Daytripping Lee's Summit Missouri

Lee's Summit Missouri

Ken and I set out for the next suburb in line as you head east on 350 Highway out of Raytown and Knobtown -- Lee's Summit.

  While Lee's Summit is a sprawling/growing part of the Kansas
City metro area, it has the kernel of a small town that the sprawl is growing out of, with a nice alive downtown area.

     Ken and I started at the old MoPac depot where we parked.  Amtrak had come in while we were there.


Today I actually got to do some of my other hobby -- railfanning.  Yes, I am a foamer, and I plan to include more train vids and pix in this blog.  In addition to the livestream, I caught three other trains passing through Lee's Summit -- a UP mixed manifest, a Missouri and North Arkansas mixed (which is the first time I've ever documented something from this line) and another Amtrak train.
   Ken and I then embarked on this warming afternoon on exploring downtown.  We have had a recent respite from the heat, but this afternoon was the beginning of a re warming trend.  Ken and I went to the block of buildings across from the station first.  There seems to be a lot of bars and restaurants downtown, which is nice for a non-college town.

The first gallery we perused was the Hidden Gallery.  The featured artist is Bob Byerly.
  
In addition to bars and restaurants, there are a lot of galleries and boutique shops downtown. We made our way to yet another gallery on this hot afternoon.  Tima could not come in unfortunately...

GOT art, or Gallery on Third, is a place started by a married couple who wanted to see more art downtown.

They are in between shows, with a call for artists for a new one coming out soon.

We hit another boutique shop/gallery with an interesting past...



Anytime I see an old neon sign, I'm interested.  Apparently, according to the person at the store, this was once a hotel, and the old Lee's Summit hospital before that.

Around the corner, we found a facade that left us scratching our heads.  It looked like newer construction, but the streamline modern style seemed much older.  We walked past several artifacts from a different era...

www.thefillingstationbbq.com
When we made it around the block,  we finally came to the answer to the mystery of the streamline modern theatre building we found.  No, it is not a historic building -- it actually is a reproduction of a theatre that used to be there at one time....

The whole block is part of downtown redevelopment in Lee's Summit.  Ken and I noticed that downtown Lee's Summit has invested a fortune in sidewalks and lighting and beautification.  I think the fact that downtown seems to be alive is a reflection of the pride that this town has shown in it's urban core.


Our next stop was right around the corner for ice cream.

The heat of the afternoon was finally breaking.  We walked on and explored a thrift shop and we headed west to the chinese restaurant that is in a former Griffs Burger Bar, with the distinctive A Frame design by Valentine Diners of Wichita Kansas.


We stopped in and ordered some a la carte and lemonade, but underestimated the serving sizes.  What was meant to be a snack turned out to be a bit more.  It was good, though.  For more information on Griffs than you'd ever want to or need to know, go here....
http://www.agilitynut.com/eateries/aframegriffs.html

Also, Valentine Diners, of which there are several in the area, can be found here...
http://www.kshs.org/diners/index.htm
http://www.kshs.org/diners/identify.htm#aframe

We took a few more pix at dusk, then headed back.

Fringe Festival with Cat by Ken

On Wednesday 28th July 2010, I went down to see a show at the Fringe Festival.  I usually don't attend Fringe events.   I have gone to two or three shows in the past and they were really bad performances, so my experiences with them haven't been good.  I went this time because Cat Johnson, a friend of mine, was choreographing a show, and I wanted to support her.  My previous experiences with Fringe were tempering my expectations.  I walked over to the Crosstown Station where the show was being held.  I feel it is a terrible place for a dance show.  It might be okay for a vocal or small musical group.  The show was scheduled for 9:30, and pretty much started on time.  Cat left the dancing to three women and one man.   I saw it to be modern dance with a lot of elements of ballet in it.  The women each had a different color dress -- red, blue and gold.  The gentleman was wearing a dark suit.  I was very pleasantly surprised with this performance.  The choreography was the type of thing that I really liked.  Each dancer was dancing seperately most of the time but at the same time there was an overall theme they all seemed to fit into.

 
     It was a very high energy show with much more to see that I could at one time.  The dancers worked well together and used some of the props/scenery as part of the routine.  Cat did some narration part of the time while they were dancing.

     I only regret I couldn't get some pictures but I was afraid to snap any for fear of the flash destroying the enjoyment of the performance by others.
 

     I know that George Balanchine was the great guru of choreography.  But to my way of looking at it, this was done much better than the guru.  Great job to Cat and her dancers.  The best fringe show I have ever seen.


In other Fringe News...


Long lines... sold out performances... people being turned away.... extra added shows ... sounds like a dream come true for some venues. Well, one of those venues was the Fishtank Performance Studio. Sunday evening, all those things were happening for the performance of "Thrill Me." Read all about it and watch a video of the photo shoot on the link. I got some snapshots of the line waiting to get into the show on Sunday afternoon....

Raytown

Raytown, Missouri is one of those places many pass through, but rarely stop.

Perhaps Raytown is not one of the most progressive municipalities in the world, but it seems like city leaders and planners are turning around moving Raytown in the right direction.  Take the new downtown bridge over the old Rock Island Railroad right of way with ample sidewalks on both sides.

Take also the improved gateways that add much to the look and quality of the community.  Also, the downtown shopping center seems to be improving with new tenants.

Ken and I on our daytrip adventure in Raytown, talked with downtown business owner, Ben Helt, of Benetti's Coffee Experience.

 
 I mentioned to him the bad thing I wrote in the blog last week about Raytown, and the poison response I got from a reader.  He was very quick to point out that many of the bad perceptions about Raytown are rarely backed with any statistics or data, and that for the eight years he has lived in Raytown, he has enjoyed this quiet community on the eastern edge of Kansas City Missouri.  Three of those eight years he has spent owning and operating his coffee house.  On this warm afternoon, Ken and I found a good mix of people, from young to elderly.  Benetti's roasts it's own coffee in a small roaster which is visible in a glass room off to the side of the coffee bar.  Ben likes to have customized menu's and drinks, so that if you don't want coffee, or don't know much about coffee, you can get a good basic cup off the menu, or if you consider yourself a coffee connaisseur, then you will be satisfied with your menu selection as well.  Ben says he is inspired by community.  He says "if you want to make a difference in the community, you must have a good cup of coffee."  I am reminded by that quote of the theme of Tony Bourdain's program, "No Reservations" on the travel channel, that, if you want to bring the world together, it is best done around a good meal.  Perhaps Ben means to bring the community together over a good cup of coffee, and that sounds like a great plan to me.  It is a great starting point for Raytown.  Over and iced mocha, I sort of chewed poor Ben's ear off about my vision of the merits of sports vs. the arts.  He was very patient with me and open to my ideas, though I don't think he agreed with all of them.  He gave me a lot of food for thought, or is that coffee for thought as well.  Such is the magic of coffee and coffee houses.  
As for the city of Raytown, it exists almost nearly in the center of Jackson County Missouri.  It is part of what many refer to as the inner suburbs of Kansas City -- those communities directly to the east of Kansas City that sort of form a belt on the eastern flank of the metro area.  Areas such as Raytown, Independence, unincorperated Blue Summit, Sugar Creek, Hickman Mills/Ruskin Heights and Grandview.  All are facing pretty much the same issues as their western parts age and what has come to be known as "white flight" takes place at an accelerating pace due to automobiles, poor infrastructure in older urban areas, poor schools and crime.  Raytown seems to be poised to rebuild and remake itself as an answer to these modern urban issues, and the evidence can be seen in any walk or drive around downtown or the surrounding neighborhoods.  Respect for the past is evident as well.  


Fox's drugs is a real treat, with its working breakfast and lunch counter.  In an era of big corporate mega drug chains, it is nice to see an old fashioned drug store that sells only drugs.  Ken and I were late for a hot lunch at Fox's, so we only were able to get a couple of snap shots instead.  Ken used to work at an auto repair shop downtown, so he wanted to go into the place, now operated by a new owner and now called Emerald Automotive.  


The present owner of the shop took the time to talk to Ken and I and relive some memories.   For the most part, Ken and I have been daytripping, taking photo's, visiting some places, and leaving.  Today we broke that mold, and actually stopped to talk to people in the community.  I had Betsy in the shop in Independence for an oil change, so we had to interrupt our adventure to retrieve Besty.  On the way back, we stopped on 350 highway to get a picture of a memorable Raytown landmark, which is the animated snowflake googie atop the Funhouse Pizza sign.  


Perhaps 350 highway is what most people who pass through town on this road use to judge the town.  350 is primariy for automobiles, and everything else is an afterthought.  It is a very busy divided highway and it splits Raytown diagonally from northwest to southeast.  

There are very few if any sidewalks, and many of the strip shopping centers are a little on the tired side with vast acerages of parking lots in front.  Ben Helt admits that Raytown's orientation towards automotive traffic at the exclusion of all other modes of transport (such as by foot or by bycycle) is a failing of the city, but he adds that part of the improvements that are coming are more walkways and bike paths.  Ken and I saw evidence of that downtown.  

Of note is the old timber bridge over the Rock Island Railroad grade, another famous Raytown landmark.  It has had a makeover fairly recently which includes walkways and lighting.  


If you are into the 1950's, you would like Raytown.  

A great, and well preserved example of 50's googie signage exists at the corner of 63rd street and Raytown Parkway.  That is Smith Brothers Hardware and Clark Appliances.  


As the sun set, our last parting shots of Raytown, were of these landmark signs in their full neon glory. 

 






They seem to be going nowhere, and that is a good thing.  As for Raytown and my initial assessment, only time will tell what the future holds for this community.  I hope it is going somewhere good.