Tulsa District/Region Map (what is midtown)

[custosnox]

Oh, the horror!  I thought I'd bought a place in mid-town.  Turns out, I'm about a block or two in to East Tulsa!  Egads, I'm like practically neighbors with legendary TN liberals like Hoss and USRufnex.

Hey now, I'm east side.... until I can afford to get out

[Red Arrow]

Might make the value of your Lortondale home go up.

Nah. This is a RED State, remember?

[T-TownMike]

West Tulsa goes out ALOT further than that.

[jne]

The area descriptions seem to change by generation. We perceive them differently. They also change as the city rebuilds and expands. What was once South at 61st is now practically central. Because of that I would use an entirely different method of description that didn't use adjectives like "historic vs non historic". Those can appear perjorative or elitist. Afterall, Lortondale and Braden Park are historic as well as Reservoir Hill. And an outsider would have no idea where the Pearl is.

Consider a property type description. For quick identification, I would put concentric squares around the city at familiar cross streets. 11th, 21st, 31st or Yale, Sheridan, Memorial. Then label them Central, One, Two, Three etc. Totally based on areterial street alignment. Then use time periods, geographic identifications (area icons) and finally, my favorite, which is original development names.

Time periods like Early Tulsa, Deco, Depression, Post War, 50's modern, 60's suburban etc.

Geographic location identifiers might be: Downtown, Red Fork, Bee Line, SS Line, Woodward Park, Riverside, Hillcrest, Tracy, Cherry, Pearl, Utica Square, TU, Fairgrounds, Crosstown, Reservoir Hill, Shadow Mountain, Woodland Hills, St. Francis, ORU, etc.

Finally, re-assert original plat names, some of which already are common, like: Kendall, Hillcrest, Sunset, Riverview, Tracy, Terwilliger Heights, Morningside, Ranch Acres, Park Place etc.

What you get is a description that allows more sophistication and a chance for each area to link to an icon. So, one might describe Conan's area as Area II/Mid Century Modern/Fairgrounds/Lortondale. My home would be Downtown/Early Tulsa/Skelly Mansion/Southside Edition.

I know it would be a task to re-align the mind set from the current form, but for outsiders it would make more sense. Just thinkin'.

This is starting to sound like a Kurt Vonnegut book...

[waterboy]

This is starting to sound like a Kurt Vonnegut book...

I based it on legal descriptions. From memory-Township, Range, Section, Lot 23, Block 4, Grandview Manor Edition, city, etc. Something like that.

You can only go so far with descriptions using a compass. A decade ago it was funny to natives that people thought 31st and Yale was midtown. Its still funny to me that anyone thinks Maple Ridge goes so far south (31st?). A decade from now it will be funny when people think South Tulsa is 71st & Memorial.

Descriptions change with each generation and with growth. The next decade will include a boundary for an entertainment River District from Sand Springs to Jenks along the wildly successful chain of lakes the new dams will create . The downtown area will swell to include near north downtown and near west all the way to Newblock Park. Just thinking pro-actively.

I like Kurt Vonnegut.

[Conan71]

I've always thought of the heart of mid-town as 15th & Harvard.  Since I've lived a block from there twice now in my life, that might have something to do with my paradigm. 

I remember the first time I heard someone refer to 51st & Harvard as mid-town, I thought they'd lost their mind.  That was always "south Tulsa" to me.

Moving to 81st & Yale in 1977 felt like moving to the sticks.

[jne]

I based it on legal descriptions. From memory-Township, Range, Section, Lot 23, Block 4, Grandview Manor Edition, city, etc. Something like that.

You can only go so far with descriptions using a compass. A decade ago it was funny to natives that people thought 31st and Yale was midtown. Its still funny to me that anyone thinks Maple Ridge goes so far south (31st?). A decade from now it will be funny when people think South Tulsa is 71st & Memorial.

Descriptions change with each generation and with growth. The next decade will include a boundary for an entertainment River District from Sand Springs to Jenks along the wildly successful chain of lakes the new dams will create . The downtown area will swell to include near north downtown and near west all the way to Newblock Park. Just thinking pro-actively.

I like Kurt Vonnegut.

In case my connection was a little too obscure, I was thinking of Slapstick - the plan to end loneliness by creating extended families.  Everyone gets new middle names.  The names are a random organism or element followed by a random number (1-20).  Folks with the same names are regarded as cousins, and if you have the same name and number, you are regarded as siblings.

http://thesurrealist.co.uk/lonesome

Maybe we should come up with a similar name generator to identify our districts...

FTR - I agree mostly with Cannon's map.  I wouldn't go all the way to Sheridan on the East boundary, but I think you have to include Lortondale.  I would probably gerrymander a little line through those neighborhoods LOL.