Oklahoma Modern Captures I-44 Victims

Oklahoma Modern has this new entry on the demolition of Tulsa's uniquely circular Patrick Henry Apartments. Some very interesting information on the complex's design (round closets?!) and a handful of wonderful photos of the buildings as they were being torn down to clear the way for the widening of I-44. The photo of the round pantry alone is worth the jump. They took the curved theme even further than the University Club Tower.


Also in the path of the I-44 expansion was the former Osborn Ministries (a.k.a. World Museum) building. Oklahoma Modern was there late last year and posted this World Museum entry that includes some nice interior shots. I've had a lot of people ask about "that museum off 44 with the shrunken heads", so I'm quite happy to see these.

Great catch, Rex and Jackie! Thanks for sharing.

Above photos: Patrick Henry Apartments Circular Clubroom Building and Osborn Ministry Building from Oklahoma Modern.

Labels: demolition

Camelot Hotel Demolition Day

I'm still playing catch up, so I'm a year late with these. The Camelot Hotel photoset has been updated to include shots from last December on the first day of demolition.

The Google Street View crew captured the hotel around a month before it was torn down. Click the arrows on the yellow street lines to "drive" around the hotel. Grab the screen and drag or use the widget in the corner to adjust your view.
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It was still standing when Google's satellite provider snagged their last shot of Tulsa, too. Click the + to zoom in. You can even see the spade-shaped pool.


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On a final Camelot-related item. I was pleased to see that Alison Zarrow has posted her wonderful book, Abandoned Tulsa as a downloadable PDF (try the freeware PDF viewer Foxit, if you don't have Acrobat installed). I already own a hard copy of the book, but now anyone can enjoy her wonderful photos and well researched, inspired prose covering some of Tulsa's most interesting vacant places. It also includes some great shots from inside the Camelot Hotel as well as ephemera from the hotel's past. Thanks so much for sharing, Alison.

Labels: demolition

Sheridan Village - Admiral Place and Sheridan Road

Built in the mid-1950s, Sheridan Village was a contemporary 2-story shopping center at Admiral Place and Sheridan Rd in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Crown drug was a popular pharmacy with a soda fountain and grill in the back. Frequented for the main anchors JCPenney, TG&Y and Humpty Dumpty Grocery stores, it was also well remembered for it's Borden's Cafeteria, library, shoe store and card shops. It featured one of the first escalators in a suburban Tulsa shopping center. There was upper level parking on the roof accessible by way of a car ramp on the SW corner. The out-building OTASCO was directly across from the ramp, leading to stories about rolling a non-working car from the rooftop across to have it worked on. The shopping center hit it's peak in the late 1960s / early-1970s before slowly losing retailers to the larger, more modern malls being built around Tulsa. In it's later years it was used as a Bingo hall and a handful of small retailers. A small shoe store and barber shop appear to have operated there until the end. Vacant and vandalized, it now sits silently awaiting demolition in coming weeks/months.


Courtesy of Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.


Anonymous recalls Sheridan Village in their comment:

Back in the 60s it was a very popular place to shop. It had a JC Penney's, TG&Y, Rexall Drug, Grocery store, Hallmark store, Borden's Cafeteria, Merle Norman, etc. The Rexall had a soda fountain, the TG&Y had a candy counter including hot peanuts. The JC Penney's had a fabric department that was second to none; at that time most people made a lot of their clothes. The Hallmark store started out in a tiny little alcove and later moved to one of the store spaces out front. There was also an Otasco next door to the center that was very popular. What a wonderful place it used to be.

According to another commentor:

There are STILL some employees that work for JCPenney that worked at the Sheridan Village store. Most of the moved to Eastland after Sheridan village - and now, they all work at Promenade.

On Tulsa TV Memories, Charles Stevens in Fargo remembers,

The card shop at Sheridan Village was called the Postman and for years it was located in a small store underneath the escalator that went upstairs to Borden's Cafeteria. Borden's had a treasure chest where kids could pick out a prize after eating. The Presidential visit I remember is Johnson in the late 60's. He was in town to view progress on the Port. We stood out on the curb on Admiral and watched his motorcade go by.

I was unable to find any information on the future plans for the lot that the demolition of Sheridan Village will leave behind. If anyone knows of it's proposed use, please add a comment. For those interested, check out the new Sheridan Village Photoset on Flickr. Like much of the mid-century architecture in Tulsa (think: Mayo Meadow Shopping Center), it's not particularly exciting or special, but it had it's own charm. I'm sure that there are still people out there who remember it fondly from their childhoods. Please share your recollections!

PS...glad to be back.

Labels: demolition

Camelot's Reign is Over

This morning the demolition of Tulsa's former Camelot Hotel began. Unfortunately, we don't get a dramatic implosion, but rather a week-long process of chewing away at the structure with hydraulic scissors. KOTV (Ch.6) has a nice 2 minute video of the start of the destruction.

Lots of folks are reporting on this one:

Camelot Hotel razing to begin Thursday [Tulsa World]
The End of Camelot [KOTV]
Taking Down a Historic Hotel [KOTV]
Camelot Demolition Continues [KJRH]
Demolition Begins on Camelot Hotel [w/ video KTUL]


It's sad to see it finally being torn down. I have some really good memories of this place during the early 80s. But it's been an eyesore for entirely too long. It's simply not feasible to renovate and it needs to go.

Tulsa Library has this collection of "vintage" pictures of the Camelot during it's better days. Some may view these pics and remember clearly how things once were. Others are probably too young to remember it as anything other than an abandoned fake castle.

Despite the ugly gray skies, I couldn't resist swinging by there this afternoon for some last minute photos. I'll get them posted to Flickr soon.

QuikTrip Corporation will build their 500th store on the site. Somehow, I just don't believe the new store will have as much visual impact to visitors coming through town on I-44. I'd love to see QT prove me wrong.

Labels: demolition

Bell's Deconstructed

I've hesitated to comment on this for months, since it's had so much media exposure. But after visiting / taking pictures there this past week, I had to post it up. Besides...I realize LT has been dormant for too long and owe it to all of you to get something new online. Bell's Amusement Park is being forced out of it's location in mid-town Tulsa after 55 years of service. Only the Skyride will remain, as it has been sold to the County and will remain in operation during the State Fair. The owner, Robby Bell has until June 15th to have everything removed from the grounds.

This is particularly sad, since they had a better-than-ever Summer last year, after being closed for several weeks due to a extreme downdraft thunderstorm that demolished their antique ferris wheel and generally made a mess of things. They cleaned everything up and opened to record crowds for the remainder of the season. Also last Summer, they were finally cleared to add a modern steel roller coaster in the area of the miniature golf course, which had not been operational for several years. A new roller coaster had been protested by surrounding neighbors for years. Alas, their time was up and rather than renewing as expected, Tulsa County decided not to extend a new lease.

They are furiously busy at work, taking down all of the rides. Most of them, including the Zingo roller coaster will be put into storage until Mr. Bell can secure a suitable location to re-open. Sand Springs, Broken Arrow and Jenks have all expressed interest in having Bell's open in their towns. The Zingo (built 1968) is famous among wooden roller coaster lovers around the world. It's being numbered and disassembled piece by piece. What a painstaking process that must be! It's said that it will take 12 weeks to tear it down and 5 months to rebuild it. The log ride is similarly marked and is being slowly removed little by little. The areas farthest North, containing the Mind Meld, Himalaya and Phantasmagoria are all completely cleared now.

Check out the new Bell's Deconstructed photoset for some really depressing photos. Please help me identify some of the attractions that were located on the blank spots where they've already removed everything.

Here's some additional links (Thanks, Brewcaster!) related to the recently-demolished dark ride, Phantasmagoria:

Laff In The Dark - Photos and detailed history of the Phantasmagoria.

Secret Fun Spot - Flash animation honoring Phastasmagoria. Also visit their main site (Secret Fun Spot) for more info on Bell's as well as better photos of the destruction than I was able to take.

Labels: demolition