Baseball legend Jackie Robinson lived in this place when playing for Kansas City Monarchs

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For more than thirty years, the corner of 18th Street and Paseo Boulevard was a very busy place. The building that occupied it was a popular spot for residents of what’s now known as Kansas City’s 18th & Vine Historic Jazz District, and with travelers who came to stay at the Street Hotel.

Or Street’s as it was often called—referring to its owners, Reuben and Ella Street .

The couple started business together in 1903 with a small restaurant on Troost. That led to an eatery in the 18th Street location, and eventually the 60-room hotel which was listed in the famed “Negro Motorist Green Book.”

The Blue Room Cocktail Lounge and Restaurant was a popular gathering place, as was the Rose Room, a second restaurant where numerous community gatherings were held. A barber shop, tailor shop and haberdashery also operated on the site.

In 1947, during his short stay with the Kansas City Monarchs, Jackie Robinson lived at the hotel.

After Ella died in 1953, Reuben sold the property. The new owner defaulted on the mortgage, and the hotel was sold at auction in 1960. It closed a few years later, and was eventually razed.

In the 1990s, a new building was erected on the historic corner. Its most recent tenant was the now-defunct Soiree Steakhouse and Oyster Bar.

But one block to the east, the Blue Room lives on—as a small nightclub offering live music inside the International Jazz Museum.

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