Things to do on a Kansas City layover

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Rafi

Rafi

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Joined
Oct 19, 2005
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Baltimore, MD (primary); Culpeper, VA; Washington,
I'm on a cross country tour this week (STL-KCY-LAX-PDX-CHI) and I've got an 11 hour layover tomorrow in Kansas City (11:40 AM to 10:50 PM). Can anyone recommend some ways to spend the day? Best places for lunch and dinner? I need to keep everything within walking or transit distance of the station, obviously. any movie theaters around for after dinner in which to spend the late evening?

Thanks,

Rafi
 
Rafi said:
I'm on a cross country tour this week (STL-KCY-LAX-PDX-CHI) and I've got an 11 hour layover tomorrow in Kansas City (11:40 AM to 10:50 PM). Can anyone recommend some ways to spend the day? Best places for lunch and dinner? I need to keep everything within walking or transit distance of the station, obviously. any movie theaters around for after dinner in which to spend the late evening?
Thanks,

Rafi
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Guess you missed my recommends in the answer to the luggage in KCY post Rafi! :eek: I'll again recommend the Jazz HOF/Negro League Baseball Museum and eat @ Arthur Bryants original Q joint, all within a couple of blocks @ 18th and Vine! Just walking the area gives you a great look @ a time gone by when this was THE PLACE for Black folks to party and enjoy themselves! It's #1 in my book in KCY by far! ;)Crown Center has plenty of eating joints and a nice hotel and is convient to the Station! Theres a diner/cafeteria there still called Harvey House open in the day only (this place can get spooky @ night waiting for the Chief! )Theres also and upscale resturant/bar in the main hall next to the Harvey House, havent eaten there but it looks good, it's upscale and seems to attract a dressy/affluent crowd every time Ive passed through!Cant think of the name?
 
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jimhudson said:
Guess you missed my recommends in the answer to the luggage in KCY post Rafi! :eek: I'll again recommend the Jazz HOF/Negro League Baseball Museum and eat @ Arthur Bryants original Q joint, all within a couple of blocks @ 18th and Vine! Just walking the area gives you a great look @ a time gone by when this was THE PLACE for Black folks to party and enjoy themselves! It's #1 in my book in KCY by far! ;)Crown Center has plenty of eating joints and a nice hotel and is convient to the Station! Theres a diner/cafeteria there still called Harvey House open in the day only (this place can get spooky @ night waiting for the Chief! )Theres also and upscale resturant/bar in the main hall next to the Harvey House, havent eaten there but it looks good, it's upscale and seems to attract a dressy/affluent crowd every time Ive passed through!Cant think of the name?
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Jim,

Wow. I can.t believe I didn't see your reply in that topic. My apologies. Great, fantastic suggestions, and I think I'll attempt all of them! Any ideas on what to do after dinner when most things are closed, but I'll still have until 10:50 PM until the Chief pulls in? Movie theater?

Rafi
 
The restaurant in Union Station is Pierpont's. It's a steak house of the Capital Grille, Ruth Chris style. Very good, but can be a bit pricy. Had dinner there a few years ago, and enjoyed it.

Pierpont's

Recommending BBQ in Kansas City is like recommending a cheese steak place in Philadelphia. Everyone has an opinion, and they're all right. My two cents is Jack Stack Barbecue in the old freight house near Union Station. Great KC BBQ. Linger with a brew or two and kill the evening.

Jack Stack BBQ
 
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Dang I didn't see this thread and just posted some stuff in your last one lol. I'll post it again here

"If you have not been to Kansas City before I would recommend spending some time checking out Union Station. There are alot of pictures around showing what the place looked like from 12 years ago all the way to about 90 years ago when it was booming. There are 30 min. Segway tours offered for a small price plus you get to ride a sweet Segway. Another great place to check out is the WWI museum and Liberty Memorial, which are both in walking distance on a nice cool day, but it hasn't been like that here lately. It's one of the best museums around here and the National WWI museum of the country. You'll see it when you walk out the front doors. "
 
PRR 60 said:
The restaurant in Union Station is Pierpont's. It's a steak house of the Capital Grille, Ruth Chris style. Very good, but can be a bit pricy. Had dinner there a few years ago, and enjoyed it.
Pierpont's

Recommending BBQ in Kansas City is like recommending a cheese steak place in Philadelphia. Everyone has an opinion, and they're all right. My two cents is Jack Stack Barbecue in the old freight house near Union Station. Great KC BBQ. Linger with a brew or two and kill the evening.

Jack Stack BBQ
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+1 on the Jack Stack across the tracks from Union Station. I ate there last year while visiting my sister and her family. The food was fantastic (and maybe a bit over-priced). However, I'd have to rate Oklahoma Joe's a little above Jack Stack for real down-home BBQ in the KC area.

The Crown Center thing is also a great way to kill some time (I forget the name of the burger joint there that actually delivers your meal via overhead toy train. It was 'just okay' food but the kids loved it).
 
Kansas City Power and Light District (KC Power and Light District) is a new-ish entertainment district, not REAL far from the train station, but, I would probably take a cab, or check out the city bus lines and transit (KC Area Trans). I have NO experience with the city buses or cabs, as I generally walk over to Crown Center, rent a car, and head north out of town. As mentioned earlier, Union Station itself has a few entertainment options (KC Union Station).
 
This information JUST MIGHT be a tad bit out of date, but the Crown Center was mentioned. So this is what I did on a Kansas City layover: Rewind to March, 1977 and greatcats boarded the National Limited in New York on the transcontinental sleeper. The sleeper attendant recommended having dinner in the Crown Center hotel up on the top floor. I recall having a very fine prime rib dinner. Later that evening, our 10-6 sleeper was hooked to the Southwest Chief, or whatever it was called, pre-Superliner ex Santa Fe cars which were a bit tired. I rode that to Flagstaff enroute to Grand Canyon, where twenty-eight years later ended up working for four years. I flew back from San Diego.
 
Back in 1977 the Chief was called the Southwest Limited because the Santa Fe Railroad took the right away to use the Chief name.
 
Rafi, I was going to give you a brief run down on the trains which used to serve KC.

Seems about 12 lines served KC in my 1957 Guide.

Naming all the trains and where they went could get kind of formidable,so, for now, I will just list the railroads:

Santa Fe

Burlington

Chicago Great Western

Milwaukee

Rock island

Frisco

GM&O

KC Southern

MKT

Missouri Pacific

UP

Wabash

Consider each line would have had several trains, it must have been rather busy around there. Should you or anyone want more info do not hesitate to ask.You might want to PM.
 
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I guess it is too late for your trip now, but I can't think of anything better than Fats Domino's suggestions:

I'm gonna be standing on the corner

Twelfth Street and Vine

I'm gonna be standing on the corner

Twelfth Street and Vine

With my Kansas City baby

And a bottle of Kansas City wine

Well I might take a train

I might take a plane

But if I have to walk

I'm goin' just the same

I'm going to Kansas City

Kansas City here I come

They got some crazy little women there

And I'm gonna get me one

I gather that 12th street and vine no longer exists... shame as it sounds like my sort of venue, I am happy around crazy little women!

Happy Travels

Ed :cool:
 
Rafi said:
. any movie theaters around for after dinner in which to spend the late evening?
Thanks,

Rafi
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Its a little late for Rafi (I picked the wrong day to skip reading the board!)... but he asked about Movie Theatres. Maybe this can help a future AU traveler with a KC Layover. The "Mainstreet Theatre" is in the Power And Light district downtown at 14th and Main. It is a recently restored 1920's "Movie Palace" that now serves as the Flagship theatre for AMC. (AMC is headquarted only a few blocks further north on Main Street) From Union Station, catch the MAX bus Northbound (towards "3rd and Grand") and get off at 13th and Wyandotte. Two blocks east to Main and one block south and you are there. For the return trip, board the Southbound MAX (towards "Plaza" or "Waldo") at 13th and Wyandotte.

Don't get confused by the presence of the "Midland Theatre by AMC" one block north at 13th and Main.... that theatre is used exclusively for live events.

Oh and Greatcats... Skies, the revolving restaurant on top of the Hyatt Crown Center is still there.... I took my wife there for dinner the night I proposed to her :)

Caravanman - Believe it or not... 12th St. and Vine don't intersect... or at least they don't today. The area was redeveloped in the 50s or 60s, so most traces of the past were erased. Today, Vine comes within a half block of 12th Street, before dead-ending at 12th Terrace... doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it??? The majority of the Jazz History in KC, or at least what has survived of it, is actually centered a few blocks to the south, around 18th and Vine. At 18th and Vine, you can find the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
 
Folks,

Wanted to give a quick followup while I have a good signal (just left flagstaff). All of your suggestions proved extremely useful. I ended up making a trip to a local model train store, visited the Power and Light District, saw the WWI memorial, took in a movie at an indie theater down in westport (I think it was?), had dinner at Jack Stack (hot dang that was good bbq), rode the busses everywhere ($3 for the day!), walked a ton, saw all of union station, and just had a complete blast.

I've resolved that I must come back to Kansas City to complete my tour as I just didn't have enough time. I'm seriously considering to ride west on the river runner with the gathering on the Saturday if the get together, and just stay the night in Kansas City, taking the eastbound chief to Chicago the next morning. That would give me all of Saturday afternoon and evening to really finish up my tour of Kansas city.

I took a ton of pictures while in town that Ill post to a gallery in the next day or so and will link here. In the meantime, check out blog for the full report as well as a live webcam from the train during the daytime.

Thanks again,

Rafi
 
I've never understood why Amtrak does not advertise KC as a focus destination, like Chicago, etc. There is tons of stuff to see only steps from the magnificent Union Station:

* The traveling exhibits at KCY (i.e. Dinosaurs Unearthed - we'll be taking the train this summer to see this)

* My kids like Science City, despite what other think of it. Plus the shows, planetarium

* across the street is the National WWI Museum - a truly excellent, world class museum. I personally could spend all day at this place......

* Crown Center is connected via Skywalk and has a whole list of things to do

* Everyone always talks about Pierpont's and Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ, but I'd argue Lidia's Kansas City (Lidia Bastianich of the PBS cooking show) beats them all

* Two great hotels

* Hallmark Visitor Center

And these are all, literally, 100 steps from Union Station? Less than 1 block? Not to mention all of the other great stuff to do that others on this post mentioned that are just a few blocks further away.

KC needs better marketing. someone is not doing their job (or maybe there ISN'T a marketing job for this)
 
monorailfan said:
I've never understood why Amtrak does not advertise KC as a focus destination, like Chicago, etc. There is tons of stuff to see only steps from the magnificent Union Station:* The traveling exhibits at KCY (i.e. Dinosaurs Unearthed - we'll be taking the train this summer to see this)

* My kids like Science City, despite what other think of it. Plus the shows, planetarium

* across the street is the National WWI Museum - a truly excellent, world class museum. I personally could spend all day at this place......

* Crown Center is connected via Skywalk and has a whole list of things to do

* Everyone always talks about Pierpont's and Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ, but I'd argue Lidia's Kansas City (Lidia Bastianich of the PBS cooking show) beats them all

* Two great hotels

* Hallmark Visitor Center

And these are all, literally, 100 steps from Union Station? Less than 1 block? Not to mention all of the other great stuff to do that others on this post mentioned that are just a few blocks further away.

KC needs better marketing. someone is not doing their job (or maybe there ISN'T a marketing job for this)
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I would doubt that Amtrak has any marketing for Kansas City. Reading your list, it looks like there's more within close proximity to Kansas City's station than there is at Chicago's Union Station.
 
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