East corner.  (Behind Pecks and 21TEN)

Correct.  The brick building in the background is the still open in 1990 Dillards/Macy's... It is now the low slung garage between main and baltimore for the now non-existant Transamerica employees in the Town Pavilion.

[kcdcchef]

i still remember in the summer of 94 when they took out the chanderliers, signage, and oak paneling out of the prez, and we all thought it was a goner.

once they stripped it of all of that, the lobby level looked so hellish from the outside.

[Dr. Know]

My work parking lot is where the old Italian Gardens used to be and I used to eat there for lunch all the time.  It would be cool if they could open up a smaller version of it in the empty storefront space that is there now.  What was the small building directly to the north?  Too bad bad the high rise on the SW corner of 11th & Balt. just sits there.

On another note, where did the downtown Longbranch used to be located?