Photo tour: Capitol Hill, West Main, Film Row, Mid-town, skyline views, and more

[Spartan]

Here's the photo thread I mentioned earlier that I would show you guys. Without further ado..

Capitol Hill area:






















Damn sun..






Overlooking downtown:





Film Row area:







Uptown:


West Main Street:













Mid-town (Ludevine & Elemental)

[Larry OKC]

Thanks for the pics Spartan...many of those areas I know pretty well as my Dad grew up in Capital Hill, parents live in the same house and I lived their for a while too.

Devon Tower is going to completely dominate the OKC skyline (already is, look at the tiny Colcord next to it). Can only hope that Devon doesn't go the way of some of our other energy companies.

[PennyQuilts]

What a gorgeous day that was. Thanks, Spartan.

[Chicken In The Rough]

I've always thought that Capitol Hill would be among the biggest long-term benefactors of MAPS. It's an area ready for a major come-back.

[gen70]

Nice little tour Spartan, Thanks!

[BBatesokc]

Nice pics. Most of the areas photographed above are my stomping grounds.

The white house in the very first photo (left corner) belongs to one of the local 'Bounty Boys.'

I really hope the Capitol Hill area sees some benefit of MAPS also. I could see it developed like many residential areas in Austin. I'd love to see an entire street houses bought up and fixed up like you see all over Austin. It would take an entire street at a time though to not make the house a huge target for the criminal element in the area.

[Urban Enthusiast]

Wow, Capitol Hill has tons of potential! Nice photos Spartan, thanks for sharing.

[dmoor82]

Great pic's Spartan you always never fail to take great pic's!

[betts]

Thanks Spartan. One of my favorite things to do on an afternoon when I don't have anything planned is to drive around and look at neighborhoods with potential. Not being from here, I only "discovered" Capitol Hill a few years back, but I watch it and the Plaza district with interest, as well as the Paseo and surrounding neighborhoods. There are a lot of cities that have seen resurgence of similar neighborhoods. One of the best is the Virginia Highlands in Atlanta, which has similar housing and is of a similar size. Although I've said the Humphreys Air Park may be developed too early, I can really see it jumpstarting an area like Capitol Hill, which would be really exciting.

[iMAX386]

Where's this Capitol Hill area? If I've ever been in that area I didn't know it was called Capitol Hill. How'd it get its name?

[Pete]

iMAX, you can learn more about Capitol Hill here:

http://www.capitolhillmainstreet.org/index.html

It's a neighborhood that starts just south of the OK River and it's main street is Commerce, which is equivalent to SE 25th.

It was a thriving area up until the 70's when suburban flight took it's toll. My oldest sister graduated from Putnam City in 1972, and Capitol Hill High was still a pretty good school with good sports teams. The whole area was really strong in the 50's and 60's.

Now, it's home to a big Latino community and is making a bit of a comeback. The whole area has tremendous potential.

[MikeOKC]

Great pics, Nick. Nice job!

To keep this from being a total homer thread about Capitol Hill, CH is also the 2nd highest crime zip code in metro OKC. Sorry to pop the wonderful diversity and "great potential" bubble - it's just the truth.

[ljbab728]

Great pics, Nick. Nice job!

To keep this from being a total homer thread about Capitol Hill, CH is also the 2nd highest crime zip code in metro OKC. Sorry to pop the wonderful diversity and "great potential" bubble - it's just the truth.

So what does that "truth" have to do with the area's potential? It's not unusual for areas with high crime statistics to be made over. There are great areas in downtown where I promise you I would have never gone after dark in my youth.

[Larry OKC]

Capital Hill a "benefactor of MAPS"? In what way?

[Architect2010]

To keep this from being a total homer thread about Capitol Hill, CH is also the 2nd highest crime zip code in metro OKC. Sorry to pop the wonderful diversity and "great potential" bubble - it's just the truth.

And your point is?

Anyways. This is my street since I was 9. Went to Lafayette Elementary across the road from this picture the last year before it was shut down. I hate seeing what they've done with it.


Great pics Spartan.

[dismayed]

I am really happy to see these pictures. At one point both of my grandpa's and my dad worked in Capitol Hill. One grandpa owned his own business there, and another worked for a friend. One of your pictures actually looks like it catches the former location of my grandpa and my dad's business. That was an unexpected surprise. It's also really great to see pictures of some of the housing in the area. My great-grandfather was a home builder there and built many of the large houses like the one you took a picture of that is two stories and has the big front porch and upstairs balcony. In fact depending on where you took that it very well could be one of his houses.

It is so sad that the area has fallen into such widespread disrepair. I cringe at the thought of more and more of those brick buildings being painted over. Some of the houses and commercial buildings in that area, if given the proper care, could rival any of the inner north side historic districts. I wish someone would give the area a second chance.

[Spartan]

Nice pics. Most of the areas photographed above are my stomping grounds.

Yeah Brian, South Robinson in particular....Lol.

Thanks guys. Appreciate the comments. It does have crime, but it feels soooooo much safer than it did 90s-early 00s. The Latino community is a huge strength, because before then, it had no community.

iMAX, Capitol Hill is the heart of the southside. It's the area between the river and about 44th. Capitol Hill High is on Grand (36th) and Walker. Capitol Hill Main Street (Commerce Street) is SW 25th between Walker and Shields.

I wanted to show the way the area really is. Show that there really are some decent neighborhoods, and that yes, some are in very bad shape. It's the most interesting part of the city, and it has huge potential. I say that as one who can not stand Mexican sloppy joses (aka food).

Thanks again, all.