East Coast Mid-20 y/o Vacation (Neighborhood Help) (Kansas City, Liberty: renting, crime)

[someonevague]

Hi, there. Will be venturing out to KC in early September with my brother for an event at Kauffman Stadium and while we are there we plan on roaming the area for thrift/vintage shops to see what kind of trinkets or keepsakes somewhere less coasty has to offer. From doing a couple hour scour (accidental rhyme), it appears that the East side is the portion to avoid, in particular Troost. We will be renting a car and be traveling with our photography equipment, so I just want to avoid any issues we would come across as far as crime goes. Now, we aren't city virgins by any means (he lives in midtown Manhattan), but better safe than sorry. No stroll down a road that may or may not be welcoming to uninformed outsiders is worth an altercation in my mind. So any tips as far as areas to avoid or areas to lean on would be appreciated. Will be there for 4.5 days and certainly want to get a grasp for the feel and homeliness of what the city has to offer without pushing our limits too much.

Thanks in advance

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

Troost Avenue itself is not entirely bad. The street carries a lot of negative baggage in this city and many people are conditioned to be frightened when they hear "Troost", but many portions are not that bad.

Some blocks on Troost are worse than others, and I wouldn't recommend hanging out on the corner on Troost at 2AM, but you don't have to be freaked out if you happen to cross it. There are a number of spots east of Troost that you may want to visit and are perfectly safe. These would include the Jazz district around 18th and Vine (with the Jazz Museum, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and jazz venues), the KC Zoo and Starlight Theatre in Swope Park, the Historic Northeast neighborhood with the KC Museum, Kessler Park, etc.

Now, to the other part of your post..... do you need any help finding thrift/vintage shops? Any particular types of items you're looking for?

[someonevague]

Thank you for the timely response. I did a quick little Yelp search and came up with these results so far....

River Market Antique Mall, Boomerang, Rock Candy Boutique, Clothz Minded, Re-Runs.

My brother and I both just have a penchant for past era clothing, he is moreso interested in older sports jerseys and any type of war memorabilia, jackets, etc. whereas I also enjoy clothing, but I would moreso be hoping to find some cool signage or design-based items since I am pursuing that field of work and have an appreciation for pretty much anything graphic related, and my brother is a freelance photographer so anything photo related would be a bonus added on to the interests I already mentioned.

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

I like the River Market Antique Mall. Not a lot of clothing, but a good range of other items, generally with good prices.

If you're looking for more architectural items, the Foundation in the West Bottoms and Architectural Salvage in the Crossroads are great.

If you happen to be in town the first weekend of the month, there are a number of spots that are just open that weekend. Most of them are in the West Bottoms district, including Good JuJu, Liberty Belle, Bottoms Up, etc as well as Urban Mining Homewares in the Midtown/Westport area.

For clothing, Boomerang and Re-Runs are pretty good. I haven't been in ages, but my favorite spot used to be Dottie Mae's in Waldo, though it seems like it may have closed.

[xenokc]

Yeah, West Bottoms and W39th near State Line are the two hoods to go for funk. 3rd would be Xroads, Westport and then maybe River Market.

Here are some pics of W Bottoms, which is a lot like DUMBO in Brooklyn before it gentrified.

See page 2...
kc core dump - misc street views

[someonevague]

yeah, we plan on checking out the first friday since that is when we will be there. anywhere in particular we should work from as far as route beginning to end goes? again i appreciate any and all input you guys can offer, definitely will pass the intel along to my brother and we can have a little preparation going into the trip.

[xenokc]

Great. The best time to go to W Bottoms is Sat morning til I think 4pm. That's when they have their monthly crawl.

Be sure to check out Hammerpress in Xroads during First Fridays. Some cool items. E side of Xroads otherwise tends to have more funk art than central Xroads. Xroads is sort of like a dispersed Williamsburgh in Brooklyn but not as many people live there. There are about 60+ art related spaces though.

[xenokc]

KC doesn't have great transit but this bus line will get you to some of the major areas.

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

Just to clarify, First Friday gallery openings are not the same as the shops/markets that are open on First Friday weekend.

For First Friday, most of the activity is in the Crossroads, but there are also some galleries in the Bottoms. Spots with the most activity in the Crossroads tend to be the area around YJs at 18th and Wyandotte, Hammerpress on SW Blvd, and the Freighthouse district on Baltimore

[brewcrew1000]

The cowtown mallroom might be worth checking out, they are only open on the weekends, it's in an old concert venue. It's near Costco and Martini Corner
Cowtown Mallroom - Kansas City, MO