Will the historic Rockhill Tennis Club live to tell the story?
The controversial booting of the 95 year-old tennis and swim club from its home by landlord the Nelson-Atkins Museum has been a sore subject. Both with current neighbors unhappy about the Nelson converting the club to offices, and people living near Nelly Don Mansion, the club’s proposed future home at 52nd and Cherry.
The latest?
“The Rockhill club was going to close after New Year’s Eve but now they’re saying they may close quietly at the end of November,” says former Shawnee councilwoman Tracy Thomas who dined at the club Friday.
The reason: “Because they have no business,” Thomas says. “The pool is closed and they can’t afford to keep the doors open for four diners on a Friday night. We ate there Friday and had a fabulous meal, but we were the only people there at 8:30 p.m. besides a
smartman
It’s a pisser when KC’s rich folks can’t raise 1.2 mil.That’s only 120 people at 10 grand each. Hell, even I can afford to play in that game.
Rainbow Man
Are we supposed to feel sorry for the Rockhill Tennis Club when they have been abandoned by the KC Elite? Mothball it and someone will reopen it in ten years. They wonder why it is going under. It is called the suburbs people. The only people that live in the urban core or even Mission Hills/ Country Club with money are 98 years old. Not exactly tennis age. The others are the Brookside Waldo Hyper Liberal Winesipper Dog Parkers. A country club to them represents class discrimination… They would rather drive their Volvos do a country dinner on some goat farm.
What we need is freaking public transportation so we can make it easier and safer to live in the urban core for younger people.
bobabab
Fuck rockhill. Who cares. Rainbow man…the reason no young people live in mission hills is because of the ridiculous home prices. Public transportation will not change that.
JAM
Hearne — please get rid of Tony. He is a racist and is destroying your site. Giving him a platform to further divide will eventually cause your site to lose viewers and fail.
Sol Romano
Tracy Thomas is your sole source? Journalism at its finest.
Michael Grimaldi
I am Michael Grimaldi, a member of the board of governors of the Rockhill Tennis Club. Speaking for myself and not for the board, I’m pleased to clarify misperceptions about the club and our plans for the club
hearne
Hats off to Mr. Grimaldi for weighing in. But the fact is that Thomas ate dinner there Friday with members who openly discussed the club’s difficulties and the club management opted not to face the music and answer questions or clarify its plans.
It is/was/may yet be a really cool club, but it’s fortunes have been on the wane by my measure for several years. That’s a sad thing.If the club does or did indeed have something solid to say in terms of addressing the many concerns of its hoped for move and hoped for survival, it’d be nice for them to go on the record and clear the air.
Rainbow Man
The old WASP set has been protecting their Crown Center haven for years while the Jews and Catholics have been donating and working their tails off and making things happen. Yeah, those Jews, Irish, and Italians aren’t sequestered on the North End, East Side, South Side, and KCK anymore. See… Helzberg, Bloch, Copaken, Glazer, Kelly, Cosentino…They are making things happen, and have been making things happen.
The “Establishment” is dead, and even Rockhill is now reinventing itself.
Let the robber baron inheritees from the Industrial Revolution fade away. Let them have their racist Kansas City Club and Mission Hills CC. They forced Tom Watson, one of the greatest golfers that ever lived, to decide to separate himself from them for crying out loud.
Let them eat at The American Restaurant, chock full of furniture from the Reagan era.
Rutherford T. Snootcake
Take that, Grimaldi, If the club won’t talk to a sleeze/trust=fund baby like Hearne, then they’re stonewalling.
hearne
BTW Ruthy, did you notice that Mr. Grimaldi – who did bother to drop in seven graphs about the club – did not refute any of the points made by Thomas?