Baseball legend Jackie Robinson lived here while playing for the Kansas City Monarchs

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

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

The couple started their business in 1903 with a small restaurant on Troost. That grew into a restaurant on 18th Street, and eventually a 60-room hotel that was listed in the famous “Negro Motorist Green Book.”

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

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

After Ella’s death 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 of the street. Its most recent tenant was the now-defunct Soiree Steakhouse and Oyster Bar.

But a block east, the Blue Room lives on: a small nightclub featuring live music inside the International Jazz Museum.

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