I often wondered what causes people to become upset about a closing of a business, but be completely unmoved by other closings or downsizing. Is it the history, nostalgia or tradition? Job losses, growing unemployment, shrinking tax base? The answer most likely is the smell, which probably explains all the commotion around the closing of the Folgers plant downtown. Folgers is not the first Kansas City or Downtown company to close, but other businesses quietly drifted away into oblivion without Facebook support groups and Twitter followers. It must be the smell of coffee…

One of the downtown businesses that is still around but way past its former glory is the AT&T Long Lines building at 1425 Oak. It still serves as a long-distance hub for the Kansas City area, but there are only few people left working there, down from over 1,700 who were employed in call centers and various business departments, as well as the training facility, cafeteria and whatever else made the biggest phone company in the world ring. Every long-distance phone call made in Kansas City went through this building. Built in several stages and completed in the 70’s it was an example of a secure, earthquake- and explosion-proof architecture of the Cold War years. Inside were the technological marvels still impressive to this day; the phone company led the technological progress from the invention of the transistor, to the TV transmissions, communication satellites, and computing.

Yet when the calling centers were closing and the people were let go, no one shed a tear. The shareholders probably received a nice payout.

Nowadays, not too many people walk on these rugs.

Granite-lined lobby is empty.

The bells are still in the floor but not in the company logo any longer.


Once-thriving market for the microchip-themed wallpaper is long-gone.

No one is taking a break in the cafeteria.

No one is enjoying the view.

Lonely scales remembers the times before the obesity epidemic…

…and the Oak Street Deli no longer serves thousands of meals a week.

Built-for-the-ages door springs are not getting a workout…

…and there is no need for the old light fixture to be on.

No one is calling “Dottie”…

…and a mailbox is collecting nothing but dust.

Retired carrier pigeons who used to deliver messages to the far-flung places like Wellington,MO are still hanging around in the building.

This building is full of history and pride, and the calls that went trough these switches and cables reunited many people in times of happiness and trouble; it stands as a reminder of the time when a long-distance call was an event, albeit pricey, but still a something to remember.

The old Long Lines building still had its last laugh, it shows up in many photographs towering over the Sprint Center for a little free publicity.


Maybe it’s a better legacy than a worthless Facebook group.

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The Chapel at Precious Moments is just as beautiful as the Sistine Chapel. I have been to both. Obviously Precious Moments was painted in a more modern style, but they are on the same level. Amazing Place!

No. I did not make this up.

I’ve seen many things during my travels but the Precious Moments gift store and attached Chapel take the cake for being the strangest, creepiest place I’ve ever been to.

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Every time I visit my friends and relatives on the East Coast the question I am being asked the most is “when will you finally move here”. I have to admit that it’s a pretty tempting idea that ocasionally visits me since I moved to Kansas City almost 16 years ago.

After all they have things like:

Broadway

Nathan’s Hot Dogs and PotatoE Balls:

Skyline, Empire State Building and The Statue of Liberty

Astroland at Coney Island

Ocean with $2,000,000 condos facing it.

Mermaids

Russian Stores and Restaurants

People who mastered parallel parking

So why do I come home every time to the city that doesn’t have any of it? Maybe that’s the reason – it doesn’t have any of it.

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This photo attracted my attention with a sign in the window “Whiskey Sold By Case”:

Then, upon closer examination, I noticed a poster in the window promoting V-Mail.

V-mail stands for Victory Mail. It was based on the similar British “Airgraph” system for delivering mail between those at home in the United States and troops serving abroad during World War II. V-mail correspondence worked by photographing large amounts of censored mail reduced to thumb-nail size onto reels of microfilm, which weighed much less than the original would have. The film reels were shipped by priority air freight (when possible) to the US, sent to prescribed destinations for enlarging at a receiving station near the recipient, and printed out on lightweight photo paper. These facsimiles of the letter-sheets were reproduced about one-quarter the original size and the miniature mail was delivered to the addressee.
I didn’t find the exact same poster, so here are few other ones.

Visit Smithsonian online exhibition about V-Mail.

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Continuing with the old Soviet photos, the next batch was taken at a typical school.
Wood-shops were very popular in schools even in my day, not to mention 30-40 years before that, when people were still rebuilding after the war.
In this photo the kid is learning pyrography or wood burning. Many parents received these works of charred art as presents, but due to my lack of talent and patience my parents had to satisfy their decorating needs elsewhere.

 

Another tool for patience development was a coping saw (I had to look this up in the dictionary). Hours of trying to follow the intricate ornaments usually ended with an ugly piece of plywood with holes and a pile of sawdust.

I don’t want to get repetitive here but I sucked at the wood lathe as well.

This looks like a biology or natural sciences classroom. Sometimes there was a fish tank or a pet hamster to add to the atmosphere of learning.

By the time I was going to school the uniforms changed to a less military style but the pioneer ties and bows in girls’ hair remained.

This looks like the 1st or 2nd grade…

…4th or 5th…

and this is probably the 8th grade.

After-school pioneer meetings were pretty common, but for the life of me I can’t remember what we discussed. Another type of a meeting was a “political minute” when kids presented current news and world events, usually positive happenings from our socialist friends and exploitation news from the capitalist countries.

Musical schools were separate from the general education and required mostly talent-based admission, so the music lessons in a regular school were mostly singing and learning about composers.

Nurse’s office:

Some extra-curricular activities:
Chess was huge, Soviet chess champions were treated as national heroes and people closely followed and replayed championship matches.

Dancing:

Although I entered the school in 1976 it’s amazing how relatively little the things have changed since the 50’s. I still learned to use an abacus and a slide rule, and ballpoint pens were still considered an enemy of good penmanship. Mine was probably the last generation to get a complete Soviet school experience.

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