Nichols Lunch Closes

[KC0KEK]

Kansas City Business Journal - September 25, 2006
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansa ... .html 

Nichols Lunch closes after 85 years in KC

Kansas City landmark Nichols Lunch ceased operations Sunday after 85 years in Kansas City, owner Michael Bay said.

Rising operating costs and a thin profit margin drove the decision to close the diner, Bay said Monday, and the decision to close was hard to make.

"Our motto has always been good food, fair prices and friendly service, and the fair prices part became increasingly difficult to stick to because of the escalating costs in all areas," Bay said.

Bay and his family own the building at 39th Street and Southwest Trafficway and haven't decided yet what they'll do with it, he said.

The diner closed permanently at 9 p.m. Sunday, he said. It had about 20 full-time and about five part-time employees, Bay said.

The diner was opened in 1921 by Frank Nichols, a Greek immigrant with a third-grade education. Nichols operated the restaurant until he died in 1962.

His son, James "Jimmie" Nichols, assumed ownership of the restaurant. In 1985, Bay, Jimmie Nichols' nephew, went to work for the restaurant and became the owner when his uncle died in 1996.

Bay has taken a job as a partner and senior sales and accounts manager with Essential POS in North Kansas City, which provides information technology management for the hospitality and retail industries.

[chrizow]

hmm...too bad.  i never went there, but always heard good things.  of course, it's never good to hear a place closing after 85 years.

all we can hope for now is something good to take its place. 

[WSPanic]

Wow.

I was never a fan of the food, but it's always sad when an institution like that goes away. It will be missed by many, I'm sure.

[LenexatoKCMO]

I would think that this location would be pretty attractive for another business so hopefully it won't sit for long. 

[dangerboy]

Well shit, this sucks big time.  It's a big loss for the neighborhood, and anyone else who likes to sober up with trannies and eggs at 2 in the morning.

[smitherton]

This is awful . . . .  I thought this place was 10x better than Chubbys. 

I would hear the most disturbingly funny stories from this old man named John who worked at Nichols.  He would always be cursing because he had some sort of GPS tracking device on his ankle, and it prohibited him to smoke while on the clock.

[KC0KEK]

I always thought it was like a big version of Mom's (39th and Bell), with more colorful characters.

[Moniker]

The food was cheap, but nasty, nasty, nasty. The tables were always gross. The service was alright at times, subpar at others. There were often times cockroaches crawling on the backside of the booths and lurking beneath the legs of chairs. I lament no loss of a poorly-run business.

[warwickland]

i wasnt a big fan of the food but there was certainly a fanatical core crowd that is probably crushed.

[kucer]

never had the food, but i did go there once a few years ago. i witnessed a crackhead break into an SUV behind the yoga place that was on 39th St. between Pennsylvania and SWT. i was recording in our back room of our apt and noticed this dude acting wack. called 911 as he was casing cars and while on the phone he wound up and threw a brick threw the window. took a purse that some ding dong had left in her SUV. dumb!!! anyway, about 5 minutes later a cruiser comes and they have me get in the back and drive around the neighborhood to see if we could find him. they then stop at Nichols and I go alone and see if he's in there. check the bathroom. nope. as i'm walking out, there he is by himself at a corner table. crap..my heart was pounding. went out and told the cops and they arrested him.  went to court a few months later and had to stand right next to this loser and say it was him. sad really. young kid was a mess.

[tat2kc]

oh my.  That's bit intense.

[kucer]

it was very intense. i kinda laugh about it now because i was an idiot. i should've just opened my apt. window and yelled.."get the F out of here, before I call the cops!!!" but the whole thing moved rather quickly. he was looking in car window and also the door to get into the union workers building next door. i figured i'd just call the cops and they would take care of it.

i was kind of surprised that one of the cops didn't come into Nichols with me, but i wasn't real worried because the guy had no idea i saw him or that i called the cops. i'm sure he was like "wtf???"

[Slappy the Wang]

Haven't they gone through this about every other year for the past decade?  Geez, how many sympathy stories can you squeeze out of one dink azz sandwich joint?

[chrizow]

Haven't they gone through this about every other year for the past decade?  Geez, how many sympathy stories can you squeeze out of one dink azz sandwich joint?

community, as well as places with character and history, are getting harder and harder to find. 

see if anyone gets upset when your nearest Sonic closes in a couple decades.

[dangerboy]

community, as well as places with character and history, are getting harder and harder to find. 

Exactly.  And Nichols was one of a dwindling number of places that are home to a wide array folks like lawyers, skinheads, transvestites, senior citizens, families with kids, etc.  It was a gathering place for all of the diverse folks in Midtown.

[DaveKCMO]

community, as well as places with character and history, are getting harder and harder to find. 

and we are all to blame.

i won't miss it one bit. i like character and history, but i also have standards for quality and cleanliness.

[chrizow]

i like character and history, but i also have standards for quality and cleanliness.

prude! 

[ignatius]

Very sad.  I've written several stories about this place for a NYC-based jazz rag several years ago.  Never really liked the food but the patrons were a fantastic source of material, as well as the blind barber next door.  KC is losing its colorful counter diners like ice shelters in the arctic.

[dangerboy]

i won't miss it one bit. i like character and history, but i also have standards for quality and cleanliness.

Huh.  We must have gone to different places.  I ate there all the time and never had an issue with quality or cleanliness.  Obviously it's a greasy spoon so one shouldn't expect it to be like breakfast at Figlio...  And while it was worn, scruffy, and tattered, it was always spotlessly clean.

[shinatoo]

One less place to get grits.