Guitars & Cadillacs, a once-popular Kansas City metro country music venue and dance hall, will make a resurgence by opening a new Overland Park location.
Where exactly? Located at 7312 W. 119th St., the venue is hosting a grand opening for its 10,000-square-foot space in Rosana Square on Thursday, July 28.
- Owners Mitch Kerns and Jack Hanrahan, who were were two of the original Guitars & Cadillacs founders, partnered to open the new music venue.
- “The intersection and the shopping center are centrally located and have tons of parking out front,” Kerns said. “Plus, the space was a club before, which means a lot of the infrastructure was already here, so we thought it was a great fit.”
Background: The popular country music venue first opened in Westport in 1988 before expanding to different locations in Overland Park, Olathe and the Northland in the Kansas City metro area, and in Branson, Joplin and Springfield in Missouri.
- It even branched out into Omaha and Lincoln in Nebraska and Des Moines in Iowa.
- “Over the years, those leases either went up or we sold them,” Kerns said. “But I started to want to do another club in 2017, so we started looking but didn’t find the right one before the pandemic happened.”
Live music: Now that the venue is squared away, Kerns said he and his business partner are excited to bring live country music back to the metro.
- While Wednesdays and Sundays will have a DJ playing the music, Thursday through Saturday will be set aside for live band performances.
- Guitars & Cadillacs will require customers to pay a cover charge between $5 to $10 on a regular night, and a higher price with national artists, Kerns said.
Menu: Kerns said the venue will sell “elevated bar food” that takes inspiration from Mexican cuisine.
- Menu items include loaded nachos, ahi tuna street tacos, flatbreads, sliders and macaroni and cheese jalapeno bites.
- “There will be no fried food,” Kerns said. “I don’t think it’s good for you, and we don’t want to have all that equipment.”
Other venue: In addition to Guitars & Cadillacs, the owners are opening a separate dueling piano bar called Tequila Flats at Guitars & Cadillacs, which can be accessed through a patio door next to the main venue.
- Kerns said both venues will host private events as well, such as bachelorette parties.
Schedule: Hours for Guitars & Cadillacs will be from 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesdays, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and 4-10 p.m. Sundays.
- Thursday will be “ladies night,” while Sunday is “family day” where children can get free dance lessons.
Key quote: “Country music is more popular today than it was when we started in 1988,” Kerns said. “So it’s exciting to cater to a whole new generation.”
