NW 39th Street LGBTQ District

[OkcWill]

That's the building right west of Tramps, and right across the street north from The Boom. It was going to be called LuLu but they changed the name to Indigo. I think they are even considering doing outdoor seating facing 39th.

I heard the guys that bought the building are also putting in a high end indoor/outdoor dance club and bar in the back. Good to see new concepts in the area, I hope it continues.

[Pete]

This little district needs street life.

Places to sit outside and have a drink or something to eat.

I bet that will follow with the spruce-up.

[Bullbear]

Agreed Pete.. the strip building that use to be wreck Room and the Park would be great for that but the owner needs to sell to someone who is willing to put some money into those buildings or he needs to do it. they are in terrible shape.

[Pete]

I noticed today they started tearing up the north side of 39th.

As a result, you can still drive west on 39th from Penn but for eastbound drivers, you are detoured off of 39th at Youngs.

[riflesforwatie]

I am guessing it is unlikely they'll finish before the NW 39 Pride in late September?

[Pete]

I am guessing it is unlikely they'll finish before the NW 39 Pride in late September?

Yeah, no way.

I'll take some drone photos soon and you'll see the current, destroyed state.

[HOT ROD]

omg if only they could have finished by the festivities.

But anyway - good to see the effort from the city and the early response from the district. Hopefully this is just the beginning of 39th as an integral part of OKC's cultural fabric.

[spire]

Great Thread! We are hoping to try a few concepts at 2215 NW 39Th. A few of the tenants should open their businesses in the next few months. We are leaning towards an indoor/outdoor dance club and a coffee house for the remaining space but have been meeting with a few restaurant concepts as well. Either way you should see a cleaned up building and store front soon. The back concept whatever that might be, should be up and running early 2022. We would love to continue to invest in the area, if anything else becomes available! Thanks for the positive support of the district!

[LocoAko]

Great Thread! We are hoping to try a few concepts at 2215 NW 39Th. A few of the tenants should open their businesses in the next few months. We are leaning towards an indoor/outdoor dance club and a coffee house for the remaining space but have been meeting with a few restaurant concepts as well. Either way you should see a cleaned up building and store front soon. The back concept whatever that might be, should be up and running early 2022. We would love to continue to invest in the area, if anything else becomes available! Thanks for the positive support of the district!

Thank you for investing in the district! I'm particularly excited about non-bar/club options like coffee shops coming to the area (maybe that just means I'm getting old, ha). Anything that brings more life to the street and area at times other than weekend nights is a win in my book.

[Bowser214]

[Pete]

[shawnw]

The irony is that by not making room for bikes AT ALL, they may have made this road inherently more dangerous for both cars and bikes, all in the name of night time parking.

And yes bikes use this road.

[Pete]

^

Yes, bikes do use this road because Youngs (at the west end of the district) is a safe pass-under below I-44.

So many people come down Youngs then head east on 39th. I do that myself.

[shawnw]

Yep.

Since they removed two lanes of traffic they could easily have kept the bike lanes and had the parking but the neighborhood refused....

[dtnatt]

From my understanding SOME in the neighborhood were opposed to the idea, but don't forget its ultimately the city's decision and the business owners don't get to dictate what the city does.

[shawnw]

In my experience, the city very rarely goes against what the neighborhood wants (especially if there's a defined business district). Basically only if the chamber or equivalent wants it more.

[OKCbyTRANSFER]

I went to the Pride Festival Saturday afternoon. It seemed really quite, crowd wise. I know they are competing with the State Fair, road conditions still torn up, Covid issues, etc. I personally prefer the vendor tents in the street, makes it look more cohesive vs a hodge podge of tents. County Health Dept. was there offering Covid vaccines or boosters, which was great to see. Hopefully the parade today will be well attended as normal.

[Brett]

I went to the Pride Festival Saturday afternoon. It seemed really quite, crowd wise. I know they are competing with the State Fair, road conditions still torn up, Covid issues, etc. I personally prefer the vendor tents in the street, makes it look more cohesive vs a hodge podge of tents. County Health Dept. was there offering Covid vaccines or boosters, which was great to see. Hopefully the parade today will be well attended as normal.

I know the Pride festival is normally held in the heat of summertime. Was it pushed back due to the construction? I thought the Pride festival was temporarily moved downtown this year or was that just a separate LGBTQ parade?

[OKCbyTRANSFER]

I know the Pride festival is normally held in the heat of summertime. Was it pushed back due to the construction? I thought the Pride festival was temporarily moved downtown this year or was that just a separate LGBTQ parade?

There were TWO this year, OKC Pride and 39th Street Pride (or something close to those). Really wish we can get back to one big celebration instead of the two. The parade tonight had 69 entries (more than 100 in the past) and the crowd this year was minimal. Due to COVID-19, this weekend was originally in October, but same as the Memorial Run, so it was pushed to this weekend, same as the fair.

[Bowser214]

On an unrelated note; Too bad there's not like a Halloween in the park with food and beverage vendors and costume competition.....( Scissortail Park would be perfect)

[Canoe]

This looks like reverse angled parking.

Here is a video on how it is supposed to work.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kRZ-UL75IwM

[Bullbear]

Yes I believe its supposed to bend up striped for reverse angle parking which is great if everyone can get on board and do it properly.
About bikes using this I found it dangerous before as it was just a short strip of bike lane and it was not used as such. Cars would use it like another lane rather than bike lane. with it much narrower though it is still dangerous. i do think there could have been a better configuration to accommodate bikes. I am excited for some food and coffee concepts in the area it is desperately needed. I hope the new plazas are utilized to give some street life. I would love something like a Postino wine bar type concept with small plates and cocktails in the area but that is just me.
I was out of town for Pride since it was moved but I hope the two groups can come together and join forces. Its always unfortunate when a community divides and in the end the community loses. Since James Cooper is closely aligned with the group ( I believe his BF is on that board) that had pride downtown, I understand he did not attend the parade on 39th. I was happy to see that Mayor Holt was in attendance.

[Roger S]

Yes I believe its supposed to bend up striped for reverse angle parking which is great if everyone can get on board and do it properly.

Well the rural folk in Ardmore figured it out after making all kinds of doom and gloom world ending predictions when it was announced for downtown Ardmore and it works great there..... So I bet the LGBTQ folks can figure it out here too.

[David]

Ardmore may have figured it out, but up here in Edmond the angle parking spots I walk by regularly are effectively never used correctly. I'll be curious to see how it works out in a non-downtown environment, and if it's citation enforced at all.

[dankrutka]

Well the rural folk in Ardmore figured it out after making all kinds of doom and gloom world ending predictions when it was announced for downtown Ardmore and it works great there..... So I bet the LGBTQ folks can figure it out here too.

We've had them in Denton on a street off the Square for probably 7 or 8 years and I'd estimate that about 30-40% of people park in the spots incorrectly. While I appreciate the thinking behind the design, I don't think the back-in parking has actually made it much safer for cyclists considering the amount of confusion in using them.