Tulsa ART-DECO Museum?

[TheArtist]

  Looks like its moving, even when its standing still. Saw one similar that had been fixed up and put in a museum. Absolutely beautiful. Dark rusty orange color with polished brass trim,,, niiiice.

  I think its interesting to note that the "future" as we see and understand, and how it would look, was first envisioned during those very early years of the 20th century. Many of those visions of the way things would be are still ahead of their time. I am still blown away by the robot and some of the other things in Metropolis. To go from the Victorian age to dreaming up stuff like that, flying cars, space ships, things that we STILL can't do and still look futuristic, in such a short amount of time floors me.  How did they think that stuff up from where they were standing in history?

   

[Ed W]

When I was very young, we lived in Trafford, Pennsylvania, next to a facility that overhauled railroad locomotives.  I remember the round house with steam engines in the shed and a huge turntable in the middle.  It's all gone now, of course.  Most of those engines and the Pullman cars from passenger trains ended up at the Pitcairn rail yard just down the valley.  There were rows and rows of them, and I remember being fascinated by the cutting torches and the flying sparks as they were reduced to scrap metal.

I'm not old enough to remember the streamliners, but I'd love to see one up close someday. 

[heironymouspasparagus]

The Will Roger's Theater is a good deco style building...

Oh, wait - that was torn down for a parking lot.


Ok, no more snide.  Tulsa's lost history is tragic, but this is a good idea.  I would volunteer to help pound a nail or paint or pick up construction trash or push a broom.  Whatever is needed on an occasional basis, would be happy to put in some time.

I used to have a block of granite trim from the old Union station - acquired circa 1970 - will see if can find it and maybe you could use as accent piece or pattern for some inside/outside trim.  Definitely art deco.

There was a pawn shop downtown that had some old carpet from the Orpheum theater, but it is probably way past usefulness now.  Pattern or sample?

[mobboss]

the Maschinenmensch from Metropolis has been recreated by the motion picture prop company, Kropserkel, they are going to tour/display the woman/machine in various venues, here is the link,

http://kropserkel.com/metropolis_robot.html

wouldnt that make a great display for the museum or perhaps a fundraiser event.

[TheArtist]

The Will Roger's Theater is a good deco style building...

Oh, wait - that was torn down for a parking lot.


Ok, no more snide.  Tulsa's lost history is tragic, but this is a good idea.  I would volunteer to help pound a nail or paint or pick up construction trash or push a broom.  Whatever is needed on an occasional basis, would be happy to put in some time.

I used to have a block of granite trim from the old Union station - acquired circa 1970 - will see if can find it and maybe you could use as accent piece or pattern for some inside/outside trim.  Definitely art deco.

There was a pawn shop downtown that had some old carpet from the Orpheum theater, but it is probably way past usefulness now.  Pattern or sample?

Would love to see that piece off the old depot and possibly aquire it from you for the museum.  We hope to find as many pieces from Tulsa's old deco buildings as possible and put them on display in the "Tulsa Room" of the museum. 

Also if you could send me a pm as to the possible location of the carpet, I would like to see that too. 

As for volunteering, we need as many as we can get with a variety of skills and contacts. If anything, simply support our events like the Gatsby Picnic, and or buy one of our products (t-shirts, snack and sweets items, etc. coming soon).  And you can stay informed of whats happening and when we might need help for things with our Newsletter and on the Facebook page. Might actually be able to use some help with cleaning and painting a space in the near future... little clue as to some possible news there there 


You can sign up for our monthly newsletter here...  http://decopolis.net/contact_us

[TheArtist]

the Maschinenmensch from Metropolis has been recreated by the motion picture prop company, Kropserkel, they are going to tour/display the woman/machine in various venues, here is the link,

http://kropserkel.com/metropolis_robot.html

wouldnt that make a great display for the museum or perhaps a fundraiser event.

  Ooooh... That would make a great display.  Sent them an e-mail enquiring as to estimated time of completion and costs. Thanks for the link! 

[mphipps]

i didnt go through all the pages to see if anyone suggested this but have you given any thought to using the Tulsa Club. it would need major restoration but would be perfect for this sort of thing, and that bulding needs to be saved as it is.

like what your doing.

Matt

[custosnox]

i didnt go through all the pages to see if anyone suggested this but have you given any thought to using the Tulsa Club. it would need major restoration but would be perfect for this sort of thing, and that bulding needs to be saved as it is.

like what your doing.

Matt

That was one of the first suggestions, and would be great.  Unfortunatly it is owned by someone out of Cali, that seems determined to let it sit and rot.

[Conan71]

Matt, it's been discussed, but our budget is, uh, rather modest at this time.  That's one of the reasons for the upcoming Gatsby Picnic, our Deco Ball this past winter, and other fundraising ideas William has come up with.  We are always looking for volunteers to help and anyone who might be able to link us with the right donors to help us make this a reality much quicker.  It's a worthwhile project which will become a Tulsa icon and Williams vision for this is excellent.  I hope to meet you at future meetings and events.

[Ed W]

I read some blogs on old motorcycles and bicycles, and earlier today I came across this Henderson streamline motorcycle from the 1930s.  My grandfather rode a Henderson, but not like this one!

More photos at:
http://www.bikeexif.com/art-deco-custom-motorcycle?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Bikeexif+%28Bike+EXIF%29&utm_content=Bloglines

[custosnox]

Okay, so I decided to catch a movie at the new theater in BA, and as I was leaving I looked over and saw this picture hanging on the wall and thought you might like it

[TheArtist]

Very kewl.  Several people have suggested that I do some Tulsa themed, deco posters very similar to the style shown. I like the idea, its definitely been on my to do list.  And the image you have there of the train has suddenly given me a little inspiration.  Have been wondering what to do for that first poster and now have the idea of doing something with the Union Depot and one of those deco styled trains. Thank you.   Oooh and then I could do one with the old airport and a plane in it.   

[custosnox]

Very kewl.  Several people have suggested that I do some Tulsa themed, deco posters very similar to the style shown. I like the idea, its definitely been on my to do list.  And the image you have there of the train has suddenly given me a little inspiration.  Have been wondering what to do for that first poster and now have the idea of doing something with the Union Depot and one of those deco styled trains. Thank you.   Oooh and then I could do one with the old airport and a plane in it.   

heh, glad to help

[TheArtist]

  While I start doing some research myself,,, do any of you have an idea of what would have been a common passenger train, or a unique one, that would have stopped at our depot?  

It doesnt have to have been a streamlined or deco one for I can paint any train in that "WPA" abstract, deco style. But would like to honor things as accurately as possible versus sticking in some streamlined train that would have only gone from say Chicago to NY lol.

[heironymouspasparagus]

When I was a kid, we rode to Kansas a few times on Santa Fe (ATSF).  Remember it kind of looked like this (first two or three on this page);

http://www.google.com/images?q=santa+fe+passenger+train&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=6rNiTNDXEsL38AbW5uXjCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=6&ved=0CEYQsAQwBQ&biw=1743&bih=1127