You’ll Never Believe What’s Hiding in This Kansas Hotel

Towering over the corner of Broadway and Douglas Streets in downtown Wichita, Kansas, the stately Ambassador Hotel is among the city’s most luxurious properties and one of the best hotels in Kansas. The nearly 100-year-old building has decades of stories to tell, from its start as a bank to the site of a civil rights sit-in. One surprise hidden in the hotel basement offers a place to reflect on the building’s history in a speakeasy setting. 

In 1926, the 14-story building opened as the Union National Bank. The Chicago-style office building took only eight months to complete and still stands as a downtown anchor nearly a century later. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was transformed into a 117-room boutique hotel in 2012 offering contemporary elegance in the historic building. Today, you can admire original design elements like the marble formal stairway, first floor brass handrails, and brass mail drop.

During the summer of 1958, the building was the site of a historic sit-in. The Dockum Drugstore was located inside the building at the time, and a group of Black youth who were barred from dining inside due to their race held a sit-in at the lunch counter to protest racial discrimination. After three weeks, the drugstore manager served the protesters, and Dockum Chain Stores in Wichita eliminated discriminatory policies. This model of peaceful resistance spread to other sit-ins in cities like Oklahoma City and Greensboro, North Carolina.

There are plenty of surprises hidden under the streets of Wichita including a seven-foot tall troll, but you will have to head down to the Ambassador Hotel basement corner for the building’s biggest surprise. Dockum is a speakeasy-style bar that pays homage to the historic drugstore that once operated in the building. Although the drugstore was not located in the basement—it was upstairs where the Siena Tuscan Steakhouse is today—its name honors the brave youth who started a movement in the Dockum Drugstore.

There are a few ways to find Dockum’s secret entrance. From outside, you can navigate through the alley and kitchen. Inside, you can maneuver down the main staircase and find your way among mechanical and back-of-house doors. Entering the speakeasy, the dimly lit ambiance allows you to imagine how a Prohibition-era speakeasy may have felt. Flickering candles reflect off liquor bottles that line the bar shining a light on original architectural features like exposed brick walls and concrete columns. The moody atmosphere feels both inviting and illicit. 

Lucky for you, the mixologists are not serving bathtub gin. Dockum’s menu features inventive takes on classic cocktails and seasonal sips made with house-made bitters and syrups and fresh-squeezed juices. The menu is not short on flair either. The Last Word is served with a flamed rosemary adding a fragrant component to the cocktail while the Big Sleep is Dockum’s take on a Whiskey Sour complete with a smoked glass with rosemary. The menu’s “Preventatives” section features non-alcoholic options like the Drugstore Cowboy, an Espresso Martini mocktail made with espresso concentrate, simple syrup, vanilla cream, and black walnut bitters. Pair your beverage with small bites ranging from shrimp cocktail to Buffalo wings. 

Within this basement hideaway, there is an even more secret space. You can dine inside the Union National Bank’s original vault, which is now a semi-private room. It is designed to look like a clandestine space for making back-room deals, but rest assured that what you discuss in this historic space stays in the vault. Turn your visit into an escape, and book a stay at the Ambassador, so you can simply sneak out of the speakeasy and head directly to your room.