Spartan's Midtown Tulsa photos - Brookside, Cherry Street, Utica Square, and more

[Spartan]

Here are a bunch of pics I took last weekend when I was up in Tulsa for a golf tournament. I thought some of you might enjoy seeing some more of Midtown Tulsa, especially to better understand Utica Square. A huge Downtown Tulsa photo set is also coming. Enjoy:

Utica Square..Green Country's main shopping destination. One of the first "lifestyle centers" in the U.S. (built in the 40s).


Condos towering over Utica Square

Petty's Fine Foods


Very..Michael Graves.









Utica Placa condos towering over Pottery Barn





New Anthropologie coming in

St. John's towers over Utica Square












Miss Jackon's Department Store

[Spartan]

Surrounding area



Typical faux Tuscan architecture that dominates Midtown



Swan Lake neighborhood

[Spartan]

Cherry Street, Midtown's premier restaurant and arts district.




Way cooler than typical Jason's Deli






A Midtown developer's office





















Stillwater National Bank

More typical Midtown architecture..Michael Graves meets faux Tuscan

















That's two shots in a row with different Porsche Cayennes in them..



NoChe-- (North Cherry) an area getting eaten up by dozens and dozens of new loft developments. Area very similar to Rice Military in Houston which has been overrun by upscale lofts close to downtown.











Bye-bye smurf house.


LEED-Platinum living

I hope this one and others survive..so much character.



More lofts planned here



More u/c

I believe I heard this one has roof drainage issues somewhere..imagine that.





It was difficult to get photos facing the sun when there weren't shadows I could stand in.

This lawn is actually dedicated to Elvis kitsch. How awesome is that?

[Spartan]

SoBo-- South Boston, a strip of nightlife joints and expensive law offices that link Maple Ridge to the IDL (aka downtown).

One bar surrounded by Uptown towers






Tulsa Modern..truly its own distinct variation similar to MiMo, but with bolder definitions

Looking up one street in Uptown (Denver Ave, I think? I forget)

Some of the old apartments as you venture further into Midtown from SoBo



The view of the Downtown/Uptown core from the Peoria bridge over the BA:

Couldn't even get it all within this one shot



Uptown skyline...REALLY wish I had more time to explore some of this neighborhood's great urbanism..but I've already done several Uptown photo sets.



To finish it all off, Brookside. Midtown's main entertainment and nightlife district, also a good restaurant, retail, art gallery, and urban housing mix. Brookside is Tulsa's "Restless Ribbon" situated blocks from where Midtown meets the Arkansas River.



Digging the Tulsa skyline mural. I've always admired Tulsa's strong self-identity.









One of my absolute favorite coffee shops of all time




Wolfgang Puck's new restaurant set to open soon




Brand-new rooftop bar
























To help people get their bearings straight, here is a quick map I drew of Midtown Tulsa with Brookside, SoBo, Utica Square in relation to each other and then an outline of Midtown in relation to the rest of the Green Country metro. Basically all of Midtown is an incredibly awesome area that few Midtowners would trade for any other city. You've got an area packed full of other entertainment districts and restaurant rows I didn't get to cover, dozens of beautiful neighborhoods, and in immensely diverse building stock in terms of architectural styles.. everything from Tudor, Italian, and other mansion styles, to skyscrapers, warehouses turned restaurant or art gallery, a fair amount of faux Tuscan that's starting to dominate the area, a good collection of Art Deco and Tulsa Modern architecture, lots of old lofts, hundreds and hundreds of brand new lofts, lots of beautiful manicured parks and greenspaces, and more. The only consistency is that almost everything is well cared for, because Tulsans and especially Midtowners take pride in their city, as you can see.

[BG918]

Nice pics, you made it to the best areas. I think a big reason why downtown isn't as vibrant as it could be is because of these neighborhood districts in midtown. Brookside is probably the most vibrant neighborhood in Tulsa night and day, followed by the Cherry Street/Utica corridor which includes Utica Square. Definitely room for improvement in all of these areas though, especially when it comes to streetscaping/landscaping though Brookside has done made some improvements in that area.

[Spartan]

I have a huge set of Blue Dome, Greenwood, and Brady coming. I am sad I couldn't make it through the Art Deco core of DT Tulsa or get much of Uptown and Riverview, but I have past photo sets of those already.

[Urban Enthusiast]

Wow, great photos Spartan! That must have been one exhausting photo outing. . . you covered so much territory. That's probably Tulsa's main problem - all of our "cool" districts are so spread out. We need more density in the core to support it all.

By the way. . .

This is my dentist's office


This is my neighbor's clothing store


I believe this project is a victim of the economy. . . it's looked like that for at least a year.

[dismayed]

Love these developments, especially the lofts.

[ljbab728]

Love these developments, especially the lofts.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought many of the lofts looked great and fit in very well and some of them were eyesore ugly.

[Spartan]

Yeah the sheeting looked really bad from a few angles that I tried not to get. That's awesome that you're so familiar with the buildings though. I like when my pics are personal.

[Urban Enthusiast]

Yeah the sheeting looked really bad from a few angles that I tried not to get. That's awesome that you're so familiar with the buildings though. I like when my pics are personal.

I totally agree. It's cool to see someone else's pics of things I see all the time.

Speaking of that, I took another look at your pictures. There is actually more lofts being built next to this building. You can see the top of one of the two structures in this picture on the left just above the building in the foreground. They started construction on this last summer I believe, then it just sat there for awhile and within the past couple of months there has been more construction activity. I guess the economy slowed down the project. My only complaint with it is the fact that there are no windows on the north side - the side with the great skyline views. That's too bad.


Oh, and this street is actually Boulder Ave. Denver is about three blocks to the west (left) of this street.

[Spartan]

Boulder, Denver..same thing. Thanks. Yeah, I really wish that I could have had more time to go through Uptown, Downtown, Riverview, Pearl District, and other Midtown areas..but oh well.

[Urban Enthusiast]

Boulder, Denver..same thing. Thanks. Yeah, I really wish that I could have had more time to go through Uptown, Downtown, Riverview, Pearl District, and other Midtown areas..but oh well.

Well, after you finish school, you could always look for a job in Tulsa. . . just sayin

[lasomeday]

Uh, I miss working in Tulsa! Great pictures! Makes me want to take a road trip when Wolfgang Puck's restaurant opens.

[trison]

Great pictures. I have always loved these areas in Tulsa. I hope that Oklahoma City's Midtown looks like this in the near future.

[blangtang]

Ahh, the old stomping grounds, looks like there are still some high priced hookers traipsing around the utica/brookside areas. good to know nothing's changed in the last decade!

[rcjunkie]

Ahh, the old stomping grounds, looks like there are still some high priced hookers traipsing around the utica/brookside areas. good to know nothing's changed in the last decade!

High priced, how do you know ? (a little light in the pocket book) LOL

[Floyd]

But wait, I thought that Tulsa was "dying," "another Detroit," a "Scarlett O'Hara trotting out the same old tattered dress!"

I was there this weekend and did the Cherry Street Farmer's Market--it was pretty cool, they close down 15th on Saturday mornings and have produce there. The city planners in the middle of the 20th century really screwed up that town--the IDL is like a noose preventing downtown from sharing in the beauty of midtown. Some folks are trying really hard, though.

I'm glad you posted those pictures, just to give people who may not visit Tulsa a taste of what it's like. It's a pleasant city, even though it may not have Bricktown and the Thunder.

[TulsaRobert]

That black building to the right is where I work.

[Yahola]

Thanks for the post! Yeah "another Detroit" indeed!

[benman]

great pics! Thanks! I have been to Tulsa too many times to count, but I have never had the chance to actually drive around and check out all the areas. In my opinion, Tulsa is miles ahead of OKC in their different districts, architecture, and retail/restaraunts. It seems to have more of the "energy" that people talk about when they speak of places like Austin. I really like some of the french and mediterranean architecture there. Its a very classy "boutique" kind of look.

[Spartan]

Tulsa really is just an amazing city. These photos only demonstrate what the high intensity commercial corridors and mixed-use development areas look like, and we can see that Tulsa obviously is ahead of OKC for urban development and active urban districts. But what you don't see in these pics is that everything in between is lushly landscaped, dotted with gorgeous mansions and parks, and stunning residential architecture if you ask me.

Let me say it again. Tulsa is just an amazing city, always will be. If this is what Detroit is supposed to look like...that's an undue compliment to Detroit, because Tulsa stands alone from that bunch. Sure, it's not growing like Phoenix and Miami and other hellholes..

[mheaton76]

Great photos, Spartan! My favorite part is seeing all the new lofts. Kudos to them on having so many vibrant urban districts!

[ERISAjunkie]

Thanks!