In The Loop: November 2023
Your connection to Downtown Kansas City
Thanks to Founding Subscriber Bob Hiatt, who has always been a generous supporter of The Loop, I had the chance on Friday to tour the Pennway Point entertainment district with a special emphasis on the Lumi Neon Museum. (Coincidentally, the Star published a story about the museum on the same day that we toured the emerging project.)
After learning more about Pennway Point, I’m more excited than before about what this entertainment district will offer. Not only will it feature some of the best food and drink from local establishments, but it has a real historical feel as a result of incorporating several existing buildings in the plans.
Brick, iron, wood, and cement combine to give the area a pleasing visual texture along with a strong sense of place. It’s the antithesis of so many boxy, boring developments we’ve seen built in the city and the suburbs over the past decade or two.
Despite the dreary, muddy day, Lumi Neon Museum president Nick Vedros provided a great tour (and some cool ball caps). Here are some photos I took:
And now, on to the The Loop….
No prizes or praises (for now), just a trivia question to test your Downtown knowledge….
Q. As a child, this future television personality peddled the Kansas City Star along the streetcar lines and later recalled relaxing on the hill across from Union Station, watching the train activity set against the backdrop of Downtown KC. Despite living in New York City for many years, he maintained ties to Kansas City through his cousin Kay Waldo Barnes. Who was he?
A. See the answer near the bottom of this issue.
Nov 4, 1923 • Swoop Down on Booze
Three years into Prohibition — and a couple years or so before Tom Pendergast allowed liquor to flow in our town — Kansas City tried to get serious about cracking down on “soft drink” establishments that sold alcohol by threatening the jobs of police officers who didn’t clean up their beats. An article in the Nov. 4, 1923, Kansas City Star told the story of that threat and a large, subsequent raid.
“Some of the patrolmen seemed to believe we meant the warning as a joke,” the police commissioner had warned some time after prohibition began in 1920. “Such was far from being the case. Kansas City must be cleaned up or we will begin got ‘clean up’ the personnel of the department. The warning applies not only to liquor selling places, but to gambling resorts.”
So serious was the intent to stop all sales of alcohol that Kansas City collaborated with local prohibition agents, state prohibition agents, and five agents from St. Louis.
Fifty people were arrested from 25 different venues, most Downtown or in adjacent neighborhoods. The cash bonds from those arrested totaled $50,000 — a sum so large that police took extra precautions for its safekeeping.
“Much of it was moved to the property room and the bell buzzers behind the desk, used to warn the detective department a robbery was being committed, were tested,” the Star story explained.
Four places that were raided had no beer seized. Law enforcement took samples to be tested at a later date, however and, if it were found to have .05% alcohol or more, charges would be filed against the venues’ proprietors.
Nov 11, 1925 • Washington statue
Nearly 15,000 people gathered Downtown for the unveiling of Kansas City’s version of Henry Merwin Shrady’s George Washington statue on Armistice Day, 1925. The original statue, depicting Gen. Washington at Valley Forge, was erected at Williamsburg Bridge Plaza in Brooklyn, N.Y., a few years earlier. More than 100,000 Kansas Citians contributed the funds to have a replica made and installed at what is now called Washington Square Park.
Bringing you some of the most interesting properties for sale or lease in and around Downtown Kansas City….
Longfellow stone beauty
2901 Campbell Street
Property presented by: Elizabeth Sady
Brokered by: Keller Williams Key Partners
Price: $660,000
See the property online here
Homes and buildings featured in The Loop are not necessarily recommendations or endorsements, but rather illustrations of interesting properties for sale or lease in the vicinity of Downtown. Properties may or may not remain available at time of publishing.
1907
Who are all these people?
Answering the question “Who are all these people and where are they going?”, The Loop brings you a list of some of the biggest events happening Downtown each week. Please give a friendly Downtown-Kansas City welcome to audiences and attendees of….
OCTOBER
TODAY
Kirk Franklin at T-Mobile Center
What the Constitution Means to Me, now through Nov. 12 at Copaken Stage of the KC Rep
Last day, Kansas City Symphony presents Explore Your Imagination at Kauffman Center
NOVEMBER
1st - 5th
First Friday Weekend, Nov. 2-5 in the Tower East KC neighborhood
First Friday, Nov. 3 in the Crossroads Arts District
UMKC Conservatory presents Crescendo 2023, Nov. 3 at Kaufman Center
First Friday Weekend, Nov. 3-5 in the West Bottoms district
Lyric Opera of Kansas City presents The Sound of Music, Nov. 4-12 at Kauffman Center
6th - 12th
American Royal UPHA National Championship Horse Show, Nov. 6-11 at Hale Arena at the American Royal Center
An Evening with the Late John Cleese, Nov. 9 at Kauffman Center
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Nov. 10-12 at T-Mobile Center
13th - 19th
The Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City present Sir András Schiff, Master Pianist, Nov. 14 at Kauffman Center
Harriman-Jewell Series presents Mark Morris Dance Group Performing the Look of Love, Nov. 17 at Kauffman Center
Kansas City Symphony presents Music Illuminates the Soul, Nov. 17-19 at Kauffman Center
Fellowship for Performing Arts presents The Screwtape Letters, Nov. 18 at Kauffman Center
Gladys Knight, Nov. 19 at Kauffman Center
20th - 26th
2023 Hall of Fame Classic (Creighton, Boston College, Loyola Chicago and Colorado State), Nov. 22-23 at T-Mobile Center
Mariah Carey, Nov. 24 at T-Mobile Center
Kansas City Symphony presents Through the Lens, , Nov. 24-26 at Kauffman Center
Pentatonix, Nov. 26 at T-Mobile Center
For a more exhaustive list of everything happening Downtown, go to the VisitKC events page and use the “regions” function to search for Downtown, Westside/Southwest Blvd, West Bottoms, River Market, Power & Light, Crown Center, Crossroads, 18th & Vine — or anywhere you want to go in the KC Metro
For live Kansas City Jazz performances, visit LiveJazzKC.com
Q. As a child, this future television personality peddled the Kansas City Star along the streetcar lines and later recalled relaxing on the hill across from Union Station, watching the train activity set against the backdrop of Downtown KC. Despite living in New York City for many years, he maintained ties to Kansas City through his cousin Kay Waldo Barnes. Who was he?
A. CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, born Nov. 4, 1916, in St. Joseph, Mo. He and his wife Betsy (Maxwell), whom he met while working at KCMO Radio, are interred at Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Kansas City, Mo.
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