The Ship

About The Ship

The Ship has the best resurrection story in Kansas City nightlife. The original lounge opened in 1935, just after the repeal of Prohibition, at 10th and Oak downtown — reportedly by Ethel Mae Wright — and from 1950 it was run by Mike Salvato and Tony Cropis for decades, boarding, as the house history puts it, "all passengers regardless of class or means": judges and politicians alongside hoodlums. The city took its berth for Ilus Davis Park in 1995, and the room was presumed lost.

It wasn't. The original interior had been salvaged and stored in a West Bottoms warehouse basement, where Josh Mobley and Bob Asher found it in 2004. They spent years reconstructing the lounge — the curved bar, the nautical fittings, the glow of it — at 1221 Union Avenue, and The Ship relaunched in 2014 in the heart of the West Bottoms.

Today it is a classic cocktail lounge with casual dining and live music most nights — jazz, roots, soul and whatever else fits the room. "Your joint since 1935," the sign says. Against the odds, that's simply true.

More Kansas City jazz rooms

Browse the full directory of Kansas City jazz venues, compare the city's clubs in our Kansas City jazz clubs guide, or see who's playing tonight. More rooms to know: The Majestic, The Phoenix and Vine Street Brewing Co.‍ ‍