The Eblon Theater was Kansas City's first African American owned and operated theater in the city.1 The theater was designed by architect Paul L. Anthony as a venue for vaudeville and motion pictures. The theater opened in 1923 with much excitement. The Kansas City call wrote on its opening under the headline "Theater is Only One in City Owned By Colored People" to praise the theaters amenities, "nothing has been spared to make this the finest motion picture house for colored people in this part of the country."1 Concerts were held at the Theater each week and were broadcast across local channels. Patrons could also attend the theater to see a silent film accompanied by the theaters house organist.1The Eblon Theater was also where the legendary musician Count Basie found a home in Kansas City. In 1927 Basie was touring with a vaudeville act when it suddenly disbanded in Kansas City. Basie turned to the Eblon Theater and found a job as the house organist playing over silent films.2 When the Eblon theater reopened as the Cherry Blossom Club orchestra leader Bennie Moten left the club and was replaced by Count Basie.6 The orchestra was rebranded Count Basie and his Cherry Blossom Orchestra a notable moment in Basie's career as this was the first time he played under the name "count".6

Located at 1822 Vine Street, the Eblon Theater was Kansas City's first African American owned and operated theater. 1The club was constructed in 1922 with a Spanish colonial facade and seating for up to 1,000 patrons1. The Theater opened in 1923 as a venue for vaudeville and motion pictures. In 1933 the Eblon Theater closed and the Cherry Blossom club opened up in its place.1

Introduction to the Eblon by Michael Patton; recording created by Black Archives of Mid-America

Eblon Theater

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This trail includes stops at several of the most historically significant and successful jazz clubs that operated during the 1920s and 1930s. The tour can be experienced from any location, but for those who are able to enjoy a drive through Kansas City, this tour will offer driving directions to and from each location of a former jazz club.  

Dante's Inferno was a popular nightclub and cabaret that operated during the height of Kansas City's Jazz era. The club was owned by Pendergast associate and organized crime boss Joe Lusco. The site was originally located on nearby Cherry Street but moved to Independence Avenue in 1933 after outgrowing its original location.1 The club was decorated in a hellish decor with flame red walls, waitresses in red satin uniforms, and satanic knickknacks placed throughout. 1On top of hosting some of Kansas City's best musicians, the club was well known for its drag performers and table dancers. Notable performers include Edna Mae Jacobs who performed in drag under the name "Eddie Lynn" and "Mr. Half and Half" a frequent performer at Dante's that performed as a singer, comedian, and impersonato while dressed as half man and half woman (pictured below).1,2 These female impersonators were far from unknown throughout the Kansas City jazz scene though their histories are rarely told.Edna Mae Jacobs was one of Dante's most popular performers and impersonators. Edna performed under various stage names such as “Eddie Lynn” and “Lorelai Lynn”. She often performed at Dante’s as part of a sister act, performing with well-known female impersonator Billy Richards under the names “Eddie and Billie”.1 Though sister acts were common in female impersonator cabaret, Edna and Billy’s performance was quite different. Most female impersonators such as the well-known Billy Richards were biologically male performers who dressed up as a woman. But Edna was a female performer who represented herself on the stage as a man who dressed as a woman.1In 1938 Joe Lusco was shot in an assassination attempt by Pendergast rivals. Though Lusco survived the assassination attempt he closed Dante's Inferno down for good.1,3

From 1933 to 1938, this was the site of the Kansas City nightclub and “sin palace” Dante’s Inferno. Dante’s was a nightclub and cabaret owned by Pendergast associate and organized crime figure Joe Lusco. On top of hosting some of Kansas City's best musicians, the club was well known for its drag performers, and table dancers and was also one of Kansas City’s best-known female impersonator cabarets. Here patrons could come for a drink, listen to the house band, and catch regular performances by drag performers and female impersonators.1

Dante's Inferno Nightclub/Speakeasy (1933-1938)

The historic 12th Street Reno Club was once located here near the northeast corner of 12th and Cherry. Today this location is home to a parking lot, but in the 1930s, it was home to the legendary Reno Club where Jazz Greats such as Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Hot Lips Page, and Mary Lou Williams performed. In 1935, Count Basie first performed with the orchestra that would become the world-famous Count Basie Orchestra and in 1936 experimental radio broadcasts took this Kansas City sound worldwide.Count Basie recalled “The Reno was not one of those big fancy places where you go in and go downstairs and all that. It was like a club off the street. But once you got inside, it was a cabaret, with a little bandstand and a little space for a floor show, and with a bar up front, and there was also a little balcony in there. There were also girls available as dancing partners. It was a good place to work. I liked the atmosphere down there. There was always a lot of action because there were at least four other cabarets right there on that same block, and they all had live music and stayed open late.”The Reno Club also had a complicated relationship with the law. The club was owned by the notorious Pendergast family and there was a space behind the club where Pendergast and his associates would meet. The club was also a location for Pendergast associates to deal in drugs and prostitution. As recorded in Nathan Pearsons book, Goin' to Kansas City, John Hammond, the record producer who discovered Basie said of the club, "I'll never forget the first night, I went to the Reno...There was a whorehouse upstairs...and there wasn't enough money for liquor so obviously it would be, everybody grew pot in the backyard in Kansas City. This is how the band was able to exist."In 1939, the Pendergast Era ended, and reforms swept through the city. Many historic jazz venues were shut down or died out without the support of Pendergast associates, including the historic Reno Club, which shut its doors shortly after Pendergast was arrested for tax evasion. Today, the Kansas City jazz tradition of the 1920s and 1930s continues with numerous venues throughout the city. The Blue Room at the American Jazz Museum and Lonnie's Reno Club in the Ambassador Hotel include regular tributes to Count Basie, Charlie Parker, and other musicians who performed here.

Now a parking lot for the Kansas City Police Department, this was the site of one of the 12th Street Reno Club which was operated by Tom Pendergast. One of Kansas City's leading jazz clubs of the 1930s and home to influential bands like the Count Basie Orchestra, this was one of the most successful jazz clubs during the era when Kansas City's jazz scene thrived under the "protection" of the political machine that dominated the city. When "Boss" Tom Pendergast was sent to prison and reform elements took control of Kansas City, the club closed. But starting in 1931, patrons could see jazz legends such as Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Hot Lips Page, and Mary Lou Williams perform. This was also the location of experimental radio broadcasts that shared the unique form of Kansas City jazz with audiences nationwide. Like many other establishments in the city, the Reno Club was segregated, with the main floor being reserved for white patrons while African Americans were seated in the balcony.

12th Street Reno Club (1930s)

In 1933 the remodeled Eblon Theater was opened as the Cherry Blossom Nightclub. On opening night George E. Lee’s band played the Cherry Blossom theater to a crowd of patrons. Soon after, the band was replaced by Bennie Moten’s band. But after a few months at the Cherry Blossom, Bennie was ready for a new venue, but his orchestra wanted to stay.5 The band voted Moten out as band leader and replaced him with Count Basie.5 The Cherry Blossom theater advertised their new band under the name Count Basie and the Cherry Blossom Orchestra. Though Basie had been using the nickname Count among friends since his time at the Eblon, this was the first time he was advertised as “Count Basie”5. Basie would be associated with the Cherry Blossom Club until it was shut down in the 1940's. In 1944, a new club called the Chez Paree opened in the same location giving the building its final piece of history where it was home to Kansas City jazz legend Jay McShann.2The Cherry Blossom was also home to a very famous battle of the bands involving Coleman Hawkins, the king of the tenor sax . One night late in 1933, Hawkins stopped by the Cherry Blossom theater where Count Basie held a late-night jam session.2 Hawkins was known not to play in these musical battles. As the reigning king of the tenor sax Hawkins had nothing to gain in playing in these musical battles and everything to lose. But on this one night Hawkins decided to join the battle. Egged on by his fellow musicians, Hawkins went up to perform a legendary set. Count Basie described the battle, “All of those other saxophone players were up there calling for their favorite tunes, and then Hawk went up there, and he knew all of the tunes, and he started calling for all of those hard keys, like E-flat and B-natural.”2The battle raged through the night. Around 4 A.M. all of the pianists were too tired to play, but Hawkins and the horn players were still playing on. They woke up pianist Mary Lou Anderson and brought her to the Cherry Blossom so that the battle could continue. William’s remembers being waken up by Ben Webster, “he was saying, “get up, pussycat, we’re jammin’ and all the pianists are tired out now. Hawkins has got his shirt off and is still blowing.” 2But by the end of the night, Hawkins had met his match. Lester Young played in a relaxed style that contrasted greatly with the forceful tone of Coleman Hawkins. Hawkins tried repeatedly to outplay Young but by the end of the night he was forced to give up and head to Saint Louis for his next gig.2 Lester Young’s victory over Hawkins would become a legendary moment in the history of Kansas City Jazz.

In 1933, the old Eblon Theater was remodeled into a nightclub and opened as The Cherry Blossom Club. Located at 1822 Vine Street this club was one of Kansas City's most popular destinations for Jazz. The club was also where many influential jazz musicians made a name for themselves, including the great Count Basie and Bennie Moten.

Cherry Blossom Club

Perhaps the most unique of all venues on 18th &amp; Vine, the Blue Room Jazz Club connects the past to the present and offers a performance venue for established and up-and-coming musicians. The club is connected to the American Jazz Museum and honors the musical tradition of the famous Blue Room of the Street Hotel. One of the few places of accommodation for people of color in the era of segregation, the Street Hotel was a center of social life, a place where Black organizations held events and conferences, and the place where out-of-town visitors stayed, including ballplayers and musicians. Street Hotel was owned and operated by Reuben and Ella Davidson Street. When Reuben was a child, his family moved to Kansas City as part of the migration of Exodusters—African Americans who left the south to seek a better life in Kansas and Kansas City, which straddles the Missouri-Kansas border. Reuben and Ella married in 1900 and held a variety of jobs before managing to purchase the hotel that would bear their name in 1920. In the segregated city, Street Hotel was the finest hotel available to Black patrons, and segregation meant that other African-American businesses, clubs, and venues clustered around it in the 18th &amp; Vine district, creating a busting jazz scene even as Black performers and audiences were excluded from businesses in downtown Kansas City. Across from the Blue Room was the Rose Room, which offered an exclusive fine-dining experience to African American guests.Of course, any hotel that served as the home away from home for traveling musicians became the center of nightlife, and this was certainly the case for the Street Hotel during the 1930s and beyond. The venue is both a performance hall and a “multifaceted exhibit highlighting the countless musicians who crafted” the now world-famous “Kansas City jazz” sound. The club continues to cultivate jazz talent, inviting performances from both veteran and up-and-coming musicians in its intimate and historic setting.This hybrid venue—museum by day and working jazz club by night—is Kansas City's’ only Jazz club to be listed in the top 100 Jazz Clubs in the world by DownBeat Magazine. Because of this, the Blue Room is never in shortage of touring jazz musicians looking to make a name in the city of fountains. Another interesting tidbit regarding the Blue Room Jazz Club is the “soundies” which can be viewed in the video jukebox. These “soundies” include performances by “Jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Fats Waller, and John Coltrane.”Similar to the gateway sign which signals both a respect for the district and a desire to bring life back to the venues and businesses which sat near-lifeless for years, the Blue Room Jazz Club invites aspiring musicians to play in the venue: “Bring your instrument and sit in at the weekly Blue Monday Jam.” The spirit of the Jazz District with the powerful and influential musicians that played in the clubs and streets of 18th &amp; Vine lives on through these events, which invite the public in to be part of the marvelous history of jazz in Kansas City.

A modern landmark within the historic 18th &amp; Vine district, The Blue Room Jazz Club is connected to the American Jazz Museum and showcases some of the most significant jazz musicians. A museum by day and hopping jazz club at night, the Blue Room blends music and entertainment with history and is a favorite for many residents of the Kansas City metro area. Established by Reuben and Ella Street as part of the Street Hotel (or "Street's," as it was known) in the early 1920s, the Blue Room became one of the most important venues in the geography of Kansas City jazz. The original Blue Room and the hotel that housed it were located just a few steps west of the current Blue Room. That historic building was razed in the 1980s and is now home to Soiree and several other businesses.

The Blue Room

One of the most architecturally striking buildings in the 18th &amp; Vine district, the Gem Theater is one of a handful of buildings from the 1920s and 1930s that has survived more or less intact, escaping the razing that destroyed many of the district's clubs from the 1950s to the 1990s. Originally named the Star Theater, it was built in 1912 to show silent movies to the African American community that had taken up residence around 18th &amp; Vine in the then legally-segregated Kansas City. It was renamed the Gem Theater in 1913. By 1929, when the theater began to show talking movies, the Gem became a fixture on 18th Street as the major movie theater opened by and for African American audiences.In 1960 the Gem Theater no longer showed films and began to fall into disrepair. As one of the most notable buildings to survive the industrialization and redevelopment of the district in the 1960s and 1970s, the theater became a centerpiece of plans to revitalize the Jazz District and figured prominently in the district's application for status as a historic district in 1991. When the Gem was still playing movies, up until 1960, the seating capacity was 1,414, but after renovations capacity was cut to 500 seats. Indeed, virtually all that remains of the original theater is the facade, which dates to an early renovation in 1923. After the renovations of the 1990s, the Gem Theater opened for live performances in 1997. Like the American Jazz Museum across the street, the Gem is owned by the city government. Renovations were spearheaded by Patricia Jordan, who is now president of what has become the Gem Theater Cultural and Performing Arts Center. Interestingly, the redevelopment and restoration of the Gem Theater and surrounding Jazz District was sparked in no small part by a movie: Robert Altman's 1996 Kansas City, which was shot on location. Given the destruction of many of the buildings in the district, and the disrepair into which the surviving ones had fallen, Altman's movie required the extensive use of facades to restore the appearance of 18th &amp; Vine as it would have looked in the 1930s when the film is set. The facades made the rich artistic and cultural history of the district immediately visible, and the film's release coincided with a wave of investment that sought to redevelop the district and restore the area's historic vibrancy.

Built in 1912, the Gem Theater, originally named the Star Theater, served Kansas City's African American population as a “silent movie palace” (VisitKC). It was renamed the Gem Theater in 1913 and soon became an “established fixture” in the 18th &amp; Vine district. Eventually, the theater switched from movies to live performances before falling into disrepair after the 1960s. However, unlike many other architectural landmarks of 18th &amp; Vine's jazz age, the Gem Theater escaped the razing that took place in the 1970s and 1980s as part of urban development projects. In the 1990s, the theater was renovated in a process that removed much of the original interior to make space for a modern performance venue.

Gem Theater

The Pla-Mor was built by Charles A. Smith, an architect known for his work on Kansas City area schools. The facility cost over $500,000 and became the country’s largest indoor entertainment complex upon its completion. On November 24th, 1927 the Ballroom made its debut welcoming 4,000 patrons into its 14,000 square foot dance floor to dance to the Jean Goldkette Orchestra.1 Dancers may have been surprised to find some extra spring in their step as 7,000 springs sat below the dancefloor flexing up to a quarter-inch as they moved across the ballroom dancefloor.4The Kansas City Times review of the Ballroom's opening demonstrates the magnitude of the event within the larger history of the city in the final years of the "Roaring 20s." "For those who went merely to see, there was magnificence for the eye. The entrance was under a brilliant electric sign. Once past the door, wall decorations of freehand painting attracted attention. Rich carpet gave an impression of luxuriousness. Up a flight of steps and down a hall past the women’s cloakroom the eye followed vivid hunting and jungle scenes of the modern motif...The ball room and mezzanine were decorated in a more strictly patterned manner. Here the lighting brilliance demanded the first and lasting attention. Ceiling fixtures of beaded glass chains suspended bowl-shaped, with variable colors glowing through them, vied with tinted lamps casting full and toned colors across the floor from the walls."1The Pla-Mor Ballroom was also the site of an ugly event in Kansas City jazz history. Though the ballroom relied on the entertainment of African American Jazz legends, this club was open to white guests only. Jazz legend Cab Calloway found that he was no exception to this rule. On December 23rd, 1945 Calloway was invited by friend and bandleader Lionel Hampton to watch his set at the Pla-Mor.5 When Calloway attempted to enter the all-white club he was stopped at the door. The situation escalated until a nearby off-duty policeman William Todd assaulted Calloway by beating him in the skull with his pistol.5 Calloway had to be taken to the hospital and received 8 stitches. At the end of the night, he faced three misdemeanor charges while Todd went uncharged.5 Calloway went on to sue the Pla-Mor ballroom for $200,000 but this attempt was unsuccessful.5 When Lionel Hampton learned of the incident, he stopped playing and refused to play at the Pla-Mor Ballroom ever again.5

The Pla-Mor Ballroom was a popular jazz venue and entertainment complex that operated from 1927 to 1951. The legendary Kansas City venue opened on Thanksgiving 1927 to a crowd of 4,000 patrons who came out to dance to the sounds of the Jean Goldkette Orchestra.1 The Pla-Mor was home to more than music, and the complex claimed to be the largest indoor amusement center in the country in the 1920s, offering a bowling alley and billiards room underneath the ballroom and an ice hockey rink next door.4 In 1931 the Pla-Mor complex added the largest swimming pool west of the Mississippi.4 During its heyday the Ballroom welcomed jazz greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Claude "Fiddler" Williams, Louis Armstrong, and Frank Sinatra. The popularity of the Pla-Mor ballroom declined in the 1940s as suburbanization drew populations out of the city and ballroom entertainment became less attractive. The ballroom permanently closed in 1951 with other attractions at the Pla-Mor complex following soon after. in 1971 the site was demolished and replaced by a car dealership. 4

Kansas City Jazz Clubs in the Pendergast Era

Eblon Theater

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources