Living on Tulsa Time

Philtower was built in 1928 -- Picture by blogSpotter

by blogSpotter
Last week, I took a computer training class in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. Have to confess I’ve never visited Oklahoma even though it’s a close neighbor to North Texas. Have always thought of Oklahoma as an extension of North Texas -- Maybe North North Texas. With its flat, dry bramble-scape and Republican politics I didn’t think it had much to offer beyond what I’ve already seen in Amarillo or McKinney, Texas. Tulsa, with a population of about 490,000 proved me wrong, in a most pleasant way. Northeastern Oklahoma where Tulsa is situated is actually the start of Oklahoma’s “Green Belt”. It has gentle, green hills accentuated by the wide, rushing Arkansas River. The area has quite a few more trees than DFW and they aren’t transplanted trees. The “flat, dry” crown will probably have to go to Dallas after all.

Economically speaking, Tulsa was founded on oil profits. Its most prominent museum, Philbrook, is a 1927 Italianate Villa donated to the city by Waite Phillips of Phillips 66 fame. The city is clean, modern and well maintained. It has some striking new buildings (e.g. the new BOK Sports Arena) but it also has many outstanding examples of Art Deco surviving from the 1920’s and 30’s. Tulsa has nurtured and maintained its treasures where Dallas would surely pummel these into the ground to make room for Krogers, Walgreens or an Office Depot. It’s interesting to note that Tulsa, a city which embraces capitalism, didn’t see a need to sacrifice its architectural integrity on the Altar of Near-term Profits.


Boston Avenue Church, circa 1927 -- Picture by blogSpotter

A coworker who previously lived in Tulsa told me it was a “little Dallas”. I saw some definite parallels … Utica Avenue easily offers as much luxury as Highland Park. Peoria Avenue captures the spirit of our Lower Greenville and the Blue Dome district is a mirror to our hip Deep Ellum area. The Arkansas River Park is a beautiful ribbon of parkland that rivals our White Rock Lake. Nothing is necessarily as big in square blocks or miles, though quality matters as much as quantity -- “little Dallas” actually is a good way of summing it up.

Other things that strike me about Tulsa are its conservatism and slower pace. At prime evening rush hour, there was no rush hour -- I probably counted ten cars poking their way down South Boston Avenue. I easily navigated their freeways in my Ford Focus rental car. The home of Oral Roberts University, Tulsa doesn’t quit on religion. On one city block I counted five churches, probably a record for anywhere I’ve been. If you’re atheist, agnostic or Unitarian Universalist you may be feeling the implied burn of Hades while visiting.

That said, the people are very open and friendly. In some ways Tulsa reminded be of Dallas 30 years ago. Young men were sporting short hair and pastel Polo shirts while some of the women resembled young Delta Burkes with bigger-than-Texas hair. Nobody seemed to have tattoos or piercings, at least not that I noticed. There were a very few homeless people but nobody making me fear for my life or duck into a store entrance. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tulsans leave their doors unlocked and dispense somewhat with security alarms. I visited a Luby’s and found it remarkable that the employees engaged so well with the customers… “I missed you at church last week. How is Suzy doing?” This kind of familiarity and concern wouldn’t even be feigned in Dallas at any establishment I’ve visited.

Tulsa joins Austin, Texas and Santa Fe, New Mexico on my very short list of favored “laid back” cities. Each of these towns have their separate muses for quiet and calm. For Santa Fe, it’s fine arts and American Indian history. For Austin, it’s doobies, liberal politics and progressive country music. For Tulsa, it’s Jesus. Not all of these muses are necessarily my muses but it’s no matter. These are cities where people drive unhurriedly at 35mph, go home from work while it’s still daylight and have long, relaxed weekends in places of geographical beauty. I love the phrase, “Wear the world like a loose garment”. And I love cities like Austin, Santa Fe and Tulsa that encourage you to do just that.

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