We recently had my cousin and his new wife in from Whitehorse, Yukon (Canada) and wanted to show them around OKC. Our thought was to take them to a couple of places that displayed where OKC is going (The Jones, Bar Arbolada) and one place that would line up with their expectations of Oklahoma City (Cowboys) ....except exceed them beyond their wildest dreams.

They enjoyed The Jones and Arbolada and were impressed that OKC had such cool establishments. The Jones was unlike anything they had seen. However, Cowboys blew their socks off.

Judge if you must, but Cowboys is a spectacle of Okie-ness that deserves the praise it receives from those who frequent the place. Take your out-of-towners here on a Saturday night, stay until 12:30am and watch their brains explode when the live bull riding starts. Ignore the very logical "is this animal cruelty?" thought that might pop into your head and just succumb.

Cowboys is like a miniature version of Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth, except that it's not in The Stockyards and the disco ball in the middle of the dance floor isn't a saddle with stirrups.

My first wife was from Scotland and when my father in law would come visit his two favorite places were Stockyards City and Cimmarron Steak House.... He was infatuated with everything American Old West.

It’s a certain balance, that’s for sure. On one hand Oklahoma City tries to shift away from that “cowboys and Indians rural western state” perception and to let people know that we are a modern and innovative city. But there is also a lot of tourism because of our Cowboys and Indians history, with the Stockyards,
The Hall of Fame, the upcoming Cultural Center, etc.

I think you embrace the good parts of your history and not deny it. We are a cowboy/western city that can still be innovative and cool. Ft. Worth does a great job of this and it works.

I've always said that Texas does a great job of marketing it's Western heritage and cowboy image while also presenting itself as a dynamic place.

It seems Oklahoma often wants to hide that element instead of promoting it and that's a shame because otherwise there isn't a whole lot of uniqueness to OKC.

After all, experiencing the local culture is one of the main reason people travel to different places.

I remember as a kid going with visiting relatives from Wisconsin to the Cowboy Hall and they loved it.

I used to host a delegation of international businessmen from all over the world every year. The entertainment they most enjoyed, remarked on, and told others of their peers about were the times we took them to the rodeo, Bulnanza, Western Heritage Museum, Red Earth dancing events, and the country western bars/dance clubs. Cattlemens was a huge hit also.

We take too many things for granted that are special to others just experiencing them for the first time.

Cowboys is owned by a person who grew up in Altus. He started out with different clubs in the DFW area and expanded elsewhere. I met him when my cousins band was playing at Cowboys in Dallas, the owner was in the process of acquiring a hotel and casino in Las Vegas.