Westport is a lot of things to a lot of people. Physically Westport is a small community that sits between downtown and the plaza. It is known as a bar district, housing several different watering holes as well as restaurants and boutiques. It is also known as a place that you don’t want to be caught alone after dark.
In the last couple of years Westport has seen its share of tragedy. It’s most recent headlines have been centered around the death of Brian Euston, a young man who was found dead on the corner of Westport and Mill in early October 2010. The violent reputation has had a visible effect on the small community. The Westport Center building takes up the entire block between Mill St. and Pennsylvania. The building houses The Beaumont club, The Eclectic Stem floral design, Gold Evans architecture, Wilks Broadcasting, the Tivoli Theatre, America’s Pub and Kelly’s to name a few. While walking around the building, you can’t help but notice all the “For lease” signs in the windows of the vacant store fronts. In the past couple of years Westport has lost several businesses. Stores and restaurants move in and out with just a few of them enduring. While Westport has always been known for night life, there is plenty going on there during the average week day. People are having lunch at McCoy’s meeting house, heading to class at the dance studio and having a drink at Kelly’s which is where I am headed.
Even though you can no longer smoke in doors in Westport, the moment you cross the threshold of Kelly’s, stale cigarette smoke is the first scent that hits you. It’s 11:45 in the morning, but already there are a couple of guys sitting at the bar. I head back to the Joe’s pizza counter where I meet Crystal Donovan. Crystal lives and works in Westport or as she calls it “The Port”. At 5 foot nothing, she couldn’t weigh more then 100 pounds and is tattooed from shoulder to finger tip on both arms and assures me that there are plenty more that I can’t see.
When asked about the reputation of the place she calls her home, she doesn’t sugar coat her feelings. “Oh it’s not safe at night, but it honestly never really was. Any place that is heavily populated with bars is going to see its fair share of trouble. I don’t hang out at night alone here, but I don’t hang out alone at night anywhere really.”
As we sit there chatting, several of the patrons who stop in come to say hello to Crystal.
“Most of the people you catch down here on a week day are people I know who live or work here. They aren’t usually the ones that are down here partying at night. Most of the people who come down to party are from the suburbs or something,” she says with a knowing expression. Crystal use to be one of the many who came down here just to drink and play, until she moved here from Independence.
“I just love this place. I fit in here. Some of my friends and I joke that we are like Peter Pan and the lost boys here, we never wanna grow up. This place just gets under your skin and it’s not because of the night life. It’s like we finally found a place where it is the norm to be a little different.” When asked to comment about the recent death of Brian Euston, Crystal said “I read that Kelly’s is one of the last places his friends saw him, so being here now is a little eerie. The entire situation is tragic. Anytime someone so young dies, especially in that way it is awful.” Crystal pauses for a second silencing her sticker covered phone. “You know…I wish everyone saw The Port during the light of day, I think it’s a different place than it is at night. I’m just not sure that people want to see it any differently. People hear the bad things…and there is plenty to pick from, but nobody see’s it as being home to anything besides the bar scene”
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