Wally Kennedy: Owner of Main Street motorcycle shop aims for 2024 opening
Oct. 13—It's going to take a little longer for Frank Naaykens to make his dream of opening a motorcycle shop on Main Street happen. But he still has plenty of time to prepare for what he predicts will be a major event on Joplin's Main Street in 2026.
"I hope to open in January 2024. That's well ahead of the 100-year observance for Route 66," he said. "I think there will be a parade of motorcycles coming through this town in 2026."
Apparently, there has been some significant online chatter about that among motorcycle groups.
With its rotating collection of vintage motorcycles, the House of Speed, 610 S. Main St., could be a must-see roadside attraction for motorcyclists tracing the original path of the route through downtown Joplin, Naaykens said. Those same visitors will probably check out other attractions downtown, including City Hall next door for a firsthand look at the Benton mural.
"I want to be on Route 66," he said. "And, I'm learning that this building has a lot of history that I want to share."
Naaykens recently learned from a column by Bill Caldwell, the Globe's retired librarian, that the hatchet-wielding Carrie Nation had visited the building in July 1901 when it was the Miner's Exchange, a prominent downtown bar.
At the time, the Globe described her this way: "The queer little woman with her kindly, motherly expression, her iron gray hair, her quizzical little eyes, shielded by old-fashioned glasses, most of all her ready wit, created as big a sensation in Joplin as almost anyone is capable of creating."
The temperance activist and her entourage of 150 visited the Miner's Exchange, where she climbed a staircase to bring attention to a picture of a scantily clad woman that was hanging on a wall.
"Take it down," she intoned. The bartender took it off the wall. The crowd cheered, and they left for the next saloon.
Naaykens has found some temperance pins from that time and has collected some postcards from the bar for a display that will be in his shop.
"I still cannot believe that that happened in this building," he said.
The storefront had been empty for 15 years when he purchased it a couple of years ago. He has put a new roof on the building and is making repairs. The work to bring the building back into circulation got a big boost last week with the issuance of some city permits. Naaykens has hired the architectural firm Hunter & Millard, of Joplin, to assist with the project.
Before it was the Miner's Exchange, the storefront was the former Coulter-McGuire Men's Wear store.
The shop will be an extension of Naaykens' company, Speed Dealer Performance, which produces over 600 parts for the leading motorcycle brands. He has been working almost exclusively with motorcycles since 2005.
The display windows that face Main Street will be used to showcase all kinds of motorcycles on a rotating basis. The vintage cycles are part of a private collection that numbers more than 200.
New coffee shop
A new coffee shop, The Human Bean, is coming to North Main Street Road in the village of Airport Drive.
The drive-thru shop, which is under construction, is located on the west side of the road just north of Bland Avenue.
According to Dan Hawkins, one of the founders of the Human Bean, a drive-thru coffee franchisor based in Medford, Oregon, the name of the company is about personal service.
"It's about being part of a larger community all the way from our supplier and farmers, all the way down to our customers," he said.
The Human Bean specializes in all kinds of hot, iced and blended drinks.
Restaurant closes
The owners of Fuzzy's Taco Shop walked into the restaurant Tuesday night and told the 20 or so employees who work there that the restaurant was closing immediately.
An employee told me the closure was unexpected.
Fuzzy's opened in October 2017 in the former Bob Evans restaurant at 3607 S. Range Line Road.
Contact Wally Kennedy at wkennedy@joplinglobe.com.
