Efforts to Rename Brady Arts District

[heironymouspasparagus]

I like it. We can say it was named after Aunt B from the old Andy Griffith show.

My mother was a stunt double for her. Whenever you saw Aunt B jumping a fence or in a bar fight, that was my Mom.

Hmmmm....I am pretty sure Aunt B never got into a bar fight!  I watched all those shows as they were shown for the first time.  Not a whole lot of drinking going on by anyone - at least on screen.  I think Opie got plastered from time to time after the cameras shut down because of the crushing disappointment of only ever catching that one tiny little fish!  And then, to add insult to injury, he drops it on the road!!

[heironymouspasparagus]

I could get on board with changing the name, but would submit a bigger item would be to change the name of Custer County - named for George Custer.  I think the massacre of dozens of women and children is worse than torturing 17 people, as bad as that is, who ultimately survived.  Many shot in the back as they tried to run away.  (Black Kettle's camp on the Washita River).

[custosnox]

Thanks for mentioning my usual persuasion. I really am not that invested in this topic, I am just keeping conversation going. I am entitled to my opinion and this ain't the first time I am in the minority.


Brady was a very powerful guy. He had a shop that did $3 million a year in sales. In today's dollars, that is a $60 million store (I doubt there is any store in Tulsa that sells $60 million a year now). He owned the biggest hotel in town and controlled most of the property development. He was as powerful as Kanbar, David Sharp, and the TDA are all combined in comparison. He convinced the police chief to open the jail and give him 17 people that his mob tortured.

I am not surprised that more complete recordings of his behavior don't exist. If you went against a person that powerful, you wouldn't live long, especially when he was best friends with the police chief. I think he was amazingly cruel and did whatever he wanted. I bet most Tulsans were afraid of him.

I read that article, and went to the digital images of the "evidence" Chapman linked to on it.  Not once did I see Brady's name actually associated with the wobbly incident.  Did I miss it somewhere? Or are you just taking the mention of the incident in Chapman's article as evidence of Brady being involved?  In fact, the only thing I saw directly connecting Brady to any wrong doing at the time was that he admitted in court records to once being a member of the KKK.  Now, granted, after digging through the first several items without seeing any connection, I finally gave up and decided that if there were that many bs accusations in the article just to start off with, then I would have to verify every single claim in it, and I just don't have the time for that.  But if you can point out the actual evidence showing Brady did any of these things, I would appreciate it.

[rdj]

Brady was a very powerful guy. He had a shop that did $3 million a year in sales. In today's dollars, that is a $60 million store (I doubt there is any store in Tulsa that sells $60 million a year now). He owned the biggest hotel in town and controlled most of the property development. He was as powerful as Kanbar, David Sharp, and the TDA are all combined in comparison. He convinced the police chief to open the jail and give him 17 people that his mob tortured.

Ever heard of this little c-store chain called QuikTrip?  If they were public they'd be on the Fortune 500 with a worth exceeding a billion dollars.  If I recall correctly Brady was in the hotel business?  I doubt the Mayo does $60MM a year in revenue, possible with the banquet & bar space and if you included the revenue from the apartments.  The Oklahoma owned Mathis Brothers store does near $100M a year in revenue.  I have multiple customers in various fields that do north of $60MM a year in revenue.  Point being, that isn't a big number.

As an aside, I wouldn't suggest that Kanbar is all that powerful these days, David Sharp is powerful thru his land holdings and TDA is powerful because they carry the big stick of eminent domain and the ability to sit on a property for as long as they choose.  A better comparison might have been Cadiuex or Kaiser, but I'm sure you don't want to link their names with Brady.

[BKDotCom]

Ever heard of this little c-store chain called QuikTrip?  If they were public they'd be on the Fortune 500 with a worth exceeding a billion dollars.  If I recall correctly Brady was in the hotel business?  I doubt the Mayo does $60MM a year in revenue, possible with the banquet & bar space and if you included the revenue from the apartments.  The Oklahoma owned Mathis Brothers store does near $100M a year in revenue.  I have multiple customers in various fields that do north of $60MM a year in revenue.  Point being, that isn't a big number.

As an aside, I wouldn't suggest that Kanbar is all that powerful these days, David Sharp is powerful thru his land holdings and TDA is powerful because they carry the big stick of eminent domain and the ability to sit on a property for as long as they choose.  A better comparison might have been Cadiuex or Kaiser, but I'm sure you don't want to link their names with Brady.

Is there a single QuikTrip pulling in $60 mil / year?
QuikTrip is a huge regional chain.
Brady's store was one store in Tulsa, OK

[BKDotCom]

Peter Mayo (owner and name-giver of Brady Theater) chimes in.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Brady_Theater_owner_Peter_Mayo_says_hes_flexible_about/20130711_11_A1_Teonro428860

Brady Theater owner Peter Mayo says he's flexible about name but would rather not change
The owner of the Brady Theater said Tuesday he would rather not change the name of the iconic venue but would consider doing so if the city changed the name of Brady Street.

"I would be flexible with whatever decision might be made" regarding renaming the street, Peter Mayo said. "It might be something where it would be like Prince, 'the artist formerly known as.'

"This would be the Something Theater, formerly known as the Brady Theater, and it would have to appear that way on all of our contracts that go out."

The City Council has asked the Brady Property Owners Association to lead a discussion on whether the street should be renamed after a group of citizens called for the change.

The street is named after Tate Brady, an early Tulsa businessman who was also a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Mayo said the council needs to get input from the entire Tulsa community - not just those who live and work in the Brady District.

"It's obviously too expensive to put this up for a vote, but if they could put it up for a vote, let the citizens of Tulsa decide," Mayo said. "I'm all about democracy, and if the citizens decide there needs to be a change, then so be it."

Mayo said he had no idea how Brady Street got its name when he purchased what was then known as the Municipal Theater in 1978.

The building had been the city's performing arts center.

During the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, authorities temporarily held black residents in the theater - which was then named Convention Hall.

Mayo said that when he bought the theater, the surrounding area "was all industrial and homeless. It had been abandoned by any entrepreneurs. The movers and shakers of the world had totally turned their backs on this neighborhood and this part of the world."

Mayo originally named the theater The Old Lady on Brady before simplifying it to Brady Theater in 1980.

"We had no idea who (Tate) Brady was," Mayo said. "It was a street. That's all that we knew. If it had been on Archer (Street), it would have been The Old Lady on Archer."

Mayo said he understands why business owners who have invested in the Brady District would be opposed to changing the street name.

"If we have to change our name down here, so be it," he said. "But I would rather not just for business reasons. ...

"It will be a hassle for us. There is no doubt about that because the artists - like Eddie Vedder who lives in Hawaii - know this place as the Brady Theater."

[Conan71]

And there is this as well from the Tulsa World as other stake-holders in the area chime in.  It's obvious those who are most impacted by this think it's a big to-do about nothing.  It would be great if Miranda Kaiser would join us for a few minutes at lunch to explain why she thinks its "...a load of bollocks".

It's real easy to say it should be changed if you do not live or have a business in the area or on the street because the asspain of enduring an address change simply doesn't register. 

Ultimately, I say leave it up to the residents and business owners.  If they feel the risk of alienating 20 or so customers who won't do business with them so long as it's called the "Brady District" or they are still located on "Brady Street" that's their prerogative.  And so far, the group (another "social justice" group) that's pushing for the name change only seems to number about 20 or so people.

Nikki Warren and Kim Grayson are black, and they make their living in the Brady Arts District, just off Brady Street, where they own MOCHA Butterfly boutique at 216 N. Main St.

So they've heard the talk about changing the name of Brady Street, and they don't like it. Not a bit. Even if the street is named after a former Ku Klux Klan member.

"I just think changing the name is erasing the past, and I think it is important to embrace the past," Grayson said. "Everybody has a past. You embrace it - the only way you can learn and grow is to learn from your past."

Warren said the Brady Arts District has become so well-known locally and beyond that to tinker with its name would hurt businesses in the area.

"I think for business owners, being identifiable is a very big idea, so we prefer to keep the (street) name the same," she said.

Brady Street is named after Tate Brady, one of Tulsa's early businessmen. Over the years Brady has become controversial for his association with the Ku Klux Klan, and some people allege that he helped organize the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.

After a group of citizens requested that the street's name be changed, the City Council asked the Brady Property Owners Association to lead discussions on the proposal.

The association's recommendations won't be known for several months, but individual business owners in the district seem more than willing to talk about the issue.

The World visited a half dozen businesses along or near Brady Street on Tuesday, and not one business owner expressed support for the name change.

"What a load of bollocks," Miranda Kaiser, owner and manager of Laffa Medi-Eastern Restaurant and Bar, 111 N. Main St., said of the proposed name change.

Kaiser said she told a recent meeting of Brady Arts District property and business owners that signs should be put up in the district that acknowledge Tate Brady's racist past but say "look at how far we have come."

"He would turn in his grave to see the eclectic, diverse, open-minded craziness that's going on in the Brady District," she said.

Grayson and Warren, like the other business operators interviewed by the World, stressed that renaming Brady Street would deny people the history they need to fully appreciate how far the district has come.

So they also propose putting plaques along Brady Street that would explain exactly who Tate Brady was.

They are certain, by the way, that he would be aghast at the district his name has become associated with nearly 90 years after his death.

"Because this area is so diverse, this would slap him in the face," Grayson said.

Stephanie Duvall, general manager of Caz's Chowhouse and the Pub on Brady Street, said the proposal is a nonissue for her businesses "because the Brady District is the most diverse area in Tulsa."

"One of the things we pride ourselves on on Brady is that all walks of life feel comfortable here," she said.

Albert Cronheim is the general manager of the Mexicali Border Cafe at 14 W. Brady St. He has been in Tulsa 27 years and says he had never heard of Tate Brady before renaming Brady Street was proposed.

"Most of my customers don't know who he is, and that is from all ethnic backgrounds," Cronheim said. "Basically, nobody cares. This is a small group" that is pushing for the change.

Chris Weiss, owner of Classic Cigars, 118 N. Boston Ave., said the city can change the name to whatever it wants, though "I would prefer they keep it the same."

"It's still going to be downtown Tulsa," he said. "They change the name of the streets down here all the time."

Janet Duvall - no relation to Stephanie Duvall - said the name change would be unfortunate.

Duvall, executive director of the nonprofit Tulsa Glassblowing School, 19 E. Brady St., said the majority of the members of the Brady Arts District Business Association with whom she has spoken believe in embracing the Brady name, "even though there are some negative aspects to it, because otherwise we have to look at all the other streets in Tulsa" for possible name changes.

Robert Fleishman, president of the Brady Arts District Business Association, said the roughly 100-member organization has taken no official position on the name change.

"No vote has been taken," Fleishman said, but "we have met, and we discuss it."

http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Many_Brady_Arts_District_business_owners_say_the_name/20130711_11_A1_CUTLIN371623

[carltonplace]

Thanks for posting that rdj and Conan. Interesting points of view and certainly helps me with any doubts I might have had.

[AngieB]

I think the business owners would happily pay for some kind of plaque over changing everything else. I think it would be a nice gesture and definitely more than the group demanding the name change deserves.

[DolfanBob]

My last name is available. And I have done nothing to residents or the City of Tulsa.
Oh wait! I haven't really done anything for residents or the City of Tulsa. 

OK....Never mind. 

[sauerkraut]

Do we really want to start going down that road where if someone or some group  is offended by a name we rush to change it. History is what it is. Let it be as the Beatles said in 1970.

[RecycleMichael]

Beatles Street. What a great idea!

[Red Arrow]

Beatles Street. What a great idea!

It keeps the "B".

Let's go for it.

[patric]

It keeps the "B".

[RecycleMichael]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/12/1222824/-The-Souls-On-In-and-Of-The-Street#