Canyon Cafe
Canyon Cafe
In late February 1997, the Canyon Cafe, based in Dallas, Texas, opened at 4626 Broadway in Kansas City, Missouri. It occupied two stories above anchor tenants Pottery Barn and Barnes & Noble at the corner of 47th and Broadway on the Country Club Plaza. It served Tex-Mex fare in a casual and colorful space until 2005 when it, and many other restaurants that year, saw dwindling customer visits, forcing a concept, name and menu change by its owners. Its fixtures and neon sign were sold.
Enter Chuck Mahowald, Kansas City native, restauranteur and eclectic art collector, who purchased the 12-foot long and 300 pounds heavy sign. Relocating it to his midtown backyard, Chuck repurposed the neon sign as strictly art, paired it with a steel half-moon sculpture and perched it atop his garage where it continued glowing in spite of encroaching trumpet vines.
To the amusement of David Allen, Chuck’s friend, business partner and neighbor, the bright neon attracted quite a bit of attention from its quiet new neighborhood and even lured hungry passersby from Gillham Road who mistook it for an open restaurant.
With Chuck’s untimely passing in 2022, his cousin Tom Coffey from Hawaii was called upon to settle Chuck’s affairs. Fortunately for LUMI, Tom discussed the fate of the Canyon Cafe neon with neighbor David Allen who recalled reading about LUMI in The Kansas City Star. One Google search later, Tom contacted LUMI founder Nick Vedros who wasted no time arranging its rescue.
LUMI is grateful to Tom Coffey for donating this delightful sign to our collection. Its “word-of-mouth” rescue (The Star, David Allen, Tom Coffey, Nick Vedros, Nick Yoss, Jason Walker) is a true testament to LUMI’s presence in Kansas City, a community committed to safeguarding its sign culture and history.
In late February 1997, the Canyon Cafe, based in Dallas, Texas, opened at 4626 Broadway in Kansas City, Missouri. It occupied two stories above anchor tenants Pottery Barn and Barnes & Noble at the corner of 47th and Broadway on the Country Club Plaza. It served Tex-Mex fare in a casual and colorful space until 2005 when it, and many other restaurants that year, saw dwindling customer visits, forcing a concept, name and menu change by its owners. Its fixtures and neon sign were sold.
Enter Chuck Mahowald, Kansas City native, restauranteur and eclectic art collector, who purchased the 12-foot long and 300 pounds heavy sign. Relocating it to his midtown backyard, Chuck repurposed the neon sign as strictly art, paired it with a steel half-moon sculpture and perched it atop his garage where it continued glowing in spite of encroaching trumpet vines.
To the amusement of David Allen, Chuck’s friend, business partner and neighbor, the bright neon attracted quite a bit of attention from its quiet new neighborhood and even lured hungry passersby from Gillham Road who mistook it for an open restaurant.
With Chuck’s untimely passing in 2022, his cousin Tom Coffey from Hawaii was called upon to settle Chuck’s affairs. Fortunately for LUMI, Tom discussed the fate of the Canyon Cafe neon with neighbor David Allen who recalled reading about LUMI in The Kansas City Star. One Google search later, Tom contacted LUMI founder Nick Vedros who wasted no time arranging its rescue.
LUMI is grateful to Tom Coffey for donating this delightful sign to our collection. Its “word-of-mouth” rescue (The Star, David Allen, Tom Coffey, Nick Vedros, Nick Yoss, Jason Walker) is a true testament to LUMI’s presence in Kansas City, a community committed to safeguarding its sign culture and history.
