Waldo is one of my favorite hoods in Kansas City. I think it has a very distinct, unique identity and sense of community, very appealing features in any neighborhood. It is an area where local restaurants and retailers have been allowed to thrive from Lew's to Waldo Pizza to Dave the Lampmaker to the Gaf.

We nearly moved to Waldo instead of Roeland Park, and to this day I think we made the wrong decision. We're looking to relocate again. So tell me more about wonderful Waldo! How well is the neighborhood doing? What does the future hold for Waldo?

Joyce Smith: Where's Waldo

Max, you're welcome anytime to come by and see the new house and get a neighborhood tour.  All of my new neighbors are super nice and awesome.  The house next to me are middle aged and have 3 kids, 17,15 and a younger one.  One the other side of me is a married couple probably in their early 30s.  Across the street is an elderly couple.  It's very varied and the neighborhood is tight-knit.  The homes association is strong and sucessfully petitioned the city to allow parking on only one side of my street so people could actually drive without having head-on collisions.  I'm walking distance to everything I need and I walk to Sutherlands, 75th St. Brewery, Walgreens, Chipotle, Waldo Bar, etc.  The only thing I'm missing is a good coffee shop.  Little place on Wornall is apparently closed.  I even walk to the barber.

Went in Bobby Baker's Lounge for the first time last night.  Very interesting place, like I walked into the 70s.  PBR is $1.50 I think, Boulevard was $3.50 (which is what I had, friend had PBR)  I liked the vibe though, nice relaxing atmosphere and not too noisey.  The little booths along the wall are what makes it a "lounge" I guess.

Send me a pm if you and the wife would like to see it.  I'm a huge proponent of Waldo and think I made the right decision.  I didn't get a house with a turret entryway like I wanted, but we can't have everything.  http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=39.003094,-94.58205&spn=0.007871,0.013733&z=16&layer=c&cbll=38.999139,-94.582875&panoid=5UbHV-r38_MQE5K0acqqIw&cbp=1,211.1823141862297,,1,-6.743369243026642

waldo is a great area.  there are a lot of independently-owned businesses, great homes for nearly all budgets, good accessibility to brookside, the plaza, and ne joco (but not great for downtown commuting), and a generally laidback streetcar-suburban vibe.  great mix of people, very friendly.  family-friendly as well. 

I believe there is a coffee shop right around the corner from SRO Video on Oak.

latteland at 79th and state line is fairly close as well.

When we moved back to waldo in '96 our block and most of our neighborhood was elderly, now it is much younger. I enjoy Waldo and it has most of what I need in my day-to-day in walking distance. We are missing a grocery store.  This Saturday Night is the Waldo Faldo Crawldo, and doesn't cost to join in the fun, or if you want to ride the shuttle bus to Murphys, Tassos and Pactricks, and enter for prizes its $5 in advance and $10 on Saturday.
Chrizow, I will have to disagree about the downtown commuting, the Max starts at 75th and Wornall and lots of parking to park and ride. Also the "Holmes/Rockhill express" is a little over 10 minuets to downtown.

very true.  it's awesome that waldo has two great bus lines nearby.  i was just making the obvious point that it takes a lot longer to go from 75th/broadway to downtown than from the Plaza or midtown.  it takes me 5 minutes to get downtown from near 45th and gillham, whereas from waldo it is more like 15-20 minutes.  not a big deal though, esp. if you don't work downtown. 

Forgot about the coffee shop by SRO.  I've been there before a bout a year ago, cute little place.

I will be taking the Max everyday once I start living in my house (still living at the apt, just moving stuff over gradually.)  And what do you know, I can walk to that too!

Haven't been to Avenues Bistro, any recommendations?

EDIT...I know that's actually Brookside....

meh.  the brunch was tasty enough, but it felt weird to pay $55 + tip for two omelets, two coffees, and two mimosas.  the dinner menu looks a lot better than it tastes.  for that kind of coin, there are much better places to go in this town.

I've been there once and felt out of place mainly because it seems pretty popular with the seniors.  Food was average for the price.

That said...when the prime rib urges strikes us on Sundays, we sometimes get it as takeout from there.  They do a good job with that.  Brookside Market does a prime rib on Sundays as well.

I agree the food's only decent, but when we went last year I thought the bang for the buck was terrific:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 25#p140925

Did they stop with the antipasto and pastry buffet at brunch?

How many 2 x 4's can you carry home at one time?  How many walking trips for the peat moss and fertilizer?  Or for the bags of plaster?

I am a hoss, that's all there is too it.  I did walk down today to get a pint of roofing tar to slather in my leaky gutter. 

Heard yesterday a rumor about Coffee Girls coming to Waldo- somewhere over by Kennedy's.  Can anyone confirm this?

I wonder what this will mean for the One More Cup coffee shop they have been working on around the corner?

Had not heard that but the Gown Gallery is closing next to the bike shop.  I have had several bad experiences at CG, I will most likely be patronizing one more cup when it opens. 

It should be open any day now, shouldn't it?  I can't wait!

I heard the same rumor about Coffee Girls, yes although I'm not 100% sure of the location....

Is there anything further rumored about "Lew's II"?  They mentioned it in a nice feature article in the Star a few months back, but I haven't seen anything.  Where the owners of Lew's were going to put in a second bar in the vicinity of Tanners I think.  A Houlihan's type menu with a rooftop deck.  When it is nice out I would NEVER leave that place if this comes to fruit..... 

I haven't gone to the Coffee Girls on a regular basis since I stopped working in the Crossroads. If they are opening up near my hood, I would be interested.

What problems did you have? Bad coffee? Bad service?

Tanner's. Like the River Market Brewery. But without the brewery.  The Lew's you described sounds awesome.

Bad service and understaffed the weekends I have gone. Had a rude Batista or two. 

It's none of my business really, but what caused the Coffee Girl split a few years ago?