/and typography/of 18th and Vine

Ali Fisher

text and photos/Ali Fisher

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS/and typography/of 18th and Vine

Sights and Sounds/and typography/

of 18th and Vine

06 FREE JAZZ1512151315151516

The 9th InningWhite Star MarketOwl BBQJazz Apartments

Organized by street number, the downtown historic jazz district of Kansas City explores a magnitude of history through architecture, music, and typography.

14 BLOWING CHANGES 30 TURNAROUND160116011615161616161616

1700 170317051707170917111715

Big EZLincoln BuildingGEM TheatreThe Blue RoomSwing ShopJazz Museum

The Juke HouseTailorHopkins CleanersMeets MortuaryLucille’s TavernLucille’s DinetteThe Call

Even with only a few buildings, the street block

of 1500 & Vine establishes the district with its

large ‘18th & Vine’ neon sign. It welcomes you

to the district and into history.

02 ////

KANSAS CITY SHUFFLE/J. RALPH/

It’s a blindfold kick back type of game

Called the Kansas City Shuffl e

Whereas you look left and they fall right

Into the Kansas City Shuffl e

It’s a they-think you-think you don’t know

Type of Kansas City hustle

Where you take your time

Wait your turn

And hang them up, and out to dry

Its a shakedown switch arrive in town

Type of Kansas City Shuffl e

Gotta’ make both sides and let it ride

On the Kansas City Shuffl e

Now the tables turned the lessons learned

You’ve gotta earn yourself some trouble

Revenge like this, never sweet—

You’ve got yourself a long ride home

The 9th Inning ////

Dating back to the 1920s, Kansas City jazz emerged, and by the ‘30s,

it had fl ourished. Housing legends like Bennie Moten, Big Joe

Turner, Count Basie, and Charlie “Bird” Parker, they made their

home on 18th and Vine and helped put Kansas City on the map

in terms of jazz music.

Growing up in Kansas City, I started learning its history early on.

I grew up knowing the taste of good barbeque, the importance of

weathering the cold to see the Annual Plaza Lighting Ceremony,

and the booming sounds of jazz. I was interested in exploring

Kansas City’s roots—the sights and sounds that helped it emerge

as a thriving city. Starting with the early history and exploring the

district’s past, I uncovered the typography of this area that is still

paying tribute to the jazz that remains alive today.

E. 18th street1512

Once the Monarch Baseball Club Offi ce, The 9th Inning

Sports Bar & Grill made its home in May 2012. The Monarchs

were the 1924 World Champions.

10 ////

E. 18th street1513

Echoing with the smooth jazz and sassy blues from its dance halls and

nightclubs around the clock, 18th and Vine grabbed segregation

by the horns and ran. This being around the same time as the

Depression, where other music scenes across the nation folded,

Kansas City only attracted more bands and clubs. Most of

Kansas City’s success during these hard times were due to Tom

Pendergast, a political boss. Pendergast allowed alcohol to fl ow

freely in Kansas City during prohibition. This opened the door

to displaced musicians, offering opportunities that most other

cities couldn’t provide. It became a thriving commercial,

residential, and entertainment district, where residents had to

look no further for their day-to-day items than down the street.

Its streets were full of spirit, diversity, commerce, culture, and

an ample amount of entertainment.

White Star Market ////

Charlie Parker/Yardbird/Bird/

Kansas City Jazz Musician

An American jazz saxophonist and composer, Charlie Parker played a leading role in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuoso technique, and improvisation based on harmonic structure. Parker’s innovative approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmony. exercised enormous infl uence on his contemporaries.

12 ////

Jazz Apartments ////

The 1500 strip used to house companies such

as: Hotel Street Site, Jones Recreation Parlor,

Subway Club, and Fox’s Tavern Site. Now,

the type found on the 1500 strip mirrors its

history. Where The 9th Inning is bold with

its neon lights and sports-like atmosphere,

The White Star Market and Paseo Bootery

Shoes counters it with their hand-painted

lettering. Although these stores closed down

long ago, their presence is still made known

by the chipped, peeling paint and faded letters.

Finally, a revamped aparment complex brings

us back to present day.

E. 18th street1516

On the next block, 16th & Vine, comes major

historical markers that have come to define the

district of 18th and Vine. This includes The Blue

Room, GEM Theatre, and now, the Jazz Museum.

16 ////

E. 18th street1601

The Lincoln once stretched entire span of 1601, but since it was

remodeled in 1981, has been divided into the Danny’s Big EZ and

the Lincoln Building. What used to be an important and recognizable

landmark that housed the Lincoln Furniture Company and accomadated

doctors, dentists, and lawyers, now lets a neon sign speak for the building

and Danny’s Big EZ.

Danny’s Big EZ ////

02 ////

KANSAS CITY SHUFFLE/JERRY LEIBER/

I’m goin’ to Kansas City,

Kansas City, here I come

I’m goin’ to Kansas City,

Kansas City, here I come

They got a crazy way a-lovin’ there

And I’m gonna get me some

I’m gonna be standing on the corner

12th Street and Vine

I’m gonna bestanding on the corner,

12th Street and Vine

With my Kansas City woman

And a bottle of Kansas City wine

Well I might take a plane,

I might take a train

But if I have to walk

I’m going just the same

I’m going to Kansas City,

Kansas City, here I come

They got crazy little women there

And I’m gonna get me one

Lincoln Building ////

The jazz offered in Kansas City was unlike what New Orleans and Chicago

had to offer. It featured a two-four beat, tended to use more saxo-

phones, and always had background riffs. The music continued

to grow as the city within a city did, specifi cally with the develop-

ment of jam sessions. After performances, musicians would meet

up afterwards and stay up all night, collaborating and feeding off

of each other’s different styles. Many lasted all night into the next

day. This distinct sound, collaboration and community that Kan-

sas City built made it King of the Midwest. Albert Murray once

described this collaboration and competitions among the

participants as “incidental to the challenge of the music itself as the competition among cowboys for rodeo prizes was to the elemental contest be-tween man and the wild animal.”

E. 18th street1601

20 ////

GEM Theater ////

Built in 1912 and originally named ‘Star Theater,’

the GEM Theater featured second-run westerns and

action adventures rather than its surrounding live jazz

music. In 1923, it grew to two stories and was dubbed

the “work of art and triumph of engineering” by the

Kansas City Call on January 11, 1924. It also devel-

oped a “V” type margquee, a new ticket booth, and

an enlargement of the balcony, all within five years.

It eventually grew to feature not only films, but live

theater productions and jazz performances. It still

stands now, hosting the American Jazz Museum’s

annual national jazz concert series “Jammin’ at the

GEM,” community events, and private shows.

E. 18th street1615

22 ////

The street really comes alive at the 1600 mark with neon lights bouncing

back and forth between The Blue Room, Swing Shop, The Mu-

seums at 18th and Vine, and the GEM Theater. The center of the

street lights up the whole district. Especially with The Blue Room

and GEM Theater’s history and emulating old type, jazz is brought

to life reliving its glory days every day of the week.

American Jazz Museum ////

E. 18th street1616

24 ////

E. 18th street1616

At its height, 12th Street homed more than 50 jazz clubs, overflowing

into 18th, making it the epicenter of the city’s African-American

community, until the 1940s when it began its decline. After

Tom Pendergast was indicted on tax evasion, the Pendergast

political machine collapsed, taking the nightclubs, cabarets,

jobs, and musicians with it. By 1942, most musicians were

drafted to World War II, and by 1944 the jazz era came to a

slow roll. Musicians that weren’t drafted moved, and the district

was used less and less. Segregation, which once brought the

community together, weakened and businesses took elsewhere

and the area began to deteriorate.

The Blue Room ////

“A place to meet, to see, and to be seen” was how The Blue Room was typically

described. It was the place to go for fine professional jazz entertainment.

26 ////

“Everything was wide open. The sky was the limit, anything you were big enough to do and could afford, you did it. You could do it in Kansas City. Wide open!”Buck O’Neil

The Swing Shop ////

E. 18th street1616

William Basie/Count Basie/

Kansas City Jazz Musician

An American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer, William Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction. Basie’s theme songs were ‘One O’Clock Jump’ and ‘April In Paris’.

28 ////

Founded in 1990, The jazz museum has recently

become a staple of the historic district, offering

exhibits on local jazz artists like Charlie Parker

and also regional ones Duke Ellington and Louis

Armstrong. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

is another aspect of the exhibit that chronically

charts the success of Negro leagues. The blown

up people on the top of the building emulates the

history, and museum. The type is simple and small

enough that at night the focus is directed directly

on the neon jazz folks.

American Jazz Museum ////

E. 18th street1616

The last block of the historical district

dies down; with buildings torn down

and painted over, 17th & Vine dries out.

32 ////

E. 18th street1700

The Juke House ////

Today it pays homage to its past with the restored GEM Theater and

museums. Redevelopment began in the 1990s with the “The

Clever Plan,” a tax revenue package that included funds for the

renovation of the 18th & Vine District. The American Jazz Mu-

seum, Nego Leagues Baseball Museum, the Horace M. Peterson

Visitors Center, and the Blue Room benefi ted from these funds.

1709 1711 1707

34 ////

In 1939, jazz festivals tended to line the streets of 18th and Vine, with bands like Black Elks Band sounding music through the district and bringing the community together. Here, Street’s Hotel, then the city’s best hotel for blacks, and home of Blue Room, a popular nightclub.

1705 1703

1703-1711 E. 18th St. ////

E. 18th street1700

KANSAS CITY BLUES/JIM JOHNSON/

I woke up this morning, feeling bad

Thought about the good times

I once have had

I’m gonna move to Kansas City, baby,

where they don’t like you

My mother told me, daddy told me too

If by the cramps in your feet son,

ain’t no friend to you

You oughta move to Kansas City, baby,

Honey where they don’t like you

I got me a bulldog, two shepherds

and two greyhounds

Two high yellows, three blacks

and one brown

We gonna move to Kansas City, baby,

Honey where they don’t like you

Tailor ////

The redevelopment picked up its stop and start progress in 1997 when

Mayor Cleaver announced the formation of a new group, The

Jazz Distric Redevelopment Corporation, which was placed

in charge of all development. The group has since developed

the jazz District Aparents, where it is at 100% occupancy and

newly developed buildings. 18th and Vine now focuses its energy

on its rich history and brings the liveliness of its past back to life.

E. 18th street1703

38 ////

The painted ‘Dinette’ and ‘Tavern’ were modeled

after Lucille’s Paradise Band Box that was west of

The Kansas City Call building at 1713 E. 18th Street.

At one time Charles “Crook” Goodwin led a band

which did radio broadcasts from this club. Charlie

“Bird” Parker also played for a short time here

before moving on to Chicago.

Hopkins Cleaners ////

E. 18th street1705

Lester Young/Prez/

Kansas City Jazz Musician

An American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist, he also played trumpet, violin, and drums. A member of Count Basie’s orchestra, Young played with a cool tone and popularized much of the hipster ethos which came to be associated with the music.

40 ////

E. 18th street1707

Meek Mortuary ////

The type found that continues down 17th peels

off the building and on some, has completely

worn down. Each has its own outline and with

its own color scheme, and in some ways feels

slightly cohesive. But where that breaks is the

variety of buildings that it represents and the

amount of typography behind each. Although

they all connect through one building, they

differentiate themself by how bold their font

choice is or how distinct their colors stand out.

42 ////

Lucille’s Tavern ////

“You see, what happened in Kansas City was that [New Yorker] John Hammond came to town...He took all the good musicians out, and it hasn’t been good since. It was very benefi cial what he did, but it left no one out there that anybody could copy or to continue what was.” Mary Lou Williams

E. 18th street1709

44 ////

Lucille’s Dinette ////

The painted ‘Dinette’ and ‘Tavern’ were modeled

after Lucille’s Paradise Band Box that was west of

The Kansas City Call building at 1713 E. 18th Street.

At one time Charles “Crook” Goodwin led a band

which did radio broadcasts from this club. Charlie

“Bird” Parker also played for a short time here

before moving on to Chicago.

E. 18th street1711

Standing at the three stories, the weekly newspaper

has served the black community since its founding

in 1919 by Chester Arthur Franklin. The paper’s

fi rst responsibility has been and remains a voice

of advocating social justice.

46 ////

E. 18th street1715 E. 18th street1715

The Call ////

02 ////

PINEY BROWN BLUES/JOE TURNER/

Well I’ve been to Kansas City

Girls and everything is really alright

Yeah the boys jump and swing

And to the broad daylight

Yes I dreamed last night

I was standin’ on 18th and Vine

I shook hands with Piney Brown

An’ I could hardly keep from cryin’

Now come to me baby

I want to tell why I’m in love with you

Please come to me baby

I want to tell you why I’m in love with you

Because you understan’

Everything I do

I want to watch you baby

When the tears roll down your cheeks

Yes, I want to watch you baby

When the tears roll down your cheeks

I wanna hold your hand

Tell you that your kind can’t be beat

In 1939, jazz festivals tended to line the streets of 18th and Vine, with

bands like Black Elks Band sounding music through the district and

bringing the community together. Here, Street’s Hotel, then the city’s

best hotel for blacks, and home of Blue Room, a popular nightclub.

credits ////

END

In the end, the typography of the historic district of 18th and

Vine emulates everything it once was and is. The neon lights

contrasts the paint peeling off and gives the block a feeling of

comfort and easiness of the past.

The University of Kansas/Fall 2012

Patrick Dooley

/Camera/ Konica Minolta

/Typefaces/ Gotham Condensed

Gotham Book

Gotham ThinItalic

Cochin Regular

Cochin Italic

/Sources/ Flynn 18th and Vine: A Walking Tour

Smith The Road Leads to Kansas City visitkc.com kcjazzdistrict.org pbs.org

Designer as AuthorCREDITS

52 ////