Entertainment and Shopping District - 18th and Vine Historic Jazz District

The 18th and Vine Historic Jazz District was once the booming epicenter of Kansas City’s black community located just east of Downtown, the area nurtured the development of jazz during the 1920s and 1930s with performers that included the George Lee Orchestra featuring his sister Julia Lee, Count Basie, Bennie Moten and the incomparable Charlie “Yardbird” Parker.

The area was also the birthplace of professional black baseball.  The Negro National League was founded in 1920 at teh former Paseo YMCA, just a block from 18th and Vine.  Baseball greats like Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson and Buck O’Neil all frequented the area as players fo rthe Kansas City Monarchs.

Today you can explore this history at the Museums at 18th and Vine, a combined complex that features the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.  Hear live jazz at the Blue Room or the Mutual Musicians Foundation.  Or treat yourself to a performance at the Gem Theater, where you can find the annual “Jammin’ at the Gem.”

To the north, the Goin’ to Kanas City Plaza at Twelfth Street and Vine pays tribute to the song that made the intersection famous.  An area largely developed by barbecue enterpreneur Ollie Gates, the 12th Street Heritage District showcases what many consider the city’s finest example of a primarily privately-financed black business, office, shopping, and residential urban corridor at 12th Street and Brooklyn.

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