Sapulpa

[TheArtist]

  I was reading the thread about BAs downtown redevelopment plans and I couldn't help but think about Sapulpa.  I had never really thought about Sapulpa or gone there much until fairly recently.  It used to seem soo far away and off the beaten track.  But in the last few years I have been doing more work in the area as the hwy I75 and 117 area has started growing.  There is still a lot of "open country" between Sapulpa, Jenks and Glenpool, but I can see that area filling in here in the near future.  

Of all the local towns around Tulsa (Sapulpas downtown isn't much further than BA's to downtown Tulsa) Sapulpa has the most impressive downtown. It has block upon block of pedestrian friendly, beautiful, grand old buildings.  (what a shame BA's downtown wasnt like Sapulpa's, we would have a really great "second city" for the area) BA has had the growth and population, but Sapulpa has the bigger better downtown core lol.  

IMO Sapulpa would do well to annex as much as it can to the east and use that growth to spur redevelopment of its own core and find some way to put itself more "on the map", and better connect itself to Tulsa.

We often compare ourselves to OKC, but when I do so I remind myself that all of Tulsa county is still smaller in area than OKC's.  Though downtown Sapulpa is just outside Tulsa County, its still very close.  Imagine if we thought of Sapulpa as part of Tulsa, its downtown kind of like a much bigger Cherry Street or Brookside. Having downtown Sapulpa in our backyard, should be more of an assett (to Tulsa itself, and the region) than it is. We just don't seem to think about it, its off our radar, and perhaps the leadership in Sapulpa itself is to blame (any festivals like the ones you hear about in Jenks and BA?,,, I haven't heard of any).  One little new restaurant in downtown BA and you hear about it.

Sapulpas downtown core could be a GREAT place to create a destination for shopping, antiquing, sidewalk cafe's, even "Urban Village" type living with a quick and easy commute to downtown Tulsa. They have a lot of good sized buildings that would make great urban living, loft apartments. If Sapulpa was thought about more, and their downtown were to take off a little, it would make a great addition to the attractiveness of Tulsa itself. I would rather show a visitor downtown Sapulpa than any place in BA (not meaning to diss BA). It could definitely be something to be proud of, to promote and show visitors as yet another great living option in the Tulsa area. Yet, do you ever hear or think about it yourself?

I think we as Tulsan's should turn our gaze and attention in that direction a little more often than we do. Imagine if someone like Jamie Jameson and Blake had chosen to live in Sapulpa, how they would have promoted it, helped to redevelop its core. It would definitely be a place people thought about more often as a place to go to visit and live. It would very much be on our radar and something to be proud of in the Tulsa area.

I wonder if there is a potential rail connection from downtown Sapulpa to downtown Tulsa? Or some other way to better connect its downtown to ours?  If it were better connected to Tulsa, I could very easily see it as a place that young, urban hipsters would like to live and commute to Tulsa from. It could be like Addison Circle by Dallas, except that it would be the real deal.

Just some thoughts to ponder as development is more and more growing in that direction.

[heironymouspasparagus]

BA is a great place to live.  The downtown is only about 4 blocks long and much of that is not really vintage.  Some of the buildings are getting nice makeovers, but dealing with the planners there is a pain in the butt.  (Like most places.)

The downtown just won't support very much that is self contained - meaning that it depends on local traffic only.  Angus Inn seems to be thriving.  The chocolatier next door is exquisite - but seems to be heavily dependent on "outside" business that doesn't depend on foot traffic.  The tattoo place up on the north end is still there, but that is a niche opportunity.

Many restaurants have tried and failed.  The steel guitar guy gives lessons which draws from wider audience than foot traffic. Some of the others are service industry - computer stuff.

The shining star of new stuff is the farmers market, but just TRY to deal with them!  And only part of the year.

The museum is very nice, but again a niche.

A new incarnation of the co-op building is in process.  Looks very nice, but not "vintage".  The little antique places that used to be there were driven out by two things - the BA "planners" and the economy - ebay just blasted that business model except for, again, niche operations.

[Ed W]

What would you think about doing a forum photowalk in Sapulpa in the next few weeks?  We could go there, take a bunch of photos, and then put a few of the best ones in a thread here.

For that matter, it would be possible to do this for various neighborhoods too. 

I've been photographing old buildings because many of them will be lost.  They're often too dilapidated to renovate and it's not cost effective, so they're bulldozed.  Yesterday, I talked with Orval at the Owasso Historical Society museum down on Main Street.  He said that Owasso once had more than 30 dairies, but every one of them is gone now.

It made me think of this:

[Jordan90]

Downtown Sapulpa has an impressive stock of historic buildings. One of the largest buildings there was just converted into apartments for seniors and it's original facade was uncovered and fixed up...

[heironymouspasparagus]

Beautiful!

[cannon_fodder]

Wasn't there originally a trolley line running from tulsa to sapulpa?

[Red Arrow]

Wasn't there originally a trolley line running from tulsa to sapulpa?

Yes. First the Oklahoma Union Traction Company, later renamed the Oklahoma Union Railway Co.  It still exists as a freight railway as the Tulsa Sapulpa Union Railway.  It serves the line through Jenks to the Kimberly-Clark Plant and some businesses in Sapulpa.

http://www.tsurailway.com/

[mtshow]

I live in Sapulpa, didn't realize people in Tulsa considered us that far away, being my wife and I both work in Tulsa. Sapulpa annexed the Town West area a few years ago but seems to have missed the boat on the 75 and 117 area that Glenpool has now. Downtown is great and has lots of shops and a few restaurants, there is the Boomerang Grill, a Napoli's and an new place called MeMe's. As far as festivals go the biggest thing is the car show, it has gotten bigger every year and this year is on June 4th. Here is a line to the Sapulpa Main Street website with info on the car show and more:
http://www.sapulpamainstreet.com/

[heironymouspasparagus]

Sapulpa has a downtown??  Where is it??

Sorry...I just couldn't resist... Yeah, I know they have one.  It is pretty neat with a lot more old buildings that Broken Arrow has!!  Building envy!

We are always looking for that wonderful little "hole in the wall" greasy spoon restaurant.  Got any good ones there? 

Thinking in terms of ex-Knotty Pine in west Tulsa.  Green Parrot in Coweta.  Goodies in Oologah (defunct).  Black Jaxx in Oologah (almost defunct).  Comfort food in comfort surroundings.  (If one is familiar with Green Parrot, one knows that cuisine is not necessarily the number one criteria on the list if other things are better.  Can enjoy C grade food for an A environment!).  The Bar-B-Que trailer on the southwest corner of 31st and Sheridan.  Yum!

[Belmarduk]

Sapulpa's got a few places to eat that are pretty solid. We've been living there the last few years and have sampled all the local food.

Steak & Eggs on Taft and Mission is great. The owner is a local entrapeneur who apparently owns cattle, which is why their beef is so cheap. (Rib eye for 8 bucks? Sure.) They've got a solid menu of standard cafe faire, your burgers, chili, what not that's all very good. Sundays for lunch they have turkey and dressing. I understand it's delicious but they always sell out before noon. They are a staple. They've been in Sapulpa forever and are probably the best known restaurant in town.

Fat Charlie's on Dewey across from Dollar General is another very solid diner. This location was pretty much cursed, we had two or three businesses go through this place in the first year I was in the Tulsa area and when Fat Charlie's moved in we were convinced it'd be gone in short order, but it's been at least two years and they're still going strong. They're a little on the expensive side for a diner but their burgers are among the best in Tulsa. They also have the second best Philly Cheese in town, beaten of course by Steak Stuffers on 51st and memorial, but that's surprising nobody. At least here they won't shove their political doctrine down your throat along withy our sandwich.

Selena's Steakhouse is the third diner in town. We haven't eaten here as much as the other two, but their food is very good! The staff is mostly family and are very friendly, and there is a clear lebonese influence in some of their menu items. They're a little more expensive than Steak and Eggs and their burgers aren't as good as Fat Charlie's but they're a solid pick for an eatery.

Freddy's is a Lebonese steakhouse and bbq joint on 66  next to super-8 on the way in to town from 44 (as if there was any other way to get to Sapulpa...) and are probably the busiest restaurant in the area, for good reason. I don't think I've ever seen a night where their parking lot wasn't packed and overflowing, for good reason. Their food is incredibly good, and their specials are very reasonably priced considering the magnitude of the meal. The last time we went they were running a t-bone special for 25 dollars - a 20oz t-bone, plus some seven courses of appetizers and sides plus dessert. The carrot cake and cheesecake were excellent.


There is a few other places in town - there's a BBQ joint called boxcar BBQ down dewey, but honestly I was unimpressed. The BBQ was incredibly dry and overcooked and pretty bland. Their BBQ sauce was great, but honestly if I want good sauce I'll just buy stubb's and put it on my own BBQ. Save a lot of money and have a much better meal that way.


There's three mexican restaurants; La Margarita is one off 66, and then there's one on Dewey whose name I forget, and one off highway 97 in a lime green building that is just OK. The one on Dewey has GREAT carnitas. La Margarita is standard mexican food, but not bad at all.

[nathanm]

Since someone mentioned Freddie's, uh yeah, go there. It's better than Jamil's or Silver Flame or whatever other lebanese steakhouses we have here in town. When I lived down south, I went there weekly because it wasn't much farther, time-wise, than anyplace else and was far better. These days I don't get out that way nearly enough.

Their ribeye is excellent (so is the filet, if that's more your style), and the hummus, tabouli, and cabbage roll that you get as appetizers are also fantastic.

Also, they're open super late, so if you don't mind eating at 8 or 9 o'clock, you can avoid the crowds. 8 might be a bad time in HS football season, though. It seems like the entire town goes to Freddie's after the game.

[mtshow]

Freddie's is the best steakhouse in the Tulsa area IMO. For BBQ go to Hickory House. Selena's is terrible, worst place in town food is bad and the owner treats staff like crap. One time we went place was short waitresses because most had quit. Steak and Eggs food is only slightly better. Both are owned by members of an Iranian family. Fat Charlie's is pretty good. Mexican joints are average at best.

[godboko71]

Both are owned by members of an Iranian family.

Kind of hurts your credibility, not sure what that has to do with anything?

[mtshow]

I live in Saplupa and you don't. That's my credibility. The owners of Selena's have a poor reputation, the owners of Steak and Eggs are their cousins but don't have much to do with the Selena owners. The owner of Steak and Eggs his wife (who was born and raised in Sapulpa) ran for county assessor last year and lost the Republican primary in a bitter campaign. She ran on a Tea Party platform and claimed to have the endorsment of Jim Inhofe, which she didn't. She then turned around and endorsed the Democratic incumbent, who lost the general election. I suppose it is more small town politics than anything else.

[roscoe]

There's three mexican restaurants; La Margarita is one off 66, and then there's one on Dewey whose name I forget, and one off highway 97 in a lime green building that is just OK. The one on Dewey has GREAT carnitas. La Margarita is standard mexican food, but not bad at all.

I think the one on 97 is called Los Arco's