Lake View Country Club

[lrostochil]

Here are some images from the old Lake View Country Club at NW 63rd and Portland

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2572616...7628407108121/

[jmpokc1957]

I remember very well the pool at the Lake View Country Club. It must of been early 60's as I would of been 7-8 years old or so. I also remember there were many other General Electric families there.

Mike

[Pete]

Thanks for those! A while back, I was trying to figure out exactly where this was located...

Anyone know the address? Was it on Portland or 63rd? Which corner?

[Martin]

i can't find the address anywhere... all the old oklahoman articles i ran across only stated 63rd & portland. the place broke ground in 1955 and opened in 1956 and was 25 acres.

my first guess was the ne corner as it appears to have been developed later... however, the nursing home was built in 1970. homes just north of that were built in the early 60's. homes on the se corner were built in the mid 50's. the subdivision on the nw corner dates from the early 60's.

the triangle on the sw corner bounded to the south by nw expressway is possible... the earliest structure currently there is from 1976. however, the land only totals around 16.6 acres. perhaps that triangle was bigger in the 50's before nwx was widened... still not sure that would add another 8.4 acres to make it the advertised 25, though.

would love to hear where this place was, too...

-M

[Pete]

From that flickr site:

April 1973 is the last mention I find of Lake View in The Oklahoman archives, and a few years later, the building was being used as a church. That didn't last for long because, in 1982, Lake View Country Club was replaced with a non-descript, 70,000 sf office building constructed by Local Federal Bank.

That means it was on 63rd just east of Portland on the north side of the street.

If it was truly 25 acres, it must have taken that entire tract (or everything but the old gas station) on the NE corner of the 63rd & Portland and extended all the way to what was then Grand and now Hefner Parkway.

The Local Federal property is 10 acres, Atrium Towers is about 5, the nursing home is about 5.

I grew up very near there and for the life of me can't picture the place.

[Martin]

the only thing about the ne corner, though, is the nursing home... the assessor's site says it was built in 1970. maybe the country club sold off some land to try to stay afloat? -M

[Pete]

Yes, that's probably what happened.

Also, the homes on the south side of 64th near Grand/LHP were built in 1972, while the rest of that addition was built in the 1960's. That would account for some of the 25 acres.


I think the club was set back from 63rd and Portland quite a ways because I went by there frequently during the 60's and can never remember seeing the building.

[Martin]

you were right... northeast it is!

i'm a bit of a map junky and have a bunch of old oklahoma city maps. i have an adams map from 1962 that shows lakeview country club on the northeast corner of 63rd & portland. it's bounded to the north by 65th and to the east by grand blvd. at the time of printing, none of the subdivision east of omaha avenue (the first n/s street east of portland) is shown to have existed.

-M

[Pete]

Scan and post please!!!

I did find something in the Oklahoman archives that lists the address as 3601 NW 63rd, which is the old Local Federal Building.

Another article said the clubhouse was in the middle of the property, so no doubt set way back from the street which would explain why I can't remember seeing it.

I think the clubhouse itself was located approximately where the parking lot is behind the office structure, and the pool was north of that.

[Martin]

here you go! -M

[RadicalModerate]

Was it really possible to actually view a lake from 63rd and Portland?
I'm not sure that it was . . . But I've been wrong before.

[Pete]

Thanks M! Very cool... Love the drawing of the old KOCO antenna.


And yes, it was possible to see the lake from that location as there is a bit of a high spot in the middle of it.

My family bought a house on 64th street about 1.5 miles west in 1963 and at the time there were no houses further north and we could see the lake from our yard.

[bluedogok]

Was it really possible to actually view a lake from 63rd and Portland?
I'm not sure that it was . . . But I've been wrong before.

You pretty much can coming down Portland there, where the Local Federal building was at Grand Blvd. is a bit higher than Portland, I would think you could before those houses were in there. On the elevation feature of Google Earth the buildings on the corner of NW 63rd & Grand have a high elevation of 1271, the 7-11 is 1257 and Portland & S. Lake Hefner Dr. is at an elevation of 1213.

[jmpokc1957]

Yep, NE corner of NW 63rd and Portland. It was set in a bit and had a long drive. That and the pool is about all I remember as it was some forty odd years ago. As I said earlier there were a bunch of General Electric people from upstate New York there, my family included. Most returned to New York in a few years. Too far from family and too much culture shock I'm sure. We stayed.

In the early years we could see the lake and Cinema 70 from our back porch. We lived just off of NW 63rd between MacArthur and Meridian.

May be the driest December on record in Portland, Or, this year.

Mike

[wschnitt]

"Unsurpassed in the Southwest as the entertainment center for families of good taste and discriminating judgement"

Sounds as if it was "whites only"

[Pete]

I doubt they even needed a whites only rule... It opened in the mid-50's and even when I graduated from Putnam City in 1978 (Lake View was in that area) I think there were less than five blacks in a school of 3,200 kids.

Really amazing how segregated OKC was even in the late 70's.

[Skyline]

What does this look like today?

[RadicalModerate]

Like a monument to The Triumph of Diversity . . .

[Pete]

I found some really great aerials of OKC from 1964 and here is a shot of Lake View, clear as day. The intersection to left center is NW 63rd & Portland and on that northwest corner is the old KOCO-TV studios and on the SW corner is Coronado Shopping Center.

[Pete]

And here's one from 1969... The club was already starting to sell off land:

[Pete]

And here's a current view of that same area:

[Martin]

really cool... you can still see a trace of the landscaping just north of the parking lot.

where did you get the old aerials, pete? those are really high resolution. -M

[lrostochil]

I love those aerials! Thanks for sharing.

[Smash]

Found this in the dirt while digging a trench for an electrical line in corpus christi thought you all might enjoy.

[ChaseDweller]

I have fond memories of this place from my childhood. I remember having dinner as a kid in that dining room and swimming in the pool. After reading this thread, I drove out there a couple of days ago. Chesapeake now owns the building in front and has built a parking lot behind the parking lot shown in the aerial. Thus, all vestiges of the club are now obliterated. It's unfortunate that such a cool example of mid-century architecture is gone forever.

I would love to see some more photos of the place.