That was then, this is now: 2024 Main Street

​Back when men still wore straw hats during the summer months and advertising “popular prices” really meant something, the folks who ran Kelly’s Restaurant at 2024 Main Street probably did a rousing business. After all, Union Station was bustling a few blocks to the south and nearby, any number of inexpensive hotels catered to “drummers” (traveling salesmen). Those were the main customers for lowbrow lodging like the Rieger Hotel — where Rob Dalzell’s restaurant, 1924 Main, now occupies the old lobby — and the Midwest Hotel (long before it became notorious and, currently, vacant).

The same place in 2010

​Kelly’s wasn’t fancy. The tables had oilcloth covers and the tables were shoved pretty close together, but you could probably get a solid meal there for less than a buck.

The building hasn’t housed a restaurant for a long, long time — I vaguely remember a short-lived saloon there in the late 1980s. The building is currently the Third Eye Event Space, which can be rented out for weddings and private parties. No straw hats required.

(Image of Kelly’s Restaurant courtesy of OldKC.com)