I shot this from atop the Liberty Memorial Tower: the only National monument to, World War One, in the entire country.

The Plaza light display every Holiday season, is just one of the many reasons why I love this city.

This is a locally famous landmark. It's so beautiful up there. Of course it too is all but ruined now. The local homosexuals enjoy rendevous up there, making it all but impossible for normal, decent family folks to go up after dark to see the city lights. Of course you can't say that because then you're a homophobe. Woops. Too late. I said it.

Next to the shuttle cocks, this is the largest waste of tax payers money I can see. However, if we have to pay for it, we may as well take a bloody picture of it.

Union Station & the Kansas City Skyline in August 2008.

This is hallowed ground. It's where the Thiefs tend to lose big, on national television. Boy do they stink!

This house was taken & retaken several times, by both Union & Confederate troops, during the Battle of Lexington. Eventually it was used as a field hospital, again for both sides.

I got lucky with this shot. The flash went off the very instant the fireworks exploaded.

The Royals are both worse & better than the Thiefs. They're worse because they're often the worst playing team in Major League Baseball. They're much better however in that they don't boast to the City each season that they're bringing home the World Series Pennant.

You've no idea how cold it was that night.

Based in Kansas City, restored by retired TWA mechanics, it is hangared at Charles B. Wheeler Airport, Kansas City Missouri.

Ready for demolition

Circa 1820

One of the two best Barbeque Restaraunts in town.

Our Humble Home

This is an old picture, but the place looks the same as it did five years ago when I took this shot.

Located in the heart of Kansas City's Jazz District, 18th & Vine.

Standing in the middle of Truman Road. What a moron.

Looking north from Penn Valley Park

Oldest building in Kansas City. In the 1850's it was a general store. It was also used as a stop off for the underground railroad. Wild Bill Cody once owned this building. Also, settlers purchasing supplies for the journey west across the Oregon Trail stopped here. Now of course it's just a kick ass bar.

The shuttle cocks are the largest waste of taxpayers money since, well, welfare.

Completed in 1954, this bridge finally connected downtown proper to the airport & the growing Northland.

Umm. This neighborhood is as gloomy as the mural itself, along with the weather. You never want to venture into serious Indian country like this without a little help from Sam Colt.

The Plaza was one of the country's first "shopping districts", & was created by Jesse Clyde Nichols in 1927. Now of course it's the home of our locally famed, "Plaza Lights" which burn every Thanksgiving through early January.

Kansas City is a town full of murals. This one honors the original settlers.

One of Kansas City's oldest cemeteries, looking west into downtown.

Farmer's bring in their produce & sell it fresh every Saturday.

Higginsville Missouri, just outside Kasnas City

Monument on the steps of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department. One of my favorite monuments in the City. Strong police officer, protecting the young & the weak. Very, very cool.

Kansas City's only 100 year old theatre.

Ford is about as creative as where they put their plant. Nobody could come up with a name for the new city so they called it Claycomo. "Clay-County-Missouri". I'm not really a Ford guy, but I think they put together the F-150 & the Escape in Claycomo.

This is one of the oldest buildings downtown. It was occupied as early as 1890. It was an insurnace building then as well.

"God" is everywhere. Even hiding behind bushes, watching to see if you slip up. If you do, you'll be punished. Know why? Because God "LOVES" you, that's why you moron.

Another of Kansas City's murals

I've toured this house several times. It's owned by the Federal Parks Department & they also give the tours. It's kept just as it was when Truman lived there. The house is remarkably simple.

A Kansas City tradition, started in 1940. Everyone native to Kansas City has heard of & eaten at, Winsteads.

Our Nation's only monument to The Great War, dedicated in 1921. Just one more place the local homosexual community ruined for years, using it as a place to "meet & greet". Recently however it's had a multimillion dollar facelift, and thankfully the City took it back. What a cool place. The initial picture in this gallery was taken from atop this monument.

One of the top ten rated Military Academies west of the Mississippi. Yours truly is an alumnis. I hated that place while I was there, but am grateful beyond description to have attended.

A Northland tradition since 1955. I have eaten at this restaraunt since I was a toddler. I took my wife on our first dinner date here. We still eat Hayes once a month or so. I'm convinced that their burgers may be able to cure cancer.

Lots of concerts are held here. Used to be the home of the Kansas City Kings & the Kansas City Blades, before we drove them both out on a rail. Now, on the backs of the taxpayers, we're building a brand new arena because as you can see, this one is simply not fit. Damned Democrats.

Brush Creek runs along the Plaza & is one of Kansas City's most desireable real estate districts.

As far as I'm concerned, "THE" best place in the City for BBQ. My wife on the other hand, holds a much different opinion.

Hocus Pocus, KCPD's at 12th & Locust.

This mural was part of a City beautification program completed in the late 1970's.

One of the oldest restaruants in the City, founded in 1921. After the bars in Westport close you can find all kinds of creatures lurking around here. One morning about 0300 I was there with a friend of mine & commented that our waitress was the ugliest woman I'd ever seen. He replied, "you moron ... that's a man". Sure enough, his adams apple was bigger than mine. A town of freaks I tell ya.

Learn to be a professional beggar HERE!

Some of the finest steaks in the City, since 1957.

Saint Patrick's Day is about the only religious activity I observe anymore. Kansas City has the third largest St. Paddy's parade in the country, behind only New York & Chicago in size. We count on 250,000 people or more each year. Okay, so it's a little bit political, but loads of fun. Almost a third of the City can claim Irish decent.

Scott, Colt, Matt, Pat, Dominick, and, Dan ... or so I'm told by an anonymous signer to my guestbook.

If you don't mind carrying a gun & taking it with you deep into "Indian Country", Town Slopic is one of the best places south of the river for a greasy burger. Their slogan is, "It Aint Healthy, But It Sure Tastes Good".

Kansas City's premiere Amusement Park.

This shot was taken from across a four lane highway. That Sony 707 rocked!

Bloody Bill Anderson was a pro-Confederate guerrilla leader in the American Civil War, known for his brutality towards Union soldiers and pro-Union civilians in Missouri and Kansas. He's buried in Pioneer Cemetery, Richmond Missouri, just outside Kansas City. Yes the birthdate on this stone is wrong ... and I can prove such.

William Clarke Quantrill, pseudonym Charley Hart, Captain of a guerrilla band irregularly attached to the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, notorious for the sacking of the free-state stronghold of Lawrence, Kansas, 21 August 1863, in which at least 150 people were burned or shot to death. His arm & shinbone are buried here. He's buried in the Cenfederate Cemetery, in Higginsville Missouri, just outside Kansas City.

Alexander Francis James was his birth name. This is a private, fenced plot, in a very small cemetery surrounded by houses. Unless you know what you're looking for, you'll never find it.

Confederate Soldier. Robber. Murderer.

American outlaw, b. Jackson County, Missouri. After the Civil War he joined the outlaw band of Jesse James, with whom he had served as a Confederate guerrilla under William C. Quantrill. He became a trusted and influential member of the gang. With two of his brothers, James and Robert, Cole was captured after an unsuccessful attempt to rob the bank at Northfield, Minn. (1876), and all three were sentenced to life imprisonment. Largely through the efforts of Capt. Warren C. Bronaugh, a Confederate veteran, who alleged that the brothers had been driven into crime by persecution of their family during the Civil War, Cole and James were paroled in 1901. Robert had died in prison in 1889. James committed suicide in 1902, but Cole Younger, completely pardoned in 1903, returned to Missouri, where he lectured, traveled with a wild West show, and worked peacefully at various jobs.

He was an American criminal and outlaw, the younger brother of Cole and Jim Younger, he was a member of the James-Younger gang.

Born in Missouri on October 29, 1853, Robert was the thirteenth of fourteen children born to Henry Washington Younger and Bersheba Leighton Fristoe. During the Civil War his brothers Cole and Jim rode with Quantrill's Raiders. Bob was only 8 when the war broke out in 1861. He saw his father killed by Union soldiers and his home burned to the ground.

After the war, his brothers formed the James-Younger gang with Frank and Jesse James. For ten years the gang robbed banks, trains, and stage coaches across Missouri, Kansas, and other nearby states. Bob Younger is believed to have first joined the gang in 1873.

The James-Younger Gang had its origins in a group of Confederate bushwhackers who fought in the bitter partisan conflict that wracked the divided state of Missouri during the American Civil War. This group's postwar crimes began in 1866, though it did not truly become the "James-Younger Gang" until 1868 at the earliest, when the authorities first named Cole Younger and both the James brothers as suspects in the robbery of the Nimrod Long bank in Russellville, Kentucky. It dissolved in 1876, after the capture of the Younger brothers in Minnesota. Three years later, Jesse James organized a new gang and renewed his criminal career, which came to an end with his death in 1882. During the gang's period of activity, it robbed banks, trains, and stagecoaches in Missouri, Kentucky, Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, and West Virginia.

Thomas Theodore Crittenden (January 1, 1832–May 29, 1909) was a U.S. army officer and political figure. Born in 1832 in Shelbyville, Kentucky, he served as governor of Missouri from 1881 to 1885 and was the nephew of John Crittenden. He died in 1909 in Kansas City, Missouri, and is buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri. During the American Civil War he was a Colonel in the 7th Missouri State Militia Cavalry.

Crittenden offered a reward of $10,000 for the capture of Jesse James dead or alive which resulted in Robert Ford killing the outlaw in 1882.

Crittenden's son Thomas Theodore Crittenden Jr. was a mayor of Kansas City.

Thomas Theodore Crittenden was a nephew of Congreessman John Jordan Crittenden

Western Frontiersman. In 1855 he bought a farm south of Kansas City on State Line Road. It ran from 103rd to 107th Street and east to Wornall Road. On the crest of the hill south of Indian Creek he built a stone farmhouse. There he died, aged 77 and blind. He was buried about 200 yards northwest of 101st and Jefferson Streets, in Stubbins Watts cemetery, where he lay for almost 25 years. His remains were disinterred and reinterred in Mount Washington Cemetery through the efforts of Major General Granville M. Dodge and John Colton, in 1904.

First Mayor of Westport Missouri. The town no longer exists, where it was is within the city limits of Kansas City Missouri now. He's buried in Union Cemetery, officially, the oldest cemetery in Kansas City.

Physician, city father, early entrepreneur in Kansas City, Missouri. He had served as hospital steward in the Army of Napoleon. Arriving here in the early 1840s, Dr. Troost's first wife soon died. In 1846 Troost married the young widow, Mrs. Mary Kennerly. She was a favorite niece of the wealthy and prominent bachelor, William Gilliss. Dr. Troost was physician, city father and early entrepreneur. At the sale of lots of the Town Company of Kansas in 1846, he bought five. In 1849 as the California gold rush peaked, Troost and his wife's uncle built the town's first brick hotel. Situated near the river, the Gilliss House stood at the corner of Delaware and Wyandotte Streets. >From 1850 Dr. Troost served as a trustee of our Town. He was elected a city councilman. But on February 8, 1859, the kindly doctor died at age 72. He was buried in the old Catholic cemetery beside his first wife. Later when that burying ground was closed, both were moved to Mt. St. Mary's cemetery. There the second Mrs. Troost erected a monument, oddly inscribed. Instead of "Benoist" Troost, it reads "Benoit" Troost. The doctor's widow Mary lived another 13 years. Her late uncle, William Gilliss, had left his considerable fortune to her. She, in turn, devoted most of it to creating the Gillis Orphans' Home in his memory.

First mayor of Kansas City Missouri, defeated Dr. Benoist Troost. There were only 63 voters at the time. He helped write the city charter and signed Kansas City’s first laws. Left office after only 10 months, when it was discovered that he didn't live within the corporate limits of the city as required by the city charter. In 1849 cholera killed many people, including Gregory's first wife Elizabeth. Gregory then married her sister Mary. A southern sympathizer during the civil war, he moved to St. Louis, but returned after the war and operated a wholesale grocery business. Died after a long illness of kidney failure. In 1930 a resident of Kansas City Missouri called attention to the fact that no street had ever been named for Kansas City's first mayor, William Gregory. 71st Street was renamed in his honor to Gregory Boulevard. There are ten other Kansas City Missouri mayors buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

Bachelor, founding father of Kansas City Missouri. This was the originaly spelling of his name. He's buried in Union Cemetery, Kansas City's oldest cemeteries.

John Bristow Wornall; southern sympathizer, local philanthropist, business man, founding father.

A businessman and philanthropist, he was a bachelor and a multi-millionaire. At age 52 he married, stating that he'd put $1 million in his wifes name, and he intended to give away the rest of his fortune. From then until his death, he did just that, often anonymously. Among other things, he donated the land for the University of Kansas City, now the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Volker Road and Volker park were named in his honor. (Bio by Bill Walker)

Thomas Pendergast was a wealthy Kansas City businessman who also ran Kansas City's political machine. It was through his influence that Harry Truman achieved political success. When Truman first went to the US Senate, he was known as "The Senator from Pendergast." Pendergast was eventually jailed for fraud. Many demonized him, but even today, he is recognized for making great contributions to the economic success of the city where he lived.

Co founder of Hallmark Cards. Born in David City Nebraska

Jesse Clyde Nichols (August 23, 1880 - February 16, 1950), better known as J. C. Nichols, was a prominent developer of commercial and residential real estate in Kansas City. He was born in Olathe, Kansas, attended the University of Kansas and Harvard University. His developments include the Country Club Plaza, the first suburban shopping center in the United States and the Country Club District, the largest contiguous master-planned community in the United States. He called his method "planning for permanence," for his objective was to "develop whole residential neighborhoods that would attract an element of people who desired a better way of life, a nicer place to live and would be willing to work in order to keep it better." Nichols invented the percentage lease, where rents are based tenants' gross receipts. The percentage lease is now a standard practice in commercial leasing across the United States. Nichols was prominent in Kansas City civic life, being involved in the creation of the Liberty Memorial, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Midwest Research Institute, as well as the development of Kansas City University, now the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906–June 8, 1982)[1] was an American baseball player who pitched in several different Negro Leagues and in Major League Baseball.

A right-handed pitcher, Paige's professional playing career lasted from the mid-1920s until 1965 He appeared in the Major League All-Star Game in both 1952 and 1953.

He's buried in Forest Home Cemetery, Kansas City Missouri.

Charles "Bird" Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Early in his career Parker was dubbed "Yardbird" (there are many contradictory stories of the name's origin [1]). It was later shortened to "Bird" and remained Parker's nickname for the rest of his life and inspiration for the titles of his works, such as "Yardbird Suite," "Ornithology," & "Bird Feathers".

The Cowtown goes classy.

Again, one of the most recognizable views in the city. This time however, my lovely wife caught the shot with the fountains actually on. I didn't even know they came on & off.

Another view from atop the Liberty Memorial Monument to the Great War, 1914-1918.

This is a newer area of the city. It was recently blasted from what was our version of urban blight. The city condemed a group of city blocks, taxed the citizens millions, and put up this "safe haven" area of businesses surorunding the new Sprint Center arena.

The Kansas City Power & Light building has been a city fixture here for decades. The top of the building changes from red to white every few seconds.

The blue trees along side Main Street as it passes through the Power & Light District, caught my eye.

Running through the Power & Light District. I liked this shot as it showed the beauty of the city, the decorative holiday lights, as well as the reality of a construction zone which begets that beauty.

Looking south on Main, right around 15th street.

The blue lights were stuck on the trees through the Power & Light District, but I liked them anyway.

I did not take this photograph, but I wanted it to display next to the shot I did take at night.

The same theatre at night.

I caught this guy at our local zoo.

This was an early digital capture of mine, with a rather primitive zoom lens.

We were asleep in our own home, when a neighbor smelled gas. They called the local authorities, who showed up at our front door. When we failed to hear them knocking ... they came right in. I can downstairs to see THIS guy, coming through our front window!

One of the most 'Useless' pieces of Art, I have ever seen. Sadly, Kansas City is home to 'many' pieces of 'Useless Art'.

Holiday lighting at its best!

Kansas City Zoo

They flew by so fast, I 'almnost' missed these guys!