Nice writeup on OKC in the NY Times today

[BigRedJed]

Linky (http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/travel/escapes/08American.html?ref=travel)

This article was a full page of the Times travel section today. Still a little reliant on cowboy and Indian stereotypes (who here actually goes to Club Rodeo, anyway?) but overall a very postive article.

[BigRedJed]

Click on the link to see the pictures, but here's the story itself:

August 8, 2008

American Journeys

Oklahoma City Is Booming With Oil and a New Exuberance

By FINN-OLAF JONES

IT took approximately a day for the song — and who doesn’t know that song? — to clear my head once I’d arrived in Oklahoma City. This revitalized metropolis does seem to have a constant wind that comes sweepin’ down the plain, but the windfalls from its booming economy have brought enough new grand urban projects, gleaming museums and sophistication so that one suspects the only folks tempted to yell “Ayipioeeay” are visitors.

Rising just outside the Will Rogers World Airport terminal is the first evidence of the reason for Oklahoma City’s recent resurgence: an oil rig. The rigs are all over town — even on the State Capitol grounds. A lot of pricey crude and gas bubble beneath Oklahoma.

“When I moved here, there wasn’t much here for someone who was more used to London’s pace of life,” said Dina Hammam, known as Dinky, a social worker and socialite-about-town who arrived from England six years ago. “The transformation has been incredible. Just look around.”

A glance around her breakfast spot, the noirish-cool Lobby Bar in the newly renovated Will Rogers Theater, revealed a restored Art Deco mural of Will himself (local cowpoke made good) and a cafe brimming with Wall Street types and their stylish spouses. The theater looms over an affluent corridor of North Western Avenue that continues along the Tara-sized mansions dotting Nichols Hills. Although the Mockingbird Manor antiques co-op up the street carries handmade blankets, and the French Cowgirl sells tooled cellphone holders to match your saddle, a cosmopolitan elegance presides over this part of town, with foreign restaurants and accents throughout.

Newcomers to Oklahoma City might at first have a hard time guessing what part of the United States they’re in. A generally flat cityscape and the Chicago-style Art Deco architecture downtown, coupled with the friendly-but-not-too-friendly nods and hellos, hint at the Midwest. Jazz, blues bars and ubiquitous barbecue joints suggest the South.

But the wide vistas, blast-furnace winds from the surrounding red-dirt prairie and preponderance of American Indian shops (Oklahoma has 38 sovereign tribes), pickups and cowboy hats indicate that you are indeed in the West.

And a Western kind of audacity pervades, from the 55-foot-tall glass Dale Chihuly sculpture in the Oklahoma City Museum of Art — which boasts the world’s most comprehensive collection of Chihuly’s works — to the exuberant parades and festivals that seem to be a constant. While I was in town, a nationally known local psychedelic band, the Flaming Lips, screened a homemade movie and music extravaganza, “Christmas on Mars,” to a raucous crowd at the deadCENTER Film Festival. At the same time, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum was hosting a gathering of contemporary Western artists — imagine a group of people resembling the cast of a Sam Peckinpah movie with paintbrushes.

There is also a frisson in the air over the news that the city has managed to snag a National Basketball Association franchise, with the SuperSonics moving here from Seattle next season.

On the banks of the Oklahoma River, a football field-sized monument is under construction to commemorate the great Land Run of 1889, when 10,000 pioneers rushed into town on a single day.

The riverfront has come alive since 1999, when a canal was completed to attract visitors. A derelict warehouse area has been transformed into Bricktown, a lively focal point for night life, teeming with homegrown jazz and blues joints served by taxi boats. One of the more colorful stops is a bowling alley called RedPin — a 10-laner masquerading as a nightclub where even the rented bowling shoes are hip-looking high-tops.

TO regain “True West” bearings, head south of the river, where a bronze sculpture of a galloping cowboy herding a steer to market presides next to the entrance to the Oklahoma National Stockyards. The century-old yards are still used for enormous cattle auctions several times a week, but you can also buy yourself a spot on the food chain one block farther up at Cattlemen’s Steakhouse. Long lines form for lunch and dinner (no reservations taken), so try breakfast. Curiosity got the best of me when I saw calf brains on the menu. “Usually it’s just the old-timers that want this,” the waitress said, handing me a plate of what looked like oatmeal. For the record, it has a slight livery aftertaste and isn’t half bad, though I still felt obliged to wash it down with a couple of mugs of hot coffee and a plate of eggs with a magnificently aged and tenderized steak.

There’s much more to feed your inner cowboy. Across the street, at the National Saddlery Company, hand-tooled saddles run from $1,500 to $30,000 for a masterpiece with silver trimmings. Down the street, Shorty’s Caboy Hattery will supply you with a custom-made cattleman’s hat described to me by Mike Nunn, behind the counter, as “the only hat that will stay on your head in Oklahoma wind.”

On the next block, Oklahoma Native Art and Jewelry carries a broad variety of items from Oklahoma’s tribes. I was particularly smitten by the white pottery pieces with horse hairs burned onto their surfaces in Jackson Pollock-like swirling patterns — a technique pioneered by the store’s owner, Yolanda White Antelope. Her son, Mario Badillo, was seated at the store’s jewelry bench concentrating on a line of silver animal jewelry whose overlay had distinct sculptural qualities. “I was a rock sculptor when we still had our downtown studio,” he told me. “But then the bomb exploded and my leg got crushed when the wall caved in. It was too hard to move around after that so I became a jeweler instead.”

The bomb. All the locals seem to know exactly where they were at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, when Timothy McVeigh detonated an explosive-filled truck beneath the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and damaging 312 surrounding buildings. Mr. Badillo was one of several people who told me that they still couldn’t force themselves back to that spot.

At the Oklahoma City National Memorial that now covers the site, a gently flowing reflecting pool and two massive gates preside over 168 empty bronze chairs — one for each victim, the 19 smaller ones denoting children. After dusk, altar-like lights beneath the chairs suggested gently hovering souls.

ANOTHER stirring monument, James Earle Fraser’s famous 18-foot statue of an American Indian slumped on his horse, “The End of the Trail,” greets visitors in the lobby of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. I planned to spend a couple of hours there, but after a whole day I still hadn’t reached the end of the trail myself. Exhibits in tentlike pavilions around a central courtyard cover everything about cowboys from their roots in Africa and England to how they operate on contemporary corporate ranches.

I had an air duel with a couple of passing kids outside the saloon in Prosperity Junction, a replica of a turn-of-the-century cattle town; examined guns used in famous movie shootouts in the Western Performers Gallery — John Wayne’s personal arsenal was particularly impressive; and learned that denims got their name when a French cloth called serge de Nîmes became popular for ranchers’ pants. The American West Gallery, a 2,000-piece cowboy Louvre of Western art, includes works by Frederic Remington, Albert Bierstadt and Charles M. Russell.

“Make sure to check out the auditorium before we close,” a guide suggested when I was still far from finished browsing, and in I went to be bowled over by five 46-foot-high Wilson Hurley triptychs of sunsets at Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon and other iconic Western spots.

Modern cowgirls and cowboys of every age group and shape were hootin’ and hollerin’ at Club Rodeo, an acre-sized honky-tonk south of downtown near the airport. This is a friendly spot where fellow carousers will help you figure out some pretty elaborate two-stepping or waltzing to local “red dirt bands” whose country sounds are imbued with a blues-inspired twang.

The mood turned real cowpokey when the dance-floor lights went dark to be replaced by spotlights on a tennis-court-sized rodeo ring. The revelers shifted to the ring with their dollar beers, and some took turns trying to hang onto bucking broncos for longer than eight seconds. Loud cheers greeted Skunk, a black bull with a white stripe and a reputation for orneriness. The guy set to ride him decided to trade his cowboy hat for a helmet — a smart idea. Three seconds later he was catapulted into the dust. The next ride started, and the crowd whooped it up.

Come to think of it, given that it seems to be having the ride of its life, one could say that about the whole city.

VISITOR INFORMATION

WHERE TO STAY

The Colcord (15 North Robinson Avenue, 405-601-4300; www.colcordhotel.com (http://www.colcordhotel.com)), in a converted 1910 office building; doubles start at $129.

The Skirvin Hilton (1 Park Avenue; 405-272-3040; www.skirvinhilton.com (http://www.skirvinhilton.com)), the city’s grand hotel; doubles from $149.

WHERE TO EAT

Cattlemen’s Steakhouse (1309 South Agnew Avenue, 405-236-0416). Steak and eggs, $8.

The Lobby Bar of the Will Rogers Theatre (4322 North Western Avenue, 405-604-4650).

WHAT TO SEE

The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum (620 North Harvey Avenue, 405-235-3313).

The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum (1700 Northeast 63rd Street, 405-478-2250) is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; $10.

The Oklahoma City Museum of Art (415 Couch Drive, 405-236-3100); $12.
Club Rodeo (2301 South Meridian Avenue, 405-686-1191).

WHERE TO SHOP

Mockingbird Manor Antiques (4417 North Western Avenue, 405-521-1212), a co-op with 30 vendors.

French Cowgirl (4514 North Western Avenue, 405-604-4696); the saddle-tooled cellphone holder is $42.95.

Oklahoma Native Arts and Jewelry (1316 South Agnew Avenue, 405-604-9800).

National Saddlery Company (1400 South Agnew Avenue, 405-239-2104).

Shorty’s Caboy Hattery (1206 South Agnew Avenue, 405-232-4287).*

[Okla-homey]

Linky (http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/travel/escapes/08American.html?ref=travel)

This article was a full page of the Times travel section today. Still a little reliant on cowboy and Indian stereotypes (who here actually goes to Club Rodeo, anyway?) but overall a very postive article.

BRJ,

I don't understand why its a bad thing to embrace, celebrate or personify the stereotype. It's like our state "brand." It makes us unique, and I for one don't favor intentional mutation to something less interesting. But that's just me. I moved home after being away for precisely those things mentioned in the article.

[BigRedJed]

It's definitely not a bad thing to embrace as a PART of our culture. It's only bad when it becomes what DEFINES us. I think that people from New York or elsewhere already expect that everybody here (or in Tulsa, or in Dallas, or wherever in this part of the country) wears cowboy hats and huge belt buckles, lives in mobile homes or on farms, and goes two-stepping every Saturday. And nothing against ANY of those things, but that is a very small part of the culture here and always has been.

Furthermore, most who live elsewhere associate those stereotypes with being slow, stupid and having no sense of sophistication whatsoever. We know different, but unfortunately they do not.

Better to surprise outsiders with unexpected culture and experiences than to play to the stereotypes they already harbor.

[BigRedJed]

The National Cowboy and Western Heritage museum, Cattlemen's, Native American Art and Jewelry, the Indian Cultural Center currently under construction? All examples of postitively embracing that culture. I was thrilled at the mention of the cowboy museum. It's an amazingly special place.

Club Rodeo? Not so much.

[Okla-homey]

It's definitely not a bad thing to embrace as a PART of our culture. It's only bad when it becomes what DEFINES us. I think that people from New York or elsewhere already expect that everybody here (or in Tulsa, or in Dallas, or wherever in this part of the country) wears cowboy hats and huge belt buckles, lives in mobile homes or on farms, and goes two-stepping every Saturday. And nothing against ANY of those things, but that is a very small part of the culture here and always has been.

Furthermore, most who live elsewhere associate those stereotypes with being slow, stupid and having no sense of sophistication whatsoever. We know different, but unfortunately they do not.

Better to surprise outsiders with unexpected culture and experiences than to play to the stereotypes they already harbor.

Here's what I have to say about that. I've done pretty well in life by exceeding the low expectations of my superiors and peers based on my birthplace and accent. Well, that, and I'm ugly. Frankly, its like a secret weapon or something. There have been times in my life when I could almost hear competitors say to themselves, "Damn, how did that dumb Okie pull that off? I never saw it coming!":D

And you know what it really is? The fact most of us are raised in a culture that embraces our official state motto: Labor Omnia Vincit
IOW, an ounce of Okie busting his hump beats a pound of the other guy talking a good game.

[Partial Qualifier]

Homey, with all due respect, you would've managed the same lot in life whether people thought you were a hick or not.

I'm with Jed on this. I don't like the fringe western stereotype, mainly because it's not really indicative of who we are as a people. Sure there are cowboys & Indians here but umm take a look around. Maybe I'm just a "city boy" and people like the old west stereotype because it's unique to a few states - Oklahoma just happens to be one of them. ?? Dunno.

It's like viewing people native to New Mexico as "pueblo dwellers". Or natives of Maine as "Lobster farmers".

I don't hate those who fit the stereotype. Just sayin. It doesn't fit the majority of us.

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

Like those guys said - I think we can embrace and respect our heritage without embracing the negative stereotypes, that's all.

Club Rodeo?

OMGWTFSTOPIT.

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

It was a really good article, though. And the second one I know from those guys that talks about us being a neat place to visit.

So, YAY!

[Taxman71]

For one, I am glad Oklahoma still an identifiable culture, even if it is not accurate in the year 2008, so we have a common theme to promote.

Heck, I just spent a week in New York City and had to go to Brooklyn and the Bronx to see and hear New Yawkers.

[Rhino]

Coulda picked some better places to eat.

[picasso]

Sam Peckinpah. heh.

[StoopTroup]

Embracing the Hooters Culture will really show those Big City folks.

[Mixer!]

Heh, 31% approval rating. (http://www.clubplanet.com/Venues/109028/Oklahoma-City/Club-Rodeo)

[bluedogok]

There are a bunch of people out there who still see this part of the country as THE WILD WEST and think everyone in Dallas wears cowboy hats just like the old TV show, even though Dallas has so little to do with Texas it is funny. They think OK and TX is nothing but the Dust Bowl Remanants in western OK and West Texas. Most are shocked when they find out about how much lake shoreline there is in Oklahoma and there are like "hills and trees" (for you Tulsa folks) and everything. The "Western" stereotypes are always going to be there because that is what the people on the coasts have been fed their entire lives, might as well make a buck on it while trying to open up some eyes and minds.

I used to go there when it was Incahoots, mainly on coin beer nights. We pretty much split our time between there and the Bricktown Brewery. I went to Club Rodeo once with some friends before I moved down here, I wasn't very impressed with the changes they made.

[Frozen Sooner]

Dumb *** geographical stereotypes are all over the place.

I can't tell you how many times I was asked if I lived in an iglu my freshman year at OU. Or whether we had cars. Or if it was really dark all the time.

[OKC Sooner]

Embracing the Hooters waitresses will really show those Big City folks.

Fixed :D

[CORNholio]

For one, I am glad Oklahoma still an identifiable culture, even if it is not accurate in the year 2008, so we have a common theme to promote.

Heck, I just spent a week in New York City and had to go to Brooklyn and the Bronx to see and hear New Yawkers.

It is accurate for places outside of OKC/Tulsa metros. The rest of the state is an abundance of cowboy hats and belt buckles. Ranchers and oilmen dominate rural Oklahoma the same way they always have. OKC and Tulsa not so much. I challenge anyone to walk into a random small town okie wal-mart and not find atleast 5 starched jean, button up shirt wearing (even if its 105 degrees), snakeskin boot wearing, pick up truck/cadillac driving, cattle owning, oil royalty recieving cowboys.
NTTATWWT. I am directly related to most of them;)

[CORNholio]

It's the same way with alot of so called stereotypes. Take Nebraska for example, Omaha is not comprised of 800,000 corn farmers but venture out of the Omaha metro and what do you find but a john deer trucker hat wearing, overall sporting, flatbed crusing, tractor owning corn farmer. Stereotypes don't just appear out of thin air.

[Okla-homey]

Dumb *** geographical stereotypes are all over the place.

I can't tell you how many times I was asked if I lived in an iglu my freshman year at OU. Or whether we had cars. Or if it was really dark all the time.

It was prolly those danged old whale blubber sandwiches you brought to eat between classes that prompted those questions.;)

[Okla-homey]

It is accurate for places outside of OKC/Tulsa metros. The rest of the state is an abundance of cowboy hats and belt buckles. Ranchers and oilmen dominate rural Oklahoma the same way they always have. OKC and Tulsa not so much. I challenge anyone to walk into a random small town okie wal-mart and not find atleast 5 starched jean, button up shirt wearing (even if its 105 degrees), snakeskin boot wearing, pick up truck/cadillac driving, cattle owning, oil royalty recieving cowboys.
NTTATWWT. I am directly related to most of them;)

dang skippy.

Ladies and Gents, lets engage in a wee cavalcade of stereotypical Okie places chock full of stereotypical Okie faces...Poteau, Madill, Durant, Gage, Guymon, Prague, Eufala, Henryetta, Marietta, Pauls Valley, Wayne & Payne, Gene Autry, Drumright, Sapulpa, Heavner, Ringling, Colcord, Jet, Nash, Burns Flat, Hanna, Little Kansas, Claremore and Waurika. And that's just twenty-five places you can go this fine morning and see your fellow Okies in their native habitat living their Okie lives in grand Okie style. And I'm glad of it.

[Lott's Bandana]

No mention of our apparent preponderancy for thunder?

[BigRedJed]

dang skippy.

Ladies and Gents, lets engage in a wee cavalcade of stereotypical Okie places chock full of stereotypical Okie faces...Poteau, Madill, Durant, Gage, Guymon, Prague, Eufala, Henryetta, Marietta, Pauls Valley, Wayne & Payne, Gene Autry, Drumright, Sapulpa, Heavner, Ringling, Colcord, Jet, Nash, Burns Flat, Hanna, Little Kansas, Claremore and Waurika. And that's just twenty-five places you can go this fine morning and see your fellow Okies in their native habitat living their Okie lives in grand Okie style. And I'm glad of it.
All reasons why people who want to visit the western, agrarian roots and have an authentic rural Oklahoma experience should visit small-town Oklahoma. Perhaps take a cruise down Route 66. I highly recommend it, in fact, and have done it many, many times myself.

But there is nothing whatsoever authentic about a place like Club Rodeo. Or, for that matter, people walking around OKC or Tulsa wearing ropers and cowboy hats, in general. In fact, I've heard people say that the best way to know a drug store cowboy from a real one is that the real one won't be wearing a cowboy hat unless it's a special occasion. That holds pretty true in my family, where the only members I have who still live on a farm/ranch in western Oklahoma, raising cattle and riding horses with regularity, are far more likely to be in ballcaps at any given moment.

And there is nothing INauthentic about city folk, in the cities, living like city folk. They've done it for years, in fact. An OKC or Tulsa businessman driving a Benz or wearing Armani suit isn't trying to be something he's not. Just because you'll see a lot more suits and Benzes downtown than starched Wranglers and duallies doesn't make it somehow less authentically Oklahoman.

An artist who paints something other than Indian art or cowboy pictures isn't somehow denying Oklahoma's culture. Of course there are a special few who can merge the modern with the past, like our own Picasso.

The point is that the large cities in Oklahoma are far more diverse than people on the coasts want to give us credit for being, and to emerge as a place people want to visit or live, we have to shrug off that perception, while still keeping ties to our western/Indian roots. I think that we as a city and as a state do a pretty good job of that, we just need to make sure everyone else understands what we really are.

The fact of the matter is, that story was about OKC, and I just look forward to the day when east coast writers can do a piece on OKC or Tulsa without going out of their way to find "cowboys."

On the flip side, a broad travel piece on the STATE of Oklahoma would be doing its readers a disservice if it omitted the small town, rural charm one can enjoy when they visit areas of our state that DON'T fall within the OKC or Tulsa city limits.

[sooneron]

Actually, I think it's a really good article. Yeah, it could have done without Club Rodeo, but yanks want to see a bar AND a rodeo in the same space. It's something they can tell their friends.

[Partial Qualifier]

I was gonna ask "what do all those small towns have to do with a write-up on Oklahoma City?" but Jed beat me to it.

National Saddlery Company, Cattlemen's, Oklahoma Native Art and Jewelry and Club Rodeo? Somebody needs a new travel agent.

[OUDoc]

I guess at least I've been to Cattlemen's (20 years ago), never heard of the other places. Apparently I'm missing out on something. ;)

[sooneron]

I guess at least I've been to Cattlemen's (20 years ago), never heard of the other places. Apparently I'm missing out on something. ;)

For geezers like you and me, Club Rodeo used to be In Cahoots.

[Hamhock]

did the article mention how flat and windy it is in OKC?

and how dare you guys leave out meth users and **** fighters in your descripiton of rural oklahomans.

[BigRedJed]

As a matter of fact, it DID mention how flat and windy (and hot) it was in OKC when the writer was here. Not much we can do about those things, though. Unless we pass MAPS for Hills and Trees and ClimateDome. Which could happen one day, now that I think about it. Hell, we'll pass just about anything else around here.

[SoonerInKCMO]

Hell, we'll pass just about anything else around here.

Yeah, for a bunch of rightwingnuts, y'all sure do like taxing yourselves. ;)

[OUDoc]

We really should dome OKC. For the children.

[picasso]

Dumb *** geographical stereotypes are all over the place.

I can't tell you how many times I was asked if I lived in an iglu my freshman year at OU. Or whether we had cars. Or if it was really dark all the time.

reminds me of my sister's wedding back in the early 90's. she married a fella from Maryland and during the pre wedding getting dressed stuff we had quite a thunderstorm. I warned said groom and his buddies on how to tuck and roll in a tornado. they were really scared.:D
They all think we see tornadoes all the time I guess.;)

[Turd_Ferguson]

We really should dome OKC. For the children.Heh. Larry could get a new business going...."Dome the Children".

[picasso]

Heh. Larry could get a new business going...."Dome the Children".

I love that song by Foreigner "Fartknocker."

[Frozen Sooner]

You should dome OKC WITH children.

You could call it the OKC-Tulsa Dome. Because really, it's Oklahoma's dome, not just OKC's.

[Hamhock]

Dumb *** geographical stereotypes are all over the place.

I can't tell you how many times I was asked if I lived in an iglu my freshman year at OU. Or whether we had cars. Or if it was really dark all the time.

i thought it really is dark there all the time? :confused:

[Frozen Sooner]

i thought it really is dark there all the time? :confused:

We get the approximately the same amount of daylight as everyone else. We just get more of it from March 21-September 21 and less of it from September 21-March 21.

[OUDoc]

i thought it really is dark there all the time? :confused:


We get the approximately the same amount of daylight as everyone else. We just get more of it from March 21-September 21 and less of it from September 21-March 21.

Those Canadians get really cranky when you ask about their dark igloos.

[BigRedJed]

We get the approximately the same amount of daylight as everyone else. We just 24 hours of sunlight from March 21-September 21 and 24 hours of darkness September 21-March 21.
Fixed.

[Frozen Sooner]

And still completely inaccurate.

Only points north of the Arctic Circle get a full day of sunlight-in fact, that's what defines the Arctic Circle. We're a good 500 some mile south of that.

Any more lip out of you and I'm going to start campaigning for the Oklahoma Storm to be the official team name.

[Hamhock]

i know i have lots of huntin' videos where the guy shoots the bear and says it's like 11pm and it's still light.

[Frozen Sooner]

Are the videos of Larry Csonka?

[BigRedJed]

I was exaggerating, duh.

[Hamhock]

Are the videos of Larry Csonka?

no. these guys are bow only.

[85Sooner]

I was wondering when he was going to describe the the traffic jams of covered wagons. and point out the cleanest out houses.

[BigRedJed]

In Alaska? I'm so confused.

[Frozen Sooner]

no. these guys are bow only.

They bag any bobcats?

True story: I met the Nuge at the Fairbanks airport when he was heading out for some bow hunting.

And by "met" I mean I saw him, said "Hey, that's Ted Nugent" and he waved.

[Frozen Sooner]

In Alaska? I'm so confused.

Jeez. We have honey buckets here.

Anyone know where I can get an OKC-Tulsa Thundarr jersey?

[bluedogok]

For geezers like you and me, Club Rodeo used to be In Cahoots.
...and for the even older, it was Cajun's Wharf many years before it was Incahoots.

[BigRedJed]

Ah, yes. Cajun's Wharf, home of Speedy West and Maya. I remember it well. Those were the days. Or not.

[Hamhock]

They bag any bobcats?

True story: I met the Nuge at the Fairbanks airport when he was heading out for some bow hunting.

And by "met" I mean I saw him, said "Hey, that's Ted Nugent" and he waved.

they were hunting moose in ANWAAAAR.

[OUDoc]

True story: I met the Nuge at the Fairbanks airport when he was heading out for some bow hunting.

And by "met" I mean I saw him, said "Hey, that's Ted Nugent" and he waved.

That's almost identical to my Tito Puente story.
Except I never called him "Ted Nugent".
And it was in a casino in Vegas.
And it was my brother who yelled, "TITO!".
But I did almost knock Tito over on the way out of the bathroom.
See? Almost identical stories.

[Okla-homey]

I was wondering when he was going to describe the the traffic jams of covered wagons. and point out the cleanest out houses.

well, as far as covered wagons go, we're the folks who feature one at our nationally televised football games complete with a gal in a long dress who doesn't wear underwear and fellers in white britches and red shirts firing off shotguns.

Now, whose fault is it the rest of the country is possessed of this enduring image we're "rural?";)

[Hamhock]

a gal in a long dress who doesn't wear underwear

link?

[Okla-homey]

link?

Its a RufNek Queen dealio

[SoonerInKCMO]

Now, whose fault is it the rest of the country is possessed of this enduring image we're "rural?";)

Ban the Ruf-Neks!! :mad:

[BigRedJed]

Meh. Ruf/Neks are a mixed bag. A little annoyance here and there, but they are OURS. And they're a longtime tradition. And they take care of Cecil's ride AND the Schooner, which is a big plus in my book.

I say keep them and ban the horsepigs.

[BigRedJed]

The spek button is the second icon from the left, underneath my avatar.

[sooner_born_1960]

well, as far as covered wagons go, we're the folks who feature one at our nationally televised football games complete with a gal in a long dress who doesn't wear underwear and fellers in white britches and red shirts firing off shotguns.

Now, whose fault is it the rest of the country is possessed of this enduring image we're "rural?";)
By that logic, should the world view New Jersey folks as medieval?

[sooneron]

...and for the even older, it was Cajun's Wharf many years before it was Incahoots.

I remember it being Cajun's Wharf, I just don't know anyone that made the trek from Nompton to there when it was under that moniker.

[BigRedJed]

I remember it being Cajun's Wharf, I just don't know anyone that made the trek from Nompton to there when it was under that moniker.
:O

[captain_surly]

dang skippy.

Ladies and Gents, lets engage in a wee cavalcade of stereotypical Okie places chock full of stereotypical Okie faces...Poteau, Madill, Durant, Gage, Guymon, Prague, Eufala, Henryetta, Marietta, Pauls Valley, Wayne & Payne, Gene Autry, Drumright, Sapulpa, Heavner, Ringling, Colcord, Jet, Nash, Burns Flat, Hanna, Little Kansas, Claremore and Waurika. And that's just twenty-five places you can go this fine morning and see your fellow Okies in their native habitat living their Okie lives in grand Okie style. And I'm glad of it.


LeFlore county is disproportionately represented here on a per capita basis. That's OK since it has produced some of the state's most outstanding citizens.:D

And I guarantee you can go to either of those two towns and see Okies acting like Okies all over the place. I highly reccommend the plate lunches at the Southern Belle diner in Heavener. I also hear you can go down the road to Wister and see a genuine Okie distillery.

[sooneron]

:O

Lemme guess, you still hit Russell's every now and again.:rolleyes:

[BigRedJed]

I actually went there a couple of years ago. It was as horrible as I remembered. Both times (Cajun's Wharf and the recent visit to Russell's) a bunch of friends forced me to go. None of them are my friends any more.

[sooneron]

Russell's had that sweet air of desperation to it, 'round closing time.


I went there as a goof (crap, I can't remember) I think about 6-7 yrs ago. Sad place. I'm guessing Groovy's (if it's still around) has become all that and moreso.

[Partial Qualifier]

Lemme guess, you still hit Russell's every now and again.:rolleyes:

you mean Hustle's? Actually, when it first opened, it was okay.

I bet Jed was more of a You-Can-Scam Hooker Stand guy :)

[BigRedJed]

Dude, Groovy's was teh cool back when it was in Crosswind, had a capacity of around 20, and at all times it felt like the entire structure of the place was going to collapse into the swimming pool.

Now that it's just a Harry Bear's with a mirror ball, not so much.

[BigRedJed]

Dude. Yucatan Liquor Stand kept me fed for a year or so. All you can eat crawfish and shrimp boil and 99 cent longnecks. That was a just-out-of-school kid's dream environs.

[BigRedJed]

The one cool thing about the current Groovy's: that Harry Bears was Michael Ivins' version of Wayne Coyne's Long John Silvers. Michael worked there for years, when the Lips were still establishing themselves. Seriously, I think he's a timy bit bitter that Wayne's LJS has gotten so much pub. He really liked Harry Bears.

[Partial Qualifier]

It was a dream for an horny, fake I.D.-possessing young bastard as well.

[sooneron]

Henry Hudson's on Meridian.




There! I said it!

[Partial Qualifier]

I love it when Southwestern Stereotype threads turn into OKC Pickup Bars threads.

LOVE. IT.

[BigRedJed]

I'll see your Henry Hudson's and raise you a Cactus Jack's.

[sooneron]

Was Yucatan on NW Express?

[BigRedJed]

Yes. Now it's a Friday's.

[BigRedJed]

Also on NW Expressway: City Lights.

[Partial Qualifier]

Ahh yes, City Lights. In what is now a Johnnie's Charcoal Broiler.

OH ****, what was it before it was City Lights? !!

[sooneron]

I was more of a Pyramid, Inertia tard. Sprinkled with some Sipango, COTW, VZDs, Wilshire, and Flip's for the pre-clubbing boozing.

[sooneron]

I decided I was done with YLS when some doosh was trying to look up my whore gf's spandex dress as she was dancing.

[BigRedJed]

Michael's Plum. What do I win?

[sooneron]

Michael's Plum. What do I win?

:P
beat me to it

[BigRedJed]

I was more of a Pyramid, Inertia tard. Sprinkled with some Sipango, COTW, VZDs, Wilshire, and Flip's for the pre-clubbing boozing.
Dude, seriously, you might be ME. Are you sort of chubby these days?

[swardboy]

Anyone here with history at the Hog's Breath Saloon, NW 10th and MacArthur?

[sooneron]

Dude, seriously, you might be ME. Are you sort of chubby these days?

Who isn't?

I need to lose about 15 lbs. My fat jihad 08 ended at 10lbs and that was 5 lbs lighter than I am now.

That make sense?

[BigRedJed]

If you can tell me what Pyramid was called before Pyramid, and Inertia before Inertia, I'll give you... ...well... ...how 'bout cool poster of the day status?

[Partial Qualifier]

Tons of spek, Jed.

but now I'm confused: Michael's Plum was in the SW corner of 63rd and May.

Where was Club Pandemonium? Wasn't that where the NW Expressway Johnnie's is now?

[Partial Qualifier]

If you can tell me what Pyramid was called before Pyramid, and Inertia before Inertia, I'll give you... ...well... ...how 'bout cool poster of the day status?

I can get this if you remind me where Pyramid was.

Inertia was in that old goth-looking church bldg. on Classen, right? Let me jog my memory.

[Partial Qualifier]

we probably all crossed paths several times in that era

[BigRedJed]

Wait. I think the place at 63rd and May was the Plum, not Michael's Plum. Two different places. Or maybe I have that reversed. I wasn't living here in the Michael's Plum heyday.

Pandaemonium was the old church on Classen (after it was the Bowery). It became Inertia, then King of Clubs (never went), then some other place or two, then a rubble pile, then an empty lot. Saw Violent Femmes there circa '92.

Pyramid was in Bricktown, two floors above what is now Bourbon Street. I think Advanced Academics is there today.

[sooneron]

Crap, I think Inertia was Deviate or was it deviate afterwards?

Pyramid was a blur in my life.

[Partial Qualifier]

Okay, you and ron are correct, re: Michael's Plum. THe Plum was the place on 63rd and May. I had the names right, but the locations all screwed up - quite fitting, actually.

I give up on the pre-Pyramid question. I remember it as the Pyramid but no recollection before that.

:(

[Partial Qualifier]

hold on - was Pyramid something like "The Warehouse" before it was Pyramid?

[BigRedJed]

Before it was Pyramid it was 508. That is old school. Like, '86 or '87 old school.

[BigRedJed]

Inertia was mos def Pandaemonium before it was Inertia. There was another club there between the Bowery and Pandaemonium. I remember they got in all sorts of trouble when an undercover news reporter went in there with a hidden camera and found mattresses all over the floors in the upstairs rooms and such. Never heard of Deviate, but that doesn't mean anything. Might have come and gone quickly, based on that building's history.

[Partial Qualifier]

Okay, I give. I admit, The Warehouse was a stretch.

I badly wanted that "coolest poster of the day" award.

How 'bout coolest POSER of the day? :)

[BigRedJed]

And then there was always Quicksilver's at NW 10th and Macarthur.

[BigRedJed]

I win.

[Partial Qualifier]

And then there was always Quicksilver's at NW 10th and Macarthur.

Dude, that place got ghetto in a huge hurry.

[BigRedJed]

Dude, that place STARTED OUT ghetto. The height of its cool factor was the night I was there playing pool at that table just inside the door, when Jamelle Holieway and Charles Thompson brushed by us. Jamelle was wearing a floor-length fur coat.

[BigRedJed]

And then there's the night I was at Sipango, one or two nights before a Nebraska game that we lost. Cale Gundy (when he was starting QB) was in there with two girls hanging all over him, drinking from a pitcher of beer and chain smoking cigarettes. He closed the place down. Can't remember if it was a road game just before travelling, or a night before a game in Norman. Just remember being upset that he was there under those circumstances.

[Frozen Sooner]

OK, my remembrance of the Cale Gundy Nebraska games...

I think we won in '90, lost with Gundy in '91, lost with Steve Collins starting in '92, lost in '93 with Gundy starting in Nebraska.

[Mixer!]

I still remember the radio ads for Quicksilver's that they played on KOFM, becuase it used Styx's "Renegade" for the background music.

[sooneron]

Inertia was mos def Pandaemonium before it was Inertia. There was another club there between the Bowery and Pandaemonium. I remember they got in all sorts of trouble when an undercover news reporter went in there with a hidden camera and found mattresses all over the floors in the upstairs rooms and such. Never heard of Deviate, but that doesn't mean anything. Might have come and gone quickly, based on that building's history.

I think it was briefly DV8.

[sooneron]

Before it was Pyramid it was 508. That is old school. Like, '86 or '87 old school.

Props for the 508 dealio. I was too busy at SRO in Nompton or Tulsey back then. Or, ugh, the Red Fox!:D

[sooneron]

Here's one, what was SRO in Norman called before it was SRO?

[SoonerInKCMO]

Conspicuously absent from y'all's conversation is The Wreck Room. Don't act like y'all didn't go there! ;)

[Frozen Sooner]

Here's one, what was SRO in Norman called before it was SRO?

Seats Available?

[Frozen Sooner]

Conspicuously absent from y'all's conversation is Angles. I used to hang out there all the time! ;)

FTFY

[bluedogok]

Ahh yes, City Lights. In what is now a Johnnie's Charcoal Broiler.

OH ****, what was it before it was City Lights? !!
TaMolly's, another Bob Tayer rip-off. It also had the shingles repossessed at one time. Another one in the area was After Daddy's Money on Wilshire.


Michael's Plum. What do I win?
Which one? Glenbrook, 63rd & Grand, which was the original Varsity many years later. It was originally a Furr's before it moved to French Market Mall and Micahel's Plum opened up there.


but now I'm confused: Michael's Plum was in the SW corner of 63rd and May.
The Plum (as previously stated) was after it was Confetti's and The Zoo. We split our time between there and Charlie's, which some friend's parents owned. There was also the Bowery in the basement of the Plaza Court building...or Faces by where Best Buy is or The Wilshire.


And then there was always Quicksilver's at NW 10th and Macarthur.
Going to PC West, that was a neighborhood joint. Back when beer was still 18, we used to go there quite a bit. I did go see some concerts in the 90's there, Motley Crue with John Corabi, Dream Theater/Fates Warning, Kansas, Molly Hatchet and a few others. Another beer bar was Dallas on Main when I was still in Norman (which became the Copelin's Office Supply Store).


Conspicuously absent from y'all's conversation is The Wreck Room. Don't act like y'all didn't go there! ;)
Never did frequent the Classen or 39th area places, there were plenty of other places to go.....

[Partial Qualifier]

Damn Bluedog... nice long-term memory you got there! Spek. After Daddy's Money is now a church.... the irony.

Ron: I don't know what it was before, but I went to SRO plenty in 87 and 88. Over there by the train tracks off Main, now it's Coaches or Champions or something like that. Hotties flocked to that place. And Red Fox was in that red-brick castle thingy off Lindsey & 24th? Wet t-shirt contests and bartenders who didn't give a **** how old you were, for the win!

I remember a Grey Fox too, but can't remember where it was..

[BigRedJed]

SRO, The Edge, Rome, Rome 90, Bills, Kelly's....

[sooneron]

Damn Bluedog... nice long-term memory you got there! Spek. After Daddy's Money is now a church.... the irony.

Ron: I don't know what it was before, but I went to SRO plenty in 87 and 88. Over there by the train tracks off Main, now it's Coaches or Champions or something like that. Hotties flocked to that place. And Red Fox was in that red-brick castle thingy off Lindsey & 24th? Wet t-shirt contests and bartenders who didn't give a **** how old you were, for the win!

I remember a Grey Fox too, but can't remember where it was..
SRO was previously Sensations. Yeech!@

The Gray Fox was over by the golf course in little Iran.

[Animal Mother]

I grew up in the 1970s so I can't remember the 1980s.

Is the Red Dog still in OKC? Almost was shot in the face there by some biker tard because he thought I was his ex brother-in-law!!! He was so wasted after he figured out I wasn’t his homey that while trying to kick-start this giant bike (no key ignition I guess) his foot slipped and the end of the kick rod tore into his leg. It seemed like the blood went 3 feet. I started laughing and then I started running for my life. I could not believe this dude was ambulatory. I was about 60 days short of turning 18 so I ran until he couldn’t. I hung out in the back of some grease soaked old Chevy truck until I spied my buddies looking for me. I got outta there and NEVER went back.

[sooneron]

And Red Fox was in that red-brick castle thingy off Lindsey & 24th? Wet t-shirt contests and bartenders who didn't give a **** how old you were, for the win!



I think I drank more underage at the Red Fox than when I was 21. Of course, it may have closed by then! I also managed to "judge" a lot of the contests somehow.

[OUDoc]

I grew up in the 1970s so I can't remember the 1980s.

Is the Red Dog still in OKC? Almost was shot in the face there by some biker tard because he thought I was his ex brother-in-law!!! He was so wasted after he figured out I wasn’t his homey that while trying to kick-start this giant bike (no key ignition I guess) his foot slipped and the end of the kick rod tore into his leg. It seemed like the blood went 3 feet. I started laughing and then I started running for my life. I could not believe this dude was ambulatory. I was about 60 days short of turning 18 so I ran until he couldn’t. I hung out in the back of some grease soaked old Chevy truck until I spied my buddies looking for me. I got outta there and NEVER went back.


There you are! :mad:




:D

[sooner_born_1960]

What? No love for "After the Gold Rush" at SW 74th and Penn? Thursday night wet t-shirts. Anything that looked like a n ID got you in the door.

[sooneron]

The Edge, Rome, Rome 90

Worked there, yep.

Tended and occasionally dj'd.
I hated it when I was on the door, tho. Sucked big time.

Kelly's had some great bands. U2 played there.

[King Crimson]

Kelly's had some great bands. U2 played there.

on the Boy tour. though i've heard people say it was really the October. the story is they played I Will Follow like 3 times.

that big castle on Lindsey and 24th was called the Blue Onion for a long time. otherwise, i'm pretty impressed with some of this remembrance. many of the names i would never be able to recall or only vaguely recall from radio commercials: e.g., After Daddy's Money. heh.

fer yer underground cred, Subterranea on Main St. in Norman hosted the minutemen, replacements, scratch acid and a ton other austin hardcore bands. it was a pretty lively, though short-lived venue. Paul Westerberg did an interview in Andrews Park shortly before Tim came out that made it to MTV. Westerberg is wearing a I *heart* Norman baseball style undershirt with the 3/4 sleeves.

[King Crimson]

. There was also the Bowery in the basement of the Plaza Court building...

which later to become the Velvet Underground and then Samurai II. i saw some good shows there. REM, defenestration a bunch of times, Meat Puppets, Translator, Lips, Husker Du.

[Sooner Born Sooner Bred]

No love for Exit Exito?

I was in junior high when it was in business. I just remember the commercials.

[bluedogok]

I saw U2 at the old Ice Chalet at Will Rogers Plaza by the park on Portland during the October tour, I can't remember the name that the place had that week. A co-workers husband was in the band Fingers which was the opening act. I saw his later band Big Bang Theory play at the Grey Fox one night.

I saw a few shows at The Bowery, Dokken, Streets (Steve Walsh after Kansas) and I vaguely remember what I think was The Psychedelic Furs...they might have been there, vodka erased any memory of that night.