Tulsa 1957: Frank's Pig Stand
In a previous entry I mentioned a new book of historic photos of Tulsa, and one photo in particular of a tree-shaded Art Deco cafe that looked very inviting. It was a photo of Frank's Pig Stand, 1437 S. Boston Ave., and it was still there in 1957, but not any more, of course. Here's the picture I saw, from the Beryl Ford Collection, dated approximately 1947:
Here are some other photos of Frank's:
Same time as picture above, from the south
A wider view of the north side, winter/early spring
A wider view of the south side, winter/early spring
Those photos are on the Tulsa Library's website. I am happy that the Beryl Ford Collection is on the web, but I wish higher-resolution scans were available -- there are fascinating details that are visible in the originals that you can't make out at the resolution on the library's website. I also wish there were a geographical and temporal way to browse. Flickr would handle multiple resolutions for each photo and provides a very slick way to map each photo. The Google Maps API adds a temporal dimension -- you can add a year slider to a map and set up a start and end date for each object, so that the objects appear or disappear depending on the point in time you've selected.
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Mmmmm--pig stand. Barbecue. Man, I'm hungry.
Gosh Michael, that IS a beauty! Doesn't your heart just break when you realize all that has been lost? Tulsa seems now to be struggling to find an identity, or at least a marketing "hook". With a little foresight, it could have been "Art Deco City, USA".
Given the unique timing and magnitude of the flow of wealth into Tulsa, and the resultant timing and quality of construction projects, I'm certain that there was not another city in the nation with a higher proportion of Deco and other Modernist structures.
If we had preserved that stock, we'd now be a "must stop" for sophisticated tourists (and their $$) from the U.S. and abroad. But, sad to say, we had squandered that opportunity with the wrecking ball by the 1970's.
First let me say, congratulations Michael on being voted by UTW as TULSA'S FAVORITE BLOGGER!
Will Rogers High School, many downtown Tulsa buildings were all built with "art deco" style.
I worked for a very prosperous company downtown (that has since packed their bags when downtown Tulsa became like a ghost town).
I still remember what the "old" Mid Continent building looked like and now the renovated building is really stunning. But it's hard for many people to realize what Tulsa did offer because in many of these buildings and let's not forget many old homes such as in the Forest Park Historical District#4, and the Lee School homes from 21st to 31st, you cannot appreciate it all until you have seen the INSIDE.
Susan