KANSAS CITY: Exploring The Fascinating West Bottoms 

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.

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.

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.

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 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 !

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!

It is like you deliberately avoided going to the nice areas lol

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 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.

“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. 🤣🤣🤣

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.

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.

Damn! You were so close! I had a drink ready for ya!!!

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.

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....

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.

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.

That "abandoned" building in the West Bottoms will be $3000 per month apartments in the next few years.

early 2000s I used to roll around drinking all through the bottoms, all them buildings were empty except the haunted houses

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.

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.

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 ✊🏻 ❤️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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.

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

My girlfriend lives in Missouri and she told me the West Bottoms has some awesome haunted houses to visit every Halloween.

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.

The Plaza is amazing!

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. 😊

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🤣

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.

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.

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...... 🤣🤣🤣

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

"LEAVING DES MOINES, IOWA" I can't wait -- Thumbs up!

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

Love this entire series. Great job @Lord Spoda

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.

"I'm going to Kansas City. Kansas City, here I come"

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.

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.

Everybody is at work at 1030 in the morning lol, so many good spots in Kansas City tho. Great video and GO CHIEFS!!!!

That building with the downtown temperature clock used to be Sentinel Federal S&L, my first IT job :)

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.

Wednesday 10AM. Lot of people working. Kansas City area is spread out so people spread out.

Interesting video. Thanks! Which downtown is best? St.louid 1st, Kansas city 2nd.

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.

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

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

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

The residential warehouse district is the most interesting area (to me)

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.

Great content and narration. I appreciate the historical context as well, and whether it depicts the city in a positive light or not.

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.

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.

When I tell people how to differentiate which is Kansas City, Kansas and which is Kansas City, Missouri I tell them "If you're watching Football or Baseball on TV, that's Kansas City, Missouri, if you're watching Cops....that's Kansas City, Kansas"

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?

"Do you really think you can shoot all those men down before they shoot you? No, no, Mr. Josey Wales; there is such a thing in this country called justice!" "Well, Mr. Carpetbagger. We got somethin' in this territory called the Missouri boat ride."

The Mob owned the bottoms. They could get rid of people at the slaughter house down past the arena. Then they could just chuck the mulched bodies in the river. And just on the north side of the river is a small airport. imagine how quickly they were able to get drugs and guns off the planes and into our ghettos. The Mob ruled the KC and KCMO for a long time. People in my own family worked for them. And you showed some of my favorite parts of my beloved city. Thanks so much for coming out brother.

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😬☹️

Love the KC Boulevard and Dunkel beers!! I miss them

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 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

great video good thing you didn’t make that left turn on 39th street lol

Good work!

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.

At Christmas time, the Christmas lights on the Country Club Plaza with the horse drawn carriages is very charming!

My step father did business with the civellas back in the 70s right where your at in the bottoms

It looks like you're in that movie Resident Evil

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

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.

You were about two blocks away from where the heart of downtown begins. Left out Power & Light. Sprint Center, Union Station, Crown Center And the Liberty Memorial. Countless fountains in the Plaza.

I’m obsessed with downtown areas in the U.S. - particularly the supposed “downtrodden” or re-emerging. I’m a 30 year San Francisco resident. Thrilled to have found your channel!

This video is funny. I love KC!

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.

Saturday farmers market is really good...worth the drive in from JOCO...

Beautiful area with a lot of trees.

KCMO!! The home of the Chieeeeeefs!! ❤️💛

During the week days before lunch people in this area are working or if it is an apartment or condo, they are at work which leaves a very quiet downtown. Come during the weekend.

What kind of camera do you use?

My dad and brother used to have a furniture warehouse in the West Bottoms called H&H Warehouse!

There are bad parts of KC, but their are some amazing spots as well. Kansas City is known as "the city of fountains", and it also has a large back ground with Jazz music.

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.

By the way the other side of the river is not kck it’s Missouri still and the downtown airport and trains depot

Kansas City's Crime actually had an HBO special made about it called "A year in history, Crime on Prospect Avenue"

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.

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.

Downtown KC doesn't have a lot to offer people outside of the bar/nightlife scene. There aren't really a lot of shops and jobs and whatnot down there which means not a lot of daytime activity. The shopping district is located nearby and is called the plaza. It stays busy all week.

Things are back up and running. There's a different vibe now. Starting to get our huddle and bustle back on.