Black and white photo of a multi-story building with a restaurant named 'Muehlebach' on the ground floor. The building has multiple windows and distinctive arched awnings over the entrance and windows on the lower level. Several cars are parked along the street in front.

HOTEL MUEHLEBACH

Opened as part of the Hotel Muehlebach in 1915 by George Muehlebach of the Muehlebach Beer Company (open until 1956, bought by Schlitz), brands including Muehlebach Pilsener (this recipe is now used for Boulevard’s Pilsner), Muehlebach Special Beer, Muehlebach Lager Beer, Malt Liquor by Muehlebach, Kroysen and San Miquel.

Photographs of the Muehlebach Hotel Bar at 1210 Baltimore Avenue showing its historic exterior with a rounded marquee and interior with a long bar and wood-paneled walls.

Open book showing pages of text about Kansas City history, gamblers, prohibition, Baltimore Avenue, and the Kansas City Club, with a black-and-white photo of a man in a suit and hat.

Originally named Rendezvous (maybe?), but had a few names including The Haberdashery – named after Harry Truman’s (a frequent, cigar-smoking guest) hat shop.

Black and white vintage photo of young boys playing musical instruments, including a trumpet, saxophone, violin, banjo, and piano, in a band called 'Coon-Sanders Novelty Orchestra', with a large sign displaying the band name and location.

In the 1920’s The Coon Sanders Orchestra performed on a late night radio broadcast nationwide in the basement below Voo on WDAF Radio. These pioneering broadcasts were among the first nationwide late night broadcasts. Surely they or their fans (known as Nighthawks) would swing by Rendezvous on their way out at midnight (or later).

Image from Missouri Valley Special Collections

Vintage passport photo of a young man with dark hair wearing a suit and tie, against a taped background of United States passports.

Image from Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Ernest Hemingway, while a Cub Reporter for the Kansas City Star used to sleep in the Pressroom of the Muehlebach Hotel’s bathtub to avoid the long trolley ride home. Did his love of whiskey and good cigars get him through the doors a few times?

The cover of a book titled 'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote with a beige background and black and maroon text.

Truman Capote was a regular in Rendezvous and legend has it that he wrote a few chapters of In Cold Blood while sitting in one of its booths.