Westport

[mean]

Oh, yeah, if they're shutting down the streets surely they wouldn't do it every weekend? Just for special events? Please?

[grovester]

Oh, yeah, if they're shutting down the streets surely they wouldn't do it every weekend? Just for special events? Please?

12 dates a year, I think.

[taxi]

Westport Lobbies KC for Festival License to Compete w/ P&L District

Why? Seems like its kinda nice the district is changing its image. Why revert back to a drunk-fest?

$$$

[KCMax]

Westport Businesses See Big Boost in January

Kelly says it was their strongest January in 65 years of business.
“Gosh, we were up over last January, 60-percent,” he said....

But before, some businesses who did not want to be named, said it wasn’t as safe. Those businesses said it had a lot to do with America’s Pub, a controversial club some blamed for a lot of Westport’s security problems.

Now that it’s gone, in it’s place are new diverse businesses, like Japanese restaurant Sama Zama. The owner said she decided to call Westport home because of it’s central location and open residents.

“It’s right in the middle of the city. The energy, the vibe, and the foot traffic is just awesome,” said Erika Koike, Sama Zama owner.

Businesses say customers are coming back to the old entertainment area and it’s slowly getting it’s reputation back.

[earthling]

It will be interesting to see the impact of America's Pub closing, but we won't get a good indication until getting through summer. The center of Westport is coming together again but between Broadway and Main, there are still too many vacant spots. Hopefully that fills in as Westport reputation improves.

[KCMax]

Green Burgers is now open next to Westport Coffee House

http://www.pitch.com/fatcity/archives/2 ... n-westport

[grovester]

Green Burgers is now open next to Westport Coffee House

http://www.pitch.com/fatcity/archives/2 ... n-westport

Ahem...That's "Green Room Burgers". Sounds much more appetizing!

[heatherkay]

We checked it out last weekend. Hamburgers are excellent, with the standard cheeseburger about $5.00 for a quarter pounder. Definitely a step up on the fixings, and the patty was a predictably good McGonigle's grind. Good selection of beers in bottles, on tap, and in cans, and the selection appears to be rotating. Promises on the menu that homebrew would be forthcoming. The veggie burger looks to be rotating as well, depending on what veggies look good and what the cook feels like putting the patty. Fries were hand-cut, well seasoned, and nuclear hot when they got to the table. A $3 small order of fries was about 3 orders of fries. They were a little underdone for my preference, so I'll probably ask to get them "burnt" next time we go. We also got a side salad, which was dinner salad size. Vinaigrette was a little sweet for my taste. Service was friendly and prompt enough once we got seated, although we kind of stood in the door for a little while trying to figure out if we should just seat ourselves. The menu came on a clipboard that had a NORML petition sticker on the back, which sort of sums up the vibe. Steady stream of customers at 2 in the afternoon. According to the posted hours, they are open until 1 am.

[smh]

Also went to Green Room Burgers last weekend. I thought the burger was tasty (especially for $4), the fries were good and the beer selection solid. What I didn't get was the atmosphere. The walls are painted golden yellow and lavender. It appears to have previously been the lobby for the attached theater. Also, they have very few, if any, four top tables. All their "four tops" are just round cocktail tables pushed together.

When I look at their website and read the press on this place, what with it's off-street entrance basement location, I imagined a bit of basement ambiance to accompany the low-key nature of their offerings. So far, I don't get it.

Lastly, and this is really more a stylistic issue, the server kept asking us if we wanted "more booze". Something about the way she said it made me feel like we were in a place designed around burgers and beer.

[heatherkay]

Yeah, it looked like they had just gotten a few tables from people's basements, and there was a weird void in the middle of the room where there obviously should be another table

[smh]

Yeah, it looked like they had just gotten a few tables from people's basements, and there was a weird void in the middle of the room where there obviously should be another table

Haha, agreed. It was like all the tables were pushed up against the walls. Peculiar--although I think all the atmosphere issues would be fixed with a new color paint and some proper tables. The food was solid and worth another visit, imo.

[brewcrew1000]

New Outdoor Shop opening near Main Street and Westport Rd in the old B-Bop Comic Shop called the Local Yeti.
From Facebook page:
Welcome to Local Yeti! Local Yeti is an outfitter that will be opening in midtown in late summer of 2012! Local Yeti will carry goods for climbing, hiking, trail running, camping, and many other outdoor activities. We hope to carry products from Patagonia, Marmot, Mountain Hardwear, Mont Bell and Chaco to name a few!

[chrizow]

New Outdoor Shop opening near Main Street and Westport Rd in the old B-Bop Comic Shop called the Local Yeti.
From Facebook page:
Welcome to Local Yeti! Local Yeti is an outfitter that will be opening in midtown in late summer of 2012! Local Yeti will carry goods for climbing, hiking, trail running, camping, and many other outdoor activities. We hope to carry products from Patagonia, Marmot, Mountain Hardwear, Mont Bell and Chaco to name a few!

interesting. i hope this place gets off the ground, we could use an outdoors store in the urban core. i am assuming Redeemer is renting these spaces for cheap to their flock? pretty sure Oddly Correct is Redeemer-related.

[Midtownkid]

If so, that must be a cool church (if there is such a thing). Glad to see indie, hip, local places opening around there. Oddly correct is great, if not a little toooooo "hipper that hip." Maybe there is still hope for that end of Westport.

Is there still an actual theater inside of the Warwick? It would be great if they could set up a branch of the Screenland there or some other type of movie house there. Maybe showing old movies or something.

[teleology]

Re the Warwick, my husband and I (who live two blocks away from it) were wondering the same thing recently. And also wondering how cheap we could get that space, and what the economics of running a couple of classic films a week would be.

[earthling]

Good to hear they are not tearing that stretch down, which was rumored.

[taxi]

New Outdoor Shop opening near Main Street and Westport Rd in the old B-Bop Comic Shop called the Local Yeti.
From Facebook page:
Welcome to Local Yeti! Local Yeti is an outfitter that will be opening in midtown in late summer of 2012! Local Yeti will carry goods for climbing, hiking, trail running, camping, and many other outdoor activities. We hope to carry products from Patagonia, Marmot, Mountain Hardwear, Mont Bell and Chaco to name a few!

This is great news. I curse and spit every time I have to drive to 135th and Metcalf, or wherever the hell those 2 stores are, to buy outdoor gear. And I've wondered why there isn't a nice outdoor store downtown, which could draw from all parts of the metro. We need an REI, but I'll be happy to shop at a local Local Yeti. Love that name, too. I hope they do well.
Which leads me to my soapbox... I believe it's worth coughing up a few extra bucks to support places like this, for many reasons, but mainly because sometimes you might need something immediately, meaning you don't have time to order it on line, and they won't make it if everyone goes in there to check stuff out or try something on for size or get advice from the people who work there, and then goes home and orders it on line, just to save a few bucks. I have a wealthy friend who does that, and it ticks me off. OK.

[KCMax]

Two steps forward, one step back.

Kendrick Williams fatally shot early Sunday in Westport during the Middle of the Map music festival

The Mayor's son may have been a witness.

[brewcrew1000]

^Why would you put a rap act at a music festival, that just smells of trouble. In Milwaukee at Summerfest, a large music festival, they got rid of the Midway Rides and all rap acts because of all the violence that was happening as a result.

[bobbyhawks]

^Why would you put a rap act at a music festival, that just smells of trouble. In Milwaukee at Summerfest, a large music festival, they got rid of the Midway Rides and all rap acts because of all the violence that was happening as a result.

I saw Greg Enemy that night, and the scene was anything but sketchy. Besides, saying this happened at the Middle of the Map fest would be like saying a shooting on the Paseo happened in the P&L. Tragic, though. If there is a way to curb this violence instead of just move it elsewhere, I am not aware of it. The guns are everywhere, and the people who pull the trigger grow up in a culture where that makes you a man.