Back in the 1920s,‘30s and ‘40s, Kansas City reigned as a colossus of jazz – that most distinctively American art form – and the heart of the jazz scene was in the bustling, African-American community centered at the intersection of 18th and Vine. More than 50 nightclubs in the district pulsated with the sounds of Count Basie, Lester Young, Big Joe Turner, Charlie Parker, and countless others. The Kansas City Monarchs, practitioners of another uniquely American diversion and one of the most storied teams of the Negro baseball leagues, played in the neighborhood.
Oddly enough, the vitality of the 18th & Vine neighborhood owed much to the segregation practiced at that time. Barred from living in most other parts of town, as well as hotels, theaters, restaurants and other public places, African-Americans were forced to establish their own communities. By the turn of the century, the 18th & Vine neighborhood, much like New York’s Harlem, had become a self-contained city within a city. It was churches and schools, single-family houses, apartment buildings, grocery stores and pharmacies. It was populated by doctors and lawyers, businessmen and school teachers, hotel porters and maids, barbers and packinghouse workers. In short, it was a microcosm of black life in Kansas City in the days of Jim Crow.
From the 1920s to the late 1930s, the city was run by the political machine of Tom Pendergast. Under Boss Tom’s rule, gambling and prostitution flourished, and alcohol flowed freely during Prohibition. In this atmosphere, dance halls and nightclubs proliferated throughout the 18th & Vine district with musicians from across the country flocking to Kansas City for the abundance of available jobs.
The end of Prohibition, the fall of the Pendergast Machine, and the end of legal public segregation in the mid-1950s, set in motion the steady decline of 18th & Vine. In the late 1980s, work got underway to revitalize this important historic district and the results are paying off. Although, it’s still very much of a work in progress, the six square blocks that constitute the 18th and Vine Historic District are coming to back to life.
In 1997, with the first phase of the redevelopment completed, the Museums at 18th & Vine and the Gem Theater opened.
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the only organization in the country dedicated to telling the story of the Negro Leagues and black baseball, contains hundreds of photographs from the Negro League era as well as multi-media displays, a growing collection of artifacts and the Coors Field of Legends: Eleven life-size bronze replicas of former Negro leagues players.
Across the atrium, visitors to the American Jazz Museum can learn about “America’s classical music” through documentary films, listening stations, photographs, and artifacts, including the white plastic saxophone played by Charlie Parker at his famous 1953 concert at Toronto’s Massey Hall. The Blue Room, a working jazz club within the museum, hosts both local and traveling artists in an intimate and smoke-free setting.
Across 18th Street from the museums, the marvelous 1912 façade of the Gem movie theatre was preserved, and a modern, 500-seat theater constructed behind. The Gem hosts many public and private events, including the Jazz Museum’s annual “Jammin’ at the Gem” jazz concert series.
One of the area’s historic gems – and one of only two buildings in Kansas City designated as a National Historic Landmark – is the Mutual Musicians Foundation (MMF), on Highland Avenue. Originally home to the black musicians’ union and the scene of some legendary, after-hours jam sessions, local and traveling musicians still gather in the old union hall on Fridays and Saturdays after midnight and play until about 5 a.m. For the benefit of those who are not night owls, the MMF started “Rush Hour Jazz” on Friday afternoons.
The goal is to make 18th and Vine not just a cultural and entertainment destination, but a real neighborhood, with residents and businesses to serve them. The Jazz District Redevelopment Corporation (JDRC), the organization charged with redeveloping the residential and commercial properties, built 151 apartments and some 30,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.
It’s been a tough road, but the JDRC is making progress attracting businesses and commercial tenants to the area. The Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey moved to new offices and studios on 18th Street in 2008. Kansas City Blues & Jazz Juke House serves lunch and dinner, and features live music on Friday and Saturday nights, from 8:30 p.m. to midnight. Cajun favorites, like jambalaya, gumbos and crawfish etoufees, are served for lunch and dinner and Danny’s Big Easy, which opened in April on the ground floor of the historic Lincoln Building. Plans are underway for outdoor cafe seating and live entertainment.
If the food offerings of the 18th & Vine district are currently a bit limited, Arthur Bryant’s, arguably the most famous barbecue restaurant in a city legendary for its barbecue, is located just a few blocks east of the district, at 18th Street and Brooklyn Avenue. Writer Calvin Trillin once referred to Bryant’s as “the single best restaurant in the world.” Kansas Citians can be forgiven if they take Trillin quite literally.
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