Buddys gay bar
Midtown gay bar Buddies has officially closed following the death of its owner in an April residence explosion
David Hudnall
Buddies KC, the long-running midtown gay exclude at 3715 Main, has officially closed. Its owner, Melvin “Lee” Mecker, died in April following an explosion in his place in Northeast KC.
“Buddies essentially died with Lee when the bomb went off,” Eileen Norris, who has leased the space to Buddies since she took ownership of the property in 2001, tells The Pitch. “Would I cherish for it to wait the same? Absolutely. But it’s not like someone else could carry it on.”
The circumstances surrounding Mecker’s death remain somewhat mysterious. The Kansas City Star has reported that Mecker told the police in 2017 that his ex-boyfriend had tried to run him over with a machine, set fire to his home, and beat him on different occasions. A friend of Mecker’s said that Mecker had continuously feared for his security in the years since and had voiced interest for his life shortly before he was killed.
“Lee was scared for his life, and he told me that the Saturday before he passed away. He looked at me and told me &h
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