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A new bar at a historic Midtown tavern site started Saturday with the opening of Woody’s Classic Sports Pub.
The space at 3740 Broadway, most recently the Vandals Punk Rock Club, was in past decades Kenny’s News Room, a joint that could have played in a noir novel.
Owner Jeff Edmondson outside Woody’s Sports Bar.
The owners of the new gay-friendly bar there are Jeff Edmondson and Dr. Eric Christensen, who also own the Hamburger Mary’s restaurant and manage the Industry Bar, both in the nearby Uptown Theater building.
Edmondson said they are excited about the comeback in an area that is now called the Uptown Arts District.
“It was a great location once in Kansas City,” he said, “and it’s on the upswing again.”
They moved Hamburger Mary’s there from the Crossroads area last December, on the restaurant’s fifth anniversary.
Business for Mary’s is now steadier and meshes more with their clientele, he said.
Crossroads now gets the upscale theater set, he said, and Westport is attracting more middle aged, middle class people.
“Broadway is for locals,” Edmondson said. “It’s not real touristy – it’s where good, wholesome people go when they want to relax.”
Edmondson, 48, is a former advertising brand manager who was an Atlanta Braves fan as he grew up. He said Woody’s has the feel of an old time sports bar.
While it’s gay friendly like Mary’s, 80 percent of that restaurant and bar clientele is straight, he said.
“We are an open minded bar for open minded people,” he said. “We welcome all customers.”
That includes the many soccer fans and others who went to the former Vandals punk club, he said.
The opening was a soft one as they get the operation underway, he said, with a more lavish formal opening to come later.
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