Tulsa rediscovers its 66 routes

TULSA — Chris Felthous spent seven years as manager at the Metro, a popular '50s-style diner along historic Route 66 — and he admits the eatery's destruction earlier this year was a big hit to this city's efforts to lure fans of the "mother road.”

But Felthous thinks he's found a new home at Ollie's Restaurant near the birthplace of Route 66.

"Route 66 and restaurants have been a part of my life for a long time,” said Felthous, who worked at and managed the Metro for seven years. "I'm sad the Metro went away, but I'm glad I've found a new home at Ollie's as well. And Ollie's had a whole different attraction with the trains. The trains pull people in, and then they discover about Route 66.”

Ollie's opened a quarter century ago. With model trains running on tracks suspended from the ceiling and in displays throughout the restaurant, it's a popular attraction with Tulsa families.

Felthous saw a steady stream of customers traveling Route 66 at the Metro, and says that in his past year at Ollie's he's seen the same flow of tourists spending their vacations — and dollars — traveling historic Route 66.

For now, Ollie's is a lonely Route 66 attraction along Southwest Boulevard, just southwest of downtown Tulsa. Empty, blighted buildings and empty lots dot much of the landscape on a stretch that runs between the OSU Health Sciences Center and downtown.

But Ollie's may not be a lonely attraction much longer. Across the street, art instructor Mary Jo Luster has opened the Red Fork Gallery and Studio in a brick building that has faced Southwest Boulevard since it was commissioned as Route 66 in 1927.

Mayor Kathy Taylor believes a convergence of efforts — designation of the road as the state's biggest urban Main Street program and Route 66 enhancements planned as part of the city's Vision 2025 program — could return Tulsa to its legacy as a top stop along the old highway.

Taylor points to last week's celebrated unearthing of a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere as evidence that a tourist bonanza awaits Tulsa if it gives the old "mother road” some much needed attention.

"We saw people who love these old '50s and '60s cars, and also the memories that come with traveling Route 66,” Taylor said. "We've preserved much of the route — but it's really just coming into being shown off to tourists.”

Tulsa's Vision 2025 has $15 million budgeted for signage, monuments and attractions along the historic highway — including an interactive exhibit at the entrance to Red Fork that will be dubbed the "Route 66 Experience.” The new Main Street program is teaming up with the Southwest Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and the Southwest Tulsa Historical Society to build a transportation-themed park not far from Ollie's.

Michael Arand, an engineer with Dewberry, admits he may not live long enough to see completion of the firm's 121-page master plan for Tulsa's 26-mile stretch of the highway. He estimates the entire plan would run $80 million, but the budget is $15 million.

But he's looking forward to a Red Fork district that in a few years will be anchored by not just the Ollie's and the Route 66 Experience, but also a cosmetically restored 11th Street Bridge.

The bridge closed a quarter century ago and is too unstable to even support pedestrian traffic. Arand determined the bridge would have to be torn down and rebuilt to even support pedestrians. A cosmetic preservation was chosen, Arand said, because the bridge is considered the birthplace of Route 66.

In 1927, Tulsan Cyrus Avery, considered the father of Route 66, persuaded fellow highway planners to route the highway through his home state. Arand, who has traveled the highway and done extensive studies on its history, said Avery's top card in steering the highway through Tulsa was the previously built 11th Street bridge being the only crossing over the Arkansas River.

The highway's opening coincided with the community of Red Fork being swallowed up by adjoining Tulsa. Longtime residents like Esther Murray, 80, fondly recall the Route 66 era, and remember how the highway through Red Fork once thrived with restaurants, motels, gas stations, shops and even an amusement park.

"I remember how the kids loved to go to Bell's Gas Station,” Murray said. "It was so cool, getting that Orange Crush for a nickel out of this big ice box.”

That station is gone — only a sign remains. Murray blames the demise of Route 66 — and Urban Renewal clearance efforts — for decimating the area and stripping it of much of the charm that once made Tulsa a key stop along Route 66.

And then there's Crystal City. From 1926 to 1951, Crystal City was an amusement park. From the 1950s on, the property was a shopping center that went by the same name.

"It was beautiful,” Murray said. "They had a Safeway there, a TG&Y, and you could get whatever you wanted. It's really gone downhill.”

Weeds spurt from cracks in the shopping center, and many of the storefronts are empty. But locals are waiting to see if a reported sale of the property — and possible plans for upgrades and new tenants — come true.

American Heritage Bank assistant vice president and president of the Red Fork Main Street program won't discuss the rumored sale but agreed redevelopment of Crystal City is critical to Red Fork's long-term success.

A newcomer, Katy Davis, is tasked with tracking all of the pending change as director of the state's newest Main Street program. Short-term plans include planters with the Route 66 emblem throughout the four-mile corridor and Route 66 flags that will be sold to properties along the way.

But for now, Davis has even more immediate challenges: setting up an office, hiring help, getting paved parking, and encouraging cooperation between Red Fork's many interested players.

"Here you have four miles long, two blocks on each side, residential, industrial, retail — it's all those pieces, and that's a different challenge for a Main Street program to face,” Davis said.

"There are a lot of pieces of information, and a lot of organizations that have a stake in this area.

"But until now, there hasn't been a center home for them ... getting them all aligned is the biggest key to getting this off the ground.”