Missouri has more then two hippy hangouts (gasp!). Westport’s a very cool place. It has head shops, VW buses, and lots of drugs.
Westport is a section in Kansas City.
Midtown-Westport is an eclectic area, known for the Westport entertainment area, with festive brewpubs, DJ bars and retro-chic diners serving American comfort food. During the day, the scene centers on trendy fashion boutiques. Neighboring Midtown has historic buildings like the Thomas Hart Benton Home, with tours of the painter’s studio and gardens. Trails wind through nearby Roanoke Park, encircled by bluffs.
ahh, I love Westport! There’s plenty of things there that will keep you coming back. People are nice and layed back for the most part. It’s just an awsome place to hang out on the weekends. 🙂
I lived in Kansas City for the last 6 years. I used to work in Westport. Its prime was probalbly 1993-1996. Most of the local merchants have left and got replaced by Starbucks or generic brewpubs. There are some squatters hanging around in the summer but definitely minute compared to Seattle and other places. Westport is not that hot but there are some cool places.
Broadway Cafe – coffee house
McCoys – cool brewpub
Vintage Vinyl – cool record store
Clint’s Comics – one of the best comic book stores in town
Westport Library – homeless hangout, computer access
Tivoli Theatre – The best indy theatre in town.
Jerusalem Cafe – great food
Westport’s salad days are over but good place to people watch.
Westport sucks….There is no real hippies anymore. There are some
homeless people who still have belief in the hippie view of life.
Yet very very few.. Westport is mostly bars and a few coffee houses
where there is no hippies at all…mostly real young kids lost in our new
world order waiting to watch someone get there ass kicked or
at the bars it kind of redneck meets westport kind of scene.
which alot of folks might find cool. People in westport are very clannish
and not very friendly to strangers…Most sqauters and those passing
through dont stay very long.
Mostly alot of people getting drunk and waiting for a fight or scene to
happen.
A few struggling street musicians….let see….only one that is.
….If your in the area…come bye just to
see him…hes name is James….He plays in front of kellys pub.
You cant miss him…hes the only hippy in westport.
He is worth your stop…..He plays a mean blues guitar..
Dont waste your time stopping in this town if you are hip…..
Westport sucks and there is not much to see and do unless you feel like spending a lot of money shopping at hoity toity shops where the rich from Leawood or Mission Hills come to stock up on the trendiest kitchen decor or clothing which costs more than I make in a year but is made to look like someone made it for under 5 bucks. Kansas City has viturally nothing to offer someone who is looking for diversity, interesting surroundings and culture. It is my opinion that if you come to Kansas City, don’t bother unless you have family here or friends and that is your purpose in visiting. You will be disappointed if you visit from Nebraska, Oklahoma or some other lame midwestern state and think you are coming for a cool weekend trip. Think again, go to Colorado where they real things to do that are fun and interesting.
There are some hidden secrets in Westport, as every Kansas Citian knows, especially at Pennsylvania, 43rd Street. Its got more history than most parts of town, and the more you people bash it, the less harder it will be- how can you complain about squaters on a “hippy” page? I say check it out- great concerts, films, ice cream, food, atmosphere, choice, groceries, music, parking, times, futons.
Westport is a neighborhood in Kansas City. It used to be a town to my knowledge back at the turn of the century.
I have been living in KC since ’86 and things are different all around. At first Westport was a cool little party area in midtown. You saw some cool people some hippies mostly punkers and goth types. They had some cool shops and bars. Now it has become a watered down Haight/ Ashbury. There are some sole surviving hippies, you can usually tell them by the cars they drive. (they have lots of stickers in the back windows and bumpers.) But that number is few. Only one or two true hippie shops. Now everyone looks like they are off the WB network or MTV.
It has become conjested with idiots who can’t drive. Those piece of shit yuppies venturing from Johnson County just to say they have been in the city and they didn’t get shot at. And fat white trash goons, who realized that northland redneck bars gets old every now and then.
I prefer to hang out at Kelly’s (especially on sunday nights), The Lava Room, and once in a while The Newsroom. There are some cool places to eat, some cool shops and stores. (Streetside Records awesome CD selection.) and not to mention a crapload of used bookstores. I guess for the real intellectual types.
But some Westport bars are closing up and change styles. And forget picking up women here they are all stuck up even the fat ones.
For the most part it ain’t too bad if you take away the hip-hop teenagers that are out to cause trouble, those worthless yuppies conformist that act like they haven’t been out in years and only come to rub their pretentiousness in others faces, and the fact that city officials are slowly trying to make the area more family friendly. It and too bad of a little area. But if you are a hippie just don’t show up you’ll get stared at.
I’m coming down from Des Moines for a GWAR concert tomorrow…I went Googling to see what kind of neighborhood this is (OK, you can laugh now, I’m seeing GWAR and want to make sure the neighborhood is at least safe enough that I won’t get shot in…hehe…) but anyhow, I wanted to thank the people that have posted here because it’s been hard to get any kind of idea from any other site. At least now I have a concept of what sort of area this is.
So anyhow, thanks!
By the way, I lived in Cincinnati in the mid-late 90’s and it was a pretty cool scene. They really seem to love the arts in Cinci and encourage original expression. Lots of young artists heading into the Art Academy (if their overwhelming gayness doesn’t bother ya) and the local music was always a good time. I know lots of the places have closed now, but I’m sure there’s still fun to be had there.
Don’t come to Des Moines for fun…we call it Des Miserables or Dead Moines…but if you decide that you’re tired of being hungry (or you have kids like me) and you can deal with pimping your time to the man, the banks and insurance companies out here will hire anyone and they pay well. I consider it fuel for other dreams…someday I hope to be a tattoo artist.
Anyhow, sorry for the long and somewhat off-topic post, but I’m not a regular to this site and I can’t resist tossing my two cents about the Midwest towns I know. Again, thanks for the helpful information. Have a pleasant day, lovely hippies! Never give up the dream!
–Wolfmom