The Eleanor (formerly Rockford)

[gopokes88]

I'll take that bet.

The new operators know what they are doing.

They can call it a neighborhood bar all they want, but neighborhood bars don’t bask patrons in neon purple light. Clubs do. Skinny slims is a neighborhood bar.

[bchris02]

That's too bad that they got rid of the 70s look as I really liked it. The new look is very nighclubish.

[Pete]

That's too bad that they got rid of the 70s look as I really liked it. The new look is very nighclubish.

They kept a lot of the 70's stuff.

[BridgeBurner]

Personally, I enjoyed the new look but I'll grant the point that it did lose some of its uniqueness-factor. IIRC half of the couches, the popcorn machine, the piano, and the 70's era nudes are all gone.
To each his own though, I think I've already discussed my dislike of cocktail-centric bars in the Ponyboy thread so I liked seeing some craft beer on tap.
I took at date there Saturday night (on Pete's recommendation haha) and had a great time.

[Pete]

One of the big problems was the space is so large and open that unless there were a ton of people in there, it seemed dead.

Now, with the pool tables and breaking things up a bit it feels much more lively with only 20-30 people in there.

I personally like the changes and had stopped going to Rockford a few months after it opened.

[Pete]

Was there after 10PM last night (a Tuesday) and there was a good crowd there and people were friendly.

I quite like the tweaks and I know they have some other plans as well.

[Urbanized]

Haven’t made it down yet, but did sit at the bar at Ponyboy next to Jerrod last night if that counts

[shawnw]

Based on a Twitter post by Steve it seems like maybe this has closed? Any confirmations?

[Pete]

Yes, it closed a couple of weeks ago.

There was a bunch of legal wranglings between the latest partners, and it all collapsed.

[shawnw]

shame

[gopokes88]

Bummer, it was a cool spot

[bchris02]

Sad but I pretty much figured this day would come. I think it was a poor location for the type of bar that it was. It always seemed to me like more of a Bricktown kind of place. Alternatively, I think it could have worked in a smaller space tucked back into a neighborhood somewhere. One of it's problems from the very beginning was the space being too large for the typical crowd size and thus the place always seemed a lot deader than it was.

[shawnw]

it always seemed packed to me, and I disagree about bricktown. ponyboy, with its dance floor, maybe.

[Bullbear]

it always seemed packed to me, and I disagree about bricktown. ponyboy, with its dance floor, maybe.

Hey that Ponyboy dance floor is the best People watching in town!

[PaddyShack]

My wife and I really enjoyed going here before we got pregnant, and thus were out of the drinking game for 40 weeks. We had our little one a month ago and are itching to get out, too bad this place closed.

[JRod1980]

Yes, it closed a couple of weeks ago.

There was a bunch of legal wranglings between the latest partners, and it all collapsed.

Who owns the building and is it available now?

[shawnw]

FlashBack North!!!

[Teo9969]

FlashBack North!!!

lol...I wouldn't call 23rd Street North by Oklahoma City Standards.

[JRod1980]

FlashBack North!!!

HA, I think we all agree that last time FlashBack tried 23rd street it didn't go so well.

There will only be 1 FB in OKC, FB #2 will be at least 100 miles from OKC. I like how 23rd Street has come along and changes that we've seen over the last 2-3 years, but rates have skyrocketed for the most part.

[TheirTheir]

Space was simply too large. R&J is up there among my favorite bars in the city, but put the same concept in the Rockford space and I'm sure I wouldn't have liked it as much. I agree with whoever said that a smaller space could have potentially made the bar more successful.

[dankrutka]

OKC has hit the point recently where it's not just bad concepts and designs that fail, good ones do too. There's a lot of competition in the market.

[JRod1980]

OKC has hit the point recently where it's not just bad concepts and designs that fail, good ones do too. There's a lot of competition in the market.

I agree that good concepts fail just as much as bad concepts, but I personally think that execution and management play a bigger role in the success of a concept. People too often think that opening up the doors and serving alcohol automatically makes money, so you have a lot of people with no bar/restaurant experience opening up a business that they don't fully understand. I look back at pictures of what FB looked like when we first opened and wonder how in the world people liked it compared to what it looks like now, lol.

[PhiAlpha]

Saw a working going on at the old Rockford location. New sign says The Eleanor. Anyone know anything?

[Pete]

Yes, higher-end champagne lounge.

A couple of the people who currently run Greystone (Amanda & Joel).

[WhoRepsTheLurker]

Hopefully they won't have any back alley drug deals going on like was common at the old place. Several times when we went to Back Door BBQ after dark, there were drug deals taking place on the ramp of the back entrance.