A getaway day in Tulsa
We took a getaway day in Tulsa. The Dish and I and another couple had tickets to Phantom of the Opera on Saturday night, so we made a day of it. The girls went shopping at Utica Square, we drove around some cool old-Tulsa neighborhoods, we toured Oral Roberts University and we figured up ways to make money on Riverside Drive along the Arkansas River.
Tulsa is a cool town. I’ve always thought so, and just because it hasn’t been as progressive as Oklahoma City over the last 20 years is no reason to believe otherwise.
Downtown Tulsa has its charms, starting with its churches. I’ve never seen a downtown so marked by its churches. Boston Avenue Methodist, Christ the King Catholic, First Presbyterian, plus a half dozen more, the architecture and splendor the churches defines downtown Tulsa.
The BOK Center, which is scheduled to open in September, will be a superb addition to Tulsa, giving T-Town an elite arena. It’s a solid looking building but not a palace, not from the outside anyway. More opulent than the Ford Center, but not as plush as Kansas City’s Sprint Center. Stay tuned on the interior. Construction of the BOK Center has caused some of the downtown Tulsa streets to be turned upside down, so driving around is a mess.
Tulsa’s Performing Arts Center is not in the class of OKC’s Civic Center Music Hall, though it was quite adequate for “Phantom.” Walking into the lobby of the Performing Arts Center is like walking into the lobby of a nice college drama theater. Not the plushness you would expect.
Phantom was not my favorite musical. I haven’t seen them all, but I liked Les’ Miserables and Beauty & the Beast better. The Music Man, too. Probably some others I’m not thinking of. Phantom was better than Cats.
We had dinner at a cool Italian place in south Tulsa, Ti’Amos on Sheridan. Dave Sittler of the Tulsa World recommended it, and while Sittler isn’t the first person I would turn to for culinary expertise — he’s a room-service guy on the road — he steered us right on this one. I had seafood pasta, which I almost always order in an Italian joint, and it was big-time good.
I took my pal to ORU because he had never seen it, and most people find the campus stunning. I went to basketball camp at ORU in 1976, when I was 15, and I still remember thinking the campus looked like something out of Star Trek. All gold medal and new-age architecture. The City of Faith hospital, which no longer is connected to ORU and no longer is a hospital, stands 60 stories on its central tower. The tallest buildings in OKC are less than 40 stories. The shimmering gold skyscraper failed as an ORU hospital and stands as a monument to the evangelist’s outrageous visions.
The praying hands at the entrance to the campus are impressive, too, and frankly, so is every building on campus. Even the baseball stadium looks like something otherworldly. I first heard the word “aerobics” at ORU, during the 1976 camp. ORU’s student activity center — like OSU’s Colvin Center or OU’s Huffman Center – was called the Aerobics Center. That’s where we played our basketball during the camp.
We drove through some great neighborhoods, both near ORU and near downtown. We also drove from I-44 north to downtown along Riverside Drive, and it’s a beautiful stretch, overlooking the Arkansas River. I say if someone could develop the east side of Riverside with condos or luxury apartments, looking out over the river and the park that runs alongside it, the demand would be high.
Driving home Saturday night was a breeze. First time in my life I’ve zipped across the turnpike completely on cruise control. Made it home by about 12:45 a.m., and that’s with a stop to drop off our friends. An excellent day. Tulsa’s a good city. I’m glad we’ve got it in Oklahoma.
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Comments
The CitiPlex Towers (formerly the City of Faith Hospital) is still owned by ORU and leases space to a hospital, among other tenants. The structure has just received massive renovations to the lobby and is a great space to hold weddings, etc. There is some office space available to lease. The ORU campus is also experiencing extensive renovations. Thanks for bringing folks out to tour!
I don’t know if “progressive” is what Tulsa has not been. I’d say its leadership has not been honest. There have been plenty of “progressive” plans, but they have mostly been scams that have enriched a few insiders like the Friends of the Tulsa World at taxpayer expense. The Great Plains Airlines scam–where the taxpayers have to pay BOK $7 million for bad loans that enriched the insiders is a recent example.
I think the BOK center is dog-ugly, and have thought so since I first saw the architect’s renderings in the newspaper. Just because it was done by “the great Cesar Pelli,” and our ciivic leaders hail it as our “signature statement for the 21st century” doesn’t make it good-looking. In the initial artwork, it looked like a dog dish with cooling fins, but in real life it looks like a giant screw wrapped in duct tape.
OKC has had 20 years or so of civic leadership that has delivered on its promises. Tulsa has had over 40 years of civic leadership more interested in feeding at the public trough and in pleasing the suburban interests than in truly advancing the interests of the city. Too bad for us Tulsans.
Nice column, though. And, despite it all, Tulsa is still a great city.