18th & Vine: Streets of Dreams

by Chuck Haddix

18th and Vine in Kansas City is internationally recognized as one of the cradles of jazz.

Along with New Orleans' Basin Street, Beale Street in Memphis, 52nd Street in New York and Los Angeles' Central Avenue - the 18th and Vine area was a midwife to the birth of a new style of jazz. Like the spicy Bar-B-Q for which Kansas City is so widely noted, the jazz that evolved in the 18th and Vine Historic District was likewise distinctive. Simmered in the blues, Kansas City's jazz was a riff-based sound fueled by jam sessions in the district's crowded clubs.

A list of the musicians who worked and made their home in the historic district reads like a veritable Who's Who of Jazz in the 1930's and 1940's ...

Veritable Who's Who of Jazz in the 1930's and 1940's
George E. Lee	Bennie Moten	Ben Webster
Lester Young	Jesse Stone	Buster Smith
Mary Lou Williams	Count Basie	Walter Page
Jay McShann	Harlan Leonard	Pete Johnson
Joe Turner	Andy Kirk	Julia Lee

Kansas City's most infamous son, Charlie Parker, cut his musical teeth in the alleys behind the many clubs that dotted the area.

The clubs sported colorful names such as the Cherry Blossom, the Chez Paree, Lucille's Paradise, the Subway Club, the Sportsmen Club, the Ol' Kentuck' Bar-B-Q and Fox's. Many of the clubs featured "Blue Monday" sessions. Former bassist for Andy Kirk, Laverne Barker remembered how, "People would go to the area on Sunday Nights and would wait for Blue Monday parties to start in the clubs at midnight. The jam sessions would start and go `til Monday afternoon."

Vine Street also has been celebrated by many songs including "Vine St. Bustle," "Vine St. Boogie," "Vine St. Drag" and "Kansas City." Joe Turner immortalized the corner of 18th and Vine and club manager, Piney Brown, when he recorded "Piney Brown Blues" for the Decca label in November, 1940. Turner sang in his half-shouted style:

Well, I've been to Kansas City, girls
and everything is really alright.
The boys jump and swing until broad daylight.
Yes, I dreamed last night I was
standing on 18th and Vine.
I shook hands with Piney Brown and
I could hardly keep from crying.

Paseo Hall, Lyric Hall and Lincoln Hall featured dances and battles of the bands. The rivalry between the bands was often quite spirited. In 1932, during a battle of the bands at Paseo Hall a fistfight broke out among members of the Moten band after they were defeated in a grudge match with the Thamon Hayes Band. Earlier, Bennie Moten had hired members of Walter Page's Blue Devils after they threatened his territory.

Local No. 627

The Musicians' Protective Union, Local 627 sponsored an annual battle of the bands that often included as many as six groups. Founded in 1917, Local 627 had 300 members by 1928. Now known as the Mutual Musicians Foundation, the Union has occupied the same building since 1930. The Foundation still stands as the unbroken link to the musical tradition. A Federal Historic Landmark, the Foundation was featured in the movie, "Last of the Blue Devils." Musicians still gather at the Foundation on Saturday nights to socialize and jam.

The historic district was much more than an entertainment center. Between 1920 and 1956, 18th and Vine was the heart of the African American community. In the days of public segregation, the area was the bustling business district at the center of a self-contained community. 12th Street, which was the northern boundary, consisted of a string of bars and taxi dance halls. The southern boundary of the community, 27th Street, was a genteel area with many fine homes. Charlotte on the west and Benton on the east were the other demarcation lines between the black and white worlds.

The 18th and Vine area contained everything a community required. Shoe repair shops, tailors, beauty shops, dry cleaners, barber shops and other small-service oriented businesses lined either side of 18th Street. Two fine clothing stores, Matlaw's and Shick's, operated in the area. Because of these businesses, African Americans who were denied service at the department stores and clothiers downtown, were able to shop in their own neighborhood.

Doctors, dentists and lawyers occupied two professional buildings, the Lincoln and Roberts Buildings. Street's Hotel, on the corner of Paseo and 18th Street, greeted travelers in grand style. The elegant Rose Room restaurant on the first floor offered fine dining. The Blue Room, located in the back of Street's, was "a place to meet, to see, and be seen." Professionals flocked to the bar in the Blue Room where a popular bartender named Kingfish held court. Another restaurant in the area, Elnora's Cafe, which was located next to the Subway Club, had a national reputation for good food and service. A popular gathering place, Elnora's stayed open into the wee hours to accommodate the many late night revelers in the district.

18th & Vine

The 18th and Vine area had a number of theatres including the Gem, Eblon, Panama, Lincoln and Boone. The Boone, which was built in 1924 and originally named the Rialto, was renamed in 1929 after ragtime pianist and composer, Blind Boone. Ragtime composer, James Scott was the musical director of the Panama and Eblon Theatres. Count Basie played the organ at the Eblon before he joined the Moten Band. During the late 1930s, the "Vine Street Varieties" were broadcast Saturday afternoons from the Lincoln Theater. The "Varieties" featured local musicians and entertainers such as Herman Walder, Joe Turner, Pete Johnson and Julia Lee as well as a popular local comedian named Rabbit Sims.

18th and Vine was also the spiritual center of the African American community. It was a place to worship, celebrate and mourn. Some of Kansas City's largest African American churches were originally located in the district.

After Joe Louis knocked out Max Baer in 1935 the Kansas City Times, which rarely covered events in the "Negro community," reported that "it was a wild victory yell that last night rose out of the milling thousands at Eighteenth and Vine Streets, a yell that soared into space to break somewhere under the nearer stars."

Earlier that year, Bennie Moten's funeral procession passed that same corner followed by thousands of mourners.

The decline of the historic district began in 1940 with the demise of the Pendergast Machine. Under the rule of political boss Tom Pendergast and his cronies, Kansas City was a wide open town. When the reformers cleaned up the town, they closed many of the clubs that provided work for musicians. The draft during World War II devastated the ranks of the bands and shortages of materials (especially gasoline and rubber for tires) made touring difficult.

Even so, the area continued remained a mecca for touring jazz musicians through the late 1940s and early 1950s . Educator, saxophonist and composer Ahmad Alaadeen recalled that

jazz greats Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis and others hung out in the area trying to find the energy or spiritual force behind Charlie Parker. They felt that Kansas City was the driving force behind modern jazz. I asked Miles to show me some changes and he replied, `Don't worry about it, you're from Bird's home town.

Ironically, the final two blows to the area, urban renewal and public accommodation laws, were intended to improve the lot of the people in the community.

In 1954, the Land Clearance for Urban Renewal authority began the first urban renewal project in Kansas City by clearing a 19-block area in the historic district. The area sat fallow and barren for five years due to poor financial planning. Not until 1961 did the area rebound with the help of Reynolds Aluminum, which wanted to show the viability of aluminum construction materials. By then, public accommodation laws had become a reality and the African American population had begun to move south. Businesses closed and years of neglect lead to a physical deterioration of the district.

Today, 18th and Vine is a pale shade of its former glory. Only a handful of small storefront businesses remain in the three block stretch of 18th Street between the Paseo and Woodland. Two buildings anchor either end the area. On the east, the Kansas City Call, one of the nation's oldest black newspapers, has occupied the same location since 1922. To the west, the refurbished Lincoln Building still serves as a professional office building. The historic district is ringed by boarded up buildings where small businesses once stood.

Today, an effort is underway to restore the 18th and Vine Historic District to its former glory. In 1989, the City Council lead by Councilman Emmanuel Cleaver allocated 20 million dollars to revitalize the 18th and Vine historic area as part of his "Cleaver Plan." Jazz and Negro Leagues Baseball museums have been established. In addition, new housing is being constructed. Cleaver, who is now mayor, is optimistic and enthusiastic about the future of the area. The hope is to transform streets of memories into streets of dreams once again.

You may write the author via email at: haddixc@umkc.edu

This article originally appeared in Artlog, a publication of the Missouri Arts Council; Volume 13, Number 1; January/February 1992, pages 1 & 5.

Sources:

Stein, Shifra.: "18th & Vine, Early Jazz Home." Kansas City Star, January 6, 1977.
Goodman, Howard and Lisa Massoth.: "Death drives home plight of jazz site." Kansas City Times, April 28, 1984.
"Neal Hardy to ...: an Event Here." Kansas City Star, August 6, 1961.
"Attucks Housing Can ...: Still Be A Model." Kansas City Times, August 16, 1961
Alexander, Mack.: "Shriveled Fruit of Vine Street may Regain Its Ripe Sweetness." Kansas City Star, September 10, 1975.
"Vine St. Goes: to Glory." Kansas City Times, September 25, 1935.

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