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Old 10-31-2014, 02:19 PM
 
Location: Auburn, New York
1,772 posts, read 3,492,363 times
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Fun bars, cheap beer, good barbecue. Lots of suburban sprawl. Architecturally-dull churches. Lots of meth heads in the smaller towns. Tulsa and OKC proper are surprising artsy. Older women still have beehive hairdos. Football's a big deal. Lots of Walmarts.

The people are friendly and welcoming, but I noticed that a lot of dudes lose their temper easily, especially when drunk.

I wouldn't go so far to say that Oklahoma is beautiful, but the scenery is less boring than expected.
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Old 10-31-2014, 03:46 PM
 
Location: South Park, San Diego
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Quote:
Originally Posted by southernmomshan View Post
I dont know if anyone answered this question, but YES!! Downtown Tulsa has gone through a major revitalization! Its wonderful, we have several 'districts' downtown, lots of new restaurants, bars, art galleries, retail stores, parks,residential condos and apartments, etc. Downtown Tulsa is gorgeous now!
I've never been to the state; been nearby in Nebraska often and other surrounding areas, but I've heard good things to go along with what is likely somewhat accurate descriptions of it being conservative, suburban, somewhat bland and defined much by strip malls and big box stores in many parts of the state (not that most states don't possess more that a bit of this). About Tulsa especially though, we've had some friends here who were from it and eventually moved back who spoke very highly of it, having a fun downtown and great neighborhoods.

I must admit though; and I'm not being snarky, that looking over the city on my Apple Maps app, it looks as though downtown is defined by about 1/3 buildings and 2/3 parking lots, with about four dense blocks on W. 5th Street, converging with three dense blocks on S. Main Street and S. Boston Ave. and then things drop off considerably outwards. I know these maps are out of date and that I am not getting the whole picture, but could you expand upon your descriptions and locations of these districts to those of us who are curious?

Almost all good sized cities have outlying areas directly adjacent downtown that have nearly complete village or town-like cores that have a vibe and presence all their own that just add to the city's overall atmosphere and description. Such as here in San Diego we have the very well known Gaslamp Quarter entertainment district with surrounding East Village and Little Italy Downtown, but just 1-3 miles away in Uptown, the communities of Hillcrest, North/South Park, University/Normal Heights each have a very local and vibrant spirit, often even better than Downtown. Where would these be in Tulsa?

I am noticing some very beautiful, upscale neighborhood just southeast of downtown Tulsa, near what I'm guessing is known as Utica square and Maple Ridge. Any other areas of beautiful, especially historic houses that you could point me to- at least to street view to start?

This is your chance to show off a little here in the General U.S. forum instead of just the local Oklahoma forum.

Thanks- and I'd love to check out the state, Tulsa especially (and maybe Oklahoma City- though I keep hearing Tulsa is better haha) sometime!

Last edited by T. Damon; 10-31-2014 at 04:00 PM..
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Old 10-31-2014, 05:03 PM
 
Location: C-U metro
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@T. Damon

You'd have to roll back time comparisons between SD districts and Tulsa districts. Downtown Tulsa is about where Downtown Denver was back in the mid 1990s. There's really no comparable Gaslamp or LoDo district here yet but Brady might get there in 10 years. Theres a growing number of restaurants and places to go in downtown but there are a number of church owned parking lots that are in the way of further urban development. Eventually, the churches leased or sold the property in Denver for development to occur but it took another 10 years after Coors Field being built to do so. Considering how stubborn First Baptist has been about building parking lots, I'd say it will take 20 years for them to get on board. That's an issue as they have 3 entire blocks for parking between the business core and the Blue Dome District. Tulsan's don't want the downtown churches to leave, even First Baptist, but they need to get with the times.

If you want to see downtown get crazy, come down for the Center of the Universe festival in July. Its a huge urban music festival that basically takes over the Brady district. They had good bands last year so I hope it will get better next year.

As far as beautiful homes, Maple Ridge and Terwilliger Heights are at the top of the list. Some other good areas are just south of Maple Ridge from 21st and Peoria to 31st and Peoria. That's where the Philbrook Museum is and some really nice large homes. After that, the homes aren't as magnificent and clustered together. The 41st to 51st blocks off Lewis are pretty darn nice too but not as big. For homes built during the first oil boom, those are in Brady Heights which is north of the Brady District. The area is still being gentrified but it is relatively quiet the closer you are to downtown.
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Old 10-31-2014, 05:45 PM
 
Location: South Park, San Diego
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^^^
Thanks for the great descriptions!
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Old 10-31-2014, 05:58 PM
 
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
5,888 posts, read 12,940,023 times
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I wouldn't want to live there, but it is a surprisingly beautiful state.
People seem genuinely friendly.

I have a few friends out here that were born and raised in Oklahoma and they are the furthest thing from the cowboy stereo type that you can imagine.

I also think of tornadoes
and arse-backwards politics
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