After 29 years, this Kansas City dive bar is forced to close: ‘They want me out’

The drinks and conversation were still flowing. But on Sunday night, Gilhouly’s was slowly slipping away.

The Volker bar’s pool table and jukebox were already gone, retrieved earlier in the day by the vending company. Soon, the tables and chairs would need to be loaded into the U-Haul owner Joe Simone had parked outside on Bell Street. Last call, whenever it came, would be the last last call: Gilhouly’s was closing for good.

“They want me out at midnight,” Simone said from behind the bar. “I tried to meet with them to talk things over. And if they didn’t like what I had to say, then, sure, tell me to go jump in the river. But I guess they weren’t interested.”

Simone was referring to the Jang family, which owns all the real estate on the south side of the block on 39th Street between Bell and Genesee streets. That includes 1721 W. 39th St., home to Gilhouly’s since 1995, when brothers Kenny and Dennis Daub bought a corner bar called Huck Finn’s and renamed it after a character in the John Ford film “Donovan’s Reef” (though the character is spelled “Gilhooley” in the film).

But for much of its life, Gilhouly’s has been an Irish bar owned by Italians. Simone bought the bar eight years ago from his brother-in-law, C.J. Mandacina, inheriting the lease.

Jennifer Jang was Simone’s primary contact on the property. But she died in 2022, and other members of her family took over the real estate holdings.

“Jennifer was an active landlord,” Simone said. “If you had an issue — water, A/C — she’d come by. These new guys, I’ve never even seen them. And then a few months ago they gave me a ‘We’re not going to renew your lease’ notice.’”

Jang’s family could not be reached Monday for comment.

Through Block Real Estate, the property’s management company, Simone said he tried to broker some kind of alternative deal. He was willing to take on a new partner at the bar, or sell it to a new owner. No dice.

“Then I got a message from Block at 4:30 p.m. (Saturday) where they’re trying to tell me I owed two months’ rent but they’d be willing to accept the bar’s furnishings as payment,” Simone said, adding that he didn’t owe any back rent. “I was willing to sell the TVs and the coolers and tables and everything to somebody. But not like this. I’m not going to let them steal it. I spent $200,000 to buy this business.”

He knocked on the wood of the bar. “This is a 60-year-old bar,” Simone said. “I resurfaced it when I bought this place. I’ll take it out with hammers and nails if I have to.”

Simone said a Block agent told him a few months ago that the Jangs had a new potential tenant interested in opening a bar in the space and were not interested in purchasing Simone’s liquor license. Gilhouly’s has a tavern license, which are rare and valuable in Kansas City because they do not require the operators to serve food. The city rarely issues them.

“A new owner would have to put in ADA (compliant) bathrooms — we were grandfathered in, so we didn’t have to change them — and a kitchen, and this is only an 1,100-square-foot space,” Simone said. “I don’t think they understand that.”

Block Real Estate did not respond to a request for comment.

Simone said he’s been looking into opening something in the Crossroads or the Garment District but isn’t sure what his next steps will be.

“I like this neighborhood better when it’s full of small places, like (now-closed) Bob Wasabi and D.B. Cooper’s,” he said. “Things are getting pretty commercialized here lately, and it’s taking away the neighborhood feel. Or, that’s what I think. I don’t know. I guess it’s up to the customers to decide.”

A bartender called across the bar.

“Hey, Joe,” she said, “when are we closing tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Simone said. “I guess we close once we have this place cleaned out.”