I about messed my pants when I went there a few years ago and found all the old, original rocket equipment and stuff traded for this tiny little plastic crap!!! The playset isn't even an 8th of what the original stuff was. I played on that starting around 3 years old (1971). I even remember this wooden round thing that you climbed into an strapped yourself down and deposited a quarter or whatever for this thing to start rolling. It never worked by then but it was still there and if you were strong enough, you could make it roll yourself a little bit, lol.

Here are a couple of photos of the old playground equipment:

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/starsandstripes1.jpg

http://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/starsandstripes2.jpg

that pciture is so neat, why cant they build
play equipment like that anymore!!!

Safety issues, mainly.

Ahh, there's nothing like the smell of your own burning flesh being roasted on a highly reflective metal slide. :LolLolLol

I didn't realize they tore down the old stuff. :Smiley195:(

...

Those pics bring back some wonderful memories. Dont go too much if at all these days because of the thug element that seems to have creeped in the past few years.
I look for it be closed down and eventually replaced with a vo-tech center.

Safety issues, mainly.

Your correct, the old play equipment was removed just before I retired from the Parks Department, and while safety was a major issue, repair cost were a part of the decision and repair parts were nearly impossible to get.

Have you been there since they renovated the waterfront plaza? It's a total gem for the city.

Those were the days.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b226/dicey37/StarsStripes2.jpg





This forums posting of pics is different than my other hangout. Not sure what I am doing wrong but these are my two Stars and Stripes pics. That boy is 10 now and was about 2 or 3 then. We left the area for awhile and came back to find it all gone as I stated in the OP.

dunno iwantmysonback. The pictures show for me.

on edit: i thought you meant prior pictures. i see the picture in your post #11, but not the one in your post #10

I staged a one-woman protest (complete with flyer) in my office when we tore the old rocket down. It was my go-to park, and playground, when I was still a wee lass.

RCJunkie is correct. The original equipment fell short of modern safety standards, and was at a point where bandaid repairs just weren't holding it anymore, so it had to go.

Much of the current equipment in Stars & Stripes is courtesy of the OKC Hornets. George Shinn developed a "legacy" program for the City upon the Hornets' Departure from OKC as a way of saying 'thank you' to the community. The current playground is one of those projects.

This playground will close in late Summer/early fall to make way for the addition of even newer equipment, including a new rocket, and a "baby" rocket, plus other play features. The area will also get a new play surface. When complete, the area will have all of the current play structures, plus the newer play structures, as well.

This really is one of the City's grand historic park, and the newly-remodeled Eisenhower flag plaza is a great place to visit.

It was one of Lee Allen Smith's first civic projects. He was GM of WKY Radio and president of a broadcasting trade organization. My memory is that the broadcasters' organization did the fund-raising for the park.

Right, somehow the second one showed up and i looked and the properties and then pulled the same link but it still wouldn't do it.

dunno iwantmysonback. The pictures show for me.

on edit: i thought you meant prior pictures. i see the picture in your post #11, but not the one in your post #10

I need to pull out the picture of my older brother hanging from a tree upside down there in the park and see if i can figure out which tree it is. LOL!
Does anyone else recall that wooden round barrel structure I spoke of that was there in the early 70's?

It show how long it has been since I have been there, I thought it was still there.

I remember driving out to see the dedication of the flag plaza. I figured somebody ought to be there. I must have been 18.

I also remember my band, Greyhaven, playing there on one side of the picnic pavilion maybe three or four times. One time we did it in October and it was so cold my fingers were too numb to feel my guitar strings. Another time a park ranger cstopped and told us we had to have a permit to play there. Pfft.

There was a thread a year ago about the park here (http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=22521&page=1) that might have some more info.

I remember that old playset as a kid we loved it! I also remember that the way they had set the bricks on the corners of the Bob Hope Pavilion you could crawl right up on top!

It was one of Lee Allen Smith's first civic projects. He was GM of WKY Radio and president of a broadcasting trade organization. My memory is that the broadcasters' organization did the fund-raising for the park.

My grandfather, C. Hewel Jones (11/40/19-10/4/12), ran KTOK. He was part of Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. They funded the playground. I used it as a little girl, moved to VA, came back in high school and wanted to go see the playground. Now that I am visiting with my 9 & 13 yr old, I've told them stories about the playground, and was hoping to share the playground my grandfather (their great-grandfather who died last month), "built". Sad.

Yes . . . It was a sad moment in history . . . and "renovation" . . . and so forth . . . and so on . . . etc . . . ad inf......
On the other hand, THEY really spiffed up The Eisenhower Memorial.
Good quotes on plaques . . .
Great opportunity to read historical, not hysterical, stuff as an alternative to monkey-bars and teeter-totters.

I just hope the lake level gets back to where it should be.

(your granddad didn't have anything to do with StageCenter did he? i hope not. if he did i couldn't trust KTOK at all)