The Redevelopment Blues

MELVIN CLIFTON RUFFEN, BETTER KNOWN AS "MC," stands on the corner of 18th and Vine, casually looking around. Not much is going on. A few cars and trucks zoom up and down 18th Street, but the neighborhood is empty of the hustle and bustle MC describes when talking about what the historic jazz district was like back in his day.

"No place in the world had anything on 18th and Vine in those days," says MC. "Kansas City was the heart of music and we had a good time. I mean, there would be people everywhere and they all looked sharp."

The district has a lot of critics, but not many are as qualified as MC. The 82-year-old worked, played, and lived in the 18th and Vine area when it was red-hot and jumpin'. A former cab driver and part-time blues singer, MC witnessed the area's decline in the '70s and '80s as black people abandoned the neighborhood to try to assimilate with white folk. Now he is witnessing politicians and developers struggle to bring the district back to life.

Singing the blues
The 1959 Wilbert Harrison song "Kansas City," an R&B number with a blues feel and the city's unofficial anthem, chronicles Kansas City's glory days. Hearing the song, people think of Vine Street. But it's the blues beyond the song that describe the current state of the 18th and Vine Historic District. Efforts to revitalize the area have been going on for more than a decade and, according to the latest set of plans, will stretch on for at least another six years -- if everything stays on schedule. In the meantime, plywood facades hide many of the area's scars while buildings crumble behind fancy, re-created storefronts.

"When we started integrating, 18th and Vine lost its popularity and things died down," says MC. "I don't care what they put down here, them days when you could walk out of one tavern and zigzag right into another are gone."

From the 1920s to 1950s, the historic district was a mix of residences, businesses, and entertainment establishments. The area flourished as a community, largely because blacks were not allowed to live or shop anyplace else. The triumph of integration, unfortunately, snuffed out much of the energy around 18th and Vine.

But the area never completely died; it sputtered along with activity. In the 1980s and early '90s, Club Eblons, located in the Lincoln Building, attracted hundreds of young adults several nights of the week. Culturally Speaking -- a book, art, and card store (now Nia's Hallmark, located in the Linwood Shopping Center) -- provided some retail choices and a cultural presence. A barber and beauty shop, along with a television repair business and a restaurant, also managed to stay in business. One of the most popular destinations was the El Capitan bar, a fixture in the area for years. The tiny dive had a loyal following that enjoyed the down-home feel and stiff drinks.

When construction of the American Jazz Museum facility and renovation of the Gem Theater started in 1996, many of those businesses, most located on the north side of 18th Street, relocated or closed. Only Club Mardi Gras, the Zodiac Motorcycle Club, Mutual Musicians Foundation, and a beauty salon kept their doors open.

With the new construction came the promises from politicians, city bureaucrats, and developers that 18th and Vine would become the next French Quarter of New Orleans or Beale Street in Memphis. It hasn't happened. So far, the seven-square-block historic jazz district -- from Paseo on the west to Woodland on the east and from 19th Street on the south to 17th Terrace on the north -- remains a virtual dead zone when it comes to street life.

The challenge remains for the city and developers to restore the area as a center of commerce and culture for Kansas City, its African-American community, and out-of-town visitors, many who know Kansas City only through the jazz legacies of Count Basie and Charlie Parker. Today the district is a community divided into a fragmented organizational structure that splits developmental leadership among various groups. The result is a stifling of the district's growth potential as a business and cultural center.

Pulling the district different ways are nonprofit development corporations, businesses, civic leaders, and churches, each with its own ideas for zapping the district back to life. There is no one unified plan for rejuvenating the historic district, and communication among the various entities seems to be on par with two tin cans and a piece of string.

Not surprisingly, Dr. Rowena Stewart, executive director of the 18th and Vine Authority, disputes such a characterization. "It appears to be fragmented, but it really isn't," she says. "We all need one another. None of us could develop the entire district by ourselves."

One entity doing it all was tried already. The 18th and Vine Redevelopment Corp., under the Black Economic Union (BEU), began redeveloping the district in the mid -1970s, acquiring tracts of land, tearing down many dilapidated buildings, renovating old buildings, and constructing new ones. BEU still owns the 30,000-square foot, three-story Lincoln Building, which was renovated in 1981 and now houses a Sprint call center. BEU also co-developed the 88-unit Basie Court apartment complex and several other housing developments near the historic district.