12 Candles: The Corner of 12th Street and Vine Event Cache

During the late 19th and for most of the 20th century, one of the most notorious, fun and culturally important places in the United States was the neighborhood in Kansas City so wonderfully described in the iconic song "Kansas City".

I'm going to Kansas City
Kansas City here I come
I'm going to Kansas City
Kansas City here I come
They got some crazy little women there and I'm gonna get me one
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I'm gonna be standing on the corner
12th Street and Vine
I'm gonna be standing on the corner
12th Street and Vine  
With my Kansas City Baby and a bottle of Kansas City wine
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Well I might take a plane I might take a train
But if I have to walk I'm going just the same
I'm going to Kansas City
Kansas City here I come
They got some crazy little women
there and I'm gonna get me one

“Kansas City” is one of those songs with a combination of melody and lyrics that is unforgettable. Once it gets into your head, it’s hard to stop humming it!  However as any long time resident of KC will tell you there isn’t actually a 12^th and Vine intersection, well not anymore anyway.  The area around 12th Street and Vine was cleared amid urban renewal efforts in the 1970s, and the streets were realigned in 1977 - eliminating the famed intersection.   Regardless it’s actually at 18^th and Vine where the Jazz Museum is located that was a center of African-American culture in Kansas City as well as one of the cradles of American jazz.

So why did the songs writers Lieber and Stoller have the protagonist standing on the wrong corner, six blocks from the correct location? The answer is easy: when Lieber and Stoller wrote the song, “12th Street” fit the rhyme scheme better than “18th Street!”  Sound it out (standing on the corner of 18th Street and Vine) and you’ll see that they are very different!  So the songwriters took a bit of artistic liberty and immortalized a corner that no longer exists!

The song was originally released by Wilbert Harrison in 1959 and spent two weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts.  In 2001 his recording was given a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and has also been named as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Wilbert Harrison

Over the years Kansas City has been covered by some of music’s biggest names each adding their own flair and some even making changes to the lyrics.  Here are a few of note.

Fats Domino

The Beatles

Muddy Waters

James Brown

Little Richard

Rolling Stones

In 2005 at the previous location of 12^th and Vine Kansas City recommissioned the land and named it the "Goin' to Kansas City Plaza at 12th Street and Vine”.  To celebrate the upcoming Kansas City area Geocaching picnic lets meet here to take in the beauty and history of the area.

• Location: 12^th Street and Vine (Sort of)

• Date: Wednesday August 24^th

• Event Start: 5:12 PM

• Picture: 5:45 PM

• Raffle Drawing: 6:00 PM

• Event End: 6:12 PM

(All times are approximate)

A couple of items to note:

1. You must be present to win the drawing.

2. A multi cache by none other than guitarlizard starts nearby: http://coord.info/GC1VD0Z

3. If you find yourself with some time before the event the aforementioned Jazz Museum is just 6 short blocks south and well worth a visit. Find out more here: www.americanjazzmuseum.org

4. For more history on the area check out this article: http://library.umkc.edu/spec-col/club-kaycee/JAZZTEXT/18thvine.htm