Britton District

[Plutonic Panda]

Cool article by the Oklahoman:

http://newsok.com/britton-was-once-i...rticle/5504619

[rezman]

At one time, Britton was out there by itself surrounded by pasture land. I remember seeing some photos from early Okc taken of some new homes along Classen Blvd, looking north, somewhere around NW 36th st. There was nothing but open land north of the homes in the photo, and you could see the buildings of Britton far off in the distance, on the horrizon.

[Bill Robertson]

My dads birth certificate, military records, etc. show his birthplace as Britton. That was how I first learned that it used to be a separate town.

[ljbab728]

My great grandparents came here from England and settled on a farm just north of Britton during the land run. I have relatives who were buried at the Britton cemetery on N. Western in the 1920s. It's a poorly maintained cemetery but I go there every Memorial Day to put out flowers even though I never knew them.

[Plutonic Panda]

https://newsok.com/article/5623743/t...ate-investment

[Swalell1960]

Nice indeed to see energy being put into the revival of this interesting little downtown. I too have family buried in the cemetery (Callarman). Britton is where my great-grandfather picked up my great-grandmother who had arrived by train from Kansas after his successful staking and filing of the homestead claim, upon which we still live to this day.

TG&Y with my Dad every Saturday morning in the mid-1960s! Exciting stuff.

[BLJR]

Nice indeed to see energy being put into the revival of this interesting little downtown. I too have family buried in the cemetery (Callarman). Britton is where my great-grandfather picked up my great-grandmother who had arrived by train from Kansas after his successful staking and filing of the homestead claim, upon which we still live to this day.

TG&Y with my Dad every Saturday morning in the mid-1960s! Exciting stuff.

I remember going in that TG&Y several times as a youngster also. Grandparents lived at the corner of 102nd and Classen. Think the house is still there.

[ditm4567]

I think it is time to take away the parking lanes on Britton between Western and Classen, and keep Britton 4 lanes the entire way. Those spots are rarely ever filled, and there is a parking lot on the NW corner of Old Britton, next to the train tracks, that can hold enough cars for the amount of people that frequent the area.

[MagzOK]

I think it is time to take away the parking lanes on Britton between Western and Classen, and keep Britton 4 lanes the entire way. Those spots are rarely ever filled, and there is a parking lot on the NW corner of Old Britton, next to the train tracks, that can hold enough cars for the amount of people that frequent the area.

+1

[theanvil]

I disagree. Old Britton has the bones and potential to become something similar to the Plaza District. Some of those old storefronts have been recently updated. Keep the traffic narrow, add some landscaping, and who knows? The area is only a nice anchor tenant in the old Ritz Theater away from gaining more momentum. It's proximity to The Village can help it evolve.

[Dob Hooligan]

I disagree. Old Britton has the bones and potential to become something similar to the Plaza District. Some of those old storefronts have been recently updated. Keep the traffic narrow, add some landscaping, and who knows? The area is only a nice anchor tenant in the old Ritz Theater away from gaining more momentum. It's proximity to The Village can help it evolve.

I see a big difference being that Britton Road is a section line road and has evolved into a higher volume in both directions, except for that 4 block stretch. The Plaza District is a renewal of what was always a middle of a neighborhood street.

[ditm4567]

I disagree. Old Britton has the bones and potential to become something similar to the Plaza District. Some of those old storefronts have been recently updated. Keep the traffic narrow, add some landscaping, and who knows? The area is only a nice anchor tenant in the old Ritz Theater away from gaining more momentum. It's proximity to The Village can help it evolve.

The Plaza District is on 16th and is two lanes throughout the neighborhood that it is located in. Britton goes from being a four lane road that is roughly 40 MPH on both sides of the Old Britton strip and is a direct shot to and from Broadway Extension. That area at during morning and afternoon rush hour is hectic, and then when you add a train to the mix, it becomes a nightmare. The storefronts that have been redone are still not drawing tenants, and the one that has a coffee sign outside has been stalled for almost 6 months now.

[HOT ROD]

doesn't mean it will always be the case so change the zoning.

However, I see a compromise - why not have 2 lanes into AND after the district with one lane Each Way in district with parallel parking; restrict parking during rush hours, prohibit parallel parking N side during afternoon 3-6pm, S side during morning 6-9am. The parking lanes becomes a through lane all the way during rush hour.

Here is a crude diagram below of my idea: 2 lanes in down to 1 lane with parallel parking in district (except rush hour) then back to 2 lanes:

DOWNTOWN BRITTON
-----------} No Parking M-F 3-6pm /----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- - - - - <WESTBOUND LANE < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
================================================== =============================
- - - - - - - > EBOUND LANE > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-----------/ No Parking M-F 6-9am {................................................. .................................................. ..............

hopefully the formatting doesn't adjust. ..

I've seen many cities do this. A great compromise where the business district can have parking yet the road can get traffic through during crush times. it also could be a nice revenue generator if vehicles don't adhere to the no-parking restriction but I doubt there would be much parking during rush hours since the district seems to function mostly outside of those 3 hour blocks.

It is a little bit of traffic with the merge to one lane in district for parallel parking but during rush hours you'd have full flow to I-235 during the morning or from I-235 during the afternoon rush hours by restricting parking during those times. Easy compromise.

[Swalell1960]

As a driver of Britton Rd almost every day I do agree that traffic can be quite frustrating, but I'm not sure it's because it narrows down through downtown itself. The whole area is pretty tight anyway and of course the ATSF runs smack through the middle of the intersection, making it, in effect a six-way intersection. And even though trains can blaze through at a pretty good clip, they often use the passing siding that starts just to the north, so trains are often slowing down to enter the siding or starting slowly from a dead stop to leave the siding.

I think to maintain the potential charm and curb appeal that dt Britton can have you have to keep it at two lanes, something like Western in the Will Rogers corridor. I wonder if three-laning it through dt Britton is feasible at all, as is through The Village?

[Pete]

The district has added signage at the western border:

[Pete]

Here is an updated directory for the district.

Shown in green is Madhopper Brewery which is now under construction:

[OKCisOK4me]

Any details on this Mapdhopper Brewery? I tried checking online but there is nothing. Is it a misspelling?

[Martin]

looks like it's madhopper brewing... Madhopperbrewing | Facebook

[citywokchinesefood]

I live about a mile away and I think the biggest barrier they are going to face is a lack of strong bar/restaurant concepts. Venn pizza is good, but it is not going to usurp Empire or Gusto from my rotation. As a local resident the district does not draw me to consistently stop there before/after work, or during my free time. Until they have a good nexus of strong bar/restaurants they wont have a prayer in hell to be as successful as the Plaza. I wish them the best of luck but I don't have enough bars to bar hop, or good enough food to keep me there.

[chssooner]

I live about a mile away and I think the biggest barrier they are going to face is a lack of strong bar/restaurant concepts. Venn pizza is good, but it is not going to usurp Empire or Gusto from my rotation. As a local resident the district does not draw me to consistently stop there before/after work, or during my free time. Until they have a good nexus of strong bar/restaurants they wont have a prayer in hell to be as successful as the Plaza. I wish them the best of luck but I don't have enough bars to bar hop, or good enough food to keep me there.

Well it's just starting to grow, so...but by all means, let's say it is a strike out before it steps in the batters box.

[Pete]

Venn is a huge step forward and Madhopper will add a lot. The coffee place seems popular.

They will eventually find a good tenant for the old Ritz Theater.

More will follow with time. Lots of great buildings in that little district and they started with a bunch of dilapidated structures and not much else.

[GoGators]

I live about a mile away and I think the biggest barrier they are going to face is a lack of strong bar/restaurant concepts. Venn pizza is good, but it is not going to usurp Empire or Gusto from my rotation. As a local resident the district does not draw me to consistently stop there before/after work, or during my free time. Until they have a good nexus of strong bar/restaurants they wont have a prayer in hell to be as successful as the Plaza. I wish them the best of luck but I don't have enough bars to bar hop, or good enough food to keep me there.

I think you just have to give the area a little time to develop. It wasn't that long ago that the only place you get food in the plaza was Saints. I remember going to Grandads on 23rd and thinking how nice it would be if there was just one other bar a person could walk to in uptown. Seems crazy to think about now but this was less than 10 years ago.

I'm not sure if Old Brittian will become as much of a booming area as the plaza, but it does have certain advantages that 99.9 percent of the metro doesn't have and will never get. The area has a lot of potential.

[shawnw]

It wasn't that long ago that the only place you get food in the plaza was Saints.

Amen. A decade ago Plaza was not a place you went for food. Even Saints with their one burner at the time (not sure if that's still the case) struggled to feed folks.

[warreng88]

Con confirm what is said about the Plaza. My wife started working at Lyric Theatre in summer of 2010. Saints opened shortly there after and about six of us went to check it out. The food was not that good and was overpriced. It wasn't really until The Mule opened that the Plaza district became an area for people outside of the immediate two-ish mile area. Save for a Rocky Horror performance or two...

[Teo9969]

I don't think it can be overstated how important the success of Chisolm Creek and NHP are on this area. Those 2 developments will eventually drive everything west of 235 and south of Memorial into full on gentrification mode, which is going to make Britton all the more important. Kind of feel like Capitol Hill is the only other "old" area of the city where it seems the time to get in is now.