NW Corner of 23rd & Classen (Rainbow Records)

[ManAboutTown]

This is being reported by The Oklahoman today:

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...d/71031068007/

[TheTravellers]

This is being reported by The Oklahoman today:

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...d/71031068007/

Fantastic news! Seems like the Joklahoman can't afford copy editors anymore - this subhead.... "Rainbow Records played a roll in The Flaming Lips' rise to popularity"

[Rover]

Fantastic news! Seems like the Joklahoman can't afford copy editors anymore - this subhead.... "Rainbow Records played a roll in The Flaming Lips' rise to popularity"

What is your criticism about?

[ManAboutTown]

What is your criticism about?

Using "roll" instead of the correct word "role." It's an easy misspelling that should have been caught by a copy editor.

[BoulderSooner]

This is being reported by The Oklahoman today:

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...d/71031068007/

what is being reported?

[Dob Hooligan]

what is being reported?

Anonymous people with money bought the building and want to restore/redo it. Lackmeyer interviewed their architect.

[ManAboutTown]

what is being reported?

An Oklahoma City landmark, part of Oklahoma City’s rock-and-roll history, might finally undergo some much-needed repairs after languishing for the past 20 years.

Kevin Galliart, architect for the owners, recently filed a building permit to clean out and repair the interior and exterior of the 1915 property at 2401 N Classen. The building is best known as the former home of Rainbow Records and one of the last structures in the city with a rooftop billboard that has stood since 1940.

The owners declined to be interviewed, but Galliart said they are committed to preserving the corner, which consists of three storefronts. He said the first priority is to make wall and roof repairs to prevent further damage.

“The owners who bought the building remember the days they used to go in and buy records,” Galliart said. “Right now, we’re trying to keep the building structurally sound and weather tight. They like it the way it is. They want to make it ready to lease.”

Rainbow Records opened at the corner in 1978. The store was where then-manager Scott Booker formed a friendship with The Flaming Lips, then a local band and regular customers. Handling phone calls for the band eventually evolved into the title of band manager just as the group’s members were signing a contract with Warner Bros. and about to become internationally acclaimed, Grammy-winning music icons.

The building has been empty since the store closed in 2003 and most of the building’s windows have been boarded up since the area was hit by a tornado in 2019.

The former home of Rainbow Records, 2401 N Classen Blvd., has been unoccupied since the store closed in 2003. The building initially opened as a grocery store with adjoining storefronts home to an array of tenants including a Xerox shop, real estate office and antiques store. The corner was home to Roberts Drugs, a pharmacy and soda fountain, that operated from 1927 to the mid-1960s.

Assessor records show Leonard Roberts, longtime owner of the corner, sold the building to Winfred and Velma Parker in 1986. The Parkers at the time owned a Hoover vacuum store that opened in the north space of the corner in 1953.

The former home of Rainbow Records initially opened as a grocery store with adjoining storefronts home to an array of tenants. Before the windows were boarded up, passersby could see a collection of vintage vacuum cleaners stacked up inside the closed Rainbow Records storefront. The Parkers sold the property for $425,000 to the new owner, Rainbow Records LLC (unrelated to the store), in April this year.

Redevelopment of the former Rainbow Records store would mark a turnaround for the area, where one adjoining building, formerly a dance studio at 1209 NW 23, has been renovated and leased to Craig’s Emporium while windows have been restored at a long boarded-up storefront at 1215 NW 23, which is now home to Workflow OKC.

The building at 2401 N Classen Blvd. is best known as the former home of Rainbow Records and one of the last structures in the city with a rooftop billboard that has stood since 1940. Ginger Casper, who founded Workflow OKC with Chelsea Banks, converted the building into a community space for co-working, creative maker use, collaborative music uses, and meeting rooms and private offices.

Casper said the future of the neighboring former Rainbow Records store is a frequent question asked by visitors. She believes the corner can be fully brought back to life.
“Everybody loves the rainbow building, it’s an iconic corner,” Casper said. “With Craig’s going in, that made this a space for more diversity.”

[Shortsyeararound]

An Oklahoma City landmark, part of Oklahoma City’s rock-and-roll history, might finally undergo some much-needed repairs after languishing for the past 20 years.

Kevin Galliart, architect for the owners, recently filed a building permit to clean out and repair the interior and exterior of the 1915 property at 2401 N Classen. The building is best known as the former home of Rainbow Records and one of the last structures in the city with a rooftop billboard that has stood since 1940.

The owners declined to be interviewed, but Galliart said they are committed to preserving the corner, which consists of three storefronts. He said the first priority is to make wall and roof repairs to prevent further damage.

“The owners who bought the building remember the days they used to go in and buy records,” Galliart said. “Right now, we’re trying to keep the building structurally sound and weather tight. They like it the way it is. They want to make it ready to lease.”

Rainbow Records opened at the corner in 1978. The store was where then-manager Scott Booker formed a friendship with The Flaming Lips, then a local band and regular customers. Handling phone calls for the band eventually evolved into the title of band manager just as the group’s members were signing a contract with Warner Bros. and about to become internationally acclaimed, Grammy-winning music icons.

The building has been empty since the store closed in 2003 and most of the building’s windows have been boarded up since the area was hit by a tornado in 2019.

The former home of Rainbow Records, 2401 N Classen Blvd., has been unoccupied since the store closed in 2003. The building initially opened as a grocery store with adjoining storefronts home to an array of tenants including a Xerox shop, real estate office and antiques store. The corner was home to Roberts Drugs, a pharmacy and soda fountain, that operated from 1927 to the mid-1960s.

Assessor records show Leonard Roberts, longtime owner of the corner, sold the building to Winfred and Velma Parker in 1986. The Parkers at the time owned a Hoover vacuum store that opened in the north space of the corner in 1953.

The former home of Rainbow Records initially opened as a grocery store with adjoining storefronts home to an array of tenants. Before the windows were boarded up, passersby could see a collection of vintage vacuum cleaners stacked up inside the closed Rainbow Records storefront. The Parkers sold the property for $425,000 to the new owner, Rainbow Records LLC (unrelated to the store), in April this year.

Redevelopment of the former Rainbow Records store would mark a turnaround for the area, where one adjoining building, formerly a dance studio at 1209 NW 23, has been renovated and leased to Craig’s Emporium while windows have been restored at a long boarded-up storefront at 1215 NW 23, which is now home to Workflow OKC.

The building at 2401 N Classen Blvd. is best known as the former home of Rainbow Records and one of the last structures in the city with a rooftop billboard that has stood since 1940. Ginger Casper, who founded Workflow OKC with Chelsea Banks, converted the building into a community space for co-working, creative maker use, collaborative music uses, and meeting rooms and private offices.

Casper said the future of the neighboring former Rainbow Records store is a frequent question asked by visitors. She believes the corner can be fully brought back to life.
“Everybody loves the rainbow building, it’s an iconic corner,” Casper said. “With Craig’s going in, that made this a space for more diversity.”

Better be careful of Slackmeyer will get you for plagiarism and/or complain you copied his article..hahhahaha

[HOT ROD]

Chyna must have got to OKC.

[Bowser214]

Chyna must have got to OKC.

lmao

[SagerMichael]

I’m unfamiliar with the interior layout of this building but driving by I always envisioned a rooftop patio/bar of some sorts in the place of the Canes sign. Would be a killer view of downtown and up/down Classen

[jrr2ok]

FWIW, there's a dumpster out front and folks are pulling out debris as of yesterday. Oddly, it looks like the majority of what's currently coming out is fiberglass insulation.

[OkieBerto]

FWIW, there's a dumpster out front and folks are pulling out debris as of yesterday. Oddly, it looks like the majority of what's currently coming out is fiberglass insulation.

I saw them out there yesterday. They even have a lane blocked causing some traffic. There seemed to be a bunch of vacuums being pulled out as well.

[Trent Lowery]

Looks like they are cleaning the building out. Any news on what’s going on here?

[Pete]

They have been clearing out the inside space but what you see on the sidewalk and street seems to be due to sewer work:

[Anonymous.]

Dang, 6 years later and Canes still got that billboard on lockdown.

Weird coincidence that the city is doing work here at the same time the building is being 'worked' on.

[Pete]

Weird coincidence that the city is doing work here at the same time the building is being 'worked' on.

I bet it was some sort of collapsed sewer line that was preventing the space from being usable.

[Urbanized]

Looks like they should be starting with the roof.

[warreng88]

Looks like they should be starting with the roof.

I was about to post the same thing. It's looking rough...

[Pete]

The interesting thing is that the old Rainbow building, the one that holds Craigs and then the building on the west end are all under separate ownership.

[borchard]

It was a VERY long time ago, but I remember going in when it was still Rainbow Records. Late 80's? Early 90's?

[TheTravellers]

It was a VERY long time ago, but I remember going in when it was still Rainbow Records. Late 80's? Early 90's?

Late 80s probably, not sure how long it lasted into the 90s. I have great memories of buying tons of stuff almost weekly from Scott (Flaming Lips manager for decades), Jim, and the jazz guy, can't remember his name... I think the Gazette did a cover story on them a loooong time ago, and I think I still have a copy...

[soonerguru]

Late 80s probably, not sure how long it lasted into the 90s. I have great memories of buying tons of stuff almost weekly from Scott (Flaming Lips manager for decades), Jim, and the jazz guy, can't remember his name... I think the Gazette did a cover story on them a loooong time ago, and I think I still have a copy...

I think we must know each other. Too many crossed paths!

[TheTravellers]

I think we must know each other. Too many crossed paths!

It's possible, I went to Northeast High from 79-83, started buying records back in the early 70s (lots at Woolco on 63rd/May, some at Wilcox on 23rd, then when I could drive, Rainbow, etc.), started going to shows in 1977 (KISS was my first) and saw many until the early 90s when things started sucking here. Left in 95, came back in 2009.

[warreng88]

I went to school at OCU from 1999-2002 and it was around at that time. Looking back at the googlemaps pics that only go back to 2007, it was vacuum storage at that time.