In The Loop: Jan 2, 2022
Your weekly email from The KC Downtown Loop
Happy New Year! Thanks for being a part of the KC Downtown Loop community. I look forward to sharing the evolving modern culture and fascinating history of Downtown Kansas City with you in 2022.
This Saturday, January 8, marks the birth date in 1894 of Dorothy Gallagher, who was instrumental in the founding and growth of the Guadalupe Centers. Her entry to community service began with the Agnes Ward Amberg Club, a Catholic women’s group that assisted Mexican immigrants and refugees on Kansas City’s West Side in the early 20th century. Following the opening of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in 1919, the Amberg Club established the Guadalupe Center in 1922—now the longest continuously operating agency serving the Hispanic community in the nation.
Gallagher’s wealthy family assisted by donating land for the Guadalupe School and, later, for the agency’s first building outside the church, at 1015 W. 23rd Street. Dorothy would coordinate the planning—and pay for—the Spanish Mission-style building that would become home to the Guadalupe Center in 1936. Living at the Center and working without pay for several years, Gallagher helped the Guadalupe Center develop a well-respected national reputation, while earning herself the moniker "Godmother of Guadalupe."
On a personal note, today is my wife Karen Gettinger’s birthday. Thankfully, she’s as big a fan of the city as I am. Together, we’ve lived in three River Market apartments (two that we loved), owned a condo on the top floor of the Western Auto Building, and now enjoy our carriage-house home in Midtown, which is within walking distance of Downtown—and the future streetcar extension.
We first met Downtown, in the lobby of The President Hotel, when a mutual friend introduced us. Our friend Cheryl used to work with me at Camp Fire USA, and later worked with Karen at the United Way of Greater Kansas City.
Cheryl and I often met for coffee to talk about creative pursuits, but on this occasion back in 2007, she wrote me asking if she could bring a coworker to the conversation. I had no objections, but when Cheryl contacted me again shortly thereafter to ask if we could all get drinks at the Drum Room instead of coffee at the usual places, I suspected there might be a set up.
So I wore a sports jacket.
I was the first to arrive at The President that evening, and Cheryl joined me in the lobby soon after. It was a blustery spring day, and the wind rushing between the Downtown buildings escalated the power of the gusts.
When Karen arrived, she wound her way through the revolving door, greeted Cheryl, then reached a hand out to me to say hello. I recall looking at this pretty woman with long, red hair and thinking to myself: “Oh, lord, I feel for this girl, because this is the first time I’ve ever laid eyes upon her, and that wind has created some seriously effed-up hair—like a bird’s nest.”
Despite the unfortunate hair situation, we hit it off, I asked her out that night (unusually forward for me), and we’ve been together since.
Some months or years after meeting, I was telling this story to a group of friends, and Karen got a strange look on her face because, as she explained, on that windy night almost 15 years ago, she had excused herself to use the restroom after shaking my hand (which I recall), looked into the mirror at the Hotel President, and thought to herself: “Damn, I’m having a great hair day.”
Happy birthday, Luv. ❤️
In the early 2000s, when I was a writer/producer for Wide Awake Films, I was tapped to take on a documentary project about the life and art of local artist, gallerist, teacher, and community developer Jim Leedy. Meeting Jim changed my life from day one, and he still inspires me today in the same way that he inspired thousands of students, artists, and others who knew him. When I learned of Jim’s passing at age 91 last weekend, I told this story on social media:
I was once lucky enough to be invited to Jim Leedy’s Thursday-night gathering of creatives at his Downtown studio, hidden up a ramp and behind a garage door in a nondescript Crossroads building. These were casual events: Drop in if you can, we’ll see you next time if you can’t. No pretension, no pressure, just good people celebrating life and art and camaraderie. Oh, and a good drink or two.
I brought a bottle of Laphroaig scotch—and somehow made friends quickly among those I hadn’t met before. One fellow who was especially appreciative of the Laphroaig was ceramist Don Jahn, a close friend of Jim’s. But Don and I both needed some sort of drinking vessels in which to pour our scotch, and being that Jim was a ceramist, there wasn’t a surplus of glassware at the studio.
So Jim scrounged around his kitchen area and came back with a couple of ceramic mugs.
He handed me a quirky mug and said, “Here, you can use this. You can even keep it.” And then in a somewhat hoity-toity tone, he said, “That is my gift to you.”
“Waaaaaait a minute,” Don interrupted as I accepted the gift. “I'm the one who made that mug, and I gifted it to you, Jim! So I'm the one gifting the mug to Kevin.”
“Alright,” Jim conceded, turning back toward me. “I am gifting you this mug that Don gave to me.”
So, I consider it a gift from both Jim and Don. A cherished memory, a treasure of a mug, and a reminder of Jim’s life well-lived.
It always pained me to look at those “Then and Now” coffee table books and see what the old Bell Telephone Building (now Oak Tower) looked like before someone decided to destroy the terra cotta exterior of the 28-story building in the 1970s. This past week, thanks to social media posts from Rosin Preservation (see below), we learned that the terra cotta wasn’t actually destroyed (for the most part), but rather just covered up. Kevin Collison’s CitySceneKC tells more about the chances that the beautiful exterior of this Downtown skyscraper might be restored:
Click this image to see Rosin Preservation photos from their recent inspection of the Oak Tower’s hidden terra cotta:
For a time after the original terra cotta was hidden, and before the current renovations were made, the Bell Telephone/Oak Tower building was white with gold accents. This 1986 photo makes the gaudy gold and white version look much better than it actually was. Whew.
Anyway, to see more images of this building throughout its history, go to this link:
Artful City: One weekly selection from a Downtown artist, gallery, or museum
Quick Clip: The city in motion—just a few seconds at a time
Downtown Lens: A single image depicting life around the Loop
Give a friendly Downtown-Kansas City welcome to….
Audiences for “Wicked: The Broadway Musical,” January 5 through January 23 at The Music Hall
Got a tip about Downtown KC?
Know a favorite artwork by a Downtown artist, or a piece located in a Downtown art gallery or art museum? Let me know, and I might feature it in “Artful City.”
Take a recent snapshot of Downtown that you’d like to share? Send it my way for consideration in “Downtown Lens.”
Live in a cool Downtown home, or know someone who does? Drop me a line to be considered for “Downtown Digs.”
Have an upcoming Downtown event? Let me know. Send details and links.
Know the scoop or have a question about what’s happening in your Downtown district, neighborhood, or street?Please share by sending me an email.
Write to: tips@kcdowntownloop.com
Thanks for reading!
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Until next week—enjoy the city!
