Seeing Troost up close, and a peek at a historic theater at 18th & Vine | Opinion
Quite a bit has been going on the last few days. I even got the opportunity to discuss race and the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act on KKFI’s radio show “Unbossed and Unbothered,” with D. Rashaan Gilmore on Friday. You might remember that I took up the issue in my last column.
So while I couldn’t make it to all that was going on, I thought I’d give a rundown on just a couple of highlights — one I attended and the one I missed was the annual stroll along Troost Avenue.
Mayor Quinton Lucas was there and joined the 10-mile community walk showcasing Black-owned businesses along Troost. I don’t know if you have noticed, but quite a few parts of Troost are popping these days. One of the best pizza joints in the city is Combine at 30th Street and Troost, right across the street from Ruby Jean’s Kitchen and Juicery, another really cool spot.
Troost, which is on the east side of the city and historically was dubbed the racial dividing line in Kansas City, was targeted for redevelopment in 1998. Revitalization of the corridor didn’t actually start until 2003.
The Troost Walk, sponsored by Generating Income For Tomorrow, better known as G.I.F.T. is in its second year. Brandon Calloway, CEO at G.I.F.T. said he started it to allow Kansas Citians to “experience the Troost corridor up close.” He said he wants folks to see that the street is more than a line on a map. “It’s a place where entrepreneurs are building, investing, and creating jobs.”
Calloway is right. One of my favorite Black-owned restaurants, Urban Restaurant, is on Troost at Armour Boulevard. However, the street still has untapped potential, and I’m sure that’s why G.I.F.T. was glad to have Lucas join the walk last year and again this year. It started at 6 a.m.
Lucas said he still saw some blight and signs that Troost had long been seen as “a forgotten corridor often labeled as a bad part of town.”
But that’s not all. “We also saw entrepreneurs and residents asking for an opportunity for a part of our city that’s been told it can become nothing more than a dividing line,” Lucas said.
“The East Side deserves the same quality of life as Brookside and Waldo.” He said the residents there “deserve the same investment, the same attention, and the same pride in their streets that we see in every other thriving Kansas City neighborhood.”
Of course, once city leaders see the problems up close, it’s their civic responsibility to fix them, right?
Lucas said that since the first walk, ordinances have been passed to fight the blight, tackled used-car dealers whose lots have become eyesores, and now the Kansas City leaders want to combat vacant land and buildings that create blight.
A few days earlier, on Friday afternoon, things were popping in the Historic Jazz District, where Kansas City was toasting the historic Boone Theater on 18th Street, which has been in the midst of an $8 million makeover for nearly a year.
I, for one, can’t wait to see the results of the work being done there. That’s not just because folks in Kansas City have been talking about redeveloping this historic district ever since I came to the city in 1998, but also because I believe when it’s done, it’ll become the fourth chamber that makes up the cultural heart of KC — The River Market, the Crossroads and Southwest Boulevard, Westport, and the Historic Jazz District.
The Boone Theater, named for blind Missouri composer and pianist John “Blind” Boone, is the first of the new anchor attractions to open on what will be an open-air pedestrian plaza lined with galleries, eateries, and shops. I’m hoping for a return to a jazz and blues-rich area with a touch of R&B and hip hop featuring live performances, both musical and theatrical, at the Boone and the Gem Theater, which is just a block west on 18th Street.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver cut the ribbon to cap off the Boone Theater celebration.
You definitely can’t miss the red brick and colorful turquoise, blue and yellow trimmed building front. Inside, where the Black Movie Hall of Fame and the Black Repertory Theater will be located, it’s modestly designed with modest finishes that lend to the building’s 102 years.
Missouri State Sen. Barbara Washington, a Democrat who grew up in Kansas City, attended the event and talked about how proud she is to see the building reopened.
“This is my community,” Washington said. She laughed, telling the story of how she and her young friends used to sneak out of church some Sundays to hang out on 18th Street.
Cleaver is credited with launching the sustained redevelopment effort of the 18th & Vine Jazz District in the late 1980s and 1990s while serving as a city council member, then as the city’s mayor. More recently, Cleaver, who represents Missouri’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, has secured millions in federal dollars to support the project.
Cleaver talked about a time when “The Great Count Basie,” a world-famous jazz pianist, would play in venues along 18th and Vine and then store his piano at a nearby church.
There will be more to celebrate in the Historic Jazz District and I can hardly wait. May 23 is slated as the grand reopening of the entire 18th Street Pedestrian Mall. That same day, the Jazz District Renaissance Corporation inducts jazz great Herbie Hancock into the American Jazz Walk of Fame right in front of the American Jazz Museum.
Off The Vine
Below are stories about culture and identity from communities in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Go here to find more from Star reporter J.M. Banks.
- This locally driven streetwear operation — MADE MOBB — has evolved into a broader cultural platform shaped by its founders’ experiences and sustained by a growing community. Banks explains how its three creators fused cultures to make it work.
- A group of Kansas City hip-hop artists are preparing to return to Ireland this spring, Banks writes about their ongoing effort to connect the Kansas City music scene with audiences and collaborators overseas.
Around The Vine
A major national traveling exhibit, ”Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad,” is coming to the Watkins Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, April 7 through May 23. The exhibit is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Exhibits USA, and Mid-America Arts Alliance.
Heartland International Fashion Week Season 6 opens with a dazzling kickoff gala celebrating the global language of fashion, Passport to International Fashion, 6 - 9:30 p.m. on May 20 at the Zhou B. Art Center in the Historic Jazz District, Kansas City. A two-day event, called the Kansas City Culture Festival, is May 29 and 30 under the historic Jefferson Bridge, 2130 Jefferson St. Organizers promise to fill the bridge with live music, cigar vendors, food trucks, artists, boxing and after-parties.
Vine Picks
Those gaudy numbers FIFA and Visit KC have been dangling in front of hotel owners and downtown restaurants seem to be way off track. Star columnist David Hudnall went hunting for what’s really happening.
Legendary entertainer Lonnie McFadden will appear in the Kansas City Ballet’s production of “The Great Gatsby,” which will open this month. Find out when and where. Star writer Dan Kelly has the details.
If you enjoy Indian food try this new Indian restaurant in Overland Park with a long slate of menu options. Appetizers, chaats, desserts, chai, curry, naan, tandoori, momos, pastas, burgers and more, Star writer Jenna Thompson lays it all out for you.
Your voice matters to us. What local issues do you want to hear discussed in On The Vine? Let me, Mará Rose Williams, The Star’s senior opinion columnist, know directly at mdwilliams@kcstar.com. Thank you for reading. Support our local journalists with a subscription.
