Interesting photo of I-35 in 1956

[heironymouspasparagus]

Don't remember exact dates, but they did the road extension for the mall.

[Hoss]

Not that much of a hurry considering WHM opened late '76 to mid '77

Yeah, no kidding.  I'm pretty sure it didn't open at 71st until about 1989.

[livingkate]

Reminds me of this old commercial for Woodland Hills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giHSLhHtSZI

I wish there was a better archive of local Tulsa commercials from the "olden" days.

[joiei]

Woodland Hills apparently was built in two phases.

http://www.losttulsa.com/2006/05/woodland-hills-malls-1st-christmas.html

Woodland Hills Mall's 1st Christmas

GreatAmericanParks.com webmaster Steven posted these pics from the first Christmas season of the newly built Woodland Hills Mall (1976). There are some fantastic shots of the original fountain, as well as quite a few stores that are no longer in existence. At this point, they had not yet built the Phase II portion (completed 1982), which included the Food Court and Sanger Harris (later Foleys, soon to be Macy's). The last photo in the set is interesting, as you can see past the escalators right on through to the former East entrance doors. Now, you'd be looking down the corridor towards Foley's. I have some great memories of this mall. I worked near the Food Court entrance at The Glass Oven bakery during my Sr. year of High School ('82-'83). My favorite ex-wife worked at Sanger Harris during the evenings. She used to come up and chat with me during her breaks. At least, I like to think it was me she was interested in...and not just the free Mississippi Mud brownies she got for flirting. The girls over at the hair/nails salon across the entrance were pretty friendly too, now that I think of it. I'll always remember burning through quarters at Aladdin's Castle, checking out the adult novelty items at Spencer's and smelling the incredible scents wafting from Wicks 'N' Sticks every time you got anywhere near the place. Although the current layout is still pretty much the same, the look and feel of this mall has been drastically changed due to a full remodel in the '90s, which removed most of the chrome and natural wood so popular in the original super-malls of the mid-'70s.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ezeiza/sets/72057594128689712/

[Conan71]

Woodland Hills apparently was built in two phases.

http://www.losttulsa.com/2006/05/woodland-hills-malls-1st-christmas.html


http://www.flickr.com/photos/ezeiza/sets/72057594128689712/

I had totally forgotten about it being built in phases.  I can remember going south on Memorial in '75 or '76 and seeing it under construction.  I think 71st & Memorial may have still been two lanes at that point.

[dbacks fan]

Yeah, no kidding.  I'm pretty sure it didn't open at 71st until about 1989.

I believe you are rightit was somewhere between '86 and '90.

[Hoss]

I had totally forgotten about it being built in phases.  I can remember going south on Memorial in '75 or '76 and seeing it under construction.  I think 71st & Memorial may have still been two lanes at that point.

Kind of reminds me of when my dad was a huge RC plane enthusiast and a member of the Glue Dobbers, we would go out on Saturdays to their airfield which at the time was on the SE corner of 41st and S 145th East Ave.  We'd take 21st Street out to 145th, in which we'd pass by the seemed-like-never-completed Eastland Mall.  It looked like one loading dock, incomplete, out in the middle of a field.  I'd always ask, Dad about it.  We'd always wondered.

[BKDotCom]

I believe you are rightit was somewhere between '86 and '90.

Must have been '89...  I was in the Union HS band and we played @ the ribbon cutting ceremony

[Hoss]

Reminds me of this old commercial for Woodland Hills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giHSLhHtSZI

I wish there was a better archive of local Tulsa commercials from the "olden" days.

http://www.tulsatvmemories.com/

[Gonesouth1234]

I believe 169 still ended at 21st Street when our family moved here in 1971.  By 1987, it had been extended to 51st but not 71st.  I was working at the Cherokee Industrial Park at the time.  I took me about 1/2 hr to get to 169 & 51st from 111th & Memorial.  It was absolutely horrible around Christmas with Woodland Hills traffic.

Not to mention that all of the workday/rush hour traffic trying to get to the BA or just south Tulsa came down 169, exited at the dead end at 21st, and then would go east to Garnett, then south to connect with the BA and continue their journey to the hinterlands.

We didn't live far from the 21/169 dead end  at the time, and quickly learned to use other arterials and neighborhood shortcuts rather than trying to plow our way through there when trying to return home, or just even run errands in the neighborhood.

Also, don't forget that the biker bar/ strip clubs had located in the shopping  center at the end of 169 on 21st, and for years before they were run out by city ordinance, added a great characteristic to the surrounding neighborhoods all night long.  At 2 AM, many of the area residents made sure the guns were locked and loaded, or just moved the lawn chairs to the front year to watch the traffic go by.

[Gonesouth1234]

Woodland Hills apparently was built in two phases.

http://www.losttulsa.com/2006/05/woodland-hills-malls-1st-christmas.html


http://www.flickr.com/photos/ezeiza/sets/72057594128689712/

Great photos. 

I spent a lot of time in WHM peddling my wares during those years, and hadn't thought of some of those businesses for a long time.

The second phase was opened on March 1, 1982.

During the next few years, the mall ownership determined that local ownership was not economically feasible-ort did not fit their business model, and as the original leases expired for the individually owned or small chain outlets, refused to renew them. 

That wasn't the end of business for WHM, but there was a verified shift in the opinion and purchasing power of we who were among the local unwashed
that were regular customers; who then took our business to the north side of 71st.

It's an entirely different business model in the area now; but for awhile, the natives chose to trade their skins and pelts for spears with local merchants.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Biggest screw up the mall did in recent history was forcing Mazzio's out and putting in that pizza place that is there now.  As bad as Mazzio's is, that place is much worse.

[GG]

I'm really going to date myself.  

When I was 12 back in 1963, I got a 22 rifle.  

My dad took me to a creek behind the Be-Mac Truck Terminal where he worked for target practice.  

That was at 41st and Memorial.   It was way out in the country back in those days.

[Gonesouth1234]

I'm really going to date myself.  

When I was 12 back in 1963, I got a 22 rifle.  

My dad took me to a creek behind the Be-Mac Truck Terminal where he worked for target practice.  

That was at 41st and Memorial.   It was way out in the country back in those days.

Of course it is not out in the country now, it's a couple of miles from the geographic center of Tulsa (27th and Darlington-something like that), but you'll be glad to know that the gunshots are still audible at night.

[Gonesouth1234]

Back to the original thread:
   I had suspected that 35 was completed in OKC  before, or about the same time the OTA voted to pick our pockets for 20th century travel time across the state.
   This is from Wickipedia, which we all know is accurate and truthful.
   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_35_in_Oklahoma



History

Some sections of I-35 in Oklahoma City were already built in 1953, before the Interstate system was created.[3] Following the passage of the Federal Highway Act of 1956 that created the Interstate Highway System, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation approved the location of the future interstate north of Oklahoma City to the Kansas state line on a route previously surveyed by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority for a proposed toll road. As a free road, the first five miles (8 km) of that section of I-35 were opened to traffic in 1958 from US-177 near Braman north to the Kansas border where it continued as the Kansas Turnpike. This was followed by completion of the entire route from Oklahoma City northward to Braman by 1963 in several phases including Edmond to Guthrie in 1960, Guthrie to Perry in 1961, Perry to Blackwell in 1962 and Blackwell to Braman in early 1963.

To the south of Oklahoma City, I-35 was completed through Norman, Oklahoma south to Purcell, Oklahoma in June 1959. In Moore, it opened in two parts: the northern half, connecting Moore to Oklahoma City, opened in January 1960. The southern half, linking it to Norman, was opened to traffic in June 1967.[4] The Moore–Norman segment was originally a four-lane section of US-77 built in 1951 that did not meet full Interstate Highway standards and included several at-grade intersections within the City of Moore including some with traffic signals and upgraded accordingly to include grade separations to bring up to full Interstate Highway standards and frontage roads to serve local traffic needs. Also not up to full Interstate Highway standards prior to 1967 was a section in the vicinity of Lindsey Street in the southern portion of Norman where another at-grade intersection still existed which dated back to the original highway's construction in the early 1950s—this was also brought up to full Interstate Highway standards in 1967 with the construction of interchanges on I-35 at Lindsey and a short distance to the south for the future SH-9 bypass that would be built around the south side of Norman in the early 1970s.

If you have driven in OKC lately, you have probably noticed that all of the superhighways are either toll roads or US Interstates.  

Not saying that that sucking sound you keep hearing is your road money going southwest, just pointing out facts.