"There was always entertainment of one kind or another on The Plaza. I remember, as a little girl, the organ grinder with the monkey who was just adorable. He would appear particularly in the summer. He was kind of a Plaza feature. After they would perform, the monkey would take his hat off and come around to the circle of people who were watching, so we could put a few coins in it, and that was how the organ grinder made his living.

"And I don't know if they lived here permanently or if they came seasonally, but the same was true of a Gypsy family. The children wore costumes and performed on the corners by the Plaza Theater or by one of the other Plaza shops. The little girls would have tambourines and the boys would have some musical instruments. The father would play the fiddle, and they would dance and sing. Then they would pass the tambourine around for money, and I guess that's the way the family supported itself. At the time, I thought that was just charming. I think it was probably a hard life."

—Katie Sloan, 80, Overland Park

Katie Sloan