AMC/Southroads/Promenade

[SXSW]

Last weekend I went to a movie at the AMC for the first time since moving back to Tulsa.  The theater was the same as I remembered it but I was surprised by how 'ghetto' it felt with people loitering outside and two cop cars out front.  I saw in the TW a group of kids were robbed there last night, and it doesn't surprise me at all.  Promenade also has the same feeling the few times I've been over there to shop.  What happened to this area?  The neighborhoods around it are fairly nice, OU-Tulsa is building up its campus nearby, and it's on the border between midtown and south Tulsa.  Not sure what can be done to improve the situation..

[Conan71]

Not sure what can be done to improve the situation..

Three words:

conceal carry permit

[sgrizzle]

I think that when you let the theater become a craphole then only crappy people will go to it.

[TheArtist]

I live nearby and yes, occasionally there is some "loitering" going on, but then the cops start making the rounds, the kids move on and things clear up for a while, then the cycle starts over again lol.

As for the area in general, I think it has gotten better in recent years but its never been the magnet that the Woodland Hills area has been  (except when it was pre Woodland), and the teen population has shifted towards the suburbs. My neighborhood is mostly older folks and starter families, aka not big purchasers.     

I would love for the area to see more infill and become more mid-townish.  Would be neat to see some nice apartment/midrise living in the area.  I actually enjoy that I can walk to the movies, restaurants, shopping, being near the highway with quick access to the rest of the city and suburbs, great private school nearby, growing OU Tulsa, La Fortune Park nearby, etc.   The area has a lot of potential....especially if it gets the right kind of infill. 

I have been thinking of starting a group to do a "Small Area Infill" plan for the area to be adopted into the new Comprehensive Plan.   

[SXSW]

I think that when you let the theater become a craphole then only crappy people will go to it.

Agree, that could be the problem.  AMC was Tulsa's first multi-plex, stadium-seating theater and opened in 1998.  Before that the two best theaters in the city were Movies 8 and Eton Square.  Since then bigger and nicer theaters have been built, but AMC has stayed the same.  A renovation and a switch to all-digital projectors would be a big improvement.  Either that or have the Warren Theater buy the AMC.  If you've ever been to a Warren in Moore or Wichita it is a great experience, and way better than anything currently offered in Tulsa.

[OpenYourEyesTulsa]

That AMC used to be my favorite theater when it first opened.  I went there once about a year ago because I had coupons.  The experience was so bad the manager gave me free passes to come back and I didn't want to use them.

I still like the Promenade since it is less crowded and easier to park at than Woodland.  I also still like their theater and El Chicos.  The crowd in the area is getting more "ghetto" especially at the AMC parking lot.  Some of my friends consider anything north of 51st to be "ghetto".

I feel like the malls in Tulsa are pretty small.  I wish they would build a big 3 story mall with an ice skating rink downtown kind of like the Galleria in Dallas.

[Conan71]

That AMC used to be my favorite theater when it first opened.  I went there once about a year ago because I had coupons.  The experience was so bad the manager gave me free passes to come back and I didn't want to use them.

I still like the Promenade since it is less crowded and easier to park at than Woodland.  I also still like their theater and El Chicos.  The crowd in the area is getting more "ghetto" especially at the AMC parking lot.  Some of my friends consider anything north of 51st to be "ghetto".

I feel like the malls in Tulsa are pretty small.  I wish they would build a big 3 story mall with an ice skating rink downtown kind of like the Galleria in Dallas.

We used to have a two story mall with an ice skating rink downtown, the Williams Center Forum.  I think it opened around 1980 and the rink's last year was around '93 or '94.  IIRC, it was converted into office space for one of the Williams entities.

[Hoss]

We used to have a two story mall with an ice skating rink downtown, the Williams Center Forum.  I think it opened around 1980 and the rink's last year was around '93 or '94.  IIRC, it was converted into office space for one of the Williams entities.

I remember some of my Jr High cheerleader friends would practice on the rink (during the spring/summer when it wasn't ice).  Bell Jr High.  Gosh that makes me feel old.

[sauerkraut]

Areas change,  South Tulsa is getting alot of crime lately.  When I was in the D/FW MetroPlex this past April I drove by the Indian Creek Apertments where I once lived back in the 1980's and now they are really getting run down & dangerous from drugs and gangs in the parking lot to section 8 housing. When I lived there it was nice clean apartment complex.

[Townsend]

Areas change,  South Tulsa is getting alot of crime lately.  When I was in the D/FW MetroPlex this past April I drove by the Indian Creek Apertments where I once lived back in the 1980's and now they are really getting run down & dangerous from drugs and gangs in the parking lot to section 8 housing. When I lived there it was nice clean apartment complex.

?

[SXSW]

Some of my friends consider anything north of 51st to be "ghetto".

Yeah midtown is such a ghetto..   

[TheArtist]

I am beginning to think "ghetto" means "color" or not mostly white.   If white kids hang around outside a theater or in a mall (or anywhere else) its one thing, but if a group of kids that are not white do, then the area is ghetto.    

[Townsend]

I am beginning to think "ghetto" means "color" or not mostly white.   If white kids hang around outside a theater or in a mall (or anywhere else) its one thing, but if a group of kids that are not white do, then the area is ghetto.  

There you go Kraut...knock it out of the park.

[Hoss]

There you go Kraut...knock it out of the park.

LOL.  Please don't encourage him.

[DTowner]

That AMC used to be my favorite theater when it first opened.  I went there once about a year ago because I had coupons.  The experience was so bad the manager gave me free passes to come back and I didn't want to use them.

I still like the Promenade since it is less crowded and easier to park at than Woodland.  I also still like their theater and El Chicos.  The crowd in the area is getting more "ghetto" especially at the AMC parking lot.  Some of my friends consider anything north of 51st to be "ghetto".

This is the opposite of my experience.  I've always felt The Palace at the Promenade had a run down feel even when it first opened.  I assumed that the Palace was a reburbished theater whereas the AMC was built from scratch (speaking of, how many years has it been since AMC used those concession stands on either end?  What a waste).  Both have a diverse group of kids loitering about at times, but the Palace seems to have more of a problem and always seems to have multiple off duty TPD officers around.  Rather than make me feel safe, that always makes me feel like a problem is about to occur at any moment.

The reality is both the AMC and Palace are the nearest theater option for a lot of people in midtown, north Tulsa and to some extent east Tulsa.  It goes without saying that these areas have a greater mixture of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds than many parts of south Tulsa. 

In my experience, no matter where I see a movie, if it is one that draws a large number of teenagers, then there will be a lot of dispruptive movie goers who talk throughout the movie and take cell phone calls without a care for those around them (behavior that is not limited to teenagers).