Charlie Hooper's Bar & Grille

Charlie Hooper’s Bar & Grille is a long-running Brookside neighborhood bar and grille at 12 W 63rd St — Kansas City’s self-described original craft beer bar, pouring since 1984 and serving its full from-scratch comfort-food menu until 2 a.m. daily, with cocktails until 3 a.m.¹²

Description

Charlie Hooper’s bills itself as “a true neighborhood bar and grille and Kansas City’s original craft beer bar,” anchored in the historic Brookside shopping district at 12 W 63rd St.¹ The kitchen does American comfort food from scratch — burgers (frequently cited as among the best in Brookside), French dips, pulled-pork sandwiches, buffalo chicken wraps, mac ‘n’ cheese variations, and Kansas City strip steak.³ Its defining feature is the beer program: 30 taps and over 100 options in bottles and cans spanning local, craft, seasonal, and unusual brews.¹ The room runs wall-to-wall TVs for sports, daily food and drink specials, and a Sunday Bloody Mary bar, and is open 365 days a year.²

Ownership and history

Charlie Hooper’s served its first draft beer in 1984, per longtime Kansas City Star food writer Joyce Smith, and has operated in Brookside for roughly four decades — the establishment’s own materials describe being in Brookside “for 40 years.”³¹ A change in management took the helm around 2014, after which the operators rebuilt the kitchen around scratch cooking and added roughly 100 beers to the list, cementing the bar’s craft-beer identity.³ The current legal ownership entity is not publicly disclosed on the business’s materials.¹ The bar sits within Brookside, the J.C. Nichols-planned shopping district built starting in 1920, and functions as a durable neighborhood gathering spot.⁴

Links

• Official site: https://charliehoopers.com/
• Order online (Toast): https://www.toasttab.com/local/order/charlie-hooper-s-brookside-bar-grille-12-w-63rd-st

Sources

Disputes

• Founding year: official materials say “40 years” in Brookside (implying ~1984–86); Feast/KC Star pins first draft beer to 1984; one business-records source cited 1980. Page uses 1984 as the best-supported date. No active dispute.

Footnotes

1. Charlie Hooper’s — official site / About Us. https://charliehoopers.com/kansas-city-historic-brookside-charlie-hooper-s-about-us — asserts: “Kansas City’s original craft beer bar,” 40 years in Brookside, 30 taps and 100+ bottles/cans, address 12 W 63rd St. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Charlie Hooper’s — official site (home/hours). https://charliehoopers.com/ — asserts: open daily 11 a.m.–3 a.m. (365 days/yr), full menu until 2 a.m., cocktails until 3 a.m., Happy Hour Mon–Fri 3–6 p.m., 2026 World Cup watch parties. ↩ ↩²

3. Feast Magazine, “Kansas City Staple Charlie Hooper’s Melds Comfort Food and Craft Beer.” https://www.feastmagazine.com/travel/kansas-city/kansas-city-staple-charlie-hoopers-melds-comfort-food-and-craft-beer/article_ea5726c0-8d80-11e5-b291-73246d4e43ff.html — asserts: first draft beer poured 1984 (per Joyce Smith/KC Star); new management c. 2014; from-scratch comfort food; 120+ bottled beers added ~100 under new management; menu items (French dips, pulled pork, mac ‘n’ cheese, KC strip). ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Visit KC, “Brookside.” https://news.visitkc.com/facts/brookside — asserts: Brookside planned/built starting 1920 as J.C. Nichols’ first suburban shopping area. ↩