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Brady District

Started by OurTulsa, February 05, 2010, 09:16:47 AM

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BKDotCom

Quote from: TeeDub on September 18, 2017, 10:36:13 AM
It has grown much more rapidly lately, but that is mostly due to all the previous tenants that bought into the dream and fought to keep it alive.

Dreamers district

BKDotCom


Conan71

"It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first" -Ronald Reagan

SXSW

Myself and everyone I know will still call it the Brady, so it really doesn't matter what its "official" name is..
 

erfalf

Quote from: SXSW on September 23, 2017, 12:54:34 PM
Myself and everyone I know will still call it the Brady, so it really doesn't matter what its "official" name is..

Similar to the Sears Tower, I mean Willis Tower. Call it whatever they want, they did all the heavy lifting creating the brand The Brady District. And to many of us Brady triggers visions of vibrancy, diversity, amazing restaurants, baseball, art. Not some questionable character traits of a founding father who died nearly 100 years ago.
"Trust but Verify." - The Gipper

patric

Quote from: erfalf on September 23, 2017, 07:17:51 PM
Call it whatever they want, they did all the heavy lifting creating the brand The Brady District. And to many of us Brady triggers visions of vibrancy, diversity, amazing restaurants, baseball, art. Not some questionable character traits of a founding father who died nearly 100 years ago.

+1.    The name change is puerile and uninspired, and can be safely ignored.
"Tulsa will lay off police and firemen before we will cut back on unnecessarily wasteful streetlights."  -- March 18, 2009 TulsaNow Forum

TulsaGoldenHurriCAN

Quote from: SXSW on September 23, 2017, 12:54:34 PM
Myself and everyone I know will still call it the Brady, so it really doesn't matter what its "official" name is..

I am guessing most the people I know will too. It isn't even the "official" name they changed, just the name of the business association. Colloquially, it will likely continue to be called the Brady Arts District as it has for years. Tulsa Arts District is much better than the 3 "finalists", but I agree that it's kind of bland and doesn't roll well off the tongue either. 

sgrizzle

Since it's in Tulsa, and they went with Tulsa Arts District, I predict anyone who doesn't call it Brady will just call it the Arts District.

Red Arrow

Quote from: sgrizzle on September 25, 2017, 08:49:07 PM
Since it's in Tulsa, and they went with Tulsa Arts District, I predict anyone who doesn't call it Brady will just call it the Arts District.

I had an Uncle named Art.  (Yes, short for Arthur.)  I don't know if he was ever in Tulsa but it's nice that he will be remembered.

;D

 

Tulsasaurus Rex

Better than "An Art Place for Tulsa"

BKDotCom

Quote from: Tulsasaurus Rex on September 26, 2017, 08:03:22 AM
Better than "An Art Place for Tulsa"

"An Art Place for North of Downtown Tulsa"

APNoDoT

TulsaGoldenHurriCAN

QuoteJohn Klein: Caz's owner looks back at Tulsa Arts District's growth since he opened next to 'nothing' 22 years ago


Jeff Castleberry walks out the front door of Caz's Pub, his business in the heart of the Tulsa Arts District, and everywhere he looks are thriving small restaurants, galleries, stores, hotels and other bars.

He sees the innovative Guthrie Green, the fantastic Woody Guthrie Center and the iconic ONEOK Field.

When Castleberry opened Caz's in the summer of 1995, there was "nothing."

"Spaghetti Warehouse and Mexicali were pretty new, but there was nothing right around me," he said. "I don't know what I was thinking."

Now, there's all sorts of development, the type that was a dream 22 years ago, and Castleberry has to pinch himself as a reminder that it's all real.

"Honestly, I'm amazed every time I walk out the front door," he said. "I think all of us who've been down here for a long time are amazed.

"No, I never envisioned this. I was hopeful that we would grow. But I had no idea this could happen."

Nowadays, a lot of people even live downtown.

"I'd love to tell you we had some kind of grand vision, but that isn't true," said Castleberry. "Honestly, I like the architecture of these old buildings down here. I was looking to open a small beer bar, sort of get my feet wet in the business.

"I really wanted to open a restaurant. I was in culinary school down in Okmulgee" at the OSU Institute of Technology. "I don't know if I had any big plans other than trying to open a small business."

Yes, he had seen what had happened in the West End in Dallas. There were plans and a small start to Bricktown in Oklahoma City.

So he knew there were success stories in similar areas of nearby large cities.

"It was just hard to imagine because we were kind of alone down here most nights," said Castleberry. "There just wasn't much happening."

Spaghetti Warehouse, known for putting its restaurants in neglected or underutilized neighborhoods, was the first to move into what is now known as the Tulsa Arts District.

It opened in 1992 at 221 E. Brady St., a 40,000-square-foot building that could seat 430 customers. It closed last spring.

When the Spaghetti Warehouse opened, civic leaders hoped it would spark a renaissance.

It did, but not overnight. It took years.

Mexicali Border Cafe opened a couple of blocks away in 1993.

Not long after, Castleberry came downtown, yet for about 10 to 15 years, the area around Caz's remained a hot topic but didn't see much action.

"For a long time, there were just three bars in all of downtown," said Castleberry. "Luckily, we kind of attracted an interesting crowd.

"First, we were able to get a core group of people that worked at the Williams Center. Plus, we had artists who were moving downtown. We had musicians who would come over to our place from Cain's or the Brady Theater. And we had media folks from the newspaper.

"So we had a nice little crowd of creative people. That made our bar an interesting place to be, and we were able to survive."

Then it all changed.

"What we needed was something to really kick-start the area," said Castleberry.

It began with the BOK Center, which opened downtown in 2008. Then, two years later, construction of ONEOK Field was completed.

"That gave us a corridor of major venues to go with what we had, like Cain's and the Brady," said Castleberry. "It was sort of amazing how quickly and how fast things started happening."

These days the Tulsa Arts District is one of the city's hottest neighborhoods, anchored by the beautifully landscaped Guthrie Green, an entertainment venue that opened in 2012.

Castleberry, who opened the Caz's Chowhouse restaurant across the street from his bar in 2004, now sits in the midst of a revitalized area.

"There are nights when it's actually crowded down here," he said. "On First Fridays (of every month), there are maybe 7,000 people just walking around the streets, visiting the galleries, eating at restaurants, having a drink. It's so different than it used to be.

"We've seen incredible growth in our neighborhood. I think we've been able to maintain our community feel.

"These are primarily small locally owned businesses. We're surrounded by like-minded people. That's why I'm excited about what comes next."



http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/columnists/johnklein/john-klein-caz-s-owner-looks-back-at-tulsa-arts/article_d74ab3ad-c3e5-5293-8e46-0ad73dd1bb0e.html

TulsaGoldenHurriCAN

I thought that was a neat look back to what the Brady was from a risk-taking owner who has seen the worst and best of it.

It is really interesting to look at street view for various places in the Brady. It has the perfect compare dates of 2007 and 2016/2017:
Boston & Brady - 2007 - https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1586875,-95.992515,3a,75y,65.77h,85.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRaN2hh4VlPmEr533xF4w5g!2e0!7i3328!8i1664

Boston & Brady - 2017 -https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1587168,-95.9924972,3a,75y,69.14h,85.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sm0ANL5evNqBBtndMa8b1lA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656


Main & Cameron -
2007 -
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1591996,-95.9941346,3a,75y,162.25h,98.37t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1se8gKGXQ84Evau0Xxl1lUOg!2e0!5s20071101T000000!7i3328!8i1664

Main & Cameron -
2016 - https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1592042,-95.9941372,3a,75y,161.77h,93.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sn0a1zQr2vh7637NecovEKg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Elgin south of Brady - 2007 - Just look at this wasteland:
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1596874,-95.988767,3a,75y,349.1h,86.18t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sgKdo243AniXINZoSvl9ziA!2e0!7i3328!8i1664

Elgin south of Brady - 2017 -
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1597688,-95.9888325,3a,75y,335.56h,86.88t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3A3uyXsbw4W81iPr7yPa-w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Look at how the streets are empty and deserted in 2007:
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.159123,-95.9912506,3a,75y,251.03h,97.12t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVU9hkIr5Or1kyrFzJGh72g!2e0!7i3328!8i1664

Almost looked post-apocalyptic compared to the more vibrant utilized place it is in 2017:
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1591204,-95.9913417,3a,75y,258.47h,100.6t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAnoZzR3AwRORKVAqMu-GSQ!2e0!5s20170401T000000!7i13312!8i6656


And maybe my favorite, Main and Brady in 2007:
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1582413,-95.9936587,3a,75y,148.93h,95.97t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suR4A7CZ3KSDaGTzuBupOAg!2e0!7i3328!8i1664

vs 2017: https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1582483,-95.9936914,3a,75y,121.15h,96.22t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2uz0M0kBOqeTXe4eZuMGbQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

heironymouspasparagus

Quote from: TulsaGoldenHurriCAN on November 16, 2017, 09:36:52 AM

I thought that was a neat look back to what the Brady was from a risk-taking owner who has seen the worst and best of it.



Kind of amazing to me that I still hear how 'backwards' we are compared to OKC - even on this forum!  How we gotta do so much more to try to catch up to them... Tulsa has made huge strides and there is no cause for embarrassment in what we are now.   Always liked going downtown even when it was the old way, but today is much more interesting/fun/exciting/whatever....



The City still can't get their act together to do a little bit of road maintenance...still a lot of sorry a$$ assfault on those streets!  If they would just go back to brick, it would be much more durable, last soooo much longer, cost soooo much less...!!   Or even concrete if there is insufficient imagination for that....

"So he brandished a gun, never shot anyone or anything right?"  --TeeDub, 17 Feb 2018.

I don't share my thoughts because I think it will change the minds of people who think differently.  I share my thoughts to show the people who already think like me that they are not alone.

SXSW

#584
There is a sign up at Main & Brady (old gas station) for a special exception to permit low impact manufacturing.  The rumor is that Baird is expanding and will tear down the station but I'm not sure I believe it since Baird is over on Boston.  Apparently Lilly Architects are involved in designing a new building here.  Anyone have the scoop?