Now at www.okchistory.com: The Twitty Burger and south OKC

[Steve]

The building is still with us....

[kevinpate]

See the referenced article at:
http://tinyurl.com/yku3kag

[papaOU]

See the referenced article at:
http://tinyurl.com/yku3kag

At one time during the early 1980's the building housed a very good German restaurant.

[Prunepicker]

The building is still with us....

Gen64 has a lot of stories about Conway.

I went to elementary school with his daughter. Kathy?

He played at one of the Carnivals at Hillcrest Elementary. I don't
remember the year but it was October and around 1963. I'm thinking
there was a shooting down the street that night near S. W. 63rd and
S. May Avenue.

[SoonerDave]

The building is still with us....

Man, I remember that Twitty's sign in front of the building from when I was a kid. That store went up just not long after Winchester's Drive In Theater was built, and that famous waving cowboy sign was erected. Heck, I remember when they put that sign up - one section at a time, it was the most fascinating thing I ever saw...

That stretch of S. Western has sure changed in 30 years.

[Martin]

anybody remember some of the occupants after twitty's?

in the early 90's i think it was an italian joint of some sort.
at one point, i think it was a van's pig stand.
in the 80's it was another italian joint.

anybody have names or can fill in the blanks? -M

[Prunepicker]

anybody remember some of the occupants after twitty's?
at one point, i think it was a van's pig stand.

I think Van's was a bit north, S.W. 69th(?) and used to be a drive-in
restaurant. Am I right or wrong?
Prunette and I ate at Van's today on S.W. 134th and Telephone Road.
Darn good BBQ!

[Martin]

hmmm... coulda sworn if van's existed on south western, then it was in that spot. of course they recently opened one on 59th and western but i'm talking about 15-20 years ago.

also... the italian place in the 90's... i think it was called custino's.

-M

[Prunepicker]

hmmm... coulda sworn if van's existed on south western, then it was in that
spot. of course they recently opened one on 59th and western but i'm talking
about 15-20 years ago.

also... the italian place in the 90's... i think it was called custino's.

-M

It was on S. Western, near the Winchester, about 10 or 15 years ago. I
don't know how long they've been on S.W. 134th.

[Martin]

it was on s. western, near the winchester, about 10 or 15 years ago.

if it was near the winchester, then it had to be in the old twitty's place. after all, it's between nino's and the winchester.

the van's on 134th/4th & telephone in moore has been open around 5 years.

-M

[Prunepicker]

if it was near the winchester, then it had to be in the old twitty's place. after
all, it's between nino's and the winchester.

the van's on 134th/4th & telephone in moore has been open around 5 years.
-M

You're right! I just did a google map thing and saw the building.
Thanks.

I wasn't impressed with Van's when it was at the S. Western location.

[ktybug]

Gen64 has a lot of stories about Conway.

I went to elementary school with his daughter. Kathy?

He played at one of the Carnivals at Hillcrest Elementary. I don't
remember the year but it was October and around 1963. I'm thinking
there was a shooting down the street that night near S. W. 63rd and
S. May Avenue.

Conway's daughter was Jonie, she was in the same grade as my closest friend and they lived a few houses from each other on South Ross. Even in high school I was in awe of their home. Anybody that had a pool with a slide was super rich to me! So she was about a '74 graduate. I remember going to the Federal Employees Picinic at Springlake and Twitty was on stage there. Must have been about '67.

[Generals64]

Conway's daughter was Jonie, she was in the same grade as my closest friend and they lived a few houses from each other on South Ross. Even in high school I was in awe of their home. Anybody that had a pool with a slide was super rich to me! So she was about a '74 graduate. I remember going to the Federal Employees Picinic at Springlake and Twitty was on stage there. Must have been about '67.

================================================== ==========
Twitty had four (4) kids....Their names were Mike (1st wife):....Joni, Kathy and Jimmy.....He was married to Mickey with the last three kids...got a divorce and later married a lady from Moore,...I think her name was Dee.....I don't remember him living on S. Ross but, they did live for some time on S. Santa Fe in Ranchwood Manor. Now, the East West street may be Ross...not for sure. He built a new home in Norman and sold that house to Joe Lewis. That house in Ranchwood Manor caught on fire in 1975 and was gutted pretty bad. Joe sold the house and Moved and was later killed in a car accident in Arkansas. Tommy "Porkchop" Markham was the drummer and he to has since passed away....Twitty was a good guy and a good friend.

[Prunepicker]

... I don't remember him living on S. Ross but, they did live for some time on
S. Santa Fe in Ranchwood Manor.

Didn't he have a house on S. Villa @ S.W. 65th?

[FRISKY]

Didn't he have a house on S. Villa @ S.W. 65th?

That is the house I remember from the early 60s.

[Generals64]

Didn't he have a house on S. Villa @ S.W. 65th?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, that is the original house that he sold to Joe Lewis. Joe was his Bass man from the beginning.....He was married to a lady by the name of Sheila and they had two boys and One girl....Some kind of wild and crazy guy....
Jody Taylor (Jude and Jody) lived on the same street about where the Swerve is.

[Prunepicker]

That is the house I remember from the early 60s.

It had a patio on the roof, didn't it?

[FRISKY]

It had a patio on the roof, didn't it?

The old memory banks aren't working well today. I can't remember that or the pool.

[ktybug]

================================================== ==========
Twitty had four (4) kids....Their names were Mike (1st wife):....Joni, Kathy and Jimmy.....He was married to Mickey with the last three kids...got a divorce and later married a lady from Moore,...I think her name was Dee.....I don't remember him living on S. Ross but, they did live for some time on S. Santa Fe in Ranchwood Manor. Now, the East West street may be Ross...not for sure. He built a new home in Norman and sold that house to Joe Lewis. That house in Ranchwood Manor caught on fire in 1975 and was gutted pretty bad. Joe sold the house and Moved and was later killed in a car accident in Arkansas. Tommy "Porkchop" Markham was the drummer and he to has since passed away....Twitty was a good guy and a good friend.

Ross is the cross street. I remember when the house caught fire, broke my little heart. I never think of Kathy, since Joni was the one I always saw or heard about. I knew they built a house in Norman, but never saw it. My girl friends and I always started Saturday night drinking out with "Hello, Darlin".

[Prunepicker]

Ross is the cross street.

S. Ross starts north at S.W. 59th and S. Miller starts south. I'm trying to get
a visual.

[Martin]

i thought that the house that burnt was in the vicinity of sw 97th and santa fe.

-M

[papaOU]

i thought that the house that burnt was in the vicinity of sw 97th and santa fe.

-M

That's what I remember as well. There was a big deal made about him and that house if it was not his.

[Generals64]

That's what I remember as well. There was a big deal made about him and that house if it was not his.

================================================== ==========
When the house on Santa Fe burned, Joe Lewis owned the house. Twitty had already moved to Norman. I know that Joe owned it because I was with him the next day at the house.....By the way, the First time "Hello Darlin" was sung in public it was sang to my wife....embarassed her to death.....Now, we are all looking at the "Twitty Burger" etc....."Hello Darlin"......He told me one time that one of his favorite songs was "I Goy My Mojo Working". Bombed......Also, did you know that before the Twitty Burger he owned a group of Convenient Stores?.....Twitty Foods....His general Manager was Velton Lang who was the former manager of Rudy's on S.W. 59th & May. And yes the original Building is still there....S.W. 44th and Independence across from Rosevelt Jr. High.....His favorite car for a long time was an old Nash Station Wagon....His Lincoln is in the Oklahoma Country Music Hall of Fame on S.E. 29th

[gen70]

Kenny Skaggs Sr. owned a home directly across from Twitty's off Santa Fe.

[Generals64]

Kenny Skaggs Sr. owned a home directly across from Twitty's off Santa Fe.

================================================== ===========
Kenny, Twitty, Jude and Jody, Hank Thompson....they all kinda ran around together.....