I'm used to living in a city where real estate agents attempt to paint up and coming neighborhoods with nicknames in order to try and lend some cache to an area that is not quite yet developed.
Inspired by the artful renaming of restaurant districts and a recent blog entry about a corridor on Wornall from Jon and John Eric's Adventures in Food, I've decided to start renaming areas of Kansas City, in the hopes that newly reformed restaurant rows continue to succeed and we can have a few area designations that are not simply based on compass points or geographical terminology.
5. Poultry Corner
This nickname for the corner at 85th and Wornall comes from bloggers Jon and Jon Eric. As they explain, "We call it that because there is a KFC, Rooster's Liquors and used to be Hen House where Price Chopper is now." In a town known for meat eaters, we don't have enough meat in our geography.
4. The Stockyard
The West Bottoms is generating buzz with R Bar and the potential for a second project from Todd Schulte at Happy Gillis. Forget the meatpacking district in New York City, Kansas City now has The Stockyard. There's even an old-school steakhouse in the Golden Ox that is ready to be featured on some slick brochures.
3. The Mission
We're borrowing a bit from San Francisco here, but shortening the name of Mission Farms is a way to pretend like you really know a hood (I wrote hood, so you would think I know a lot about that neighborhood). It also doesn't hurt that the mission could simply mean finding an easy driving route to Mission Farms.
2. SouP
The South Plaza area doesn't have enough ring to it, when trying to explain the explosion of restaurants and frozen treat shops along the Main Street corridor between 48th and 52nd streets. This is also a maddeningly perfect nickname because none of the restaurants on Main are known for serving soup. The hallmark of any great neighborhood designation is that it must not have a direct connection to anything useful. Also, out-of-place capital letters win bonus points.
1. Brooklyn West
Hipsters? Check. Artful sandwiches? Check. Ironically west of Brooklyn Street? Check (see you make people think there's no geographical connection and then you turn that idea on its head). Columbus Park is just a bit further out on the subway from Manhattan once that commuter rail is ready to run.
[Image via Flickr: Miconian]
Showing 1-4 of 4
I think we should stop calling Kansas City's City Center/Downtown its "Urban Core". That always sounds so sinister to me.
I envisioned it pronounced as "Soo-P," but South Park references are always welcome.
like
dislike
