KC is a north to south city. Unfortunately you went east to west, highlighting some of the most unflattering parts. Some things you missed that would’ve been awesome - union station is the 2nd largest operating train station in the country, behind grand central. Across the street is the only WWI memorial in the country. 18th and vine, the jazz district that was barely mentioned. Also the country club plaza, a bit farther south, was the first open air mall in the country and is the shopping district of kc - not downtown. And that’s off the top of my head.
At no time did I say I was visiting the "nice" places. I don't do touristy travel brochure type videos. There are already plenty of those on TH-cam. I video the places no one sees. That's what my subscribers are here for. I'm not interested in new, pretty places. I find them generic and boring. I like very old, dirty, grimy areas. I find beauty in them. For me, that's West Bottoms, which I found to be the most interesting and starkly beautiful part of KC. Better yet, only KC has it. Can't see it anywhere else. That's why I filmed there. I do the same in all cities I visit.
You literally picked like the worst places to go in the city and at the worst times. Your videos make Kansas City look like it's Detroit or something. Really you've outlined about 5 to 10% of what the city even looks like. Come back in the evening when the city is hopping, go to the parks. The city is absolutely stunning and beautiful.
I worked at that grocery store downtown. You came at 10AM on a Wednesday.. the slowest day of the week, in a city where most people work 8a-5p. No wonder there's no people lol. Try noon any day of the week, Friday, or Saturday, it gets crazy busy. Also you completely avoided a couple of our major hotspots.
Most people "hangout" in their luxury apartments. Everything is in your apartment building now. Most people go to work and come home. We all shop online now. So unless you are looking for something you must see in person you buy everything online. Kansas City, Missouri is mostly a bedroom community. We hangout with our family, coworkers, and neighbors mostly. Of course, you find them at work or at home. It is a pattern of behavior that reenforces itself. We do not get out much here. We mostly stay home. Very cozy, wonderful, and repetitive. I have lived in downtown the last three years and it is crazy expensive! I spent most of my time working to pay the rent. Never got to do much because I was often out of money. However, downtown lacks places to "hangout" and just be. It is all about give us your money and now you can leave. Hardly any interesting coffee houses and the few they have tend to close at 5pm. Most people work those hours; I do not know how they stay open. My workdays start at 5am and end around 7pm. Everything downtown is about to close if you bother to go out after work. It has been this way for decades. Your apartment building is really your hangout. If you get a nice place with amenities, you will be just fine and cozy! However, it will be around $1500 to make that happen or maybe $1200 for a studio. Pick something with washer, dryer, gym, and a nice lounge. You will be just fine. I was about at $2800 rent myself, and never missed the money. Yet, I had a health emergency and was forced to leave. Otherwise, I was fine to NEVER leave. I will likely go back in a year or two. I am thinking Three Light Apartments when they open next September.
I grew up in New Orleans and now live in KCMO, wife is from there. I absolutely love it ! It’s a beautiful clean city with low crime from where I came from. I live in Brookside area…I drive by Patrick Mahomes house all the time. Lives like 5 streets from us. I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else and I’ve been all over the country and lived in a lot of major cites. Missouri has adopted me, nice people, love the Midwest !
Kansas City isn't really a pedestrian city. Most people who work downtown drive there and back home. The pedestrian areas of the city are City Market, Power and Light, the Plaza, Crown Center, and Westport. KC is pretty dead during the week but there's events on the weekends that bring people in from the suburbs. Most people stick to the areas I mentioned rather than the ones you drove through. Most of the crime is localized and it can be pretty high in the bad areas but it's pretty safe in the other areas of town.
I have lived in KC area for almost 50 years and worked downtown for about 40 of those years. My first house was a block off of 80th and Troost. Moved when the shootings and murders became too much. Most people live in the suburbs and go to the city for work or special activities. It feel like a much bigger city in many ways, but is still easy to drive and park. Very reasonable cost of living.
Most ppl who live downtown walk & those who work downtown usually walk or ride the street car while downtown. If he would have filmed on a Thurs/Fri with a large venue going on around P&L to 13th & Main later in the day it would have been packed. Downtown is a touristy convention Hotel area.
@@VickiTakacs. Agree. But the city has become mostly minority and they wanted to support the black heritage. It has become too dangerous to visit, like most of central - east KC
By "localized crime" he means gang violence. The bad neighborhoods are infested with drugs and violence. Make sure you dont venture into any of neighborhoods east of downtown at night because they can turn into warzones. Also beware of roaming crack heads.
Downtown KC - ya missed the United States’ only WW1 Museum and what a world class museum it is!! A completely restored and wonderful Union Station just down the hill and across street from the museum is a must-see. The KC streetcar you mentioned (although as tram) is newer and an integral part of the Kansas City revitalization. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is a Kansas City gem and moving toward the Bartle Hall Sky Stations, with it’s soaring pylons to support Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium built over the highway is now iconic and a prominent KC feature. I didn’t see our T-Mobile Center and it’s unique architecture on your video either. The beautiful fountains, artwork and famed shopping at the Country Club plaza are also visually stunning. The crazy thing is…all of these places can be enjoyed (obviously not to their glorious full extent) from your vehicle as they are all magnificent historical structures - even if you are just here to dip your toe in, so to speak. Additionally, I’d like to invite you back to Kansas City to enjoy our famous BBQ, our Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and American Jazz Museum, The Crossroads Art District, The River Market Area and the largest single collection of pre-Civil War artifacts held at the Steamboat Arabia museum (yes, it sank on that river you mentioned!) There’s also; The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, The Boulevard Brewing Company, Westport, Power & Light District, The Kansas City Zoo, Tom’s Town Distilling, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art - well, that’s a pretty good start! Also, while Kansas City does have it’s share of crime in November of 2015 when the winner of the World Series, Kansas City Royals had their victory parade the whole city was in attendance with very minimal arrests the same can be said for the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory parade in 2020! Not to mention tailgating…well, you get the picture! I love my city and you’ll love it too if you visit again someday!
Also, I kinda feel bad for you in a way! If your trips to our Nation’s Cities were experienced to the same extent as was ours - ya missed a lot of great stuff to see!
The thing is this - I only have so much time, and my videos can only be so long. To see all the stuff you listed would take a 4 hour video. I will be back again, though, and will visit some of those places.
Ugh! I didn’t mean to insult ya, @Lord Spoda, not at all. The first 8 or so things I mentioned in my original post are all things you were so close to and would have taken you only minutes to drive by. Literally minutes. Of course we don’t want just that to determine your thoughts and feelings about Kansas City! It’s a great city! We’d like ya to spend a little time here and enjoy it to the fullest! Also, I thought of one more iconic thing that we’re all real proud of and is also clearly visible from basically where you were driving around is the Western Auto sign. I am not trying to offend or trying to be defensive though! Hospitality is one of those things we’re kinda known for! I sincerely hope ya revisit one day and enjoy the best BBQ, a lot of great Mexican food and a perfectly prepared steak! 🙂 And, thank you, @Tom Converse! I think?!! 🙃🙂😉
Good video. But downtown you stopped one block away from the Power and Light District where you would have seen much more pedestrian activity. Why would you drive to a city and not do a 3 minute google search on where the downtown hot spot is? You also missed the Westport and Plaza Districts which are very pedestrian heavy. The West Bottoms District has been bought recently by a national developer and is about to undergo a huge redevelopment.
I drove through P&L and Westport (didn’t include that footage) and I still didn’t see a lot of people. Didn’t go to the Plaza area. The West Bottoms has amazing character, one of my favorite downtown areas of any city I’ve been to so far. EDIT: I checked my footage and I actually did drive through the Plaza District, and there were a lot of people. I didn’t think of that as a downtown area, though.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Wednesday at 10 am isnt a good time everyone would be at work try an afternoon 2pm-5pm or the weekend for a better portrayal Friday or Saturday downtown Is packed with lots of pedestrian traffic on weekends Westport, PNL, the plaza are all high traffic areas pretty strange you say vacant downtown 😳
I used to live in Kansas City when I was little and then moved to LA. I never went downtown very much so it was nice to see all the old buildings and how clean it is. Especially compared to Los Angeles which is a total mess. Kansas City is very entrepreneurial and the people are really proud of their city. It’s got a cool unique vibe. I loved the video! This was my first.
I used to live in LA when it was clean, I also have lived in Colorado now I'm in KC MO , but some places there is so much trash. I hope it doesn't turn into Los Angeles. 😣
As someone that lives in Kansas City, to be fair, you went to the one spot in the city that no one actually goes. Honestly you could have gone to any other district and seen a hell of a lot more than a couple tall buildings. The "Heart of the City" is going to be around Main Street from Westport to the Plaza. That's where you find the Nelson Art Museum, all the "good" restaurants, shopping centers, and lots of foot traffic. The Crossroads and the Art districts have more going on than whatever happens in those big ass buildings people work in. Still enjoyed the video though, being that I am never in that area.
"you went to the one spot in the city no one actually goes". Exactly. That's what I do on my channel. I purposely don't visit high traffic, touristy places. I go to the places no one ever sees, but are still interesting and fascinating - like the West Bottoms. That's what my subscribers are here to see.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTripYes, you do go to non touristy areas and that's what I love about your channel. But you were wondering why there was no foot traffic where you were at that time, and it's because you were in the quiet financial district on a weekday morning.
Being from London, England originally (but in the KC suburbs for the past 12 years) I've always found KC, especially during the workday, to be quiet. When my sister visited from England a couple of years back I took her into the city. It was like in your video; completely quiet. I tell people I like it here because it has a big American city feel, but a lot of the time it's fairly quiet. It gets really busy, especially in the Power & Light district by the "T-Mobile Center" on a Friday and Saturday night (I know, because I sometimes drive for Uber). For years the "T-Mobile Center" was the "Sprint Center", then T-Mobile bought Sprint and it recently got renamed. Most people still call it the Sprint Center. There were some other nice spots you missed, Union Station, Crown Center and the Liberty Memorial area is nice; Westport, The Plaza.
On thr weekend of the "First Friday" of every month, all the antique stores, flea markets, and craft stores are open in the old buildings. Many people come shopping there. It's one of my favorite places to go.
Downtown KC is not what it was pre-Covid. Most all metro area residents live in the suburbs and with remote work happening the majority of people don't go downtown unless they have to.
We like it quiet in KC. You also didn't go to the best spots in downtown. Such as the Jack Stack BBQ, Arthur Bryant's BBQ, Crown Center shopping Center. You also didn't visit the Country Club Plaza where most of the fountains are, it's the largest outdoor shopping mall in the US. You also didn't visit the WW1 Memorial Monument and Museum in downtown. There's also the Q39 BBQ, and the Joe's BBQ and the Nelson Atckins Museum in the Plaza. Also the 18th and Vine Jazz Museum and Jazz District.
@@FettiExploration Young man these old people have wisdom and don't want their city to become a sewer like LA, Chicago, Vegas or Baltimore. Taking car lanes on Truman Road and giving them to non existing bikes is stupidity, but then young people are not known for their wisdom.
The main part of downtown it showed was the financial district where everyone's busy at desks- although it's usually not that quiet. Like others have mentioned- Union Station/Crown Center area would have been perhaps more ideal. Not to mention it's the locations for both the KC Massacre, and the Hyatt Walkway collapse (both tragedies sparked nationwide attention). But West bottoms is really fun on first Fridays of each month. They open those vast old buildings that are now commonly antique shops for the public. Hope you enjoyed your visit.
Exactly. It's the sane here in Boston. A section of our Downtown is the financial district where you'll see a ton of tall glass buildings but not a lot of people on foot at that time on the weekdays.
I used to work as a summer job right of high school in the West Bottoms 49 years ago. The area then was very heavily industrialized with lots of warehouses. The meat packing houses had shut down by then. The famous Kansas City stockyards were located just south of where you were on the stateline. Anyway, the place I worked at delivered meat trucked in from Omaha. I would go to work at 3:00 A.M. It was a spooky, dark, and rough area..lots of winos and hookers...My jaw dropped when you drove right by the place I worked at..It looks like a flea market type store now.....By the way, I have lived in Kansas all my life, so thanks for saving the best state for last....
I absolutely love The West Bottoms. What’s happening there is something special. Downtown is very fun at night when there are events. Tbh I enjoy the calm & quiet whenever things are slow.
At 21:06, that is North Kansas City on the other side of the river. The tree'd area is typical along the river low land areas. NKC is vibrant and a good living alternative to downtown. You really did miss a lot of the go-to places in the downtown and mid-town areas.
His decision to not go downtown is the problem. Kansas City Visitors Center defines downtown as from 8th street to 19th and from Washington to Locust. touring an older innercity area and calling it downtown is retarded.
I think it is rapidly changing right now with more residential (condo/apt) type units being built. Take a drive through and see what appeals to you. Quite a bit of older warehouse and factory type buildings being repurposed as both retail and residential, so it is a vibrant area and good alternative to south of the river central city area.@@XTRABIG
New subscriber here. I wish I would have known you were coming to my home town. I would have bought you lunch at the best BBQ place in town, and I could have given you a guided tour and history lesson about our town. Lived here all my life, and worked downtown and in the West Bottoms for 40 years.
You were maybe 1-2 blocks away from the street car when you mentioned that you were in the "heart" of the city. You could have simply rode that and got a better tour of the city. You missed so much hugging the state line. The street car is a good representation of where people are.
. Exactly, I thought the same thing. He mentions the streetcar but did not consider getting on it for a free ride to the places that are what we are known for. I enjoy your videos but I am disappointed the way you portrayed our city. You should come back and go to all the places you missed.
Very nice , well kept and clean downtown , soooo quiet especially when there is a lot of residential along with commercial. There's more life in a Highland village at that time in the morning than in Kansas City !!! Kind regards from the Scottish highlander ✊🏻 ❤️ 🏴
it reminds me of NYC where I m from... during the day when people are working the foot traffic is limited to lunch time and afterwork. Cool city, I would live here
One of my daughters lives downtown in on of those lofts.. the farmers market and the eateries are great.. lots of the buildings that used to be offices have underwent gentrification are are living spaces now. I lived in a 6thousand sqft loft in the bottoms. It was very rustic and original.. funtimes.. the Edge of Hell was in my backyard,,which is a haunted house.. yay KC
I've lived in the KC metro all my 38 years. Downtown used to be busier before covid shutdown and protest. My heart aches seeing Downtown the way it is now. Other places in KCMO is still busy. Lot of our fountains is at the Plaza but they are spread within KC metro. Our city isn't for walking or close destinations you'll like to see. You'll need a vehicle to get the grand view of our lovely city.
The normal people in our city and those passing through never tend to see the crime. Its very drug related and at night usually. I've live on the south side over 20 years and haven't seen much. Even worked the high crime areas for the local phone company for a few years during the 3rd shift out and about working on cell towes and such for repair and saw mostly just prostitution and drug exchange. I never messed with them and they didn't mess with me. Our downtown doesn't start to get busy until at the earliest 4pm. Pretty quite otherwise. A lot of those businesses are call centers, corporate offices, government offices, housing, and such, so very uneventfully at that time. Not much is going on until later. The bottoms are so much better than they use to be. Love the old architecture. Steam boat Arabia is good to visit. You were real close. Its in the city market area to the east of were you were by the river. So many attractions to see. Thanks for this video and all the others. I hope to travel soon to. Gas is just so expensive on my tiny budget, big truck and bed camper right now. Soon! Thanks for what you do.
My grandfather and great grandfather operated a very successful farm implement business in the West Bottoms from the early 1920’s until the 1950’s. The area was safe at that time from what I hear, but it was common to flood out from heavy rain.
KCMO is not the most pedestrian of cities. But having lived around an hour away all my life there are several nice places. During the summer when my kids were younger going to the River Market, riding the trolley and shopping was a favorite outing. However, KC isn’t the city of my youth. Maybe that’s because I romanticize it. When I was a child, sometimes we would head to the “City” during the hot summer nights for the free Friday night concerts by the foundations at Crown Center and stay at the hotel there with it’s indoor pool. ( Was it The Weston then??) and eat at Pierponts located at Union Station. I remember at least two drive-ins. Dad pulled our vehicles in and we would fall asleep watching double features. Other times, we would visit the KC Zoo or Starlight, or the museum then crash at the Embassy Suites on the Plaza. I loved the openness of the interior. They served the best breakfast. During the Christmas season we would dress up in long woolen coats, with furry boots, scarfs, hats, gloves and muffs, looking like characters from “The Little Princess” and stroll the sidewalks of The Plaza , Christmas shopping and gazing in awe at the Christmas lights. There were so many fabulous restaurants. It was an event in and of itself, dressing up and going out to eat on the Plaza. The Fedora, Harry Starkers, steak houses that I can’t remember the names of and the first Japanese Steakhouse I went to. (I can’t remember the name) It was on the second floor of a building and served amazing food. I remember walking through Hall’s at Crown Center and Crown Center it’s self or Swanson’s on the Plaza, especially when they were decorated for Christmas. We never bought much because it was too pricey but dreaming all the same. Once at Swanson’s I saw a local newscaster, Ann Peterson, clothes shopping. There was a restaurant that I adored. the location, the atmosphere, the food and the name but most of all I fell in love with the story behind the restaurant. Baby Doe’s. I cried it it closed. I remember the Golden Ox in the west bottoms, the stories about the stockades, going to Kemper Arena and to flea markets and a restaurant supply that was open to the public in the west bottoms. I remember staying at the Hyatt and eating at Peppercorns, or eating downtown at the Old Spaghetti Factory, The Savoy or the Majestic. We would go to the cinema or plays at theaters with heavy velvet curtains and majestic staircases where I pretended to be a princess. We would go to Bartle Hall for the home show or the boat show. We would visit the new houses on the homes tour on both the Missouri side and the Kansas side. Dad would drive us through Mission Hills so mom and us girls could sit with our noses pressed against the vans windows and gape a the spectacular mansions and dream of one day living there. I remember going to a cinema next to a Cadillac dealer near the long gone Blue Ridge Mall, playing mini golf at Cool Crest, and eating at V’s Restaurant, Steak and Ale, Fun House Pizza, Strouds or Stephenson’s Old Apple Farm. Or spending the day at World of Fun, drinking lemonade and staying late to watch fireworks. As a teenager and beyond shopping at the malls, going to concerts, ball games, the haunted houses in the west bottoms, (so much fun), the bars in West Port and downtown and all the places mom and dad told us not to go. 😊
The west bottoms are a lot of Kansas Citians favorite area of the city. It has a lot of rich history. Lots of stuff happening on the weekends. Downtown is RIDICULOUS on the weekends 24/7 and usually any evening. You won’t see much at 10:30 on a weekday. It is considered a “slow city”. I remember driving in downtown 10 years ago, it was vacant a lot, it’s like a different city now. we you enjoyed your time here, and hopefully you will come back to see more of our beautiful close knit city. What we lack in a bustling downtown, we make up for with very loving people and more fountains than Rome
I would suggest going anytime after lunchtime. The afternoon/evenings/nights are when the city is vibrant and very pedestrian heavy. For some reason this city doesn't like to be out in the mornings.
HAUNTED HOUSES and More Trivia: 1. The first district on the video was The West Bottoms because it's on the west border of Missouri. Across that track you mentioned was The East Bottoms because it's on the east border of Kansas. That's the two sections of one large river-bottom district. 2. Just before leaving that district, we viewed some tall old buildings. Several of these are commercial HAUNTED HOUSES during the month of October. Thrill seekers pay respectable prices to tour them and be terrified by human ghosts and goblins. These venues are perfect for young couples and their friends to visit.
I have been in Kansas City ALL of my 47 years and I can tell you that Kansas City has made MANY improvements! We have LOTS of upscale venues, restaurants, lofts, apartments, condos trendy, eclectic and upscale small businesses everywhere! The downtown area is ALWAYS lively on weekends and after folks are off work going to the bars and restaurants. Not even close to being vacant! We also have SEVERAL entertainment Districts. Theres the downtown Power & Light venue and the entire downtown area period. Then theres the River Market area, theres the Crossroads District, theres the 18th & Vine Jazz District, there’s the 75th St Waldo District. Im sure Im forgetting to mention others but Kansas City is a BEAUTIFUL city full of wealth! There’s mansions GALORE! Kansas City has it’s rough and ran down areas just as ANY other city. The common sense thing to do is simply STAY AWAY from CERTAIN parts of the Urban core and you’ll be good. And I MUST add that the violence doesn’t affect the ENTIRE urban core. Overall, I LOVE Kansas City and would NEVER move from here. I’ll visit other cities all day long but would never leave my hometown.
How can somebody afford $3k a month apartment? I don’t believe many people could afford that kind of money. I find KC a very nice city and it’s people are very friendly but let’s be responsible. How can a working class man or woman afford to pay such an outrageous amount of money in rent?
You missed the most beautiful parts of the city! I don't know my way around KC, but I've been through several areas that are absolutely stunning and active with the gated mansions, shopping, restaurants, fountains, museums and so many incredible old homes and buildings with unique architecture.
I was born just on the other side of I-70 less than a mile from downtown 40 years ago, still live here today and virtually the entire time in between too. I'm downtown regularly these days, and it definitely lacks the hustle and bustle one would expect, occasionally giving it a slightly deserted feeling. I also had many fascinating and memorable encounters with the blighted, much more derelict mid-80's-early-2000's era version of itself. Side-by-side, today's downtown is a colorful, friendly and welcoming oasis compared to the deserted, grimy and much more off-putting version of my youth.
I heard that you found a certain building interesting while you were walking downtown, the building on stilts. I work in that building, and have worked here for ten years. You came through here before I had discovered your channel (which the wife and I really enjoy). I am not sure if I was there that day, but if I had seen you, and known who you were, I would have invited you in and told you the complete history of this building. But since I didn't know who you were, when I saw you, I would have probably just assumed that you were one of the hundreds of people that stop and photograph this building every month. I particularly like you reported cat sightings. I have a way of attracting stray cats, and it makes me smile that you recognize them.
Should of tried 2-5pm everyone is at work at 10am downtown mon-fri or the actual weekend perhaps lived here 30 years our metro is more like 3 million people and far from vacant he spent no actual time at the PNL or the plaza which are very high traffic high end areas for entertainment and high end shopping and restaurants
He was in the business district mostly, during the work day, so yes, most days it's really like that in that area. It starts "hopping" around 5-6pm as people get off work and seek refreshment!
Yeah... KC is a working city. Go after noon or more after 5pm and downtown is hard to drive through from all the foot traffic. Downtown has just become either working 9-5 or nightlife. Depending on when you go depends on which experience you have.
Kansas City is thriving , downtown is booming and funner than most cities. This guy doesn’t know anything about this City. We’re getting the World Cup for a reason.
There are 3 Kansas City's. Kansas City Kansas (KCK), Kansas City Missouri (KCMO, and North Kansas City Missouri ( a separate municipality referred to as "North Town"). Anywhere in KCK and KCMO are high crime. Be careful at all times. I was born and raised in KCMO. I worked 4 years at a chemical mfg in the west bottoms.
When you looked across the river and stated “that’s Kansas and it’s completely undeveloped compared to Missouri” that was incorrect. You were in Missouri looking north across the river… at Missouri. Kansas is further west.
I've just found your channel and I'm loving it! Thanks for visiting our city :) one cultural reason there are not many folks out and about is that our weather and temps are typically extreme so during the days people go from the parking garage to the offices and back... Not much for traffic. Evenings and weekends in the summer are hoping and night life of course is always there. It would awesome for you to come back and maybe do a live feed so we could help show you around and answer some questions real time. I really love the facts and places you showed... They were part of the history of our city and just as important as the tourist places. You really did your homework. Ignore the haters lol
I grew up in the River Quay of Kansas City, Columbus Park neighborhood, back in the 70's and 80's, if you wanna talk crime, food was off the chain though🤣
@steviekc9057 there's another one of those out in Lee's summit on ward rd and 50 highway..... across the street from the Firestone I worked at back in 98
“Vacant Downtown” Me sitting in my loft apartment in Downtown Kc, recovering from a hangover I got from partying too hard from going out last night. 🤣🤣🤣
I've been watching a lot of your videos, and they seem to have one thing in common. Where are the people?? I went downtown colorado springs last night on Saturday night.. NO PEOPLE! what is going on? Does anyone have a clue?
Love the videos. To be fair, at 10 am everyone is inside those tall buildings working lol. And west bottoms is where the first buildings were built to start kc along the convergence of the rivers. So over time, the kc downtown used to be there, which is why all those old building are being restored. Once downtown moved to current, the old downtown went into decay for decades.
My ex husband works for the plumbing union and they were on Troost and 11th and our cars always had to be brought into the shop if he was working after dark😬☹️
Lived here my whole life. As a kid my mom and i would go to downtown and shop. There was up scale department stores. Macy’s ,Jone’s,Woolworths and the world famous Garment District. My aunt was a hemmer at Youthcraft coats on broadway just to name a few. It was very busy and good times. Then urban shopping malls took over. The city became quiet with pedestrian traffic. Kansas City has made great upgrades to draw people back to the city. They are presently constructing The New Three Light Luxury Apartments. Plus all the other attractions people have posted on here. I hope they will continue to revitalize downtown
You must have recorded this when the downtown offices were still working from home. Some more recently started coming back into the office again. We have several convention centers which have just started holding events again & many downtown venues still require vaccine or negative test proof for concerts/plays etc.
Kansas City for years has been mostly dominated by its other downtown, known as The Plaza (formally named the Country Club Plaza), which is a few miles straight South, and is where every native Kansas Citian’s heart lies. When it was developed in the 1920s, it began the mass migration of premier retailers to it and to the point by the 70’s they were almost gone in the original historic downtown shown in the video. The Plaza is surrounded by beautiful residential areas and vintage high rises apartments. And it , along withWestport to its north are much livelier. That’s where the bulk if the city’s fountains are located. Google it and see what you missed. And why go down Troost Avenue instead of of Main or Broadway, which actually connects the two downtowns? Troost was actually once the de facto segregation dividing line, and while it’s seeing a comeback too, it isn’t a premiere destination yet. Had you done the “Downtown-Crown-Plaza” corridor, which is the central spine of Kansas City’s central core, you would have seen much livelier neighborhoods on the way to the Plaza such as Westport and 39th Street and brookside South if the Plaza. The West Bottoms is about the last place we show visitors, although two developers, one form the west coast and one from the East coast, recently acquired tons of those buildings and empty lots down there and have big plans to bring the Neighborhood back. This just seems like lazy phoning it in, so why bother. Maybe at least check out a city’s official visitor websites to see points of interest and its landmark neighborhoods. Sorry for the ragging on this, but the idea that this would represent the city if someone were to do a search depresses me. I’m a KC native who has lived in Chicago the past 26 years, btw. Love my beautiful hometown.
Where are all these 35,000 people? I lived in the suburbs of KCMo for 50 years and when I left 20 years ago downtown was dead. On a return trip to KCMo a fellow airline passenger said KCMo was becoming a TECH CENTER. It used to be a cattle and wheatbelt city centered on manufacture of wheat products, RR, transportation, steel, TWA airlines and oil refineries.
It helps that you toured downtown during the tailend of Covid. Everyone was working from home. Things are a lot more "jumpin" now. Had you gone to 1st & Delaware you'd have gotten a better look at the river. Things are far more developed in the west bottoms & and riverfront now.
I live in Kansas City. Actually would go downtown to just walk around. The streets would be so crowded you you always saw a family member or friend. Believe me theres alot going on down there your outside you just dont see it. It changed with how they placed the offices mostly buisnesses and after covid more people doordash lunches. You didnt go to the Redlight district but was so close. By blocks. Crown center a few more blocks. The City market where the recovered river boat is showcased. You missed alot.
I always have to wonder why people go visit other cities just to show the worst parts of town. Every city and town in America is going to have a run down area, if not the whole community (depending on its population) I want to remind everyone of two major things that no one seems to ever either know or mention. The 1st is almost 90% of all crimes committed in this country are between groups of people who know each other ( or two people who know each other ). It usually because of a drug deal gone bad, a marital dispute, someone (or group) causing problems in a business venture, gang related activities, etc. Rarely does it ever involve an innocent bystander. Yes, you can point to the news and say, “this guy got shot and he had nothing to do with the crime.” And there are the mass shootings that are completely senseless. But believe or not, they are the exception and not the rule. The media loves to hype up stories to draw more viewers and they like to tug at your emotions. Just because you are in a bad part of town, it doesn’t mean that you are in grave danger. It just means, be more careful and be aware of your surroundings. The 2nd thing I want to share with you is that I have been in many of the underprivileged neighborhoods not only here in Kansas City but around the country. My thinking is why can’t we help these folks more so they don’t have to live this way. What could the rest of us do that could help the underprivileged have a better life? It’s amazing how many truly nice people I have met in these neighborhoods who really enjoy having someone to talk too. It’s amazing how much you can learn from listening to another persons story. They can be quite interesting. Maybe the people who insist on showing the worse parts of town should try looking at it from a different prospective. I look at everything in Kansas City as a photographic challenge that is both intriguing and beautiful. I hope maybe others will learn to do the same. By the way, the building at the beginning of this video that has all the windows broken out is set to be imploded in the spring (2024) if you want something cool to photograph. It used to be a dairy processing facility. The building is one of the very oldest in the west bottoms at 130 years old. Attempts were made to save it but good old Kansas City red tape got in the way. So next time you go through a blighted neighborhood or a bunch of old abandoned buildings think about what could be done to revive the area. Also remember to look at it as an artistic opportunity to get some great pictures both in black and white ( my favorite medium ) and in color. I am 62 years old and I love Kansas City and the metro area. I have lived in the area my whole life. The bottom line, it’s all about helping each other, not just yourself. I truly believe that.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip you may want to make that clear in your videos then. "There's nothing down here" well when you avoid the populated areas of the city....yeah it will be empty
Well I’m in Kansas City Missouri and it says you made this 10 months ago still in Covid mode, my daughter was working from home still but I just found your channel and I’m on my third video.
Yes where you’re at in the WEST BOTTOMS is no more downtown than Westport or the plaza is. And as far as crime goes, Kansas City MO downtown is probably one of the safest downtown’s of any major U.S. city and the actual downtown Kansas City MO and really been revitalized and renovated in the past 20 years that even as you see in your video you don’t see any abandoned or run down buildings, all you see is new construction or old buildings that have been renovated and turned into lofts apartments or condos and they have just gotten started on renovations in the west bottoms which is actually a very small area maybe 10 square blocks. But your caption HIGH CRIME is very unfair and misleading because was there once that you ever felt unsafe while walking around downtown or even unsafe while in the west bottoms? And yes I’m probably a little biased having grown up in the kc metro area my entire life but I also Uber in my spare time and pick up hundreds of out of town passengers each month and nearly ALL tell me downtown KCMO is one of the nicest most beautiful downtowns in America they’ve ever visited and the friendliest so using the words high crime in your caption is very misleading and should think about removing it from the caption. Yes like any major city if you go several blocks in any direction away from DOWNTOWN you can easily find crime infested neighborhoods BUT KCMO downtown is a very large safe area that but also no matter how far you go north or south from downtown you’re in pretty safe areas BUT if you go east from downtown you’ll be in some shady areas which is where you were in video talking about how high our crime rate is and if you go west of downtown you’ll be in Kansas City Kansas in a whole other state which that is pretty rough downtown but as you get away from downtown KC Kansas there are some very wonderful areas. And I believe yes per capita KCMO has an above average crime rate because KCMO actual population is just a little over 400,000 but the population of the entire KCMO metro area population is in the millions actually making it one of the lower crime rates for a major US City
i have a job offer in kc. i admit tho that researching the crime statistics makes me think it over. I'll keep researching and reading comments. Thanks.
Shoutout to Wallstreet Towers - the only building you seemed to like downtown (I live there :) ). Downtown KC is very much event-driven and unfortunately there are no daytime events on a Wednesday (before lunch) aside from work. 1 hour later or even a weekend morning would likely have brought you more people. When the Royals and Chiefs are playing - and especially while winning championships, the traffic can be unbearable at times. That is without considering concerts within the multiple venues in that walking area and historic tourist spots that you can arrive at without a car. Also shoutout for driving past the largest pothole I've seen at the beginning of this video haha. There is a pothole problem for sure - but dang.
While in the West Bottoms, it's a shame you either didn't see or didn't want to show a massive white metal building that is called KEMPER ARENA, a huge indoor stadium & exposition facility which some say looks like a mammouth water tower build on ground rather than high in the air. The Arena has featured concerts by ELTON JOHN, JOHN DENVER, frequent Monster Truck Rallies, and around its footprint (and in close-by vacant lots are annual BBQ contests to which KC amateur & professional BBQ specialists bring their delicious, tender beef and pork and cook on-the-spot. The people of KC and surrounding towns and cities love driving in to get themselves some BBQ from one or more than one vendor. The West Bottoms, virtually in the center of the USA was the place where cattle ranchers brought livestock for sale in days gone by. Two very extreme floods of the Kansas and Missouri rivers lay the area to great waste until retaining walls and other measures were taken to stop such devastation. In two or three of those huge warehouses, there are annual two-week-long Halloween events, one of which is called "The Gateway to Hell," not to be attended - or even entered - by the faint of heart. Another area, south of the downtown about five miles, is the Country Club PLAZA, a high-end collection French-styled shopping district and the campus of Kansas CIty's branch of The University of Missouri and its acclaimed Conservatory of Music.
Please come back to Kansas City when you have more time to spend and make another video showing the attractions that we are known for. Kansas City is very spread out and deserves a closer look. Our fountains you mentioned, are located over a very broad area which would require some time to find. Kansas City is a friendly town and is known for its hospitality.
Me, my ex and, our son were driving around down in the west bottoms when the artist was building that..... piece of art down in the west bottoms. All it started out as was a bunch of airplane parts laying on the ground with water spraying on them (to make the parts rust and corrode, which i found out later) which made it look like a small plane messed up on a take-off from the downtown airport and hit that building out was laying in front of!! We saw a bunch of people standing around it and drove by twice before i stopped to ask what was going on! I was waiting for the airport fire truck to come across the river. I was a little shaken until i found out it was f'n ...... art...... 🤣🤣🤣
Love that you made a video of KC, but as the others have pointed out, you missed some of the best parts and were a little misinformed about some of the others. The area you were in (around the fountain, bus depot and 10th Street) is our business district. Not residential. There are a couple residential buildings in that area, but most are on either side in the River Market or Crossroads districts. And the bell you heard was the Commerce clock tone, not a church bell. And you missed a lot man, as previously mentioned - Union Station, 18th & Vine, Swope Park, The Kansas City Zoo, Nelson Atkins, and pretty much any BBQ restaurant, Gates and Arthur Bryant's being the most famous. Please come back and make another video! You'll have the perfect opportunity when you come back to do the Kansas side of KC. Let me know if you'd like some recommendations for that, too. We love visitors.
At 6:08 in the video u drive by my dads work and it was the company I used to weld for til my heat stroke rand fab shop. How cool lol. Love the west bottoms hope you ate at town topic it’s a famous burger place down there. But sure u went and had bbq instead lol I woulda too
I live 5 minutes east of downtown, and I will say that KCMO downtown is more empty than most cities with 500k+ population but on the other hand, I agree with the rest of the locals, you picked the wrong time. 10am downtown kc will always be empty for everyone is at work. 7-9am 11-2pm and anytime after 4pm are the busiest times. I go to downtown EVERYDAY and it's not this empty all day. Enjoyed the video. And happy you came here
I've been to many city downtowns that were busy with foot traffic at around 10:30am during the week - Miami, Nashville, Charlotte, San Antonio, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Houston - all were full of people walking around at that same time.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip KC isn't as big as those cities and doesn't have the same tourism draw as Nashville, Charlotte, or Philly. KCMO is a working-class city. So, yeah, at 1030 on a Wednesday, it's going to be dead. If you go to Montgomery, Chattanooga, Birmingham, or Knoxville, you'll find just about the same thing. Also, with the exception of Nashville, all of the cities you've mentioned have metro population numbers, of over 2 million. KCMO only has 1.6million, over the entire meteo area, which includes the Kansas areas, as well as the Northland areas. So, again, you are making unfair assumptions about KC, that are uninformed, at best, and ignorant (like most Texan views) at worst.
@@jrayproductions7790 No, that's not why. I just visited Sioux Falls, SD. Boise Idaho. Fargo, ND. Charleston, SC. All smaller than KC. All had busy downtowns at 10:30am during the week.
You totally missed the T-Mobile Center, which is located on Grand Avenue, just east of the Power and Light District. It's too bad you weren't with someone who know the Kansas City metropolitan area. We could have shown you so much more. Downtown KCMO used to be more vibrant when I was young. Now that it's pretty much residential, it's a lot quieter. Come back again when the Big 12 basketball tournament, the Comicon at Bartle Hall or when the Chiefs play again for another Super Bowl. I figured you were looking for Kaw Point Park. That's the area were the 2 Kansas and Missouri rivers meet. It's also the location where the Lewis & Clark expedition stopped before continuing their adventure upriver. That park is located on the Kansas side.
Not going to complain about what you missed. It's your trip, do what you want. If you're ever back, be sure to hit up Tom's Town. It's a great distillery!
KC is a north to south city. Unfortunately you went east to west, highlighting some of the most unflattering parts. Some things you missed that would’ve been awesome - union station is the 2nd largest operating train station in the country, behind grand central. Across the street is the only WWI memorial in the country. 18th and vine, the jazz district that was barely mentioned. Also the country club plaza, a bit farther south, was the first open air mall in the country and is the shopping district of kc - not downtown. And that’s off the top of my head.
At no time did I say I was visiting the "nice" places. I don't do touristy travel brochure type videos. There are already plenty of those on TH-cam. I video the places no one sees. That's what my subscribers are here for. I'm not interested in new, pretty places. I find them generic and boring. I like very old, dirty, grimy areas. I find beauty in them. For me, that's West Bottoms, which I found to be the most interesting and starkly beautiful part of KC. Better yet, only KC has it. Can't see it anywhere else. That's why I filmed there. I do the same in all cities I visit.
that is like going to a concert and just filming the roadies ... LOL
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Even based on your criteria, you missed A LOT not going North to South.
@@russellhughes4496 No it isn't
@@elektrekduck147 I visited many of those places. I found them generic and uninteresting.
You literally picked like the worst places to go in the city and at the worst times. Your videos make Kansas City look like it's Detroit or something. Really you've outlined about 5 to 10% of what the city even looks like. Come back in the evening when the city is hopping, go to the parks. The city is absolutely stunning and beautiful.
DETroit is a nice downtown
It’s okay
LOL. I’ve been to Detroit. Absolutely did not make it look like that.
@@elimarshall1497 the Detroit Tigers ball.park is beautiful
@@samuelwalters3823 I was talking about KC. It’s okay. I’ve never been to Detroit
I worked at that grocery store downtown. You came at 10AM on a Wednesday.. the slowest day of the week, in a city where most people work 8a-5p. No wonder there's no people lol. Try noon any day of the week, Friday, or Saturday, it gets crazy busy. Also you completely avoided a couple of our major hotspots.
Most people "hangout" in their luxury apartments. Everything is in your apartment building now. Most people go to work and come home. We all shop online now. So unless you are looking for something you must see in person you buy everything online. Kansas City, Missouri is mostly a bedroom community. We hangout with our family, coworkers, and neighbors mostly. Of course, you find them at work or at home. It is a pattern of behavior that reenforces itself. We do not get out much here. We mostly stay home. Very cozy, wonderful, and repetitive. I have lived in downtown the last three years and it is crazy expensive! I spent most of my time working to pay the rent. Never got to do much because I was often out of money. However, downtown lacks places to "hangout" and just be. It is all about give us your money and now you can leave. Hardly any interesting coffee houses and the few they have tend to close at 5pm. Most people work those hours; I do not know how they stay open. My workdays start at 5am and end around 7pm. Everything downtown is about to close if you bother to go out after work. It has been this way for decades. Your apartment building is really your hangout. If you get a nice place with amenities, you will be just fine and cozy! However, it will be around $1500 to make that happen or maybe $1200 for a studio. Pick something with washer, dryer, gym, and a nice lounge. You will be just fine. I was about at $2800 rent myself, and never missed the money. Yet, I had a health emergency and was forced to leave. Otherwise, I was fine to NEVER leave. I will likely go back in a year or two. I am thinking Three Light Apartments when they open next September.
That’s what I’m saying!!!!! He came at the most DEAD time as possible !!!
@@guavafroot agreed, and I live here. He needs to come at a different time and go more places
@Tiny tony T Tims Do you live here or have you ever been here? You must’ve been living under a rock or something
I agree. I've lived here for 20 years and he missed some of the more interesting parts of the city. Very disappointed in this video.
I grew up in New Orleans and now live in KCMO, wife is from there. I absolutely love it ! It’s a beautiful clean city with low crime from where I came from. I live in Brookside area…I drive by Patrick Mahomes house all the time. Lives like 5 streets from us.
I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else and I’ve been all over the country and lived in a lot of major cites. Missouri has adopted me, nice people, love the Midwest !
Kansas City isn't really a pedestrian city. Most people who work downtown drive there and back home. The pedestrian areas of the city are City Market, Power and Light, the Plaza, Crown Center, and Westport. KC is pretty dead during the week but there's events on the weekends that bring people in from the suburbs. Most people stick to the areas I mentioned rather than the ones you drove through. Most of the crime is localized and it can be pretty high in the bad areas but it's pretty safe in the other areas of town.
I have lived in KC area for almost 50 years and worked downtown for about 40 of those years. My first house was a block off of 80th and Troost. Moved when the shootings and murders became too much. Most people live in the suburbs and go to the city for work or special activities. It feel like a much bigger city in many ways, but is still easy to drive and park. Very reasonable cost of living.
Most ppl who live downtown walk & those who work downtown usually walk or ride the street car while downtown. If he would have filmed on a Thurs/Fri with a large venue going on around P&L to 13th & Main later in the day it would have been packed. Downtown is a touristy convention Hotel area.
Lucas So why did they not put money into the downtown area? Why on 18th street because that seems extremely stupid to me.
@@VickiTakacs. Agree. But the city has become mostly minority and they wanted to support the black heritage. It has become too dangerous to visit, like most of central - east KC
By "localized crime" he means gang violence. The bad neighborhoods are infested with drugs and violence. Make sure you dont venture into any of neighborhoods east of downtown at night because they can turn into warzones. Also beware of roaming crack heads.
Downtown KC - ya missed the United States’ only WW1 Museum and what a world class museum it is!! A completely restored and wonderful Union Station just down the hill and across street from the museum is a must-see. The KC streetcar you mentioned (although as tram) is newer and an integral part of the Kansas City revitalization. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is a Kansas City gem and moving toward the Bartle Hall Sky Stations, with it’s soaring pylons to support Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium built over the highway is now iconic and a prominent KC feature. I didn’t see our T-Mobile Center and it’s unique architecture on your video either. The beautiful fountains, artwork and famed shopping at the Country Club plaza are also visually stunning. The crazy thing is…all of these places can be enjoyed (obviously not to their glorious full extent) from your vehicle as they are all magnificent historical structures - even if you are just here to dip your toe in, so to speak. Additionally, I’d like to invite you back to Kansas City to enjoy our famous BBQ, our Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and American Jazz Museum, The Crossroads Art District, The River Market Area and the largest single collection of pre-Civil War artifacts held at the Steamboat Arabia museum (yes, it sank on that river you mentioned!) There’s also; The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, The Boulevard Brewing Company, Westport, Power & Light District, The Kansas City Zoo, Tom’s Town Distilling, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art - well, that’s a pretty good start! Also, while Kansas City does have it’s share of crime in November of 2015 when the winner of the World Series, Kansas City Royals had their victory parade the whole city was in attendance with very minimal arrests the same can be said for the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory parade in 2020! Not to mention tailgating…well, you get the picture! I love my city and you’ll love it too if you visit again someday!
Also, I kinda feel bad for you in a way! If your trips to our Nation’s Cities were experienced to the same extent as was ours - ya missed a lot of great stuff to see!
The thing is this - I only have so much time, and my videos can only be so long. To see all the stuff you listed would take a 4 hour video. I will be back again, though, and will visit some of those places.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip you gotta talk to some of us locals on where and when to go to see what we know as downtown and the surrounding hot spots.
Good lord! I think the wrong person made this video. It should have been made by Jenny Goddard! 😆😆😆
Ugh! I didn’t mean to insult ya, @Lord Spoda, not at all. The first 8 or so things I mentioned in my original post are all things you were so close to and would have taken you only minutes to drive by. Literally minutes. Of course we don’t want just that to determine your thoughts and feelings about Kansas City! It’s a great city! We’d like ya to spend a little time here and enjoy it to the fullest! Also, I thought of one more iconic thing that we’re all real proud of and is also clearly visible from basically where you were driving around is the Western Auto sign. I am not trying to offend or trying to be defensive though! Hospitality is one of those things we’re kinda known for! I sincerely hope ya revisit one day and enjoy the best BBQ, a lot of great Mexican food and a perfectly prepared steak! 🙂
And, thank you, @Tom Converse! I think?!! 🙃🙂😉
Good video. But downtown you stopped one block away from the Power and Light District where you would have seen much more pedestrian activity. Why would you drive to a city and not do a 3 minute google search on where the downtown hot spot is? You also missed the Westport and Plaza Districts which are very pedestrian heavy. The West Bottoms District has been bought recently by a national developer and is about to undergo a huge redevelopment.
I drove through P&L and Westport (didn’t include that footage) and I still didn’t see a lot of people. Didn’t go to the Plaza area. The West Bottoms has amazing character, one of my favorite downtown areas of any city I’ve been to so far.
EDIT: I checked my footage and I actually did drive through the Plaza District, and there were a lot of people. I didn’t think of that as a downtown area, though.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip The Plaza/Westport isn't downtown lol. That's more or less midtown. Downtown is very predestrian heavy after lunch time.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Wednesday at 10 am isnt a good time everyone would be at work try an afternoon 2pm-5pm or the weekend for a better portrayal Friday or Saturday downtown Is packed with lots of pedestrian traffic on weekends Westport, PNL, the plaza are all high traffic areas pretty strange you say vacant downtown 😳
TRUTH!!!!! KC ROCKS❤❤❤
I live in Topeka and we go regularly😍
I used to live in Kansas City when I was little and then moved to LA. I never went downtown very much so it was nice to see all the old buildings and how clean it is. Especially compared to Los Angeles which is a total mess. Kansas City is very entrepreneurial and the people are really proud of their city. It’s got a cool unique vibe. I loved the video! This was my first.
I used to live in LA when it was clean, I also have lived in Colorado now I'm in KC MO , but some places there is so much trash. I hope it doesn't turn into Los Angeles. 😣
@@juanacisneros8272 how is it over there I might move there February you know the good areas to stay ?
As someone that lives in Kansas City, to be fair, you went to the one spot in the city that no one actually goes. Honestly you could have gone to any other district and seen a hell of a lot more than a couple tall buildings. The "Heart of the City" is going to be around Main Street from Westport to the Plaza. That's where you find the Nelson Art Museum, all the "good" restaurants, shopping centers, and lots of foot traffic. The Crossroads and the Art districts have more going on than whatever happens in those big ass buildings people work in. Still enjoyed the video though, being that I am never in that area.
"you went to the one spot in the city no one actually goes". Exactly. That's what I do on my channel. I purposely don't visit high traffic, touristy places. I go to the places no one ever sees, but are still interesting and fascinating - like the West Bottoms. That's what my subscribers are here to see.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTripYes, you do go to non touristy areas and that's what I love about your channel. But you were wondering why there was no foot traffic where you were at that time, and it's because you were in the quiet financial district on a weekday morning.
Being from London, England originally (but in the KC suburbs for the past 12 years) I've always found KC, especially during the workday, to be quiet. When my sister visited from England a couple of years back I took her into the city. It was like in your video; completely quiet. I tell people I like it here because it has a big American city feel, but a lot of the time it's fairly quiet.
It gets really busy, especially in the Power & Light district by the "T-Mobile Center" on a Friday and Saturday night (I know, because I sometimes drive for Uber). For years the "T-Mobile Center" was the "Sprint Center", then T-Mobile bought Sprint and it recently got renamed. Most people still call it the Sprint Center.
There were some other nice spots you missed, Union Station, Crown Center and the Liberty Memorial area is nice; Westport, The Plaza.
On thr weekend of the "First Friday" of every month, all the antique stores, flea markets, and craft stores are open in the old buildings. Many people come shopping there. It's one of my favorite places to go.
Downtown KC is not what it was pre-Covid. Most all metro area residents live in the suburbs and with remote work happening the majority of people don't go downtown unless they have to.
We like it quiet in KC. You also didn't go to the best spots in downtown. Such as the Jack Stack BBQ, Arthur Bryant's BBQ, Crown Center shopping Center. You also didn't visit the Country Club Plaza where most of the fountains are, it's the largest outdoor shopping mall in the US. You also didn't visit the WW1 Memorial Monument and Museum in downtown. There's also the Q39 BBQ, and the Joe's BBQ and the Nelson Atckins Museum in the Plaza. Also the 18th and Vine Jazz Museum and Jazz District.
No the old people want it to stay quiet in KC. That's why it's been so stagnant for decades
@@FettiExploration Young man these old people have wisdom and don't want their city to become a sewer like LA, Chicago, Vegas or Baltimore. Taking car lanes on Truman Road and giving them to non existing bikes is stupidity, but then young people are not known for their wisdom.
The main part of downtown it showed was the financial district where everyone's busy at desks- although it's usually not that quiet. Like others have mentioned- Union Station/Crown Center area would have been perhaps more ideal. Not to mention it's the locations for both the KC Massacre, and the Hyatt Walkway collapse (both tragedies sparked nationwide attention). But West bottoms is really fun on first Fridays of each month. They open those vast old buildings that are now commonly antique shops for the public. Hope you enjoyed your visit.
Exactly. It's the sane here in Boston. A section of our Downtown is the financial district where you'll see a ton of tall glass buildings but not a lot of people on foot at that time on the weekdays.
I used to work as a summer job right of high school in the West Bottoms 49 years ago. The area then was very heavily industrialized with lots of warehouses. The meat packing houses had shut down by then. The famous Kansas City stockyards were located just south of where you were on the stateline. Anyway, the place I worked at delivered meat trucked in from Omaha. I would go to work at 3:00 A.M. It was a spooky, dark, and rough area..lots of winos and hookers...My jaw dropped when you drove right by the place I worked at..It looks like a flea market type store now.....By the way, I have lived in Kansas all my life, so thanks for saving the best state for last....
Thank you for the comment, Dan. I'm looking forward to visiting Kansas. Can't wait! :)
Damn
Damn! You were so close! I had a drink ready for ya!!!
Well, damn! Wish I'd known that! :). I'll be back.
I absolutely love The West Bottoms. What’s happening there is something special. Downtown is very fun at night when there are events. Tbh I enjoy the calm & quiet whenever things are slow.
I'm glad someone else agrees with me that the Bottoms are interesting and full of character.
early 2000s I used to roll around drinking all through the bottoms, all them buildings were empty except the haunted houses
The plaza is were the fountains are. I’ve lived here my whole life, in the suburbs. You should have done the plaza and Westport.
At 21:06, that is North Kansas City on the other side of the river. The tree'd area is typical along the river low land areas. NKC is vibrant and a good living alternative to downtown. You really did miss a lot of the go-to places in the downtown and mid-town areas.
His decision to not go downtown is the problem. Kansas City Visitors Center defines downtown as from 8th street to 19th and from Washington to Locust. touring an older innercity area and calling it downtown is retarded.
What area of nkc do you refer to or recommend?
I think it is rapidly changing right now with more residential (condo/apt) type units being built. Take a drive through and see what appeals to you. Quite a bit of older warehouse and factory type buildings being repurposed as both retail and residential, so it is a vibrant area and good alternative to south of the river central city area.@@XTRABIG
New subscriber here. I wish I would have known you were coming to my home town. I would have bought you lunch at the best BBQ place in town, and I could have given you a guided tour and history lesson about our town. Lived here all my life, and worked downtown and in the West Bottoms for 40 years.
I'll be back again! We'll do it then. :)
And which, pray tell, is that BBQ place? 🙂
Yes! And we could all fight about your choice of “best Barbecue”- LOL.
You were maybe 1-2 blocks away from the street car when you mentioned that you were in the "heart" of the city. You could have simply rode that and got a better tour of the city. You missed so much hugging the state line. The street car is a good representation of where people are.
. Exactly, I thought the same thing. He mentions the streetcar but did not consider getting on it for a free ride to the places that are what we are known for. I enjoy your videos but I am disappointed the way you portrayed our city. You should come back and go to all the places you missed.
Very nice , well kept and clean downtown , soooo quiet especially when there is a lot of residential along with commercial. There's more life in a Highland village at that time in the morning than in Kansas City !!! Kind regards from the Scottish highlander ✊🏻 ❤️ 🏴
What you saw was not downtown. It was an old area that is hardly used.
it reminds me of NYC where I m from... during the day when people are working the foot traffic is limited to lunch time and afterwork. Cool city, I would live here
I'm from nyc. Living in South Florida now. I'm going to check out KC tho
One of my daughters lives downtown in on of those lofts.. the farmers market and the eateries are great.. lots of the buildings that used to be offices have underwent gentrification are are living spaces now. I lived in a 6thousand sqft loft in the bottoms. It was very rustic and original.. funtimes.. the Edge of Hell was in my backyard,,which is a haunted house.. yay KC
I've lived in the KC metro all my 38 years. Downtown used to be busier before covid shutdown and protest. My heart aches seeing Downtown the way it is now. Other places in KCMO is still busy. Lot of our fountains is at the Plaza but they are spread within KC metro. Our city isn't for walking or close destinations you'll like to see. You'll need a vehicle to get the grand view of our lovely city.
I loved my time in KC but after moving to San Diego I could never go back lol
Downtown KC looks like a movie studio backlot. I seen more going on in Barstow CA than there.
The normal people in our city and those passing through never tend to see the crime. Its very drug related and at night usually. I've live on the south side over 20 years and haven't seen much. Even worked the high crime areas for the local phone company for a few years during the 3rd shift out and about working on cell towes and such for repair and saw mostly just prostitution and drug exchange. I never messed with them and they didn't mess with me. Our downtown doesn't start to get busy until at the earliest 4pm. Pretty quite otherwise. A lot of those businesses are call centers, corporate offices, government offices, housing, and such, so very uneventfully at that time. Not much is going on until later. The bottoms are so much better than they use to be. Love the old architecture. Steam boat Arabia is good to visit. You were real close. Its in the city market area to the east of were you were by the river. So many attractions to see. Thanks for this video and all the others. I hope to travel soon to. Gas is just so expensive on my tiny budget, big truck and bed camper right now. Soon! Thanks for what you do.
The Plaza is amazing!
My grandfather and great grandfather operated a very successful farm implement business in the West Bottoms from the early 1920’s until the 1950’s. The area was safe at that time from what I hear, but it was common to flood out from heavy rain.
KCMO is not the most pedestrian of cities. But having lived around an hour away all my life there are several nice places. During the summer when my kids were younger going to the River Market, riding the trolley and shopping was a favorite outing. However, KC isn’t the city of my youth. Maybe that’s because I romanticize it.
When I was a child, sometimes we would head to the “City” during the hot summer nights for the free Friday night concerts by the foundations at Crown Center and stay at the hotel there with it’s indoor pool. ( Was it The Weston then??) and eat at Pierponts located at Union Station. I remember at least two drive-ins. Dad pulled our vehicles in and we would fall asleep watching double features.
Other times, we would visit the KC Zoo or Starlight, or the museum then crash at the Embassy Suites on the Plaza. I loved the openness of the interior. They served the best breakfast.
During the Christmas season we would dress up in long woolen coats, with furry boots, scarfs, hats, gloves and muffs, looking like characters from “The Little Princess” and stroll the sidewalks of The Plaza , Christmas shopping and gazing in awe at the Christmas lights. There were so many fabulous restaurants. It was an event in and of itself, dressing up and going out to eat on the Plaza. The Fedora, Harry Starkers, steak houses that I can’t remember the names of and the first Japanese Steakhouse I went to. (I can’t remember the name) It was on the second floor of a building and served amazing food.
I remember walking through Hall’s at Crown Center and Crown Center it’s self or Swanson’s on the Plaza, especially when they were decorated for Christmas. We never bought much because it was too pricey but dreaming all the same. Once at Swanson’s I saw a local newscaster, Ann Peterson, clothes shopping.
There was a restaurant that I adored. the location, the atmosphere, the food and the name but most of all I fell in love with the story behind the restaurant. Baby Doe’s. I cried it it closed.
I remember the Golden Ox in the west bottoms, the stories about the stockades, going to Kemper Arena and to flea markets and a restaurant supply that was open to the public in the west bottoms.
I remember staying at the Hyatt and eating at Peppercorns, or eating downtown at the Old Spaghetti Factory, The Savoy or the Majestic. We would go to the cinema or plays at theaters with heavy velvet curtains and majestic staircases where I pretended to be a princess.
We would go to Bartle Hall for the home show or the boat show. We would visit the new houses on the homes tour on both the Missouri side and the Kansas side. Dad would drive us through Mission Hills so mom and us girls could sit with our noses pressed against the vans windows and gape a the spectacular mansions and dream of one day living there.
I remember going to a cinema next to a Cadillac dealer near the long gone Blue Ridge Mall, playing mini golf at Cool Crest, and eating at V’s Restaurant, Steak and Ale, Fun House Pizza, Strouds or Stephenson’s Old Apple Farm. Or spending the day at World of Fun, drinking lemonade and staying late to watch fireworks.
As a teenager and beyond shopping at the malls, going to concerts, ball games, the haunted houses in the west bottoms, (so much fun), the bars in West Port and downtown and all the places mom and dad told us not to go.
😊
The west bottoms are a lot of Kansas Citians favorite area of the city. It has a lot of rich history. Lots of stuff happening on the weekends. Downtown is RIDICULOUS on the weekends 24/7 and usually any evening. You won’t see much at 10:30 on a weekday. It is considered a “slow city”. I remember driving in downtown 10 years ago, it was vacant a lot, it’s like a different city now. we you enjoyed your time here, and hopefully you will come back to see more of our beautiful close knit city. What we lack in a bustling downtown, we make up for with very loving people and more fountains than Rome
I would suggest going anytime after lunchtime. The afternoon/evenings/nights are when the city is vibrant and very pedestrian heavy. For some reason this city doesn't like to be out in the mornings.
That’s because no one works.
@@clearlynotwoke4929 Actually it's because everyone works
HAUNTED HOUSES and More Trivia: 1. The first district on the video was The West Bottoms because it's on the west border of Missouri. Across that track you mentioned was The East Bottoms because it's on the east border of Kansas. That's the two sections of one large river-bottom district. 2. Just before leaving that district, we viewed some tall old buildings. Several of these are commercial HAUNTED HOUSES during the month of October. Thrill seekers pay respectable prices to tour them and be terrified by human ghosts and goblins. These venues are perfect for young couples and their friends to visit.
That’s all actually considered the west bottoms. The East bottoms are on the north side of Cliff Dr./Gladstone Boulevard along the Front St. corridor.
@@BringThePurge in that case there are two east bottoms, just as there are two Kansas Cities. You spoke like a typical Missourian 👍
EDGE OF HELL
I have been in Kansas City ALL of my 47 years and I can tell you that Kansas City has made MANY improvements!
We have LOTS of upscale venues, restaurants, lofts, apartments, condos trendy, eclectic and upscale small businesses everywhere!
The downtown area is ALWAYS lively on weekends and after folks are off work going to the bars and restaurants. Not even close to being vacant!
We also have SEVERAL entertainment Districts. Theres the downtown Power & Light venue and the entire downtown area period. Then theres the River Market area, theres the Crossroads District, theres the 18th & Vine Jazz District, there’s the 75th St Waldo District.
Im sure Im forgetting to mention others but Kansas City is a BEAUTIFUL city full of wealth! There’s mansions GALORE!
Kansas City has it’s rough and ran down areas just as ANY other city. The common sense thing to do is simply STAY AWAY from CERTAIN parts of the Urban core and you’ll be good. And I MUST add that the violence doesn’t affect the ENTIRE urban core.
Overall, I LOVE Kansas City and would NEVER move from here. I’ll visit other cities all day long but would never leave my hometown.
When I lived in Kansas City, the West Bottoms was one of my favorite areas. Maybe because it was so empty, but had amazing history at the same time
That "abandoned" building in the West Bottoms will be $3000 per month apartments in the next few years.
How can somebody afford $3k a month apartment? I don’t believe many people could afford that kind of money. I find KC a very nice city and it’s people are very friendly but let’s be responsible. How can a working class man or woman afford to pay such an outrageous amount of money in rent?
You missed the most beautiful parts of the city! I don't know my way around KC, but I've been through several areas that are absolutely stunning and active with the gated mansions, shopping, restaurants, fountains, museums and so many incredible old homes and buildings with unique architecture.
I was born just on the other side of I-70 less than a mile from downtown 40 years ago, still live here today and virtually the entire time in between too. I'm downtown regularly these days, and it definitely lacks the hustle and bustle one would expect, occasionally giving it a slightly deserted feeling. I also had many fascinating and memorable encounters with the blighted, much more derelict mid-80's-early-2000's era version of itself. Side-by-side, today's downtown is a colorful, friendly and welcoming oasis compared to the deserted, grimy and much more off-putting version of my youth.
I heard that you found a certain building interesting while you were walking downtown, the building on stilts. I work in that building, and have worked here for ten years. You came through here before I had discovered your channel (which the wife and I really enjoy). I am not sure if I was there that day, but if I had seen you, and known who you were, I would have invited you in and told you the complete history of this building. But since I didn't know who you were, when I saw you, I would have probably just assumed that you were one of the hundreds of people that stop and photograph this building every month.
I particularly like you reported cat sightings. I have a way of attracting stray cats, and it makes me smile that you recognize them.
Was this visit during the height of COVID Stay at Home orders? No way this was at 10-11am on a weekday in a major downtown.
Should of tried 2-5pm everyone is at work at 10am downtown mon-fri or the actual weekend perhaps lived here 30 years our metro is more like 3 million people and far from vacant he spent no actual time at the PNL or the plaza which are very high traffic high end areas for entertainment and high end shopping and restaurants
He was in the business district mostly, during the work day, so yes, most days it's really like that in that area. It starts "hopping" around 5-6pm as people get off work and seek refreshment!
That building with the downtown temperature clock used to be Sentinel Federal S&L, my first IT job :)
Yeah... KC is a working city. Go after noon or more after 5pm and downtown is hard to drive through from all the foot traffic. Downtown has just become either working 9-5 or nightlife. Depending on when you go depends on which experience you have.
Love this entire series. Great job @Lord Spoda
Thanks A Bomb!
I did not know KC had 200 brothels at one point wow. I guess it makes sense. Everyone was stopping on their way to the West to let some steam off
I know a few brothels in Olathe
At Christmas time, the Christmas lights on the Country Club Plaza with the horse drawn carriages is very charming!
"LEAVING DES MOINES, IOWA" I can't wait -- Thumbs up!
Kansas City is thriving , downtown is booming and funner than most cities. This guy doesn’t know anything about this City. We’re getting the World Cup for a reason.
There are 3 Kansas City's. Kansas City Kansas (KCK), Kansas City Missouri (KCMO, and North Kansas City Missouri ( a separate municipality referred to as "North Town"). Anywhere in KCK and KCMO are high crime. Be careful at all times. I was born and raised in KCMO. I worked 4 years at a chemical mfg in the west bottoms.
When you looked across the river and stated “that’s Kansas and it’s completely undeveloped compared to Missouri” that was incorrect. You were in Missouri looking north across the river… at Missouri. Kansas is further west.
Yes, I've since figured that out.
I've just found your channel and I'm loving it! Thanks for visiting our city :) one cultural reason there are not many folks out and about is that our weather and temps are typically extreme so during the days people go from the parking garage to the offices and back... Not much for traffic. Evenings and weekends in the summer are hoping and night life of course is always there. It would awesome for you to come back and maybe do a live feed so we could help show you around and answer some questions real time.
I really love the facts and places you showed... They were part of the history of our city and just as important as the tourist places. You really did your homework. Ignore the haters lol
My girlfriend lives in Missouri and she told me the West Bottoms has some awesome haunted houses to visit every Halloween.
Just like anything else these days...... they're not as cool as they were in the 90's......
But, they're still pretty cool
I grew up in the River Quay of Kansas City, Columbus Park neighborhood, back in the 70's and 80's, if you wanna talk crime, food was off the chain though🤣
GAROZZOS
@@steviekc9057 my aunt owned Jennie's at 5th and cherry.
@steviekc9057 there's another one of those out in Lee's summit on ward rd and 50 highway..... across the street from the Firestone I worked at back in 98
“Vacant Downtown”
Me sitting in my loft apartment in Downtown Kc, recovering from a hangover I got from partying too hard from going out last night. 🤣🤣🤣
Great content and narration. I appreciate the historical context as well, and whether it depicts the city in a positive light or not.
Wednesday 10AM. Lot of people working. Kansas City area is spread out so people spread out.
I've been watching a lot of your videos, and they seem to have one thing in common. Where are the people?? I went downtown colorado springs last night on Saturday night.. NO PEOPLE! what is going on? Does anyone have a clue?
car culture.
My step father did business with the civellas back in the 70s right where your at in the bottoms
Things are back up and running. There's a different vibe now. Starting to get our huddle and bustle back on.
Love the videos. To be fair, at 10 am everyone is inside those tall buildings working lol. And west bottoms is where the first buildings were built to start kc along the convergence of the rivers. So over time, the kc downtown used to be there, which is why all those old building are being restored. Once downtown moved to current, the old downtown went into decay for decades.
while on troost you drove right past where walt disneys orginal studio was troost was a nice are at on time hopefully they bring it bAck
Because it is one of the greatest cities in The United States.
By the way the other side of the river is not kck it’s Missouri still and the downtown airport and trains depot
My ex husband works for the plumbing union and they were on Troost and 11th and our cars always had to be brought into the shop if he was working after dark😬☹️
Lived here my whole life. As a kid my mom and i would go to downtown and shop. There was up scale department stores. Macy’s ,Jone’s,Woolworths and the world famous Garment District. My aunt was a hemmer at Youthcraft coats on broadway just to name a few. It was very busy and good times. Then urban shopping malls took over. The city became quiet with pedestrian traffic. Kansas City has made great upgrades to draw people back to the city. They are presently constructing The New Three Light Luxury Apartments. Plus all the other attractions people have posted on here. I hope they will continue to revitalize downtown
After all these yrs. still tremendous LOVE for downtown Kansas City. Robert
You must have recorded this when the downtown offices were still working from home. Some more recently started coming back into the office again. We have several convention centers which have just started holding events again & many downtown venues still require vaccine or negative test proof for concerts/plays etc.
The Downtown area used to be busier during the day before Covid but now most people work from home. Most of the Office buildings are 75% empty now.
Kansas City for years has been mostly dominated by its other downtown, known as The Plaza (formally named the Country Club Plaza), which is a few miles straight South, and is where every native Kansas Citian’s heart lies. When it was developed in the 1920s, it began the mass migration of premier retailers to it and to the point by the 70’s they were almost gone in the original historic downtown shown in the video. The Plaza is surrounded by beautiful residential areas and vintage high rises apartments. And it , along withWestport to its north are much livelier. That’s where the bulk if the city’s fountains are located. Google it and see what you missed.
And why go down Troost Avenue instead of of Main or Broadway, which actually connects the two downtowns? Troost was actually once the de facto segregation dividing line, and while it’s seeing a comeback too, it isn’t a premiere destination yet.
Had you done the “Downtown-Crown-Plaza” corridor, which is the central spine of Kansas City’s central core, you would have seen much livelier neighborhoods on the way to the Plaza such as Westport and 39th Street and brookside South if the Plaza.
The West Bottoms is about the last place we show visitors, although two developers, one form the west coast and one from the East coast, recently acquired tons of those buildings and empty lots down there and have big plans to bring the Neighborhood back.
This just seems like lazy phoning it in, so why bother. Maybe at least check out a city’s official visitor websites to see points of interest and its landmark neighborhoods.
Sorry for the ragging on this, but the idea that this would represent the city if someone were to do a search depresses me.
I’m a KC native who has lived in Chicago the past 26 years, btw. Love my beautiful hometown.
You have absolutely no clue of what you're talking about.
Don't agree with this take.
Where are all these 35,000 people? I lived in the suburbs of KCMo for 50 years and when I left 20 years ago downtown was dead. On a return trip to KCMo a fellow airline passenger said KCMo was becoming a TECH CENTER. It used to be a cattle and wheatbelt city centered on manufacture of wheat products, RR, transportation, steel, TWA airlines and oil refineries.
Love the KC Boulevard and Dunkel beers!! I miss them
It helps that you toured downtown during the tailend of Covid. Everyone was working from home. Things are a lot more "jumpin" now. Had you gone to 1st & Delaware you'd have gotten a better look at the river. Things are far more developed in the west bottoms & and riverfront now.
The west bottoms are the most interesting part of KC. And statistcally one of the safest.
I live in Kansas City. Actually would go downtown to just walk around. The streets would be so crowded you you always saw a family member or friend. Believe me theres alot going on down there your outside you just dont see it. It changed with how they placed the offices mostly buisnesses and after covid more people doordash lunches. You didnt go to the Redlight district but was so close. By blocks. Crown center a few more blocks. The City market where the recovered river boat is showcased. You missed alot.
Of course he missed a lot -- he stopped by for a few hours. What do you expect?
Is the crime really that bsd?
I always have to wonder why people go visit other cities just to show the worst parts of town. Every city and town in America is going to have a run down area, if not the whole community (depending on its population) I want to remind everyone of two major things that no one seems to ever either know or mention. The 1st is almost 90% of all crimes committed in this country are between groups of people who know each other ( or two people who know each other ). It usually because of a drug deal gone bad, a marital dispute, someone (or group) causing problems in a business venture, gang related activities, etc. Rarely does it ever involve an innocent bystander. Yes, you can point to the news and say, “this guy got shot and he had nothing to do with the crime.” And there are the mass shootings that are completely senseless. But believe or not, they are the exception and not the rule. The media loves to hype up stories to draw more viewers and they like to tug at your emotions. Just because you are in a bad part of town, it doesn’t mean that you are in grave danger. It just means, be more careful and be aware of your surroundings. The 2nd thing I want to share with you is that I have been in many of the underprivileged neighborhoods not only here in Kansas City but around the country. My thinking is why can’t we help these folks more so they don’t have to live this way. What could the rest of us do that could help the underprivileged have a better life? It’s amazing how many truly nice people I have met in these neighborhoods who really enjoy having someone to talk too. It’s amazing how much you can learn from listening to another persons story. They can be quite interesting. Maybe the people who insist on showing the worse parts of town should try looking at it from a different prospective. I look at everything in Kansas City as a photographic challenge that is both intriguing and beautiful. I hope maybe others will learn to do the same. By the way, the building at the beginning of this video that has all the windows broken out is set to be imploded in the spring (2024) if you want something cool to photograph. It used to be a dairy processing facility. The building is one of the very oldest in the west bottoms at 130 years old. Attempts were made to save it but good old Kansas City red tape got in the way. So next time you go through a blighted neighborhood or a bunch of old abandoned buildings think about what could be done to revive the area. Also remember to look at it as an artistic opportunity to get some great pictures both in black and white ( my favorite medium ) and in color. I am 62 years old and I love Kansas City and the metro area. I have lived in the area my whole life. The bottom line, it’s all about helping each other, not just yourself. I truly believe that.
It is like you deliberately avoided going to the nice areas lol
I deliberately go to the interesting areas. TH-cam viewers have no interest in seeing well off, and ultimately boring, areas of cities
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip that Is correct el spodado
100%
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip you may want to make that clear in your videos then. "There's nothing down here" well when you avoid the populated areas of the city....yeah it will be empty
The sculpture you filmed at ~16:52 is actually a fountain the property manager let the pump run dry, so all my hard work plumbing it is for naught.
Well I’m in Kansas City Missouri and it says you made this 10 months ago still in Covid mode, my daughter was working from home still but I just found your channel and I’m on my third video.
Very odd how empty it is. Almost has a post apocalyptic feel to it
Saturday farmers market is really good...worth the drive in from JOCO...
The residential warehouse district is the most interesting area (to me)
Interesting video. Thanks! Which downtown is best? St.louid 1st, Kansas city 2nd.
Yes where you’re at in the WEST BOTTOMS is no more downtown than Westport or the plaza is. And as far as crime goes, Kansas City MO downtown is probably one of the safest downtown’s of any major U.S. city and the actual downtown Kansas City MO and really been revitalized and renovated in the past 20 years that even as you see in your video you don’t see any abandoned or run down buildings, all you see is new construction or old buildings that have been renovated and turned into lofts apartments or condos and they have just gotten started on renovations in the west bottoms which is actually a very small area maybe 10 square blocks. But your caption HIGH CRIME is very unfair and misleading because was there once that you ever felt unsafe while walking around downtown or even unsafe while in the west bottoms? And yes I’m probably a little biased having grown up in the kc metro area my entire life but I also Uber in my spare time and pick up hundreds of out of town passengers each month and nearly ALL tell me downtown KCMO is one of the nicest most beautiful downtowns in America they’ve ever visited and the friendliest so using the words high crime in your caption is very misleading and should think about removing it from the caption. Yes like any major city if you go several blocks in any direction away from DOWNTOWN you can easily find crime infested neighborhoods BUT KCMO downtown is a very large safe area that but also no matter how far you go north or south from downtown you’re in pretty safe areas BUT if you go east from downtown you’ll be in some shady areas which is where you were in video talking about how high our crime rate is and if you go west of downtown you’ll be in Kansas City Kansas in a whole other state which that is pretty rough downtown but as you get away from downtown KC Kansas there are some very wonderful areas. And I believe yes per capita KCMO has an above average crime rate because KCMO actual population is just a little over 400,000 but the population of the entire KCMO metro area population is in the millions actually making it one of the lower crime rates for a major US City
i have a job offer in kc. i admit tho that researching the crime statistics makes me think it over. I'll keep researching and reading comments. Thanks.
Excellent video, every 6th, 7th,and 8th grader should check it out as it is an education in itself.
Just curious, what made it excellent in your opinion?
Shoutout to Wallstreet Towers - the only building you seemed to like downtown (I live there :) ). Downtown KC is very much event-driven and unfortunately there are no daytime events on a Wednesday (before lunch) aside from work. 1 hour later or even a weekend morning would likely have brought you more people. When the Royals and Chiefs are playing - and especially while winning championships, the traffic can be unbearable at times. That is without considering concerts within the multiple venues in that walking area and historic tourist spots that you can arrive at without a car.
Also shoutout for driving past the largest pothole I've seen at the beginning of this video haha. There is a pothole problem for sure - but dang.
While in the West Bottoms, it's a shame you either didn't see or didn't want to show a massive white metal building that is called KEMPER ARENA, a huge indoor stadium & exposition facility which some say looks like a mammouth water tower build on ground rather than high in the air. The Arena has featured concerts by ELTON JOHN, JOHN DENVER, frequent Monster Truck Rallies, and around its footprint (and in close-by vacant lots are annual BBQ contests to which KC amateur & professional BBQ specialists bring their delicious, tender beef and pork and cook on-the-spot. The people of KC and surrounding towns and cities love driving in to get themselves some BBQ from one or more than one vendor. The West Bottoms, virtually in the center of the USA was the place where cattle ranchers brought livestock for sale in days gone by. Two very extreme floods of the Kansas and Missouri rivers lay the area to great waste until retaining walls and other measures were taken to stop such devastation. In two or three of those huge warehouses, there are annual two-week-long Halloween events, one of which is called "The Gateway to Hell," not to be attended - or even entered - by the faint of heart. Another area, south of the downtown about five miles, is the Country Club PLAZA, a high-end collection French-styled shopping district and the campus of Kansas CIty's branch of The University of Missouri and its acclaimed Conservatory of Music.
And Owen Hart passed away there 😢
Please come back to Kansas City when you have more time to spend and make another video showing the attractions that we are known for. Kansas City is very spread out and deserves a closer look. Our fountains you mentioned, are located over a very broad area which would require some time to find. Kansas City is a friendly town and is known for its hospitality.
KCMO!! The home of the Chieeeeeefs!! ❤️💛
The other side of the river is not kansas there. That's North Kansas City just beyond those trees.
Me, my ex and, our son were driving around down in the west bottoms when the artist was building that..... piece of art down in the west bottoms. All it started out as was a bunch of airplane parts laying on the ground with water spraying on them (to make the parts rust and corrode, which i found out later) which made it look like a small plane messed up on a take-off from the downtown airport and hit that building out was laying in front of!! We saw a bunch of people standing around it and drove by twice before i stopped to ask what was going on! I was waiting for the airport fire truck to come across the river. I was a little shaken until i found out it was f'n ...... art...... 🤣🤣🤣
Love that you made a video of KC, but as the others have pointed out, you missed some of the best parts and were a little misinformed about some of the others. The area you were in (around the fountain, bus depot and 10th Street) is our business district. Not residential. There are a couple residential buildings in that area, but most are on either side in the River Market or Crossroads districts. And the bell you heard was the Commerce clock tone, not a church bell.
And you missed a lot man, as previously mentioned - Union Station, 18th & Vine, Swope Park, The Kansas City Zoo, Nelson Atkins, and pretty much any BBQ restaurant, Gates and Arthur Bryant's being the most famous.
Please come back and make another video! You'll have the perfect opportunity when you come back to do the Kansas side of KC. Let me know if you'd like some recommendations for that, too. We love visitors.
Kansas City's Crime actually had an HBO special made about it called "A year in history, Crime on Prospect Avenue"
I'm glad you know the difference cause I'm getting tired of telling people we're not Kansas just cause we're Kansas City (Missouri)
great video good thing you didn’t make that left turn on 39th street lol
At 6:08 in the video u drive by my dads work and it was the company I used to weld for til my heat stroke rand fab shop. How cool lol. Love the west bottoms hope you ate at town topic it’s a famous burger place down there. But sure u went and had bbq instead lol I woulda too
My dad and brother used to have a furniture warehouse in the West Bottoms called H&H Warehouse!
Kaw Point is the spot to see the river! The GPS showed it so close.... The other side of the river is not Kansas Toto lol, it is an Airport.
I live 5 minutes east of downtown, and I will say that KCMO downtown is more empty than most cities with 500k+ population but on the other hand, I agree with the rest of the locals, you picked the wrong time. 10am downtown kc will always be empty for everyone is at work. 7-9am 11-2pm and anytime after 4pm are the busiest times. I go to downtown EVERYDAY and it's not this empty all day. Enjoyed the video. And happy you came here
Dude you did Kansas city no justice at all
Dude, it was mid-week. Everyone was working.
Come back on a Saturday.
I've been to many city downtowns that were busy with foot traffic at around 10:30am during the week - Miami, Nashville, Charlotte, San Antonio, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Houston - all were full of people walking around at that same time.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip KC isn't as big as those cities and doesn't have the same tourism draw as Nashville, Charlotte, or Philly. KCMO is a working-class city. So, yeah, at 1030 on a Wednesday, it's going to be dead.
If you go to Montgomery, Chattanooga, Birmingham, or Knoxville, you'll find just about the same thing.
Also, with the exception of Nashville, all of the cities you've mentioned have metro population numbers, of over 2 million. KCMO only has 1.6million, over the entire meteo area, which includes the Kansas areas, as well as the Northland areas.
So, again, you are making unfair assumptions about KC, that are uninformed, at best, and ignorant (like most Texan views) at worst.
@@jrayproductions7790 No, that's not why. I just visited Sioux Falls, SD. Boise Idaho. Fargo, ND. Charleston, SC. All smaller than KC. All had busy downtowns at 10:30am during the week.
You totally missed the T-Mobile Center, which is located on Grand Avenue, just east of the Power and Light District. It's too bad you weren't with someone who know the Kansas City metropolitan area. We could have shown you so much more. Downtown KCMO used to be more vibrant when I was young. Now that it's pretty much residential, it's a lot quieter. Come back again when the Big 12 basketball tournament, the Comicon at Bartle Hall or when the Chiefs play again for another Super Bowl. I figured you were looking for Kaw Point Park. That's the area were the 2 Kansas and Missouri rivers meet. It's also the location where the Lewis & Clark expedition stopped before continuing their adventure upriver. That park is located on the Kansas side.
Not going to complain about what you missed. It's your trip, do what you want. If you're ever back, be sure to hit up Tom's Town. It's a great distillery!