Plaza District

[jrod]

Oklahoma City developer purchases two neglected buildings | NewsOK.com

Pete, are you still hearing pub concept for the Plaza space?

[Pete]

Pete, are you still hearing pub concept for the Plaza space?

Yes, that building will be half pub, half retail.

Details soon.

[jrod]

Nice!

[UnFrSaKn]

Every time I look through the thousands of old photos I have, I find something new I haven't noticed before. I've had these two photos for a couple years but didn't know where it was. Since the last time I really looked at it, I've been to the Plaza District and know it well. Here's what the district looked like in the early 70's.





The ornamental brick cupola was the dead-giveaway.

[UnFrSaKn]

Here's a modern StreetView

[Pete]

Very cool!

Just goes to show how sharply things dropped off in the 80's and 90's. Went from a fully-leased, vibrant retail center to virtually abandoned and certainly run-down.

This is from the Plaza District Facebook page:

[betts]

I don't think the improvement in the Plaza would have happened without improvement downtown either. I think it's a perfect example of how city improvements spread centrifugally out from the center. A great core leads to great areas surrounding it. Did we not have a great core, the kind of people who have developed the Plaza might not have stayed here to do so.

[Pete]

^

Totally agree, betts.

[OKC plaza]

Every time I look through the thousands of old photos I have, I find something new I haven't noticed before. I've had these two photos for a couple years but didn't know where it was. Since the last time I really looked at it, I've been to the Plaza District and know it well. Here's what the district looked like in the early 70's.


The ornamental brick cupola was the dead-giveaway.

These are amazing! I've never seen photos from the 70s. In fact, we don't have photos of the district between 1940-1990s. A photo here and there of a building, but not much. Can I ask where you found these?

[UnFrSaKn]

Kenyon Morgan Collection

Kenyon Morgan Collection Photos | Retro Metro OKC

[Urbanized]

The quality of those two photos is fantastic. I feel like I should be able to step right into them, directly into my childhood. And I didn't even grow up here. But the familiarity of the Plaza combined with the fact that the cars in there match a very specific time in my life give me a really odd feeling of deja vu.

[zookeeper]

Those pictures were taken in July of 1973. The Plaza hosted the World Premiere of Dillinger in July of '73 (you can actually see that on the sign). Director John Milius was there along with Ben Johnson and Michelle Phillips. The famous scene of the killing of Dillinger at the Biograph was shot downtown at the old Midwest Theater. Many other scenes were filmed in the Skirvin and elsewhere in the state.

[UnFrSaKn]

Yeah I found that movie and watched it not long ago. The fake blood from the killing shot went all over the north alleyway wall of the Midwest Theater. It was gone not long after that.

[UnFrSaKn]

Alleyway I'm talking about.

[UnFrSaKn]

By the way, if you showed that photo out of context to the average person, there's no way they would know it was Oklahoma City. The building on the left was the Security Building. The empty lot on the right was the Baltimore Building, which was on the corner of Harvey and Sheridan. If you were standing in front of the Devon Rotunda, that's about where this photo would be.

[zookeeper]

Will, Nice pix of the old Midwest! I can't find those old Plaza pix in the Kenyon Morgan Collection. There are three galleries and I looked through all of them. Am I missing it or are they no longer there?

[UnFrSaKn]

No, there are about a hundred not on there that show tons of random houses, and little markets and street shots around town.

[zookeeper]

No, there are about a hundred not on there that show tons of random houses, and little markets and street shots around town.

Those would be so cool to see. Did they have them up on the site at one time?

[Pete]

Those would be so cool to see. Did they have them up on the site at one time?

Most aren't posted and we're working on getting them posted here.

[shawnw]

Alleyway I'm talking about.

I wonder what it would take to get Devon to place a historical marker in the approximate location...

[warreng88]

Here's a modern StreetView

What's interesting is how much has changed since googlemaps streetview came through. The Mule space was just under construction, DNA galleries was still in its old spot, the furniture and bedding store was still there and depending on where you are looking, the convenience store across the street from Saint's was still in business. If you look at the C-store from in front of Saint's, it was still a C-store, if you look at it a little further west, it had already been painted over to match the dance studio next door. I would be curious to know the lease agreement for the Plaza Discount Store and when that is up. You could fit about four businesses the size of Urban Wineworks in that space and probably more than double your rents.

[warreng88]

Went to the State of the Plaza meeting last night at PhotoArt Studio and got to hear from several guest speakers.

Among them were Kristen Vails, David Wanzer, Aimee Struble (Jeff Struble's wife), the owners of Curiosidade's Guatemala (Jesse and I forget the other guy's name), the Dig it owners, Velvet Monkey owner and a few others.

Kristen Vails was first and she talked about how far the district had come. A few of the exciting things she mentioned were partnering with Positively Paseo to renovate several homes in the Classen-Ten-Penn neighborhood. I think it was five or ten if I remember correctly. She also mentioned that they received a grant for $85,000 to build a playground at the Gatewood area but they have to raise $8,500 first and then the entire thing will be built in a day on May 3rd.

Also speaking was the owner of The District House which is just east of the Parish. He said there will be a coffee bar, snacks, desserts, wine and beer and hot sandwiches as well as seating for about 300 people in the combined spaces.

The owners of the Guatemalan restaurant spoke and they said they hope to have the restaurant open by April 11th. When it was over, I talked to them and he said they are going to be doing Guatemalan food, but some authentic Mexican food as well. I told him they should specialize on different kinds of Tequila since there is no one else in the district doing that. He said their margaritas will their focus for now. He also said the Struble's own the lot to the west of them and they are trying to buy it from them but he is not sure what Jeff is going to do.

Aimme Sturble spoke at the end and she talked about 1601 N Blackwelder Avenue.

http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assess...22560001pA.jpg

This property will be Aimee's office on the ground floor with room for one more office in the area and a coffee bar. The upstairs area will be a two bedroom, two bath apartment for rent for around $1,200/month.

[Pete]

I hadn't heard about District House:

https://www.facebook.com/districthouseokc

It is not fully operational yet, but expect coffee, wine, beer, hot sandwiches to be served here soon!

[Pete]

Also in the Plaza District Facebook post, they say they are now 96% occupied (!) and will open 4 businesses this year, District House being one of them.

I can guess two others: the pub and retail store going into the old Blair Upholstery building. The 4th may be Chiltepes restaurant re-opening.

[warreng88]

Also in the Plaza District Facebook post, they say they are now 96% occupied (!) and will open 4 businesses this year, District House being one of them.

I can guess two others: the pub and retail store going into the old Blair Upholstery building. The 4th may be Chiltepes restaurant re-opening.

That would be my guess. With the Upholstery shop going away and getting replaced, it seems like really the only places that should be switched out are the Plaza Discount Store and the convenience store across the street from Lyric. That is all of the 16th street fronting businesses, then they will have to work into places off 16th street like the Bomb Shelter and The Mule.