Ok, let my better try to explain myself I guess. And mind you, it is an opinion.

We don't have a defining attraction that when you're here you say, "I'm in Oklahoma City." I was purely using the arch, crazy horse, rushmore etc. as examples. I don't believe I ever stated that every city I visited had each and every single one of those examples but a few did have defining attractions that let you know where you were at.

What happened to the observation tower that was going to be built near the river?

You're talking about Energy Tower, which wasn't really a real proposal with legs, just a wishful state legislator's dream. The thing was a joke really....definitely wouldn't have been iconic, the way the rendering showed it.

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-area-talk/12984-energy-tower-proposed-rival-eiffel-tower.html

FYI, I just returned from Milwaukee and their downtown mall -- Grand Ave -- is dead. Still a few stores hang on but it looks to be 75% vacant.

Milwaukee has always had a lot of downtown retail and kept all their big department stores downtown, even in the suburban flight of the 60's and 70's. All those stores are gone now (part of the massive consolidation in that industry) and there is a big Borders in the old 8-story Gimble's building.

In fact, Grand Avenue merely occupied several alleyways between existing downtown department stores that had been in place for decades. It's a very cool design.


There is still quite a bit of retail in and around downtown, just not in the mall.

Also, their Northridge Mall (opened about the same time as Crossroads) is completely shuttered now. It's on the northwest side of town.

We don't have a defining attraction that when you're here you say, "I'm in Oklahoma City."

What happened to the observation tower that was going to be built near the river?

UHHH, The Memorial???

How is that tacky giant oil well defining (Six Flags Over Texas has one) and the memorial is not? Or the Native American Cultural Center? Or the Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum? Even the Chihuly collection.