KC show us your Kitch (and where is the DDR?)

February 9, 2009 12:25 PM

Kansas City - what's kitchy, what's fun, what's happening next week, and where are the arcades with DDR, ITG, or Pump?

The boyfriend and I are going to Kansas City for 4 or 5 days next week. I have been to KC a few times and have seen a number of the usual suspects: Art Museum, Crown Plaza, Union Station, etc. He has not been to KC before, so we will probably include all of those in this trip. This post is specifically looking for the campy/kitchy things as well as arcade locations that are not as easy to find online.

Things we both like include: art museums/galleries, kitchy or campy fun places, tasty BBQ (which is part of the reason KC was chosen), arcades (pinball for me; DDR and its derivatives for him), fountains, and tour guides who take themselves too seriously.

posted by hworth to travel & transportation (12 comments total)

the Boulevard Brewery does tours. Def. on Saturdays, not sure what other days. It's fun, and there's beer at the end.
posted by notsnot at 12:31 PM on February 9

Pitch Weekly has good entertainment coverage for both KC and the wider area big name acts and tiny little joints. Search AskMe though, a similar question was asked a few months ago.
posted by Science! at 12:31 PM on February 9

Fritz's Railroad Restaurant (not the one in the mall, though). One of the best days of my entire life.
posted by unknowncommand at 12:41 PM on February 9

I just got back from KC. Personally, it felt to me like a city that had its soul sucked out through a straw. But, I have two suggestions (sorry, not kitchy, but totally worth the trip):

National WWI Memorial + Museum
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
posted by mkultra at 1:06 PM on February 9

Hey, KC represent. I'll do my best to give you the rundown:

- Arthur Bryant's is the BBQ place to go to. Make sure you go to the downtown location at 17th and Brooklyn. There's one at "The Legends," which will lead you way out into the middle of nowhere.

- I personally prefer Gates Bar-B-Q but only because there's a location near me. They like to yell "Hi may I help you?" and you kind of have to be ready to order, but it is easy. Pick a location near you.

* Keep in mind that these downtown locations are both in downtown, urban locations. Nothing to really worry about, but I wouldn't go into tourist mode and decide to stroll around the neighborhood.

- The Kemper Museum is going to be the best besides the Nelson. If you haven't seen the really cool Block Building at the Nelson, then you need to see it. At least drive by at night, when it is all lit up on the inside.

- This is the wrong time of the year to be seeing fountains, I forget when they open but it probably won't be until later in the spring.

- The new Sprint Center and adjacent Power & Light District is worth at least driving by if you haven't seen it yet, it is new, shiny and expensive. In my opinion the P&L is sort of a frat / sorority Disney World and not my kind of crowd. They have a bowling alley there that is supposed to be kitsch and fun. Definitely worth a drive by.

- I would suggest the area directly to the south of the P&L, which is turning into sort of an indie version of P&L. There's a Czar Bar at 15th and Grand, next to it is a very old school kitsch Cigar Bar. There are some mafioso Sinatra types that like to sit in there and drink their scotch. There's some other nightlife down here that may or may not appeal to you.

- I would also recommend Westport, which since the opening of the P&L has toned down from being an overcrowded bar area to getting back to its cool roots. I would also at least drive through Crown Center and past Union Station on the way there.

Generally I'd recommend you start out your trip in the River Market, head down Grand which will take you through all the neighborhoods I listed. Literally if you get on Grand at the River Market you'll hit downtown, P&L, Union Station, (grand merges into Main around here), Crown Center, Westport and end your journey at the Plaza. At the Plaza I would get to the very south end, along Brush Creek, make a right onto Ward Parkway and see all the late 19th century mansions that organized crime built. I would take that all the way to Meyer Blvd, swing a left on Meyer (you're going east now), then turn back north on Brookside Blvd. In Brookside there's all kinds of little shops and things and it can be pretty and less crowded than the Plaza itself.

And there you can travel back up Brookside Blvd until you hit the Plaza and can go all the way back north to the River Market (or where ever you're staying). You just hit all the major Kansas City areas and you managed to more or less stay on the same street. Sometimes I have to pick people up from the downtown airport and give them the quick KC tour. I like it because usually they're staying in the southern suburbs, and I can show them cool KC architecture that I'd bypass by taking the highway. You could easily get this drive done in an hour or less, and decide which areas you'd like to explore more. Any further south than Brookside and you're going to start hitting post-war suburbia.

And I don't know where any sort of arcades would be, or anything outside a miniature golf course setting.
posted by geoff. at 1:21 PM on February 9

KC resident here. My suggesions:

1) 1st and foremost. If you're from out of town and want to have fun and experience kitsch stay the holy fuck away from the Power and Light district. It’s all chain restaurants with no soul, mediocre food, crappy people, and largish pricetags. For fuck’s sake stay far, far away from here!
2) Everyone has BBQ preferences. Best insider track: go to Oklahoma Joe’s. Gates is good, Arthur Bryant’s and Jack Stack are both good, but Oklahoma Joe’s is the most Kansas City-ish of KC BBQ, it’s in a gas station fer’ cryin out loud!
3) Restaurants that aren’t BBQ:
a. Check out Grinder’s in the Crossroads- best cheese steak in town, huge beer list, tasty tasty pizza, and cheap(ish). All sorts of great shit on the wall. You have to go here. Have to.
b. Eden Ally (only restaurant on the Plaza I’ll eat at. Ever.) It’s vegetarian, it’s in the basement of a church, and they have some of the best dessert in town.
c. Succotash in the River Market. They only do dinner one night a week last I heard. It’s awesomely worth it, and very fun. Not quite kitsch, but kitsch-is. Awesome brunch available everyday. You should also try this.
d. BB’s Lawnside BBQ. (OK, so it’s BBQ, but that’s a side note) They have OK food, but they also have really solid live music almost every night of the week, cheap beer, and one of the oldest BBQ pits in town. Lots of music ephemera on the walls. Kinda outta the way though.
4) Check out the Toy and Miniature Museum. It was free, it’s worth seeing.
5) If you’re up for a movie, check out the Screenland at the Crossroads (not too terribly far from Grinder’s, actually) On the weekends they’ll do 80’s movies, The Big Lebowski, Rocky Horror, etc… They have some cool KC movie related history inside, and cheap(ish) drinks. Not nearly as cool as similar places I’ve been to in other cities, but it’s pretty awesome all the same.
6) If you have a car and are willing to drive 30-45 minutes in either direction your options for kitsch (and pinball expand: There’s a hair museum (celebrity hair locks, hair art, etc…), there’s a bar nearly dedicated to pinball machines, there are some awesome old 3-lane bowling alleys….
posted by piedmont at 1:56 PM on February 9 [1 favorite has favorites]

I grew up in that area (well, Leawood/Overland Park), but I've been away way too long to know what's hip or cool nowadays.

You might find a drive along Ward Parkway, starting from the Country Club Plaza area and then south for a while (to roughly 75th St) interesting - there are some huge, gorgeous old mansions along it. (My mom used to tell me that when she and her parents first came to the area in the 50s or 60s, they thought some of those houses had to be funeral homes because who could live in a house that big?) It's a beautiful area, really, I always enjoyed taking that route between my house and either the Plaza or Crown Center. (Just be careful of the traffic circle at Meyer Blvd.)
posted by dnash at 2:22 PM on February 9

We will have a car and are willing to drive up to an hour in any direction.
posted by hworth at 2:48 PM on February 9

Where are you staying?
posted by geoff. at 3:43 PM on February 9

Hour trips that may be worth the drive:

1) St Joe(~1hr)- Pony Express Museum, Glore Psychiatric Museum (highly, highly recommended), actually that's about it. St. Joe kinda sucks, probably not worth your drive.
2) Lawrence(~45 min)- Great college town. Has the Replay Lounge (Lots O Pinball), Local Burger (mmmm), several solid music venues, other fun college town-y stuff. Definitely worth the drive.
3) Independence(~15-20min)- Diamond Bowl (Looks like they've swanked up a bit, used to be like stepping into a stereotypical 70's bowling alley, maybe still is...), Leila's Hair Museum, RLDS Temple, Clinton's Soda Fountain , there's probably more.

In all honesty, I go to St. Louis for my kitsch fix, but since I see you're coming from there, this is the best we got. There's some nightlife too, but I've no idea what you guys like in that realm.
posted by piedmont at 5:09 PM on February 9

We are staying near W 39th & Broadway
posted by hworth at 7:24 PM on February 9

Seconding Oklahoma Joe's for BBQ.

Wander down to the 39th Street West district. Where you are staying is probably right about on the border of it. Lots of little restaurants and shops.
posted by whatideserve at 6:13 PM on February 12