Originally named the Star Theater, the Gem was built in 1912 by the Shriner and PowEllson Amusement Company as a silent move palace serving Kansas City’s African American population.
Renamed the Gem in 1913, the theater did not have a concession area and primarily featured second-run westerns and action adventures – no live theater, vaudeville or jazz bands, just the “Pick of the Pictures, Properly Presented.” By the time motion pictures could talk in 1929, it had become an established fixture on 18th Street. Admission was priced at ten cents.
In 1923 it went under a major renovation, taking it from a simple one story building with a stucco front to a two story landmark with a baroque-style, white terracotta front and a balcony. Its ornate façade caused the Gem to be touted as a “work of art and triumph of engineering” by the Kansas City Call on January 11, 1924. Further renovations included the “V” type marquee erected in January 1942, a new ticket booth in 1945 and an enlargement of the balcony in March 1947.
The Gem Theater was the crown jewel of the 18th & Vine corridor, featuring everything from films and live theatre productions to dynamic live jazz performances. When Mayor Richard Berkley and then City Councilman Emanuel Cleaver spearheaded the revitalization of 18th & Vine in the 1980s, the Gem Theater became a centerpiece of the District’s renovation efforts and was purchased by the City of Kansas City, Missouri in 1990.
As a result of the vision and perseverance of Kansas City’s civic leaders, the Gem was restored into a beautiful, state-of the art 500 seat performance venue. The only one of its kind, the newly reconstructed Gem Theater now serves as host to the American Jazz Museum’s annual national jazz concert series, “Jammin’ at the Gem,” as well as community events, privately booked shows and theatre and dance productions.
Under the rule of Mob Boss Tom Pendergast, the 1920s, 30s and 40s saw the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District as an epicenter of activity, often coined as the “Paris of the Plains.” Compared to New York’s famed 52nd Street, 18th Street was the heart of the community where you could find everything from clothes to cars, doctors or dancing, and plenty of jazz, as the jam sessions lasted 24 hours a day. It was a community full of spirit, diversity, and an incredible hub of commerce, culture and entertainment.
18th & Vine was bristling and buzzing with a unique musical force, a scene ripe with riffs, built upon jumpin’ jazz blended with blues, Bird’s blossoming bebop, and Kansas City’s signature swing. This is the place where John Coltrane first met Charlie Parker - right on the corner of 18th & Vine - and the same area that nurtured the careers of legendary names like Count Basie, Big Joe Turner and Mary Lou Williams, and hundreds of others who shaped the sounds of jazz.
