NBA Players Think OKC is Boring...boo hoo

[metro]

Ok, this is a major part of the problem.

I know people like to proclaim that every place you listed is "hip", but guess what? They aren't.

Paseo is the only one that comes close, but you've got to deal with the aforementioned middle-aged people trying to recapture their youth. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with that, but don't expect a huge youth turnout there.

You know what's Hip? Silver Stallion in Mustang, or 66 Bowl(especially when there's live music and visitors from other countries). These forcibly "hip" places, particularily in BT, "SoSa"(it's midtown, stop making up stupid names, this is a perfect example of forcibly hip), and the Arts District are not even remotely "hip".

If the staggering amount of areas you listed as "hip" truly were, then there simply wouldn't be a problem.

And while I'm sure the "Mass Transit" will cause these areas to grow a bit, I doubt it will "explode". Like I said earlier, nobody I work with, live near or hang out with gives a crap about the trolley system. It isn't going to make any of us move downtown, and will more than likely keep us away from downtown since it's going to take up a lane of traffic in an already congested area.

Do you realize that Mass Transit is proven to reduce traffic congestion? That's the point of it. It doesn't increase traffic. It gives a reason NOT to have to drive to heavy traffic areas, but to park or walk from elsewhere and then take the mass transit into congested areas.

wtf? Did my dad beat me? what is that supposed to mean?

For one thing I never said we go to Dallas to drink in parks. We go to Dallas because the clubs are more fun and it's generally cheaper than BT in the long run, not counting gas to get down there.

A pure sports bar would be awesome. I can't figure out why nobody's opened one in BT. I know Daiquiri Zone was a sports bar, but the name and the sorta pretentiousness about it didn't really appeal.

Have you tried Brix that replaced Daiquiri Zone?

[mugofbeer]

[QUOTE=jc4455;266638]Example: we were at Coaches, a group of 7 or 8 watching a game, having fun, spending money. We were asked to keep it down or move outside because we were startling and disrupting a couple with an infant clear on the other side of the establishment. I think we left that time, I honestly can't remember because it has happened numerous times around town. QUOTE]

Sorry if I misunderstood, but from what you wrote above, you stated you "can't remember because it has happened numerous times around town." Sounds like you were saying you get "kicked out."

So, if the point is that you are in a sports bar being loud and are asked to quiet down, then go to a different sports bar. I used to go to one in Denver for the OU Club of Denver and yelled until I got hoarse. However, that is for a designated gathering. If a bunch of us went any other night, they might not want us being that loud.

Years ago there was a place in Dallas called Boley and Wilsons. It was a place to go on the night before the OU-TX game because the place was half OU fans and half Texas fans and while the Boley and Wilson band played raunchy music and everyone got drunk, the fans yelled insults at each other in good nature. I went there on another occasion and a couple of tables started getting loud about a baseball game on the TV and were quieted down by the manager.

Without being there and seeing your group its hard to say what happened but in OK, you can't have a child in a bar. If you were in a sports bar restaurant, then yeah, you shouldn't be so loud.

[PennyQuilts]

Really?

I've never been kicked out of anywhere in this city. We aren't sucking back drinks and hurling F-bombs.

This is exactly what I mean by anti-youth. We were asked to quiet down in a Sports bar while watching a SPORT on tv because we were waking up the infant of the morons that brought it to a place that's going to be loud on a game day. So we decided to leave. Suddenly this forum decides I'm hurling F-bombs and getting kicked out of places all over the city.

I also never said I was opposed to MAPS3. I'm opposed to the use of MAPS3 as a tool for people to say "Vote YES or you'll be sorry!!" BS that I've seen all over this forum. I'm opposed to people saying that NOTHING will be done to attract/keep my demographic here unless we vote Yes for MAPS3.

This has nothing to be do with being anti youth. It has everything to do with how you originally presented the scenario. You said you were asked to be quieter and also asked to go outside so you just left - and that it had happened in "numerous" other places. If true, that behavior speaks for itself and whether you are twenty year old college kid or a boorish middle aged matron doesn't matter. You don't get asked to settle down or go outside unless you are breaking the norms of the establishment. And if you were asked to leave a SPORTS BAR, I can't imagine you and your friends were being anything but obnoxious. You really have to work hard to be asked to calm down at a sports bar. Which one was it? Well, back to your original posting - which ones were they?

[mugofbeer]

This has nothing to be do with being anti youth. It has everything to do with how you originally presented the scenario. You said you were asked to be quieter and also asked to go outside so you just left - and that it had happened in "numerous" other places. If true, that behavior speaks for itself and whether you are twenty year old college kid or a boorish middle aged matron doesn't matter. You don't get asked to settle down or go outside unless you are breaking the norms of the establishment. And if you were asked to leave a SPORTS BAR, I can't imagine you and your friends were being anything but obnoxious. You really have to work hard to be asked to calm down at a sports bar. Which one was it? Well, back to your original posting - which ones were they?

You're so much better than I am at stating my thoughts. I'll just turn them over to you.

[metro]

jc4455... you really need to pick up a Gazette, Look at OKC, or SOMETHING and involve yourself in the the great variety of things that ARE happening.

I can promise there aren't that many people that work the 'insane hours' I do... and I have all kinds of fun... and I am a 'young adult'.... 29 still counts for that right... or do i need to wear A&F, Hollister, Affliction, or Ed Hardy shirts *gag*??

PennyQuilts... I wondered the same things you mentioned in you last post... I'm picturing obscenities flying left and right.

Ditto. I was the Executive Director of AEP (the young professionals group here in town), we had 600+ people on our email list, etc. and 200-300 that would show up for events. None of them seemed to have this problem and as a YP living/working/owning property in the MidTown area, I sure don't buy it. Not to mention for the hundreds of people I network with in the inner city on a regular basis. Maybe it's too hard to see all the way up there in Edmond. And personally, I've never seen the City promote Red Pin nor do I think it is their job to promote clubs or open up "hip" clubs and businesses. That's the private markets job. These things come in "hipper" larger cities because of DENSITY and a larger population. Chicken and Egg and just becomes a snowball the more population you get. As others stated, if it's that big of a problem you can either move, or be a solution to the problem and not just a complainer.

[MsProudSooner]

Allow to me to take a different tack...

I have not lived in OKC for a long time, but I wonder if OKC has developed a social culture for young people in their 20s and 30s to meet outside of a bar or a restaurant. Perhaps they have, but if not, perhaps my experience in St. Louis is illusrative of a cosmopolitan city.

In St. Louis, every cultural and charitable organization has a "Young Friends" group specifically for people in their 20s and 30s. YF of the Zoo, YF of the Art Museum, YF of Jazz St. Louis, YF of COCA (Center of Contemporary Arts)and on and on. There are - no exaggeration - 30 or 40 such groups. These groups all have regular inexpensive parties, maybe $10 or $20 or $30 specifically designed for networking and community building. I am not exaggerating when I say that on any given Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday night in the Spring, Summer and Fall, something social is going on. Sure there is eating and drinking, of course, but you would not believe the social, and importantly, business connections that are made at these parties. There is a whole huge cadre of young, socially aware, upwardly mobile people that rotate through all these events. To the point that, if you want to develop friendships and connections in St. Louis, you can go out and know that you will find friends on any given night.

Sure, I go to plenty of bars, concerts, plays, ethnic restaurants, but I always also have this option. Almost any night someone will call me and say "Are you going to ZooTini, (or COCAcabana or Party In the Park in Clayton...)"

There is even a "Young Friends Collaborative" made up of board members of all these groups, that have their own parties.

In addition, every neighborhood in St. Louis has music festivals or arts festivals or bar crawls all the way through the warmer months. And there are a thousand other young-oriented networking groups like Fuel, River City Professionals, St. Louis Ambassadors.

My point is, much like a small-town atmosphere in a big city, these types of events serve to bind young people to their community and make them feel really involved. You want to go to these parties and if you are tired and stay home, you feel like you missed something because the next day, the e-mails and texts will be flying about what a good time it was. Perhaps most importantly, these groups are also training the new generation of civic philanthropic leadership.

Again, I don't know if OKC has this kind of culture, but if it doesn't, it is missing out.

I think that's a great idea. Organizations like that would make it easy for young people to meet people in their age bracket with similar interests. It's really easy to meet people when you are in college. Not so easy once you get out of college.

[PennyQuilts]

You're so much better than I am at stating my thoughts. I'll just turn them over to you.

You know better than that.

I'm just glad to see Junior showing an interest in the community. It is nice to see young ones being involved and I hope he sticks around. He is not alone in wanting some fun places.

[metro]

jc4455... you really need to pick up a Gazette, Look at OKC, or SOMETHING and involve yourself in the the great variety of things that ARE happening.

I can promise there aren't that many people that work the 'insane hours' I do... and I have all kinds of fun... and I am a 'young adult'.... 29 still counts for that right... or do i need to wear A&F, Hollister, Affliction, or Ed Hardy shirts *gag*??

PennyQuilts... I wondered the same things you mentioned in you last post... I'm picturing obscenities flying left and right.

I think that's a great idea. Organizations like that would make it easy for young people to meet people in their age bracket with similar interests. It's really easy to meet people when you are in college. Not so easy once you get out of college.

Plenty of these groups. I used to lead 1 and am a board member on another one. See post #58 on page 3.

[mugofbeer]

You know better than that.

I'm just glad to see Junior showing an interest in the community. It is nice to see young ones being involved and I hope he sticks around. He is not alone in wanting some fun places.

Its just unfortunate that he feels he can't support a series of programs designed to improve this city and make it a more desireable place to live because he and his friends don't like the bars. He's shooting himself in the foot.

[OKCisOK4me]

Okay, I'm going to read the rest of Page 4 later but in the mean time I have something to say!

I thought this thread was entitled "NBA Players Think OKC is Boring...boo hoo"?! Mods, can you change it to "jc4455 Thinks OKC is a Piece of Crap Wanna Be Big City"? It'd be much appreciated...

jc--and no, you're not Jesus Christ--you talk up Dallas so much and how much more awesome it is than OKC. I do agree with you on that because it serves a metro population of 6.3 million and therefore has to be very diversified when it comes to the amenities provided for the vast array of lifestyles and ethnic groups that live there. On the other hand you bring up just a few points that have nothing to do with nothing other than whining like a little b***h.

Point #1 - You and your 'friends' (are these your fingers?) don't care about a trolley system because it would take up a lane of traffic??? Ever been down on McKinney Street just north and west of downtown Dallas?!? It has a circular street car system. Oh smack, I bet you don't go down there and hang out in that "hip" district because one little car comes along every five minutes and disrupts traffic in that area and before you know it it creates a butterfly effect that throws off all the traffic in the DFW metroplex!

Point #2 - Your beer thing. Our beer is 3.5, yes. 6 point beer is technically 5.2. If you know somebody close to you that has worked at a beer distributor, they'll pretty much inform you of that. I could drink more beer up in Missouri (certified 5.2 beer) than I could down here, but isn't that kinda bassackward?? Do you honestly believe that a 1.7 difference is really gonna do it for you? Go to Google and look up some drinking games or try drinking some heavy liquor before you get intimate with your next 3.2 beer! You and your fingers (friends) can have a party with that can, or bottle. Oh and also, there's places called liquor stores here--granted they're not open past 9pm or on Sunday's, which I agree is kinda stupid--that stock all kinds of beer that has a much higher alcoholic percentage. Maybe that's up your alley. Granted it's not refrigerated (sub-point) but buy another refrigerator yourself, being I've read about all of your disposable income.

Point #3 - Your complaints of 30+ douchebags reclaiming their youth. They're not reclaiming their youth, they're living their lives as you 20-30 somethings are able to live them here now because of the amenities that are available (although few in your book) that weren't available when they were in that age group.

Point #4 - Clubs. Please tell me how much better Dallas clubs are?? I went down there for a bachelor party. Yes, primarily because it was Dallas, but secondarily because the groom was living in San Angelo and it was less traveling for him & obviously more entertaining than S.A. We went to clubs--dance clubs, strip clubs, and let me say w o w (not as in wow oh wow this is big time) but w o w as in that's pretty much exactly like OKC--minus the stripclub dress code for on stage performers, lol. The main club we went to was Club Purgatory. So wow, it was cool that I got some exercise because it's 4 levels and I took a lot of stairs but was it suppose to impress me? It looked better on its website than it did in person--granted that's what Photoshop can do for you! And of course with a bigger city and a higher cost of living comes more expensive products. Who wants to dish out $4 more for 1.7% more alcohol in the same quantity?? Not me. You been to one club, you've seen them all--unless of course, you're VIP like yourself.

Somebody pointed out that the only way this state/city will change is to get the old out and the new, more "hip", in. They said "bring the sinners". I say, put the "sinners" in office! That seems to be the only way this place will go from being conservative to being a jewel in the Midwest/South that WILL get there with that positive attraction of the city that you obviously don't have now. Unfortunately for you and those of us older than you, we won't get to see it because the progression of a MAPS 3 and the implementation of future developments it spurns will take years and years to come to fruition. But at least we can provide that for other future 20-30 somethings and give them something that we missed out on. I WANT to see it go through and see it be built. If you don't, get a darn U-Haul and move on!

[mugofbeer]

Yeah, I've said all I care to say to him. Same to the NBA'ers who alledgedly are complaining. Go on a bender when you are on the road. Relax when you're home.

[Hawk405359]

Sheesh, people sure get hostile whenever someone says they don't think there's a lot to do.

[mugofbeer]

That's why we spend so much time being hostile to each other on the computer every day!

[bretthexum]

Not taking sides, but as a former DJ in Minneapolis the club scene here is pretty lame. I see where JC is coming from. I mean - Citywalk gets the best dance club for about 4 years in a row??

My 2 cents.

[mugofbeer]

Oh, yeah? Well, Jack-in-the-Box is coming to Moore, so there!

[betts]

Not taking sides, but as a former DJ in Minneapolis the club scene here is pretty lame. I see where JC is coming from. I mean - Citywalk gets the best dance club for about 4 years in a row??

My 2 cents.

The problem is, how do you improve that? What kinds of entrepreneurs create clubs? If ours are lame, then might there not be money in new ones?

[OKCisOK4me]

I personally was just getting some hair off my chest (rather putting some on). I'm all smiles now. Just thought I'd throw a little poison back jc's way since he's venting it on the majority of us that appreciate our city and there are too many people on here that would rather not be to the point to make a point. All is well here. And I'm sure jc is a rather pleasant guy that sometimes just gets a little drunk in public and acts like a fool. We've all done it--although repeatedly, that's another story. I will admit that sometimes I appear to be an a$$ on here but I honestly believe it was warranted and not a squabble over something like college football teams. Don't put down the OKC is all I'm sayin. If you want to, go to tulsatalk or one of those national websites like skyscrapercity.com and spit your venom there...

[Larry OKC]

One of the inherent problems with "hip" is it is transitory. What is in now is out tomorrow.

[PennyQuilts]

1. My son is going to be the first college graduate in our family and wants to be a rocket scientist and I am so excited about that and want to make sure that he goes to a good college and studies hard and saves his money and it is just going to be so cool and I am so proud of him.

2. My son is a total **** and always will be because he is lazy and stupid and fat and I will probably be supporting him until I am in my grave.

The difference in the messages of the ones who love OKC and want it to succeed and improve vs. the ones who just bitch.

I'm just saying.

[OKCisOK4me]

Man, PennyQuilts, I was gettin' ready to tell you that that is so f'in (fricken) cool that your son is going to be a legit rocket scientist and that he probably because of that industry would have to live in Houston or Florida, obviously....

But now I'm just laughing because you have a valid point!

[bretthexum]

The problem is, how do you improve that? What kinds of entrepreneurs create clubs? If ours are lame, then might there not be money in new ones?

It's tough. We just don't have much of a music and/or club culture. It takes a lot of money to get a really nice one going. Not the half-assed ones that are around here.

What I'd like to see is a real music venue - something big enough to be a large club, but also have a stage for national acts. Something like this. Used to live at this place when I lived in Minneapolis. First Avenue Would have been a perfect place for the Tiesto show...

But then again, I don't have a few mil sitting around to make it happen.

[stlokc]

Metro- I just visited the AEP web site and that is exactly what I am talking about. If there are indeed a bunch of these organizations, then community-minded young OKC residents do have options beyond the bar scene.

[windowphobe]

you really need to pick up a Gazette, Look at OKC, or SOMETHING and involve yourself in the the great variety of things that ARE happening.

The Gazette occasionally has a little blurb filling in an unsold ad space: "If you're bored in this town, it's not our fault!"

[soonerguru]

One of the inherent problems with "hip" is it is transitory. What is in now is out tomorrow.

Sure. And if you live in a hip city, there will always be something currently hip happening, like in Austin, for example. That's because hip people want to live there.

No knock on OKC. We certainly have a hip set here, it's just very hard to find because our town is so spread out and our city leaders think Bricktown is "really cool."

[soonerguru]

What I'd like to see is a real music venue - something big enough to be a large club, but also have a stage for national acts. Something like this. Used to live at this place when I lived in Minneapolis. First Avenue

First Avenue is extremely cool. OKC's own Samantha Crain played there just a couple of weeks ago.

One thing I'll disagree with you is on music scene. We have some amazing local/national artists in OKC, actually an embarrassment of riches in that department. What we don't have, as you point out, is a decent mid-sized music venue. We do have a ton of great local talent though.

But our venue problem and other things too complicated to get into prevent us from getting a lot of the cool traveling shows.

Personally, I like the Conservatory OK, but the location is terrible. It actually prevents me from going there with any degree of regularity. If it were in a more accessible area, like Western around VZDs or the Paseo I would go there a lot more.

And I think that's what people are talking about when they talk about the lack of a hip area. Paseo is cool but it is extremely limited by the galleries-only attitude of the majority property owner there. There really is no music venue to speak of, despite the fact Sauced does stuff once in a blue moon.

There are a lot of very hip people living in OKC and in the metro, but it is definitely not a place where you can easily identify the "cool district" like you can in other cities (portland, austin, virtually everywhere).