The definitive Midtown Tulsa photo thread

[Spartan65]

You guys should appreciate the great pains I went through to get these pics after I finished up a round of golf this last weekend. Got rained on suddenly, when it heated up to 100 degrees immediately afterward, 400% humidity, I was literally melting. So much more oppressive and humid than what I got used to in Canada.. :ohno:

Utica Square..Green Country's main shopping destination. One of the first "lifestyle centers" in the U.S. (built in the 40s).


Condos towering over Utica Square

Petty's Fine Foods


Very..Michael Graves.









Utica Placa condos towering over Pottery Barn





New Anthropologie coming in

St. John's towers over Utica Square












Miss Jackon's Department Store




Surrounding area



Typical faux Tuscan architecture that dominates Midtown



Swan Lake neighborhood






Cherry Street, Midtown's premier restaurant and arts district.




Way cooler than typical Jason's Deli






A Midtown developer's office





















Stillwater National Bank

More typical Midtown architecture..Michael Graves meets faux Tuscan

















That's two shots in a row with different Porsche Cayennes in them..

[Spartan65]

NoChe-- (North Cherry) an area getting eaten up by dozens and dozens of new loft developments. Area very similar to Rice Military in Houston which has been overrun by upscale lofts close to downtown.











Bye-bye smurf house.


LEED-Platinum living

I hope this one and others survive..so much character.



More lofts planned here



More u/c

I believe I heard this one has roof drainage issues somewhere..imagine that.





It was difficult to get photos facing the sun when there weren't shadows I could stand in.

This lawn is actually dedicated to Elvis kitsch. How awesome is that?





SoBo-- South Boston, a strip of nightlife joints and expensive law offices that link Maple Ridge to the IDL (aka downtown).

One bar surrounded by Uptown towers






Tulsa Modern..truly its own distinct variation similar to MiMo, but with bolder definitions

Looking up one street in Uptown (Denver Ave, I think? I forget)

Some of the old apartments as you venture further into Midtown from SoBo



The view of the Downtown/Uptown core from the Peoria bridge over the BA:

Couldn't even get it all within this one shot



Uptown skyline...REALLY wish I had more time to explore some of this neighborhood's great urbanism..but I've already done several Uptown photo sets.



To finish it all off, Brookside. Midtown's main entertainment and nightlife district, also a good restaurant, retail, art gallery, and urban housing mix. Brookside is Tulsa's "Restless Ribbon" situated blocks from where Midtown meets the Arkansas River.



Digging the Tulsa skyline mural. I've always admired Tulsa's strong self-identity.









One of my absolute favorite coffee shops of all time




Wolfgang Puck's new restaurant set to open soon




Brand-new rooftop bar
























To help people get their bearings straight, here is a quick map I drew of Midtown Tulsa with Brookside, SoBo, Utica Square in relation to each other and then an outline of Midtown in relation to the rest of the Green Country metro. Basically all of Midtown is an incredibly awesome area that few Midtowners would trade for any other city. You've got an area packed full of other entertainment districts and restaurant rows I didn't get to cover, dozens of beautiful neighborhoods, and in immensely diverse building stock in terms of architectural styles.. everything from Tudor, Italian, and other mansion styles, to skyscrapers, warehouses turned restaurant or art gallery, a fair amount of faux Tuscan that's starting to dominate the area, a good collection of Art Deco and Tulsa Modern architecture, lots of old lofts, hundreds and hundreds of brand new lofts, lots of beautiful manicured parks and greenspaces, and more. The only consistency is that almost everything is well cared for, because Tulsans and especially Midtowners take pride in their city, as you can see.

[chrizow]

very cool thread!  i like to see neighborhoods in other cities - skylines are not interesting to me. 

NoChe? SoBo?  do people actually use those terms? 

[kcjak]

I love the pics - am very surprised at the number of infill condos in the central core.  It all looks really nice and I'm looking forward to a visit.  I wish they wouldn't use terms like NoChe and SoBo (and I'm glad KC didn't settle on SoLo for the Xroads)...it makes any city using them seem unoriginal.

I like the Utica area, but where are all the people?  Maybe a bad time of day to be out?

[chrizow]

just looked through these again.  im digging it.  i must say, i have really grown to appreciate "western midwest/texas" urbanity like this.  20s-40s urbanity, lots of 1-2 story buildings, really flat/long streets, plentiful trees and green.  tulsa, denver, kc, maybe omaha, austin, maybe parts of so. cali., etc.  it's kind of a nice, laidback feel compared to more frenetic (and truly urban) centers like your chicagos and nycs and bostons.

i'd be curious to see the more edgy, up-and-coming (or just stagnant) urban 'hoods in tulsa to contrast with the yuppie tulsa.  "fringe" areas.  like thermal vents in the sea, sometimes the most fascinating forms of life exist at the margins..

[KCMax]

Really a good model of what Wichita could aspire to be if they was any kind of civic pride in that town.

[chrizow]

i just wikied Tulsa, and it's actually a lot smaller than i thought it was.  the metro (which, in midwest fashion, covers an enormous area) is only a bit over 1M.  seems like it's punching above its weight? 

[nilsson1941]

I see SOME similarities between Tulsa and KC urban core, but for the most part I feel like Tulsa has a lot more of the Austin-like urban feel and KC feels more like a true mixture between cities like STL-Detroit-Chicago-Cleveland (a lot of similar housing styles between detroit and KC) and the newer midwestern cities like minn-omaha-indianapolis.

I think it is incredibly misleading to tie KC with cities like Omaha, Dallas, and OKC between in many ways KC is more like northern midwestern cities.

For instance, I have a lot of family from Tulsa (who actually live in the urban area) who come to KC and feel like it is (at least the urban part) a lot more like an eastern or northern midwestern industrial city.

KC certainly isn't in an eastern style city to folks from pittsburgh or philadelphia, but I think it feels much more so to people from OKC or tulsa.

Basically..STL= Part Pittsburg, Part KC (people have yards, a lot of trees).
KC = Part STL, Part Minn.
Tulsa = Part Austin, Part KC

[chrizow]

not saying that KC is the same as Tulsa or anywhere else.  just saying that i've increasingly appreciated that "western midwest" urban vibe, which KC and Tulsa and other cities have.  Tulsa is a few more steps towards that direction than KC, of course, but there is plenty of this feel in KC.

[nilsson1941]

not saying that KC is the same as Tulsa or anywhere else.  just saying that i've increasingly appreciated that "western midwest" urban vibe, which KC and Tulsa and other cities have.  Tulsa is a few more steps towards that direction than KC, of course, but there is plenty of this feel in KC.

Oh, of course. I guess I just ranted because I had a discussion similar to this last night with a friend and the conclusion we came to is that KC is one of the more undefinable cities in the midwest (or country). It really has a feel from about every part of this country. Tulsa, and most other cities, are much easier to define.

[kuslamb]

very cool thread!  i like to see neighborhoods in other cities - skylines are not interesting to me. 

NoChe? SoBo?  do people actually use those terms?   :lol:

I was born in Tulsa and lived there until college.  All of my family lives there.  Parents in the suburbs, sister in midtown.  Most of my friends live in midtown and down into Cherry Street. 

I have NEVER heard anyone refer to NoChe, SoBo, etc... when referring to areas of the city.  I may have been missing this, but I hope that I am not.

[NDTeve]

not saying that KC is the same as Tulsa or anywhere else.  just saying that i've increasingly appreciated that "western midwest" urban vibe, which KC and Tulsa and other cities have.  Tulsa is a few more steps towards that direction than KC, of course, but there is plenty of this feel in KC.

Agree with this...never felt the people were more "North-Midwestern" in KC than anywhere else. I'd put us on par with Omaha and OKC in terms of people. Just no Northern or Southern Dialect. Also love the Boulevard specials being displayed at the Brook. Was impressed when I went there that everyone was drinking BLVD Wheat.

[Spartan65]

Thanks for the comments, guys. As for what Tulsa is, I can't really help you with that in terms of Midwest cities. If you're looking for your own identity to compare somehow to better understand Tulsa, I would just suggest that Tulsa and most of Oklahoma really considers itself more southern than Midwestern. For instance, if Texas secedes..everybody knows the 1 other state that goes with them. We saw that in potential Big 12 realignment, Texas and Oklahoma are a region of their own..and less likely to identify themselves with the Midwest than with the sun belt. So I would suggest comparing Tulsa's urban areas to cities such as Charlotte, Raleigh, Austin, Houston, Nashville, etc. I've always thought, despite the very different freeway network shaping the two cities (ATL has the "Connector" spine, whereas Tulsa has the "IDL" loop that opens up to a grid of freeways), that Tulsa's inner city sort of resembles a smaller version of Atlanta or Houston, but more Atlanta. You have multiple office building cores, a separate core of residential condo towers (Tulsa's Uptown, ATL's Buckhead), very attractive college campuses downtown, and the general abundance of greenery beautifying the built environment. Tulsa and ATL are also very similar in terrain..the most built up portion tend to cluster in the flatter areas, preserving the hillier areas.

OKC and Tulsa are also very different. I think OKC and Dallas are just joined at birth..they have a misguided tendency to just flaunt money at problems, not understand concepts of true urbanism, tend to obsess over the size and stature of things, and so on. The cities also look very similar. OKC will always be smaller, but Dallas is only 10 years ahead of OKC in terms of urban trends. I think OKC and Dallas are a lot less likely to identify themselves as southern like Tulsa, or even Midwestern..insisting on being neither western, Midwestern, southern, or anything (which in exchange leads to a lot of misunderstandings from outside over what their city is about).

I have a huge Downtown Tulsa thread coming up as well for you guys. With Midtown you all saw a lot of sunbelt gentrification, urbanization, and infill. A lot of the development reflects the arts, people's desire to be connected with beauty, and other things that come with people that have money and time to kill. Most neighborhoods are getting overran with either faux Tuscan or modernist architecture (both of which are inappropriate in the very old colonial or tudor neighborhoods)..there's even a strong Preserve Midtown movement where residents unsuccessfully fend off the infill (any house under 2,000 sf has its days numbered). Downtown Tulsa on the other hand is a lot more practical and more reminiscent of the Old South..whereas Midtown felt like Charlotte and ATL, Downtown feels more like Birmingham or Louisville. In fact it would feel exactly like the Ham if it had more greenery, which is missing Downtown due to the ridiculous amounts of surface parking and vacant lots that are just now being redeveloped.

Also, if anyone is interested in seeing what all development is going on in DT Tulsa right now, here are a few quick rundowns on all of the projects (except for the two most recently announced loft conversions in the last month):
http://downtownontherange.blogspot.com/ ... pdate.html
http://downtownontherange.blogspot.com/ ... tulsa.html
http://downtownontherange.blogspot.com/ ... truth.html

[Spartan65]

Oh and as for "NoChe" it is used in writing but never, ever said out loud. "SoBo" sometimes is, but it's mostly used by the businesses down there, and also in writing..but it is more vernacular than "NoChe."

[nilsson1941]

Most of my family being from OKC and Tulsa I agree completely with Spartans comments. The two cities are different and, really, don't have a lot in common with KC both in terms of architecture and demographics. Like I said before, when my family from OKC and Tulsa visit KC they say that they feel as though they are in a tiny Chicago (obviously not 100% correct, but when compared to Tulsa and OKC it makes sense).

[kuslamb]

Agree with this...never felt the people were more "North-Midwestern" in KC than anywhere else. I'd put us on par with Omaha and OKC in terms of people. Just no Northern or Southern Dialect. Also love the Boulevard specials being displayed at the Brook. Was impressed when I went there that everyone was drinking BLVD Wheat.

There is a ton of BLVD beers around Tulsa - Most bars and nicer restaurants will carry Wheat and Pale Ale - their sales person has done a nice job in Tulsa.

[nilsson1941]

Agree with this...never felt the people were more "North-Midwestern" in KC than anywhere else. I'd put us on par with Omaha and OKC in terms of people. Just no Northern or Southern Dialect. Also love the Boulevard specials being displayed at the Brook. Was impressed when I went there that everyone was drinking BLVD Wheat.

Maybe Omaha, but people in OKC are much more "Texas" than most people in KC. Even in the urban core, there is a much more texas kind of feel. Not that that is a bad thing.

[rxlexi]

thanks for the photos Spartan.  I really enjoyed a brief trip to Tulsa (and OKC) last spring (see the city trip reports for details if interested).  I thought Tulsa was a great little city, and in many ways resembled Kansas City-lite.  All of the neighborhoods off of Peoria that I drove through, the park over there (Woodland?) with Rose Garden much like Loose Park here, the rolling green hills and art deco skyline.  OKC by comparison was much more "Texas" as described above - hot, flat, generally unattractive but with something of an enjoyable civic spirit and certainly some neat spots.

  We enjoyed both cities but Tulsa was instantly more attractive and likable; as someone mentioned above it does punch above it weight with that gorgeous deco oil-boom skyline, a nice urban university (admitedly in a very rough-looking area) with a pretty stone campus, and some leafy green neighborhoods full of Brookside-esque housing along with some nice modern infill.  It feels, like Omaha and KC in some ways, like a refined little city that was crafted with an eye towards aesthetics, and I couldn't get over how much, visually, the parts of Tulsa that I loved reminded me of KC (including Utica Square, essentially a somewhat more upscale, slightly larger Praire Village).  I too love these "tweener" (late 19th to early 20th century boomtowns, upper midwestern influence - the very first "western" cities) midwestern cities, of which is among the largest KC has only a few peers in the country, IMO - Omaha, Minny, Tulsa, maybe Denver, maybe early Fort Worth. 

  A bonus - Tulsa's urban core really is tiny, and one can be from the Mission Hills (near the Philbrook Museum and Woodland Park) and Brooksidey neighborhoods, to Cherry St, to downtown and the nearby baby Xroads areas in about 5 minutes, in city traffic.  It is a GREAT size, like urban Omaha, for an urban nerd day or weekend trip.  And it isn't really too far away.  Worth checking out for the deco downtown alone if you're into that sort of thing - Boston Avenue Cathedral is spectacular, though surrounded by one of the most depressing stretches of parking lots (as is the rest of DT) you will ever see..

  And then that would be Tulsa's downfall as well...DT felt rather lonely and forgotten, considering the gorgoeous buildings, new arena, and tight city blocks.  There are some pockets around the "blue dome" ditrict on the outskirts of downtown but I would love to see the same kind of energy focused on civic pride and the DT area that you see in OKC.

[nilsson1941]

I must be alone, but I really feel as though the only parts that really resemble Tulsa in KC is the brookside area. Maybe parts of the south plaza area, but besides that, not much else.

[Spartan65]

Well, I think Tulsa is more like STL than KC honestly. Just in terms of topography, rivers, the city's layout, the downtown/midtown dynamic, etc. I always thought St Louis felt like a collection of smaller picturesque urban towns jumbled in a larger metro area, and Tulsa has that feel as well.

KC is more like OKC in the sense that it is a more organized, more concentrated urban area..flatter than both Tulsa and STL, yet not as flat as OKC..I think OKC and KC have a similar civic spirit as well. Both also have a tendency to occasionally plop big flashy en vogue urban renewal-esque projects in the middle of their downtowns, unlike Tulsa or STL.

Speaking of downtown Tulsa..guess I'll go ahead and post the downtown pics now.