St. Patty’s Day 2009 with Winston Media

Downtown was bustling with activity early Tuesday afternoon during St. Patrick’s Day. The weather was so beautiful it would have made sense to cut out of work early, notwithstanding the lure of beer gardens blossoming all over the streets of Tulsa. The Winston Media team decided to check out a little early to check out the festivities. We cruised over to McNellies for a while and then headed over to Kilkanny’s. It was a raucous good time.

PHOTOGRAPHS
Party Pics by Wesley Winston Cox & Fine Creative Shots by Les Phénixes

An Insiders Look at The Summit Club

Many people have never been to the top of the Bank of America building in downtown Tulsa to appreciate the luxurious accommodations, fantastic food and gorgeous views of Tulsa at The Summit Club. As such, I have prepared a little “insider” video overview of The Summit Club and all it has to offer. For those interested in joining, just go to their website: http://summittulsa.com. Or call Susan Devonshire at: 582.5243.

Society Society Tulsa’s own Hip Hop Rock Band

One of my favorite local restaurants is Desi Wok located at 41st and Yale. My wife loves the Tiki Massala and so do I.

Today as I was rollin’ through to pick up some food from Desi Wok, I stopped to talk to one of the guys who works there.

After a short conversation with him he was telling me about a band that he was a member of “Society Society” - he told me to look up their My Space page when I got home, so I did.

myspace.com/societysociety

From what he told me they are all experienced musicians and hip to the music game. They formed a Hip Hop band (it has plent of Rock as well) and have been getting some great gigs - he told me with a grin “We are opening for Afro Man, which should be fun . . .”

After checking their My Space page and their only released single, I followed up with an email to him telling him I was interested in shooting their music video and then immediately posted this.

They have a gig coming up this weekend. If you are into local music and dig Hip Hop/Rock, I would say they are definitely worth checking out.

02-01-09 2009 Super Bowl (of Chili)

Local social juggernaut Rania Nasreddine hosted the 2009 Super Bowl (of Chili) at her home near “The Ranch” at 51st and Sheridan Sunday night. The event was a Super Bowl party AND a chili cook off. Rania’s home was stuffed with Tulsan’s eager to down some chili and take in the Super Bowl.

The streets leading up to Rania’s house were packed with cars and my unofficial headcount put around 100 people at the event. From creatives to professionals it was a veritable who’s who of young Tulsanites.

02-01-09 2009 Super Bowl (of Chili) from Wesley Cox on Vimeo.

Full Photo Album / Flickr Set here

Featured Photos:

The Best Little Prostitution Ring In Tulsa

I recently began researching the history of Tulsa and the nightlife of it’s different eras. To my good fortune in the process I began to find traces of an underbelly to which our city pays no mind. I felt this subject matter interesting, and more importantly unrepresented. So I re-fixed my focus on darker themes and those things not discussed in mixed company for fear of becoming a social pariah. In delving into these topics I hope to raise an awareness, as well as start a movement to embrace the elements of our city that we may not understand but must retain in order to have a culture rich in decadence and depravity. Rich in exuberance and excess. Rich in all that we as Americans may hold dear!

In this weeks post we will be discussing brothels.

Now please try to imagine (or remember) a time before cell phones, pagers and the internet. Now for the sake of this article try to imagine you are back in this pre-technological age, and you are a “john”. You’re out and about, you’re looking for action, some excitement, the thrill of a lifetime. Without the ability to drunk dial and order brides from overseas you would think hope was far from alive and well in Tulsa, in all actuality nothing could be farther from the truth. Spanning at least 10 years was a call-in escort service which operated out of a building in the approximate location that Empire Bar now stands. The process was simple, you would dial “RIDESHY“, a machine would pick up and you would leave a message. If those who screened the messages felt you were a potential threat or a police officer they would simply not respond. This racket ran through the 60’s and 70’s until it was finally shut down.

The next featured brothel holds a record for the longest running operation of its kind. The magic began in 1936 when Pauline Lambert began the May Rooms. It was located at 326 1/2 east 1st street. The empire grew into four hotels, all of which gave service with a smile, as well as happy endings. The business thrived over forty years until 1979 when Madam Pauline was finally arrested and the brothels closed. It’s rumored she was able to keep her business running so long without police raids because many city officials were regular clients. There is now a May Rooms Gallery of art located at 328 east 1st street.

Hopefully this brief lesson in the history of our local sex trade has moved and inspired you to taking up arms in the fight against our oppressor. Hopefully this has opened the eyes and given a dream to some young entrepreneur and given Tulsa its next Pauline Lambert.

Until Next Time!

The Districts of Brookside

When I first moved to Tulsa in ‘02 and I was learning my way around town, I remember people telling me about Brookside. At the time, I would receive vague descriptions about where Brookside began and where it ended, but was never completely clear on exactly where Brookside was. Of course when I would drive between 31st and 41st on Peoria I was very aware that I was in the heart of Brookside. What I did not know at that time is that Brookside extended well beyond that 1 mile stretch of commercial development on Peoria between 31st and 41st.

As I lived in Tulsa longer, Lower Brookside to be exact, I started to realize what a hot place Brookside was. That businesses south of the highway claimed to be in Brookside and that the borders of Brookside were somewhat debatable. Then a couple of years ago I heard someone refer to “Upper Brookside.” Which was the first time I had heard anyone ever describe a sub-district of Brookside. In fact I believe I remember a friend scoffing at the fact that someone would describe their area of Brookside UPPER BROOKSIDE, as if it were pompous.

All of that is what has led to this post, which I feel is the ultimate district breakdown of Brookside, Tulsa Oklahoma. So now, if you would, please honor me by referring to Brookside according to the sub districts that I have outlined below.

Click this image to see a larger version of this map.

Feel free to leave feedback and comments about my breakdown if you see room for improvement or refinement. I have the layered PSD so I can easily update this map.

Tulsa Club Building - Blight on Downtown Tulsa

The historic Tulsa Club building, on the corner of 5th street and Cincinatti, Downtown, Tulsa faces an uncertain future. This beautiful building with a great history and equally great potential sits vacant, graffiti adorned and collects city fines as the owner stubbornly resists all reasonable offers.

The building has been cited for violation of fire, electrical and plumbing codes as well as collapsed ceilings and evidence of trespassing and other possible criminal activity. The city had assessed a $1,000 fine each day since August 2007 until a Tulsa County judge awarded the city a $331,815 civil judgment in October for the unpaid charges.

The current owner, Carl J. Marony, of California picked the property up for around $125k sources say and has not done a thing with it. Rather than put it to good use he has opted to negligently let it sit unattended while homeless people smashed their way in and desecrate the structure.

A neighboring building manager, who opted to stay off the record, shared that he had made numerous attempts to assist the situation. From purchasing the building to forming a partnership, Marony has been quite unreasonable in his opinion. His asking price is said to be $3 million for the building in its current state, which is a huge exaggeration based on the current condition and occupancy in the neighboring buildings.

The building was designed by Bruce Goff, noted Oklahoma architect, for his Art Deco and Modern designs and is highly regarded for its original Art Deco design and downtown location. Built in 1927, it was home to the once prestigious Tulsa Club and Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, who had originally commissioned the project.

Loose Leaf Co. Grand Opening

Tulsa birthed a new urban art gallery on Friday night as Loose Leaf Co. opened it’s doors for the first time. To mark the occasion, the illustrations of David “HEK” Rogers marked their territory along the white walls of this otherwise sparse venue. Although the event ran from 7 to 10pm, I showed up relatively early to avoid the bustle of the blue dome crowd, but to my surprise the room had already filled-in.

Something refreshing about the throng of artgoers was the mixed bag of age brackets. There was no particular demographic on display this particular night, as is usually the case with more traditional institutions, and most everyone seemed to be familiar with the crowd in attendance, indicating a tightly knit creative community.

The color on the wall was courtesy of the aforementioned artist, and while the illustrations were a familiar genre for anyone who’s ever ventured outside of Tulsa, the technicality and vibrancy of Mr. Rogers work did not disappoint. At times the work represented a style reminiscent of Sailor Jerry tattoos, or even popular body art in general. Stylistically, the vernacular also included motifs from both Asian and Spanish-Catholic cultures as made evident by the depiction of dragons and effeminate skull and cloak characters.

Although the work on display was already familiar territory for the urban art scene, the one recurring element that really impressed was a faux-wood grain effect that HEK brought to life by creating a lively maze of delicate strokes that would ebb and flow across the page. Anyone who bothered to stay awake during their art history course in college would likely compare this treatment to the woodcut masterpieces of old, and they would be right. More than a couple of compositions showcased this gorgeous effect and I marveled at each of them.

While rubbing shoulders with the patronage, a dialog commonly overheard was how much Tulsa needed more places like this. That sentiment can’t be overstated. One correlation that’s constantly being reaffirmed is between the health of a community and the vibrancy of it’s art crowd. Tulsa, like many comparable cities, is looking to integrate itself with the progressive 21st century mindset of the more metropolitan areas.

Those who forego the trite migration to NYC in favor of making a community of their own right here in T-Town should be applauded for not giving in to one of our more prevalent cultural cliches. There is nothing stopping Tulsa from becoming a scale model of the notable metro areas scattered along the coast, and although such a transformation will take many more years, it’s apparent that we are heading in that direction.

The new Loose Leaf Gallery and all of the other haunts that make up the bohemian-like pockets of Cherry St., Brookside, Blue Dome & Brady will continue to sprawl, consume and enrich the outlying areas. I look forward to the coming years in North Tulsa and Loose Leaf is just one more reason to maintain faith in that direction.

Interested in experiencing Loose Leaf? Make your way over to 328 E. 1st ST. in downtown, just North of all the Blue Dome attractions. You’ll be glad you did.

- Trevor_B

Decadence & Depravity; A Road Paved By Press

In recent months national press has named Tulsa a hotbed of “indie” music. Having this spotlight cast on our city creates a responsibility to support a scene that we all know will undoubtedly flourish and then self-destruct.

With this unknown expiration date looming in the near future the usual hipsters have all reported for duty while they still can. They’ve come in droves, poking and prodding, hoping to see the next big thing rise from the ashes left behind by Hanson and countless other frauds. Conversations ranging from originality to who found what band first can be heard echoing from one SUV to another.

These are all the signs of a feeding frenzy, the exodus from Brookside to downtown has begun. Newcomers to the music district shuffle down brightly lit streets in hopes of finding “the concert” and being seen in “the bar”. The hipster uniform is also present, being worn and exploited by the masses that now descend upon the city scene on a weekend only basis.

The natives are getting restless, the clouds are growing dark, a tension now fills the air and our lungs. We feel it getting thicker as we carefully slip past the doughy-eyed suburbanites that seem to have been cloned for the sole purpose of taking up space and making it increasingly more difficult to order drinks in your favorite bar.

Fortunately among all this there is a silver lining. Fortunately there are those few elite individuals that have helped shape and promote the Tulsa (original) music scene. They are bar owners and concert providers, they are visionaries. These are the people that should have keys to the city.

At times of frustration and dismay I often ask, “What would Soundpony do?”, and the answer I always find is to be tolerant of those I do not naturally embrace. I believe this philosophy put into action is our only chance to slow and possibly halt the implosion of our city’s musical treasure trove.

So please join me downtown, be yourself, bring your friends, wear your clothes and bring your appetite, because this slice of history is waning, it’s fragile and needs your support.

Brandon Douglas