At Blue Line, Kansas Citians eagerly wait — and pay — to party until 5 a.m.
When the clock struck 3 a.m. in Kansas City, the drinks kept pouring at The Blue Line, a hockey bar in the River Market packed with mostly 20-somethings taking full advantage of the watering hole’s new late-night hours.
There was a line out the door — even in its final hour of service — and a $5 cover for much of the night. Many of the patrons would be there until 4:50 a.m., when they were given the boot by multiple security staff and bartenders. They appeared to not give it much thought that the sun was close to rising, as if it was the nightlife norm in Kansas City to party until 5 a.m.
To many guests on Saturday, visiting a bar open until 5 a.m. like the Blue Line meant taking a small part in the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that has been Kansas City’s World Cup — no matter how much sleep is lost or how intense the hangover feels in the morning.
“We’re going to look back and think this was one of the best summers in Kansas City,” said Mikayla Gibson, 28, who was at the Blue Line with two of her friends around 3 a.m.
But it was only this month that the Blue Line was one of more than a dozen bars approved to stay open that late during the duration of the World Cup. It’s even one of fewer to actually use the extended hours, and the flock of partygoers was there to support it.
The fight for 5 a.m.
Mayor Quinton Lucas approved the hours in May, months after the state passed a law that would allow municipalities to decide if businesses with on-premise consumption licenses could rally until 5 a.m.
At first, the KC mayor pushed back. After all, Kansas City bars in so-called entertainment districts already have the luxury of staying open until 3 a.m., which is a later closing time than many other U.S. cities. Under Missouri law, alcohol-serving establishments can also open at 6 a.m.
Then came Lucas’ biggest, or at least most public, resistor: Steve Stegall, owner of the Blue Line.
Stegall gave interviews to local TV news, voicing support for extended hours. He argued that small businesses need the extra money that extended hours could bring in “more than ever.”
Within days, Lucas changed his tune and approved extended hours with limits. Only businesses in entertainment districts — for example, the River Market, Crossroads, 18th & Vine and Westport — would be allowed to stay open until 5 a.m., but owners would need to apply with the city. All other bars and restaurants in Kansas City could stay open until 3 a.m., no application necessary.
The application would need to include a security plan, and if approved, bars had to close from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m., meaning alcohol couldn’t be served, and customers needed to be off the premises.
In the end 16 restaurants and bars were approved, largely downtown and in Westport. Notably, businesses in 18th & Vine either didn’t apply or get approval, but one Northland bar was given the green light.
The Blue Line extended its hours as soon as it could June 11. It’s also open every day until 5 a.m., with owners promoting its newfound status as a bar to rally at until the sun comes up several times on its social media accounts.
Not everyone is partying late
Other restaurants and bars have been playing it by ear, waiting to see if demand is there before they pull the trigger to stay open until 5 a.m.
At arcade bar Up-Down KC, manager Will McDaniel said they only opened until 5 a.m. maybe a handful of times.
“We want people to have fun, and it’s not really fun if it’s four people in here,” McDaniel said.
They’ve mostly closed at 3 a.m. instead, an hour-and-a-half later than Up-Down’s usual hours. Closing at 3 a.m. has still been “rough,” a bartender said, and closing at 5 a.m. ultimately “wasn’t worth it” for the arcade bar.
A server at El Pueblito, a late-night Mexican restaurant that was also approved to stay open until 5 a.m., said the latest the eatery has stayed open is until 4:30 a.m., which is the business’s normal hours on Friday and Saturday.
The Quaff Bar & Grill has promoted late-night hours — showing World Cup matches, hosting DJs and serving pizza until 4 a.m. — and has seemingly stuck to it.
Pierce Niemeyer, who was at Blue Line to watch the 9 p.m. Argentina and Algeria matches, said he knew some Westport bars approved to stay open until 5 a.m. had similarly shifted their hours to an earlier closing time. Blue Line is the bar he knows that’s open, so he stayed out until about 4 a.m. Wednesday, participating in karaoke night.
“The bar was extremely crowded still at that hour (on Wednesday), even when I left,” Niemeyer said.
He admitted he doesn’t think it’s an “overwhelming good” that all bars stay open this late, even if it benefitted him on one recent karaoke outing. Niemeyer said he would do his best to make it to 5 a.m. that Saturday, though his two friends said they’d stick to Kansas City’s typical closing time.
The late-night scene
The customers during the match were clearly there for soccer-watching, which the Blue Line showed on multiple TV screens. As soon as the game wrapped up, those guests shuffled out, and hours later were replaced by a rowdier group ordering shots at the bar, dancing to 2000s hits in front of the DJ booth and smoking vape pens on the outdoor patio.
Who remained throughout the night was its staff of several bartenders and security. Owner Stegall and his wife, Letty Stegall, were also working the bar and checking in on guests until closing.
The conversation around late-night hours during the World Cup hasn’t just taken place in Kansas City, but across the country. For bar owners not partaking or deciding the play it by ear here and in other states, they often noted that the biggest challenge was staffing those late-night hours.
At the Blue Line, bartenders scurried from one end of the bar to the other, and from the outdoor patio to the full tables inside, wiping beads of sweat from their faces and dodging some stumbling customers as they carried trays of draft beer and shot glasses. One bartender was seen downing a Red Bull before hopping back in to care for the steady stream of customers seeking libations.
One bartender, Hanna Hays, said she worked from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. the last handful of days. She falls asleep as soon as she gets home, around 6 a.m. Saturday was one of the busiest shifts she’s worked since the Blue Line changed its hours.
“It’s worth the money,” she said.
And just who exactly were they tending to at an hour typically reserved for bedtime? There were few international visitors, an absence that has perplexed business owners who banked on hundreds of thousands of new faces to patronize their establishments. Those guests have mostly gravitated toward World Cup fan zones, like the Fan Fest, or to well-known KC attractions, like barbecue restaurants.
The majority of guests inside the Blue Line were actually Kansas Citians. Some were regulars of the Blue Line, who came out to support the business as if it was any other Saturday. They were surprised by the line snaking out the door and the $5 cover to get into the hockey dive bar.
“I’ve never seen this place so busy,” said Tom, a customer who didn’t want to share his last name. He comes to Blue Line frequently because he said it’s one of the few casual bars in the River Market. After 3 a.m., he was happy to see it was busy.
When asked if he’d be out until the clock strikes 5 a.m., he responded: “God willing.”
Others who had never been to the Blue Line, or had visited once or twice before, came for the “experience.”
Andrea Destafano, who recently moved back to Kansas City after years of living in New York, found herself out late with friends she hasn’t seen in 22 years. Her homecoming, the 43-year-old said, felt invigorating because of the World Cup energy.
“If people are enjoying themselves and having a good time, and not creating a ruckus and hurting people, (then bars open late) is more commerce for the city,” said Destafano. “It’s more enjoyable for the people visiting, and I think it’s a great thing.”
Most guests were cordial, but as the Blue Line promised the city, security was there to kick out a few patrons who got in short-lived verbal spats. After the main kitchen closed at midnight, there was a limited menu of food available — cheeseburgers, hot dogs and chicken burritos — to soak up all the alcohol being consumed. Ten minutes before 5 a.m., security also made sure customers were out the door and off the patio.
‘I want (these hours) forever’
The bar exhibited just the amount of madness you’d expect from a packed establishment on a Saturday night turned Sunday morning. The conversations were loud, the music was louder and the room was in no mood to die down until last call.
And apparently, the Stegalls want these lively 5 a.m. nights to last.
“We’re tired, but we’re busy, and we love being this busy,” said Letty, who added she would be back at the bar at noon Sunday. “This is amazing for us and the whole community. I want (these hours) forever.”
Given Lucas’ initial hesitancy on extended hours, a permanent 5 a.m. closing time may be a hard sell. But at least through July 19 — after which point they’ll be forced to revert back to normal hours — the Stegalls’ bar is the place to be after 3 a.m. But you may have to wait to get in.
