Tulsa is a different city than the one we grew up in. I thought it might be fun to reflect on places we shopped, ate, worked, hung out, frequented, etc. that are no longer around. Here are a few that I remember:   (1) Peach's Record Store (52nd & Sheridan) A giant  record store with large album covers high on the walls out front. I still have the peach crate that I store my albums in. (2) The Camelot Inn (50th & Peoria) Tulsa landmark where we had our Senior Breakfast. Torn down recently will become the new headquarters of Quik Trip. (3) The waterslide just East of Admiral & Sheridan. What a great way to cool down during those hot Oklahoma summers. Not sure how long it was open but I remember going there the summers after our sophomore and junior year. (4) The Park Lane Theatre (50th & Sheridan) I worked here  the summer after our junior year. It was a geat job for a high school student. I must have let several hundred Memorial students in free. (5) Sal's Sporting Goods (51st & Harvard) I remember Steve Hallam worked here senior year and gave me some nice "discounts".

Did Peaches, or was it a later record store in the same location, that had the hand prints and signatures in the sidewalk?

Yes, Bell's is shutdown, in storage, and looking for a new home.

Hemi's Pizza!

Yeah, Peaches had the handprints out front.  I think it is a furniture store, now, but the handprints are still there.  I worked at Sound Warehouse in high school, and Peaches was the "enemy" - the big, boxy chain store (shades of WalMart)!

I miss My Pi pizza, the New Harvest, and the Italian Inn.  Also miss Crystal's at 21st and Sheridan.

Scream in the Dark.

Pennington's - a slice of Tulsa history.

The 11th Street Drive-In - favorite make-out place!

The Apollo Theater - great place for concerts; small and intimate.

In the mid-80s, when I started working (seriously), I used to like to meet friends for lunch at the Williams Center, downtown.  Restaurants and ice-skating.

Crazy's (69th & Lewis) A restaurant and arcade with foosball, air hockey, and minature golf.

Ahh, Crazy's on a Friday night!

I remember playing a few dances at the Pink Barn, near 15th and Memorial.

Christie -

Irony/Coincidence:

A brand new Braums opened today, exactly across 71st Street from the old location!

Sadly, Bells Amusement Park, and the Zingo! 

Thanks to all for the new thread! Awesome topic!

Kevin

Happy Joe's  (67th & Lewis) Pizza and free sundaes on your birthday. Somehow it was always someone's birthday in our party.

Shotgun Sam's Pizza and Ma Belles/ Across the Street. Remember you ordered food from a phone in your booth?

Kevin

Sipe's Grocery Store (60th & Yale) Spent a lot of weekends hanging out  in the parking lot. There was a grass field to the East of the store and during the holidays they would sell Christmas trees.

Not exactly brick and mortor, but how about Gusty.  And if I'm going to reach back that far, I may as well throw in Mister Zing and Tuffy, or Uncle Zeb.

Cartville at 44th and Mingo. You could spend 6 bucks for 12 laps around a concrete course. If you were paying attention while waiting your turn you could see the fastest go-cart and run like hell to get it once it was your turn. they allowed up to about 8 carts on the track at the same time. Tons of fun.

Suicide Hill at 61st & Sheridan. Trey Godwin and I got about half way up it once in his old 70 Ford P/u and slid all the way down to 61st one day.

There was a Jack in the Box at 51st & Memorial before it turned into a Winchels donuts. I chowed on many giant, fried, greasy, nasty tacos. God I miss those tacos.

That little smoked meat shop at the farm where you could get a smoked turkey sandwich for a buck

Going back to jr. high there was Empire Skate rink at 42& Memorial. Smoked alot of Marlboros there

Christie -

Yes, the "new-style" Braums has moved-in DIRECTLY across the street from where the old one was - location, location, location ...

You know, I have not been to a concert in years - I think it's called "burn-out."  I did see Steven Tyler a few years ago at the Monterrey's restaurant at Fontana.  He was giving out autographs and posing for pictures with everyone in sight.  I thought it was cool, but his then-wife didn't seem too happy.  He's a pretty short guy.

Allen -

Thanks for identifying the skating rink.  Several of us went every Friday (and sometimes Saturday) night, but I could not remember the name.  I remember smoking a pack of Swisher Sweets there, in about an hour.  Never smoked again.

I miss Yale Bowling Alley.

Remember the drive in on Riverside (71st). 

Loved MaBell's too!  Burger Chef and der Wienerschnitzel.

Allen, I held a girls hand and had my first kiss at the Empire Skating Rink.

Taco Boy, home of the taco burger. Also, the sopapillas were a favorite of mine.

What about Molly Murphy's House of Fine Repute? I remember dining on the Bacchus Feast. Our waiter was the Riddler.

Susan,

Steve Hallam, Kevin Sabin, David Everett and I worked at Durability Interiors(owned by Betsy Palmer's dad) during the summer after our senior year. We provided all of the seating and tables for the Burger Chef's. We partnered with a business next door, The Wood Shop. Their employees would bring their goods over singing, "We don't smoke marijuana in The Wood Shop, we don't get our kicks on LSD, we don't smoke marijuana in The Wood Shop, like the dudes from Dur-a-bil-ity". Truth be told, those boys LOVED the hippie lettuce.

The MaHu Mansion on Memorial or Sheridan (across from the Razor Clam). Was supposedly haunted and then was a spook house for a while....

Root beer from Webers on Peoria!

Eddie, I had my first kiss at Empire as well. I don't remember who she was though.

Tom, My Pi pizza was the bomb!!

Susan, do you remember 51 drive in on 81st between Garnet and Mingo (I think). Saw John Wayne and the Cowboys there when I was about 10. I've disliked Bruce Dern ever since!

Bordens Cafeteria, Ike's Chili parlor (downtown), the Pines resturant on Pine was a great place to get breakfast after partying all night.

There was also a Drive-In theater on the southeast corner of 71st and 129th.  It was destroyed by a tornado.  We hardly ever went to it, as it was soooo far away.

Guess what?  I now live in the neighborhood right next to it!  The poles for the speakers are still standing.

Does anyone remember Belscott (a store sort of like an early WalMart) at the corner of 51st & Sheridan?

And Alan, do you remember sledding down the hill just up from our neighborhood?  Fun times!

Belscott, wasn't it on the north end of that shopping center near the threater? 

The big hill across from St. Frances where you slid down, crossed the street, and then had to figure out how to stop before you ran your head into a parking stop?

There was actually a grass hill up 51st St toward Memorial that was near our neighborhood that was awesome until they fenced it to keep us out.  I never went to the one by St Francis but I know it was great, too.

The hill across from St Francis was Springer Clinic! I rode a tube down it with about 4-5 others and when we hit the curb on the other side it exploded, and then we got to go over to the ER! One year they opened Southern Hills up for sledding on either 1 or 18 and you could sled from the tee box to the green!

How about late night TV. Mazeppa Pompazoidi introduced us to Gailord Sartain and a very young Gary Busey! Man i loved that show!

Kevin

HI Nora! You bet I remember! That hill was super fast with a chain link fence at the bottom right after a whoop de do.

I remember one of the Struble boys during the summer jumping that whoop with his bicycle and the front tire coming off!! he ate alot of dirt that day!

Kevin,

it is still there

Eddie....do you remember getting free donuts inside Sipes Grocery Store and then sitting in the little theatre to watch cartoons while your mom did the shopping?

What about going to St. Michael's Alley at 31st and Harvard..... or better yet, getting into the Tap Room over by TU with all of the college students?

I remember playing Par 3 golf at the Goldies at 51st and Lewis....How about the .25 cent summer movies at the Fox theatre... I remember Cal Canfield and Dwayne McGuire shooting spitballs and getting thrown out!!

Hi Laura!

Wow I remember going to the ,25 movies too! You got a coupon out of the paper and Thursdays mornings in the summer you took the coupon and a quarter and saw a show! What a hoot!

Kevin

Yep....I remember movies like: "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken", "Herbie, the Love Bug", "The Nutty Professor"..... we would all ride out bikes the back way to that shopping center....

Oh....remember OTASCO?  I got my first Schwinn bike....purple with a glittery banana seat, streamers, and a beautiful, white wicker basket!!!

What was that place across from Otasco?  Some haunted house.  Always gave me the creeps.  Forgot all about the kiddie movies at Sipes!  The hills by Telex (41st and Sheridan)were fun to slide down.  There used to be a big field where the Sam's is now that we used to ride our bikes.  Five foot dirt mounds everywhere - seemed huge back then.

Laura,

The cartoons at Sipe's were great. Also, the butcher would give you free bones for your dog. We'd go by and see Miss Shirley at TG&Y. She'd give us free candy.

I had my picture in the paper on June 14, 1972, for The Tulsa Daily World's Series of Summer Movies. According to the article, "There were 923 kids and parents(at the Fox Theatre in Country Club Plaza Shopping Center) to see 'Destroy All Monsters'". Carnegie used to show movies on Saturday mornings about 3 or 4 times a year. Every year they would show "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" with Don Knotts. I loved that show!

Kevin,

We had a blast sledding at Southern Hills! Can you imagine showing up there today trying to do that? Across the street from the haunted house and behind the Razor Clam was Oertle's.

What about Campbell's Pond? Located just East of Kirk of The Hills, today it is a popular sledding spot for small children. Max Campbell built Southland Mall(41st & Yale), after he sold his property a new housing addition was built and the families of Chris Burns and Stan Bugh moved there.

Hi, Laura!

You mentioned St. Michael's Alley - that was a family-favorite.  When my oldest daughter got her license, I offered to take her to lunch anywhere she wanted to go, and she picked St. Mike's.

Sadly, it closed about a year to year-and-a-half ago.  My family went for dinner one Saturday night, and the waitress took our orders, then said we could buy any of the mugs (or furniture) we wanted, as that was their last night in business.

Pretty somber dinner ...

Tom

By the way, any of you out-of-towners who haven't seen the TU campus lately - make a special trip.  Amazing what a winning football team can do for a school!

Hi, Susan!

I forgot about the big dirt field - we used to tear up our bikes at the place!  I remember one of my friends brought his 10-speed (or whatever at the time), and we all thought "What an idiot!"  Sure enough, he demolished it at the bottom of a hill.

Good times ...

I bought my first fishing pole at Looboyle's in Southroad's Mall. At Orbach's, I purchased a leisure suit(What was that!). Who remembers Swensen's Ice Cream Store?

How about the Bowman Twin at 21st and Sheridan.....or Renberg's Department Store?  Butterfield's at Fontana Shopping Center ( I used my fake ID to get in)!

Vandevers, Picadilly's and Spencer's Gifts(The coolest store for a teenager).

What about going to the Tulsa State Fair and walking around in KELI's spaceship. KAKC was another popular radio station. Also at the fair, we used to love to watch "Bobo the Insult Clown" at the dunk tank.

Eddie Morris wrote:

Eddie, I remember when looboyle's were closing down, my dad took $500.00 out of the bank and bought all the flip tail worms on the shelf. We also had two huge tackle boxes chock full of all types of lures, spinnerbaits, top water plugs, 4-5 Ambassadors and enough rod blanks to tie 10 rods. i still have some of the plugs, alot of worms and 3-4 rods.

OMG....totally forgot about the KELI spaceship!!!  I won a "Smokey and the Bandit" t-shirt one time by calling in and answering a trivia question.  I had to go there to get it!! 

Always got my winter coat at Vandivers.....layaway!!

The Carnegie 6th grade graduation swim party was at the Kendalwood Swim Club(a stones throw from Southern Hills Country Club).

Hey Laura, We went to see the movie, "Smokey and the Bandit" afterwards we stopped by Jaimie Muelhausen's house. Jaimie had just gotten his beautiful silver Trans Am. His dad warned him that he'd better not get a speeding ticket. Sure enough we went out that night and Jaimie got a ticket. He kept saying, "My dad is going to kill me!".

Sledding down the tee at Southern Hills Country club.  Ahhh, memories! I got a bloody nose that I thought ruined my letter jacket and was so upset I didn't even realize I broke my arm!  I was on the bottom of the inner tube with about 6 girls on top of me, Lisa Robinson, Kathy McGinty..............

When I was a boy I had a morning paper route. I used to see the Meadow Gold milkman, Roy Corn, making his deliveries. He would leave the milk in an aluminum box on the front porch. Charles Chips used to have a delivery man in our neighborhood as well. I used to love their potato chips and chocolate chip cookies.

Who remembers S&H Green Stamps, McCartney's Grocery Store(71st & Sheridan), and Godfather's Pizza(Fontana location).

I remember while in high school turning on the radio and hearing KRMG's Joh Ehrling say, "It's 32 degrees on Panty Hose Run at the top of the beautiful Tulsa Mountains."

There used to be a big slide on Memorial north of 31st.  Big metal thing - you slid down it on burlap sacks or something.  Was that Oertles?  We used to go there to pick out new lunch boxes every year before school started.   

Of course - can't forget TG&Y - I worked in the floral department.  Got to make many corsages (including my own) for our Senior Prom.  

Wow, I just discovered this thread so I'll post a long one to catch up...

Swensen's Ice Cream...my favorite flavor of all time was Swiss Orange Chip. When I first moved to San Diego area there was one in La Jolla and I was so happy to get my favorite flavor.

The haunted mansion was across from Oertle's...what a weird name for a store...and I remember standing in line FOREVER to get into the haunted mansion. Again, who names a store Oertle's?

My mom worked in the wig departent at Renberg's and there was an old guy that worked at Vandever's for YEARS in the jewelry department that had horrible dandruff all over his suit and head. What a weird memory.

The thing I remember about sledding at Southern Hills was that they brought out huge silver tea dispensers full of hot chocolate for everyone. They let us sled that first snow, then they locked us out after that day.

Does anyone remember when we were in grade school they had the Bloomin' Bus from Sheridan Lanes...it would come through the neighborhood on Saturday morning and you could bowl in a kid's league. Can you imagine just letting your 8-year old walk through the whole neighborhood alone now and then sit and wait on a bus that then took them to a bowling alley where they hung out for hours bowling in a league and then playing pinball and wandering around and then back home on the bus in this day and age? Pinball was a dime by the way.

I'm thinking since Allen and Eddie both had their first kiss at Empire maybe it's no coincidence? Nah.

There was a little place by the movie theater at 51st and Sheridan and by the sporting goods store that just had a bunch of foosball tables for awhile. We used to ride our bikes up there.

Allen I remember we just called the hill "The Hill" and we built forts back there by the fence when we were little. Do you remember a kid who lived down by me named Leonard Arganbright? A troubled kid I think. Wonder what happened to him.

I very distinctly remember walking into Peaches and seeing Elvis Costello's first album displayed and thinking "who the hell is that?" The song Alison from that album is probably my favorite song of all time. That place seemed amazing at the time. Being an art guy, I was amazed at the oversized album covers that were hand painted. After college I worked at Sound Warehouse at 51st and Lewis (I think that's where it was) and had to take a test of my musical knowledge to get a job there. Sort of like Hi Fidelity.

When I was in grade school at Hearst, our art teacher was Mrs. Chick and her son was John Chick or, as you might know him, Mr. Zing. And the guy who played Shaggy Dog lived in our neighborhood and would wear his costume at halloween and hand out candy. I'll bet Nora and Allen remember that.

St. Michael's Alley always seemed so different to me for some reason. Like it was from San Francisco or something. There was a hair salon next door and that's where my dad got his bitchin' hair "styled" by a guy named Jim Gee who wore big gold chains and eagles and stuff and looked like the hippest '70s guy. I think the guys there all thought they were damn cool hipsters in Tulsa.

I will miss S & J Oyster Bar which I hear is long gone. My dad and I would meet there for red beans and rice and sausage and a beer. Cool to drink a beer with your dad like a grown up.

Sorry, a couple more...

The Tap Room...I remember when Devo's "Whip It" came out people would play it over and over and over and over on the juke box. Every time it would come on, the bartender had a button he could reject the song and it would play the first few notes of Whip It...duh na na na na...NA NA...REJECT! Over and over.

Lastly, My Pi Pizza. or however you spell it. After my first year at OSU I was back for the summer and was getting rushed for SAE fraternity. They took me and a couple of other guys to My PI and some gorgeous girl and her friend came in on rollerskates and I was in love. Long story short, I ended up dating the girl on and off for the next few years, even living together pretty much (you know how that goes)...right up until I met my first wife (mistake!). Anyway, just recently we reconnected on Facebook and actually hung out together in Las Vegas...so my memories of My Pi have very little to do with pizza. But it was good too.

Okay, last one...I remember when the Athlete's Foot had their grand opening in Fontana and it was owned by Howard Twilley, former TU and Miami Dolphins great. He gave us all autographed photos. Then, each time you went back, he would offer you an autographed photo. Then it just got old. Then a little sad. But I remember they had literally hundreds and hundreds of Athlete's Foot t-shirts in every color imaginable.

Next.

Eddie,

I remember getting that ticket. The thing that sucked was that I wasn't even speeding. (Eddie can attest to this). I was already going the speed limit and the light turned green...we passed all the cars that were sitting there at the light and the cop thought THEY were already going the speed limit and I was going faster. I very politely argued with the cop but to no avail. I BEGGED my dad to let me fight the ticket. Years later my dad said that he really did believe me and he even asked a police officer he knew about fighting the ticket. The officer told him if I fought it and made the cop look bad he'd just be out to get me later since it's just not that big a town. So my dad just told me to suck it up and pay the ticket.

I remember the cop searching and searching my car...he was SURE he was going to find something. But nope. We probably just hadn't gone to buy our biscuit dough that night. That's a whole different story.

The other thing I remember about that night is that I had on overalls. I currently own no overalls. Wish I had that car back though.

Jaimie-- John Paul Cambells dad had a ham radio set up in his garage. Every night he would open the garage door and you could see him sitting there smoking, drinking beer, and yaking with his cohorts. John Pauls older brother was a DJ on KVOO back then and his dad taped EVERY SHOW!

Leonard Arganbright ended up wackin out on hard stuff, got into some legal trouble. I (accidentally) ran into him back in the late 80's. Weird guy.

In Jr. High, several of us (including you Jaimie) would occasionally get seventh hour where you had to stay after school in detention. we would ride our bikes on those days and race like hell through Memorial park cemetary before the keepers could catch us, and before Mom got home from work.

I remember 15-20 of us going down to the neighborhood school yard, drawing up teams and playing tackle football for hours. I still feel the pain..(or am I getting older? )

I also remember the slide at 31st Memorial.

I remember cruising Brookside on Friday nights ALL TOO WELL. Now the youngsters cruise Memorial. Who woulda thought.

Great memories, Jaimie!! Tulsa was a great place to grow up!

 I was moving my parents  from Tulsa (after 54 years) to Edmond and came across a crate from Peaches filled with 8 track tapes.  I remember the first one I purchased was  "Foreigner", circa 1977!!  It was still in the crate!! 

John Chick's daughter(Liz, I think) was in the class behind us at Memorial.

Jaimie,  Remember the time we were out biscuiting, you were in your Trans Am, John Helander was in his. It was a freezing cold night, we had the windows rolled up, heater on full blast, with the T-tops off. Both cars were full of guys when we pulled up to a red  light. A car full of Edison girls pulled up next to us and signalled for us to roll down our window. When we did the girl in the passenger seat lobbed a biscuit at your car. Suddenly, biscuits came flying from every direction. We literally pounded their car!! I don't think they knew what hit them.  Life lesson: don't bring a knife to a gun fight.

There was also a giant slide at 50th & Yale. They used to let us build pyramids with six people across three lanes and go down the slide. We would always crash before we got to the bottom. After it was open for a few years, Bell's Amusement Park put one in and the Yale slide closed. When we were in high school, they built a water slide called The Water Flume at that location.

Does anyone remember Zemi's(an ice slushy drink)? They were popular in the 70's. We had one in the boys' locker room at Nimitz.

That was a good biscuit story, but there was also the time we biscuited some guy who then turned around and tried to chase us down. We took off and lost him. Then about 20 minutes later we passed him again and he turned around and chased us again. I think this happened a few times. Then a little while later, we got pulled over by cops in the Memorial parking lot. The guy had reported us to the police. He told them we hit his car with a large rock. I explained to the cop that it was just biscuit dough and the cop almost laughed. But the guy was going nuts and so the cop had to take it seriously. He searched my car, thought he found a six pack of beer and started pulling the "bottles" out of the back seat and stacked them on the roof of the car. Turns out they weren't beer bottles, just more cans of pop-n-fresh dough.

I remember the guy kept ranting about my "silver sports car" over and over. The cops called our parents to come to the parking lot and my dad whipped into the parking lot in his silver corvette. This seemed to piss the guy off even more. What I didn't know until later was that, when the cops called our parents, they wouldn't say what was up...just that they needed to immediately come to the school. My dad thought we'd all been killed in a wreck or something and was beside himself. When he found out we were in trouble for biscuits he was so relieved he laughed out loud and then the guy was even more pissed. I know Alan Tiedeman was with us that night...I think you too Eddie, right?

Jaimie -

You must have worked with Goose and Nita at Sound Warehouse.  I did my 8 years at the Fontana store.  We didn't give any tests before we hired anyone - probably should have, seeing as we hired a lot of morons.

Laura -

Save those 8-Tracks!!!  E-Bay or flea markets!

Eddie -

I remember we had a Zemi machine at Thoreau, in the gym.  If your team won, you could buy a Zemi.

Tom