23rd and Villa

[USG'60]

I just noticed that the old OKC Credit Bureau Bldg is nearly totally gone ...obviously a total teardown. Does anyone know what is going in there?

[Pete]

It was purchased by a developer about a year ago.

Building permit says large portion of building to be demolished, the rest to be remodeled as offices.

[USG'60]

Interesting, Pete. Thanks.

Further question for anyone who knows. Was any of that building left over from the Villa Theater or was it all new after bulldozing the Villa?

[Pete]

The assessors site says it was constructed in 1954.

[USG'60]

We moved here in '54 so I never saw the space without the Villa being there. So I still have to wonder if that was when the Villa was build (I had assumed it was built in the 40s and wasn't new when we arrived) and that the "new" building was actually a remodel. Hmmmm?

[USG'60]

I think I have figured it out. The theater actually sat in what is now the parking lot between tha bldg and Gold n Ideas and the space that Gold n Ideas sits on was the narrow parking lot between the theater and whatever was on the corner at the time.

[Jim Kyle]

The Villa was there prior to 1954. I moved to NW 20 and May in December of 1946, graduated from Classen in the spring of 1948, and while in school went to the Villa a number of times. The Gold n Ideas building was a Connie's Prescription Shop and there was a Cities Service gas station on the corner...

[USG'60]

So the theater and it't little east side parking lot both sat on the current parking lot. By the way, thanks Jim, I simply could not picture the corner til now.

[yukong]

Jim is correct. I lived in the second house from Villa on the north side of 24th from 1961 to 1974. There was a service station on the corner. Believe it ultimately became an APCO. Connie's Prescription shop was next to the service station. Then a small parking lot and then the Villa Theater. Then the Credit Bureau building was attached to the Theater. I cannot remember the name of the old man that owned the Villa Theater, but he bought up several houses on the south side of 24th street to put in a parking lot, but the other home owners protested and the city would never give him a permit. Those lots sat empty for a long long time. And they made a great place to play football and baseball. The back exit from the theater came out into those lots. We would occasionally find the door open and sneak in and watch movies. I don't remember the year, but in the late 60's there was a robbery and murder in the service station. The clerk was murdered. I can't remember if he was shot or stabbed, but he was murdered. The service station closed a fairly short time thereafter. Then in the early 70's there was a latenight burglary of the Connie's pharmacy. The police responded to a silent alarm. They got there while the guys were still in the store. When the guys came out, they were armed and got into a shoot out with police. One of them ran toward our house and then east on 24th. All the while the police shot at him and he at them. It woke up the whole neighborhood. Several cars in the neighborhood were hit and had bullet holes. It was quite a deal. One of the detectives was the legendary Sugar Smith. He came and talked to us about what was going on. My dad knew him. The theater was torn down sometime after we left in 1974. It was an OK theater. But it lost it's luster after the Shepard Twin opened. If not mistaken, the Shepard Twin was the first mulitscreen theater in OKC.

[USG'60]

Sugar Smith was indeed a character and thanks for the rest of the story. The last movie I saw there was Easy Rider.

[Jim Kyle]

Then in the early 70's there was a latenight burglary of the Connie's pharmacy. The police responded to a silent alarm. They got there while the guys were still in the store. When the guys came out, they were armed and got into a shoot out with police. One of them ran toward our house and then east on 24th. All the while the police shot at him and he at them. It woke up the whole neighborhood. Several cars in the neighborhood were hit and had bullet holes.

In the spring of 1967, I moved from 1236 NE 44 to 2612 NW 24, fourth house west of the corner on the south side of the street. I had forgotten the great shoot-out incident until seeing your post! That night a female officer came to our door, asked if we had seen anyone, and searched our back yard and garage -- but I don't remember hearing any shots fired.

I did remember the murder of the station attendant. My two older sons knew him well and were quite upset at his killing.

[BB37]

The assessors site says it was constructed in 1954.

Prior to the credit bureau, the building housed a furniture store, OK Furniture; they used to have a rotating, three-sided "OK" sign on top of the building. The furniture store went out of business sometime in the early-to-mid-70s and the credit bureau took over the site. And after the Apco station was demolished, it was replaced by a Jim Dandy Chicken place. The gold business is in the old Jim Dandy store.

[BB37]

Jim is correct. I lived in the second house from Villa on the north side of 24th from 1961 to 1974. There was a service station on the corner. Believe it ultimately became an APCO. Connie's Prescription shop was next to the service station. Then a small parking lot and then the Villa Theater. Then the Credit Bureau building was attached to the Theater. I cannot remember the name of the old man that owned the Villa Theater, but he bought up several houses on the south side of 24th street to put in a parking lot, but the other home owners protested and the city would never give him a permit. Those lots sat empty for a long long time. And they made a great place to play football and baseball. The back exit from the theater came out into those lots. We would occasionally find the door open and sneak in and watch movies. I don't remember the year, but in the late 60's there was a robbery and murder in the service station. The clerk was murdered. I can't remember if he was shot or stabbed, but he was murdered. The service station closed a fairly short time thereafter. Then in the early 70's there was a latenight burglary of the Connie's pharmacy. The police responded to a silent alarm. They got there while the guys were still in the store. When the guys came out, they were armed and got into a shoot out with police. One of them ran toward our house and then east on 24th. All the while the police shot at him and he at them. It woke up the whole neighborhood. Several cars in the neighborhood were hit and had bullet holes. It was quite a deal. One of the detectives was the legendary Sugar Smith. He came and talked to us about what was going on. My dad knew him. The theater was torn down sometime after we left in 1974. It was an OK theater. But it lost it's luster after the Shepard Twin opened. If not mistaken, the Shepard Twin was the first mulitscreen theater in OKC.

I lived in the same house as Yukong (we're brothers, so it was inevitable). I believe the theater owner's name was Farris. The Villa showed a lot of big films (I saw my first Bond film there); every time they had a big film, cars would be parked up and down 24th; really made it hard to get down the street.

I was in college when the Connie's shootout occurred, so I missed it, but it really shook our folks up; they started looking to move shortly afterward.

[Bigrayok]

Was the owner of the Villa Farris Shanbour? He owned the North Park theater also. He died in the 80's at a somewhat young age. 40's or early 50's I believe. His brother still owns the Winchester Drive-In Farris lived in the white Greek style house on Grand Boulevard just east of Penn in Nichols Hills.

Bigray in Ok

[PennyQuilts]

The back exit from the theater came out into those lots. We would occasionally find the door open and sneak in and watch movies.

I understand you weren't the only one. : )

[yukong]

Was the owner of the Villa Farris Shanbour? He owned the North Park theater also. He died in the 80's at a somewhat young age. 40's or early 50's I believe. His brother still owns the Winchester Drive-In Farris lived in the white Greek style house on Grand Boulevard just east of Penn in Nichols Hills.

Bigray in Ok

Farris was right. We called him "Old Man Farris". I doubt that was the same guy yo mention though because in the 60's he was an older man. Maybe the father? I don't know. But he was an older guy as I recall. I remember seeing Mary Poppins and Sound of Music in that theater. BB37 is right, it had a lot of big movie releases shown there.

As to the shootout at Connie's, as I recall, it was two guys and a girl. The police shot one of the guys (he lived) and the girl was caught. The other guy was the one that fled and shot it out with the police. Sugar Smith told us they had the runner's name as the guy that was shot was pretty pi$$ed that he got left behing. I remember being in bed asleep and hearing the first gun shots. It lasted for several moments. I rolled out of bed onto the floor and crawled into my parent's room and they were both on the floor. There was even more shots. And they were loud. We didn't know what was going on but we heard a whole bunch of shots and they were hitting cars and houses and whatnot. It was quite a frightening event. BB37 was right, it wasn't very long and we moved to Surrey Hills.

I really miss living in that area. I love the sounds of a city. There were always siren's and horns and the music of urban life. And then on Friday nights, when the wind was out of the south, you could really hear the races at the State Fair raceway. They were loud. It was great. As it says in the Neil Diamond song...."What a beautiful Noise." I do like the quiet of living out in the country, but I really miss the sounds of the city. And at 23rd and Villa, it was quite a noisy place. That was truly a great placed to grow up in the 60's and 70's.

[ljbab728]

I really miss living in that area. I love the sounds of a city. There were always siren's and horns and the music of urban life. And then on Friday nights, when the wind was out of the south, you could really hear the races at the State Fair raceway. They were loud. It was great. As it says in the Neil Diamond song...."What a beautiful Noise." I do like the quiet of living out in the country, but I really miss the sounds of the city. And at 23rd and Villa, it was quite a noisy place. That was truly a great placed to grow up in the 60's and 70's.

Did you ever hear the sounds of the races or demolition derbies they used to have at Taft Stadium?

[yukong]

I don't recall hearing that. But then, my earliest memories of Taft Stadium were after they stopped using it for races. I'm not sure when they stopped, but I don't recall ever hearing them.

[BB37]

Did you ever hear the sounds of the races or demolition derbies they used to have at Taft Stadium?

I sure do! Much louder than the races as the fairgrounds (a lot closer, too). I suspect the noise was what finally ended the races at Taft. There were/are residential areas all around the stadium.

And the sound of race cars wasn't the only thing that wafted up with the south breeze. The pleasant aroma of the stockyards came with it :-)

[BB37]

Farris was right. We called him "Old Man Farris". I doubt that was the same guy yo mention though because in the 60's he was an older man. Maybe the father? I don't know. But he was an older guy as I recall.

IIRC, the owner's name was Emil Ferris. From reading Dougdog's blog ( http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2009/09/tower-theatre.html ) on the Tower Theater, 'Ferris Enterprises' bought the Tower and other Shanbour/Shadid theaters in 1970; all were operated under the Spectro Theaters banner until sometime in 1974, when the operation folded (and the year we moved to Surrey Hills).