First look at Tulsa - Sept 10, 2009

It rained last night, and rained on and off all day. We decided to drive to downtown Tulsa and walk around. There are a lot of buildings with Art Deco details in the downtown area. A man who was cleaning the sidewalk in front of the Trinity Episcopalian church let us in to see it. There are gorgeous stained glass windows everywhere, and excellent wood carving. Afterwards we walked to the Mid-Continent Tower – a very tall, white building. The inside was really lovely, with marble walls and art-deco influence in the elevators and lobby, and in the underground tunnel between the building and the parking lot were old photos of Tulsa in the late 1800’s. We went into another building and found a store that frames and sells Indian art. The manager was very friendly and shared some info about the history of Indian art in Oklahoma. According to him, about 30 tribes were moved to AZ (now there are 39 because some sub-divided) and each one kept its own culture. Some of the tribes did not (and do not) get along very well with the tribe who was located next to them. In the 1920s a man picked 5 Indian artists and thru training and publicity, started the Indian art movement. Until then, Indians did not paint on paper. Now each tribe has it’s own style, and it’s own famous painters.

For a snack, we went to the Coney Island hot dog place. They opened in early 1900s and still use school desks as tables. Then we drove out to see the Oral Roberts university and prayer tower. Oral Roberts has his name all over the place, which is an odd way for a preacher to act, as far as we are concerned. We had lunch at Arnold’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers, which was recommended by our camp host. It was pretty good, but not as good as the White Barn used to be.