6411 Kansas Avenue
Kansas City, Kansas
913-287-9134
Every Wednesday during the summer, Frankie D's becomes Kansas City's hump-day motorcycle party. Under a large outdoor tent, bikers of all styles and ages hang out on couches and watch TV or sit around drinking at tables or jam to live blues and rock bands and brag about their nearby rides. (The crowd size requires two bars, one fully stocked, the other selling only beer.) Situated in a train-track-heavy section of the Turner neighborhood south of Kansas Highway 32, the bar has welcomed bikers for the past 35 years, says manager Frankie Davila Jr. His father, Frankie "D" Sr., launched the original Bike Night, which now draws an average of 400 to 500 riders. (On the best Wednesday Davila can remember, nearly 1,000 bikes crammed into the back parking lot.) "It gives you an atmosphere to mingle, chill out and look at the bikes," he says. The bar celebrates a decade of Bike Nights this year; the bash is slated for October 12. But even when it's not Bike Night, the beer still flows inside, where there are a couple of pool tables, arcade games and some mighty tasty chili.
