18th and Vine

[FangKC]

Yes, I agree the park should be reduced in size, and maybe configured as a small public square.  Maybe called Jazz Square or Charlie Parker or Jay McShann Square.

[chingon]

I don't think we should name shit after Charlie Parker. How about naming things after the myriad professional musicians who liked this place. Naming things after Charlie Parker is a sad as Hoboken naming things after Frank Sinatra.

[ComandanteCero]

well, he is buried here.... that's something.

[FangKC]

Charlie Park, "The Bird," is arguably the most famous and influential jazz musician to ever have come out of Kansas City.  Clint Eastwood thought enough of him to make a film about him.  How many Kansas City residents have had a biopic made about them?  Harry Truman, Charlie Parker, and Jesse James are the very few who come to mind.

He was born and grew up here.  It was also here where he developed as a musician.  Naming something after him would be most appropriate.  He's much more famous that Ilus Davis, Richard Berkley, Roe Bartle, Jacob Loose, Thomas Swope, or Barney Allis, and they all have parks, plazas, and convention halls named after them.

Naming things after notable people honors them, and reminds people that they lived here and were accomplished in some manner.

[chrizow]

aren't there housing projects named after charlie parker?

good enough for me!

[FangKC]

Well, of course there is Charlietown and Charlie Parkerville.     Oh, and Birdland. Yardbird City.

Heads up:

http://music.pitch.com/search/locations ... &oid=10536

Mutual Musicians Foundation
1823 Highland Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64108
Phone: 816-471-5212

Though its two stories look like back rooms at a community center, the Mutual Musicians Foundation offers one of the most authentic musical vibes around. Located in the historic 18th and Vine district, the Foundation is a true piece of living history, a place where local and national cats gather every Friday and Saturday night after the clubs close to jam into the wee hours of the morning -- just as they have since 1930. ( The place doesn't even open until midnight.) Don't be surprised if the stranger sitting next to you at one the tiny tables is suddenly the next person to grab a microphone and belt out a tune onstage. There's no smoking at the Foundation these days, making the outside stoop a popular spot for conversation and shared smokes.

» Midtown » Music » Clubs

---

Upcoming Events

Bird Lives
Charlie Parker Birthday Party
Date/Time: Sun., August 26, 3:00pm

Ongoing Events

Open jam session
Date/Time: Every week Friday, Saturday, 1:00am

Be there or be square catz.

[Burton]

http://www.acityatthecrossroads.com/home.html

From last years senior Urban Planning & Design Project here at UMKC.

[KCMax]

Yay! The fake storefronts are coming down.

18th and Vine ditches a questionable partnership and picks up a deal with the Downtown Council.

One of the first priorities will be to tear down fake storefronts that were built as part of the set for Robert Altman's 1996 movie Kansas City. The façades are precariously propped up in front of weed-filled lots that often harbor vagrants; most of the façades are faded and cracked, and at least one has toppled to the ground in the past. O'Byrne says he wants them torn down, the lots mowed and signs displayed prominently advertising the properties for lease.

[PumpkinStalker]

I'm going to sound like an idiot, I can feel it, but here we go:

Those were fake?  I thought they were real facades that had been left when the rest of the building burned or something.  Someone give me the complete story....I feel really out of the loop all of a sudden.

What about the white glazed building with the signs about heated showers for men on it?  Fake too?  My world is crumbling....

[ComandanteCero]

Pumpkin, don't worry about it, Max is just messing with your head, of course those buildings were real.

Santa and the Toothfairy built 'em.

[PumpkinStalker]

I don't know who to believe anymore.

Seriously though, those were built?  I'll have to go walk past them soon, I don't buy it.

[KCMax]

I don't know who to believe anymore.

Seriously though, those were built?  I'll have to go walk past them soon, I don't buy it.

Yea, they were built for the movie "Kansas City". They are just set pieces. I'm not kidding.

[ComandanteCero]

I can see pumpkin's confusion though, there are some facades that are very obviously fake (i.e the ones along 18th), but other structures do genuinely look like they could have been buildings back in the day, and have just been left to rot (i.e stuff on Vine).  Are any of those buildings that are on Vine genuine?  I mean, i'm sure many of the street signs and storefront window things are from the movie, but are all of the structures fake?

(maybe someone like Fang  can tell us what's completely fake and what was simply gussied up for the film).

[PumpkinStalker]

Indeed, I seriously thought that building in the picture in the article and the white glazed brick building, the DeLuxe Night Club signed building, etc were real and the facads propped up after the rest of the building burned or something. 

Fang, where are you?

[loftguy]

Fang, where are you?

Uhhh, tonight is halloween.  Fang and the monkey are resting up for the kiddies.

[FangKC]

The monkey Thor is handing out the treats tonight. The kids love him. I have him dressed up as one of the flying evil monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.

---

To answer your questions:

Some are real; some are fake. One can tell if you scrutinize the facades up close.

Real Buildings

On Vine Street, the buildings that are authentic buildings, and not sets are:

The building at 1814 Vine with the Deluxe Nightclub on it is the Security Loan Investment Association, built in 1922.

The Eblon Theater's original Spanish Colonial facade remains, but it's propped up by steel beams. None of the actual theater auditorium remains. It was demolished. You can see if you drive in the parking lot behind it. The facade is probably protected by the historic district overlay.

The white-tile building at 1832 Vine, that is labeled "Elnora's Cafe" is a former hotel building, and is real--just boarded up.

Around the corner on E. 19th Street (at Vine) is the former Dixie-Lan BBQ, which is also a real building--as are the buildings adjoining it.  The corner building is a former drug store, and was black-operated.

The building with Mardi Gras Nightclub is real, and used to be a pharmacy. The Mardi Gras and Deluxe Nightclubs were actual places, but located in other parts of the city.  While 18th and Vine is the epicenter of the Jazz District, very few nightclubs were actually located there.  Most of them were around 12th and Vine, and have all been demolished.

The building at 1703 E. 18th is real but has fake movie set titles painted on it: "Sylvia's Soulfood Restaurant," "Boone Theater," and "Tailor."  It is the former Criterion Theater, one of the black vaudeville theaters of the day.  There were four theaters in the Jazz District that served black audiences: The Gem, The Criterion, The Love Theater at 24th and Vine, and the Lincoln Theater at 18th and Lydia.  Another, the Apollo Theater, near Linwood and Troost, was first a vaudeville theater, but later, also a predominately black theater. It happens to be the oldest remaining Boller Brother-designed theater in Kansas City--built in 1912.

The building at 1513 E. 18th is real and features the fake movie set businesses of "Owl Bar-B-Q," "Pearl Pickens Dress Shop," the "White Star Market," and the "Paseo Bootery."

The building at 1503 E. 18th is real and features the fake movie set businesses of "Homeseekers," "Dr. Chapman, Dentist;" and "Leona Pouncey, Attorney-at-law."

Fake Buildings

The facade painted all black, between the Eblon Theater and the Deluxe Nightclub on Vine Street, is a movie set fake facade.

The addresses of 1705, 1701, 1709, and 1711 E. 18th Street are all part of a facade built by Robert Altman's film crew. The fictional businesses painted on the facade are "Hopkins Cleaners,"  "Lucille's Paradise Dinette," "Lucille's Bar," and "Meek's Mortuary."  If you go in front of The Call newspaper office, you can see a small opening behind the facades where you can see where the sets were constructed.  The fake brick is chipping off the facade.

The black business district was much larger than exists now and extended west to Troost along E. 18th and 19th streets , and from E. 9th south.

[FangKC]

On another note, the Parade Maintenance Building on Woodland and E. 17th Terrace, is being renovated finally for the Black Archives of Mid-America.

[PumpkinStalker]

Thanks Fang, I'm much relieved knowing the white glazed brick, DeLuxe Nightclub, and Spanish looking facade is real. 

Yay! The fake storefronts are coming down.

18th and Vine ditches a questionable partnership and picks up a deal with the Downtown Council.

One of the first priorities will be to tear down fake storefronts that were built as part of the set for Robert Altman's 1996 movie Kansas City. The façades are precariously propped up in front of weed-filled lots that often harbor vagrants; most of the façades are faded and cracked, and at least one has toppled to the ground in the past. O'Byrne says he wants them torn down, the lots mowed and signs displayed prominently advertising the properties for lease.

So are we only taking the infill, actual FAKE ones down (as per the article?)  Will a few crumbling originals somehow "slip" into the list and be torn down as well?

[PumpkinStalker]

Also, took a nice long nap Friday evening, then the girlfriend and I got up at 2 and headed to the Foundation.  I had not been there since they opened up a bar upstairs.  For those that haven't been in awhile, here is a recap:

$8 Donation at the door

Upstairs they have installed a small bar and had the basics, Jose, Bacardi, Crown, Seagrams, etc.  I got Bacardi & Coke - $5  No entertainment to speak of.

Ground level had the usual hodgepdoge of musicians playing, but at 2:30 my girlfriend and I and two other gentlemen were the only audience members.  Around 3, people started to trickle in and by 3:30 there was probably a dozen people hanging out. 

It's funny how many people hear of the "speakeasy" and still come in not caring about the jazz but more about the booze.  The "bar" on ground level was vacant with clearly no booze behind it, but a group of frat boys and their women came in and stood at the bar.  I could overhear them saying "where is the bartender, this is ridiculous....I thought they were able to serve all night....etc etc"  Finally the alpha male went to the door man and asked if there was anyone bartending.  When they found out the liquor they buy upstairs has to be consumed upstairs (where there is no music) they left.

Hmmf!

[FangKC]

Thanks Fang, I'm much relieved knowing the white glazed brick, DeLuxe Nightclub, and Spanish looking facade is real. 
So are we only taking the infill, actual FAKE ones down (as per the article?)  Will a few crumbling originals somehow "slip" into the list and be torn down as well?

That would be a question for Sean O'Byrne.