24 hours in Tulsa

Hip Tulsa

Even I was surprised by how photogenic Tulsa was. I always take short trips, walk for hours taking photographs and then am exhausted. Tulsa had a very relaxed feel; a small city with so many types of architecture. The Blue Dome building below is on route 66 and was a Gulf gas station built in 1912. Back in the day, the gas station attendant lived in the apartment above. What a cool job that would have been. It has transmogrified into a bar in the past and recently has been bought by the restaurant next door.

The Blue Dome building

It is a very pretty city and the inhabitants seem to take joy in art, whether through architecture or paint or sculpture. I liked this Rotarian statue celebrating their efforts to provide clean safe drinking water around the world. I wonder if they are currently helping in Flint, Michigan?

Safe water sculpture

The Globe

The Bird Family

My final shot in this post illustrates the old with the new. A beautiful Art Deco roof peeping out from the newer skyscrapers.

Art Deco Roof

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Holy Tulsa!

Stained Glass in arch of Holy Family Cathedral

I am posting yet more photographs of the lovely Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa. Guilt is weighing heavy about brow-beating the church secretary into opening the cathedral for me… A therapist would have fun trying to figure out why a lapsed Catholic spends so much time in church!

Organ in cathedral

As I mentioned in a previous post, they were servicing the organ and I would have loved to have heard it in a mass. These old architects really knew how to create fantastic acoustics. The colors in this cathedral particularly appealed to me. I adore the color lilac but my mother hated it, as did my mother in law. Perhaps it was the association with mourning?

Cross and Flowers

I wandered around the exterior of the church and this cross was in the side garden. Trespass is an unknown concept to me; it is either my native blood or growing up in Scotland where there is no true law of trespass. Mr Trump was very upset that ‘anyone’ could walk across his precious golf course…

Finally, this plaque in honor of the Year of Mercy touched my soul. Not sure about my indulgence though with the whole brow-beating thing going on…

Art Deco Tulsa

Stained glass window on rooftop of Mayo Hotel

My biggest surprise in Tulsa was the abundance of fabulous Art Deco architecture.  It was known as the “Terra Cotta City” in the late 1920s which coincided with an oil boom.  My grandfather, Raymond, was born on the Chickasaw Nation, Purcell, Oklahoma in 1899 or 1900 and eventually ended up in San Bernardino in California (where he married Juanita), following various boom towns.  I love to imagine what life was like for both my sets of grandparents, marrying in the 20s and 30s when society was changing dramatically in terms of style and habits.  Irish Nana Kathleen married in a short and daring coffee colored chiffon dress with a matching cloche hat.  I kept it until recently when I passed it on to a younger cousin.

Elevators in Philcade Building

Window display in the lobby of the Philcade Building

Display of Chrome
Philcade Building

The Philcade building had a T shaped lobby lined with shops.  There are few shops now but you can still browse the window displays.  It was designed by architect Leon Senter for oil magnate Waite Phillips.  His brothers formed the Phillips Petroleum company.  Teddy is an oilman (geologist) and we have survived three major slumps.  We used to joke that the 66 in Phillips 66 stood for the amount of geologists they ‘lost’ in a year…it’s not quite as funny as it used to be. Heck, yes it is!

Rooftop of the Mayo Hotel at sunset

Sunset view of the Arkansas River from rooftop Tulsa

Teddy and I had some lovely sunset drinks on the rooftop bar of the Mayo Hotel built in 1925 and designed by architect George Winkler.  It has been wonderfully restored with many of the original features kept intact; from stained glass to ceramic tiles in the coffee shop.

Original tiles in the coffee shop of Mayo Hotel

 

 

 

 

Modern Tulsa

Hyatt downtown Tulsa

I love the sharp edges of this contemporary hotel building contrasted with the bright, cold sun and autumnal leaves.

The shadows are so vivid in this shot, just before sunset.

Vivid blue flowers with silver umbrellas

Building reflected in stripes

Symmetry

This final image made me laugh out loud. If you look closely at the Petroleum Club of Tulsa, you can see that there is a Thai Spa. Do you think they get happy endings?

Look closely…

The Holy Family Cathedral, Tulsa

Aisle of the Holy Family Cathedral, Tulsa

As you know, I love to visit churches when traveling – it appeases my lapsed Catholic soul and the photos are always good. In most of Texas (and Mexico) Catholic churches are open all the time, for sinners like me. This beautiful cathedral was locked but there was number to call. I called the number and the lady said that it would be open when Mass was said later in the day. This was a 24 hour trip (to Tulsa), so I didn’t have time to wait for Mass. I gently persuaded her that I needed it open NOW and I wrote travel blogs. She sort of sighed but came and opened the front door for me – what a treat! This cathedral was a real beauty.

Right hand nave

This is where I lit all my candles for everyone. I kinda wanted to pray for myself but that’s not allowed and I had already manipulated the poor church secretary (one more black mark on my soul…) I love to see purple in a church and priests’ robes are purple at Easter. The smell of incense would have made it a sublime experience.

Cathedral exterior

While I was taking photographs/praying, some men where repairing the organ that somehow made the experience a little more memorable, if slightly off key.

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Standing on route 66, Tulsa

I have wanted to visit Tulsa for such a long time. Finally, Teddy had a short business trip so I accompanied him last fall for a one night stay. It is a small city but I saw some fabulous highlights. Oklahoma is mostly flat prairie, uninteresting to some but the sky goes on forever. Tulsa is unusual because it has hilly terrain. It has been a wealthy city for many years – it is an oil city and on route 66.

Fountain in downtown Tulsa

Downtown Tulsa

I expected people to be friendly and they were, with a little reserve. That might be because we travelled the day after the election in 2016. Everyone was frightened to say anything in case they offend their political viewpoint – we still are, for the most part. You could see that the oil slump had affected some of downtown but it was still resplendent with Art Deco architecture in another boom time and more recently with fantastic modern buildings.

Last year was a strange one for me and my health. The trip was in October and in my head I feel that I have aged hugely, in one year, but when I look at the photograph above I can see a glimmer of happiness. It is strange how the mirror rarely reflects the truth.
More lovely photographs to come from Tulsa.