Supercool
I got the following email today from Beth Rutledge and a pdf of the above page from Metropolitan magazine:
I saw this article (attached) yesterday in Metropolitan Home magazine and thought it was supercool that the Shulman exhibit currently at OKCMoA received a full-page (editorial, not advertising) in the May 2009 edition. Cover is shown below. The write up fell under the headline: “Metro/See” — promoting must-see metropolitan entertainment spots. I love that one of downtown OKC’s cultural anchors was recognized nationally for a must-see exhibit — an exhibit that is totally Oklahoma!
Yep. That’s supercool.
Goodbye Soliel, Hello LaBaguette
Soleil is a beautiful restaurant, but since it opened I've heard many say the menu and operation was all wrong - that what downtown really wanted was for the owners, the Buthions, to open up another La Baguette.
Way back when, going back to 1995, the owners of La Baguette opened a second location at downtown’s Journal Record Building. The restaurant was a hit, but the bombing of the neighboring Alfred P. Murrah Building ended the operation.
When I first learned Michel and Alain Buthion were planning to return downtown in 2006 to the renovated Colcord Hotel, I assumed they would reopen LaBaguette. I was wrong. A lot of people were wrong. Instead they came out with Soliel, which matched the initial hotel concept pushed by developer Paul Coury: swanky, expensive and if you have to ask how much, then too expensive for you.
This isn’t a concept that flies well in populist Oklahoma, regardless of income. Coury realized his mistake after one year, hired on Waterford veteran hotelier Jeff Erwin and made the hotel warmer, more approachable.
The Buthions, from what I’ve heard around town, didn’t follow suit and stuck to the Soliel concept which never matched their very popular LaBaguette. They’re artists, so let’s not jump to judging them. But it was a misfire.
Enter Devon Energy as the hotel’s new owner. Devon, from its CEO Larry Nichols on down, is very much the definition of “approachable.”
So now that Colcord officials have confirmed to me the restaurant is changing to LaBaguette (you can find evidence as well on their Soliel website, which is in transition), count me as someone who is not surprised.
None of this is meant to the highly regarded Buthions, who have a big, big following in this town. But being business requires that you give people what they want.
It's a Beautiful Morning in Downtown OKC
Twitter photo of Kerr Park by Rob Crissinger - I'm going to rely on his good nature that he won't mind me showing this off on my blog.
Yeah, it’s looking like it’s going to be one of those weeks. You know, “a chamber of commerce kind of week.” Downtown is looking great, the Festival of the Arts is gearing up and the weather forecast is looking like a winner all week long.
I’m talking with my editor this morning, and the reporter who was supposed to do a story on the festival today is out. Could I get out and do it? It’s a rough assignment, but yeah, I guess I can fit that in (NOTE TO FESTIVAL ORGANIZERS: NOBODY IS ANSWERING YOUR PHONES! PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP AND DON”T MAKE ME USE TWITTER!)
Interesting item on tomorrow’s council docket: Brewer Enterprises is asking for, and is getting, an early termination of their lease for the city-owned parking lot immediately east of Ford Center. COTPA is set to take it over. If you’ll recover, The Oklahoman discovered a couple years back that Brewer Enterprises owed thousands of dollars to the city on the lot’s operation – a debt that was then paid after the report came out.
I guess we’ll see cheaper parking across from Ford Center now?
Urban Renewal: The Blooming of the Myriad Gardens
Dennis Wells, you are the man. Just when I start to spiral into that dreaded blogger burnout, you provide me with exactly what I need to get going again.
So let’s get this discussion started. First, those of you who have attended presentations by Jack Money and I on our book, “OKC Second Time Around,” might recall that one of our favorite lines is that the 1993 MAPS initiative was a trick – that it was very much a revival of the much hated Urban Renewal program. Further, it has always seemed as if the Myriad Gardens, and the 1989 relocation of the Spring Arts Festival, might have provided the opening for this “trick” to be played.
So imagine my amusement when Dennis today emailed an article from the latest issue of Architect magazine. I think I’ll let do the story do the rest of the talking here and then we’ll pick up the discussion in the comments that follow:
Past Progressives: Greening the City
1973 P/A Award: Myriad Botanical Gardens, Conklin & Rossant
Source: ARCHITECT Magazine
Publication date: March 1, 2009
When the 1973 P/A Awards jury met, the era of federally funded urban renewal was ending, but the dream of transforming urban downtowns remained compelling. The Myriad Gardens plan for Oklahoma City received a rarely bestowed First Award.
The scheme departed radically from renewal precedents by proposing a downtown botanical garden. Its architects, Conklin & Rossant of New York, hadn’t been asked to design a garden, but rather to propose uses for a 17-acre renewal tract. They won the commission with their concept of exposing an underground watercourse as a pond, then bridging it with a conservatory.
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Joseph Mills
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Architect William Conklin reports that the P/A Award gave crucial encouragement to civic leaders and donors hoping to expand on the design prestige generated by juror John Johansen’s 1970 Mummers Theater on an adjoining block. Fundraising for the gardens suffered from the vagaries of Oklahoma’s oil-based economy. Construction of the conservatory took place from 1981 to 1985, but its tropical plantings weren’t ready for public view until 1988.
Many planned ancillary facilities such as restaurants, galleries, and cinemas were eliminated—and aren’t missed. One surviving feature is a pond-side amphitheater, site of a popular annual Shakespeare series. Ongoing renovations to the complex will soon include overdue replacement of the conservatory’s acrylic glazing.
The urban revival now apparent in Oklahoma City gathered momentum only in the 1990s, after the gardens were completed. Clearly, this unique amenity has helped to attract further investment and activity to this once-forlorn downtown.
1973 P/A Awards Jury: Arthur Erickson, Hugh Hardy, John Johansen, William LeMessurier, and Donald Stull
Thanking God and the Canal Extension
I knew it came close. I didn’t realize that destruction was flying above everything I cherish. Thank you God is all I can say.
On Tuesday (was that really yesterday?) I revealed in my Main Street column that a wide array of downtown leaders are seeking to add a potential Bricktown Canal extension to the discussion of what’s next for downtown.
These folks are not insisting that funding be provided for such a project or that it be a part of a possible MAPS 3. Instead, there is a growing awareness of significant planning for the future and proponents say they’d like to at least see a canal extension given serious consideration.
The chief reasoning appears to be the potential of making the canal a major pedestrian thoroughfare. Interestingly enough, the city has quietly retained the respect author and planner Jeff Speck to look at improving pedestrian access downtown.
Now here’s a big secret I’ll share about how consultants typically conduct their research: they are given marching orders by their employer (in this case it would be city staff) and that’s that. All too often I’ve seen consultants’ reports disappoint various interested parties – and at the root of it all seems to be a tendency by consultants to simply come up with what they think the clients want.
Jeff Speck, by the way, is not your typical consultant. He’s the guy who first introduced himself to Oklahoma City a couple of years ago by addressing a crowd with the introduction of “your codes are bad.”
How presumptious. How dare he. How brilliant.
Everyone in the room laughed and nobody disagreed.
So here’s hoping that Jeff remains presumptious. And here’s a copy of the resolution Urban Neighbors passed that explains why it, the All Sports Association, the Bricktown Association and several other leading downtown organizations and leaders are spending a lot of time and effort trying to get the canal extension idea into the discussion of downtown’s future:
Resolution of Endorsement
January 29, 2009
The Urban Neighbors Board of Directors voted to support the city’s original plans of extending the canal west between the Ford and Cox Center. The Urban Neighbors Board is encouraging the city of Oklahoma City to consider this idea as plans are made for downtown development. Potentially connecting the canal into the Myriad Gardens would provide a much desired connectivity.
As plans are developed for the future of downtown Oklahoma City, the Urban Neighbors Board believes that a canal extension would play a vital role in connecting Bricktown to the Oklahoma River, Central Business District, Ford and Cox Centers, the Myriad Gardens, the new Devon
Tower and the proposed new convention center and hotel. Additionally, this extension would significantly improve the walkability of downtown OKC, a key asset for any downtown.With this extension, downtown residents would enjoy an enhanced quality of life with improved access to Bricktown and the Oklahoma River.Additionally, easier access to downtown green space, both old and new, would be an asset. The Urban Neighbors Board prefaces its support with a desire for such a plan to be incorporated into an overall master plan for the area affected and that timing of such an improvement be appropriate to overall connectivity plans within the downtown area.
A canal extension would provide the following key connections:
- Proposed convention center and hotel to Bricktown and the Oklahoma River.
- CBD and Devon Tower to Bricktown to the Oklahoma River.
- Myriad Botanical Gardens to Bricktown and the Oklahoma River.
- Core to Shore area to Bricktown and Oklahoma River
- Ford and Cox Centers to Bricktown
- Meridian Hotel corridor to Myriad Botanical Gardens, Arts District and CBDA canal extension benefits:
- Downtown residents
- Myriad Botanical Gardens
- Ford Center, Cox Center, plus their tenants and users
- Central Business District businesses and workers
- Bricktown District
- Arts District
- Boathouse community
- River users
- OKC Convention and Visitors Bureau, convention industry
- OKC Chamber, business recruitment specialists and those who market
- Sporting event promoters
- Future Core to Shore businesses and residents
- Downtown hotels
- Meridian Avenue hoteliers and guests
- Downtown event attendees
- Tourists
- Mayor Cornett’s fit city initiative
- Oklahoma City taxpayersThis extension would fundamentally change the canal from an attraction to a pedestrian thoroughfare. It would create a situation where the canal is a preferred walking route rather than a place that has to be sought out. As pedestrian counts increase exponentially, canal development would be almost certain to follow.
We, the Board of Directors of Urban Neighbors, representing key stakeholders of our downtown, urge all of the beneficiary parties identified in this document to join us in supporting the inclusion of a canal extension in all future plans for downtown development.
Carolyn Hill: The Video
The Rest of the Story on Carolyn Hill
The story you’re reading this weekend in the Sunday Oklahoman is just a glimpse at the career of Carolyn Hill. What follows is my full story:
BY STEVE LACKMEYER
Business Writer
Hill, who retires as director this week, smiles as she explains the six-year-old carpeting was worn out by the thousands of visitors who have flocked to exhibits such as this year’s Roman Art from the Louve.
Frank Hill, the museum’s trustees chairman (and no relation to Carolyn Hill), isn’t surprised by the last minute flurry of activity.
“She wants that museum to be as beautiful as the first day it opened,” Hill said. “She’s very demanding, but she’s fair.”
Frank Hill is part of a chorus of admirers who credit the retiring director with turning a fractured, anemic community arts organization into a regional attraction that drew 70,000 just for the Roman art exhibition. And her admirers know that Carolyn Hill is loathe to accept such praise.
“There are a lot of people who deserve substantial credit — the Kirkpatrick family, we couldn’t have done it without them, the Meade family, Chuck Nelson, the Payne family, George Records, the Inasmuch Foundation … But she brought a lot of those people into the museum and developed those relationships. Without her, I really don’t think the museum would be what it is today,” Frank Hill said.
Boomeranger
As civic leaders attempt to woo back Oklahomans who have become success stories elsewhere, they might look at Carolyn Hill as the quintessential “boomeranger.”
Hill grew up in Oklahoma City, attending Culbertson grade school, Webster Junior High and the old
Central High School.She loved music and art — but she also took an interest in science, even winning the E.K. Gaylord Science Award in the ninth grade. At the University of Oklahoma she majored in zoology with the intent to enter the pre-med program. But it was there she was exposed to music majors practicing in her dormitory.
“I saw them writing harmony, practicing dictation,” Hill said. “Doing those things intrigued me.”
It didn’t take long for Hill to switch her focus to music and fine arts. Two weeks after obtaining her master’s degree, Hill headed off to an uncertain future in New York City. Her first tasks: finding a job, a place to live, seeing the Steinway Piano shop on West 57th and listening to a performance at the Met.
Hill continued her studies in New York City and then started teaching music at the Chapin School, where the city’s elite sent their daughters for an education that often led to admissions to Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
Music instruction continued at home, and Hill was spending time in homes adorned with priceless works of art. And like many teachers at Chapin, Hill also was being invited by students’ parents to openings at the Met and New York City’s most exclusive art exhibitions.
“I was like a dry sponge to water,” Hill said. “I couldn’t get enough.”
Working Overtime
Hill’s career continued upward with a stint teaching at the United Nations International School. She loved the diversity — but the work days were brutal. A typical day started with rehersals at 7 a.m. and ended with gigs as a choir minister and symphony conductor at night.
“I kept four brief cases in the car,” Hill said. “And they were packed for whichever job I was going to.”
In the early 1980s Hill embarked on an entirely new adventure and opened her own art gallery in the SoHo section of
New York City. Hill figured she could rely on the international artists she had met during her teaching years, pair up art showings with live classical music performances and also set her own hours.
“I was meeting accomplished artists from all over the world who were in my gallery,” Hill said. And I thrived in that environment.”
ABOVE: Rex Reed was one of the celebrity visitors at Carolyn Hill’s SoHo art gallery. Below: the gallery
But home was beckoning. Little did Hill know that she was about to take a failing, fractured art museum that was drawing a few hundred visitors a month, at best, and turn it into a regional destination with prestigious exhibits drawing 130,000 people a year.
Throughout her 30 years in New York City, Carolyn Hill maintained ties to home visiting Oklahoma City for the holidays once a year and through letters from her mother, Flora.Her parents were proud of their city, and on each visit they showed off the newest development — a new Oklahoma City Boat Club at Lake Hefner, the Omniplex (now Science Museum Oklahoma), Waterford, Remington Park.
Hill’s mother sent her numerous clippings from local news reports the Oklahoma City Times and The Oklahoman about the transformation of downtown. It was the death of Hill’s father and brother that convinced her to return home in 1993 to take care of her mother.
“I knew what I was leaving,” Hill said. “I didn’t know what I was coming to outside my mother and sister-in-law. When I got back here, I was lost. I was used to a much more rapid-paced life.”
Hill continued to work with artists she had represented in SoHo and even gave two showings at an empty gallery she rented at the Omniplex. And it was there she met John and Eleanor Kirkpatrick, who were founding supporters of the Omniplex and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
A friendship developed and Hill was offered the director’s job at the struggling museum. No promises were made; Hill was advised the museum had been dropped from the city’s $370 million Metropolitan Area Projects program. The museum was split into two homes and was running short on cash.
Hill took over in September 1994 and immediately packed her days visiting with every single museum trustee.
“I wanted to try to get my arms around what was going on here, what was the story,” Hill said. “And based on that, I made a report on what the story was.”
Hill told trustees she didn’t hear a single voice, she only heard noise. She saw confusion. She saw good and decent people “running in quicksand.”
“In the quest of just surviving the oil bust and inadequate funds, most everybody thought that money was the paramount issue,” Hill said. “It was a big issue. But I didn’t see it as the issue. To me the issue was ‘who is this museum for and why does it exist? What is its function? What is the mission?’”
Hill gave trustees and staff a choice: They could either “pull the plug” or “cease and desist and put our mission first and never, never again refer to any excuse,” she said.
“We needed to take command of our own destiny, tighten our belt and do whatever it takes,” Hill said. “We needed to turn this facility in service of the community. That’s what it was here for. The trustees deserved that. They love this place — they’ve been keeping it afloat.”
Trustees stood by Hill as she began a painful trimming of the budget. They closed the Buttram Mansion and downtown Artsplace locations and consolidated operations at the aging State Fair Park location. Trustees scoured financial records and created a reliable set of books. No debt would be incurred; the museum under Hill would operate under a strict budget. The museum was to be operated as a business and the community was its customer.
“We had so little money we could not afford a ream of paper,” Hill said. “We recycled letters and memos that came into us. We printed and photocopied on the reversed side. I’d get memos from staff and I had to look at both sides to be sure of what I was looking at.”
Hill believed that with trustees and staff at her side, sacrificing and rebuilding the museum’s reputation, they could earn some much needed credibility.
“It’s a business and we’ve got to run it like a business,” Hill said. “It cannot be a country club or a private club. It’s either in the service of the community or it is not. It’s a business and something was wrong with the product if the business is not showing evidence of its ability to serve and inspire.”
Carolyn Hill’s demand that the Oklahoma City Museum of Art be run like a business might have been painful, but it also gained the institution some much needed credibility.
During the planning in the early 1990s for the city’s Metropolitan Area Projects program, the museum had been cut from the list of final projects.
Years afterward, then-City Manager Don Bown confirmed the museum was deemed too fractious, too disorganized in those pre-Carolyn Hill years.
Hill stuck to her vows against deficits and debt and insisted on independent audits. Expenses dropped, finances stabilized and support grew for a new permanent home for the museum.
Hill saw downtown as a natural fit. She wanted the museum to be at the center of the city and liked the idea of pairing it with the Civic Center Music Hall and Stage Center and creating an arts district.
The old, dilapidated Centre Theater was deemed a perfect spot. Hill negotiated a purchase of the property from the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority just as it was preparing for the building’s demolition. Armed with a major grant for construction and endowment from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, the museum’s trustees approved Hill’s plan to turn the downtown site into the museum’s new home.
The $40 million museum opened in 2002 with a theater for independent films, an upscale cafe and exhibit space that dwarfed the old digs. Long lines formed to get the first glimpse of the new Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Hill kept pushing trustees to go one step further, to bring in exhibitions they couldn’t have dreamed of attracting prior to her hiring.
“She has a vision on maximizing revenues,” Frank Hill said. “She has stepped up and inspired our board to go through with very special plans for exhibitions…. she inspired us to buy the Chihuly opening exhibit…. and we put ourselves on the map with all this.”
Looking back, Carolyn Hill admits her 30 years in New York City might have been preparatory for taking the reins at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
But she’s quick to add, “New York was a very selfish experience.”
”“It was a place that gave me an incredible quality of life,” Hill said. “But it was very self indulgent in that there was so much joy coming in for me, but what was I doing for New York City and what did New York City need me to do? New York was overrun with lots of Carolyn Hills.”
TOMORROW: THE POWER OF DREAMING AND THE FUTURE ACCORDING TO CAROLYN HILL
Getting to Know a Living Legend
When this job gets really tedious, when the grind threatens to burn me out, it’s then that I’m often reminded of how lucky I am – how blessed I’ve been to meet people of greatness.
One of the true legends in this town – a person I’d point my kids to and say “that’s a great person, consider her a role model in living life to its fullest” – is Carolyn Hill.
In relatively short period of time, she led the Oklahoma City Museum of Art from a floundering mess to a source of pride for the entire region. I have a story set for this Sunday about her retirement, and here is just one quote that reflects Carolyn’s brilliance:
“It takes a lot of energy to dream. You have to analyze it, you have to fall in love with it. And that takes a lot of energy and strength.”
The Latest from the Oklahoma City Museum of Art
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I'm Stunned
Downtown is about to undergo changes that could arguably rival the original MAPS program. Developing ….
