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Bricktown providing one-stop fun - All ages find ways to enjoy
nightlife David Zizzo 08/04/2001
The sun is finally loosening its grip, and Karol Castro is busy
doing what people do on a midsummer Saturday evening in Bricktown
- waiting.
Investing time here is worth it, she figures. "You do
it anywhere else that has fun," Castro said, sitting on a
bench in an Italian restaurant with her daughter, granddaughter
and son-in-law for an hour or more until a table opens. "I
like it all."
Thousands of people seem to like what they find here in
the red-brick heart of Oklahoma City's nightlife. The city
has spent at least $60 million in Metropolitan Area Projects
money in this area of nouveau-old buildings city planners hope
will mature into a canal entertainment area like San
Antonio's.
"It reminds me a little bit of The Landing in St.
Louis," said Reginald Wright, waiting for a table with
family members in Bricktown to celebrate his grandmother's
81st birthday. "I like the ambiance here."
Jennifer Berg, former Tulsan whose Tulsa friends brought her here
for a birthday party, still suffers what Oklahoma City'ians might
call a Tulsa superiority complex. But Berg and friends agree Bricktown's restaurants, bars, dancing and entertainment in
one place is unique in Oklahoma.
"You can get anything you want right here at any time,"
Berg said. "We love that."
Sure, the place needs more, some say. More street vendors and
more street performers. More attractions to fill a stretch of
gravel and grass known as the south end of the canal. And a
solution for what's uttered around here more as a mantra than
a complaint: parking.
Stay tuned for major changes, planners say, like a Bass Pro Shops
store, one of the world's largest bronze sculptures and other
additions.
Still, judging from this night, the plan so far seems to be
working.
"It's on its way," said Katy Johnson, 38, who just
stepped off the canal boat ride with her husband, Stuart, 41. The
Oklahoma City couple planned to spend this night
"scouting" Bricktown - dining, hitting the clubs,
drinking it all in.
"I have some friends coming in from out of state, and I
didn't want to bring them down here and not know what to
do," Stuart Johnson said.
Crowds from parking lots and a few trolleys seem drawn to the
area, coursing along sidewalks and into the main artery of this
renovated warehouse district, a two-tiered maze of walkways along
and over a canal that dead-ends at elevated railroad tracks.
Kids squeal at ducks in the canal as their parents stop briefly
by beds of purple and white petunias, check the clock on the
water tower that perpetually reads 7:17 or watch a canal boat
ease under a bridge. Cars crawl along streets. Couples sit on the
few benches available.
People come for the restaurants, even as they complain there
aren't enough of them. They come for the busy atmosphere. On
this night, they also come for the baseball, which will burnish
the east end of Bricktown with a glow of floodlights and an
occasional crowd roar.
"It's fun. It's an easy night out with the
kids," fan Teri Foreman said. "It's so hard to find
things for them to do that you can go do
with them."
As the heat of the day eases, the heat of the night takes hold.
Silk shirts, spaghetti-strap gowns and the edgy fashion of youth
grow more evident in the crowd among married couples, strollers
and children.
Lines outside clubs grow longer. In a club somewhere above street
level, Sister Sledge belts out a disco classic as kids waiting
with parents to board canal boats dance and mouth: "We are
fam-uh-lee."
Standing in a half-block-long line at one club, college student
Terry Condreay, 21, of Norman, said he's been
"clubbing" in Texas, Florida and Louisiana. Coming here
tonight with a buddy is his first taste of Oklahoma after dark.
The night is young, but he likes what he sees.
As darkness sets in, drivers in Bricktown don't seem so set
on finding parking. They're looking to be seen. A classic
Pontiac. A new purple Prowler. A limousine longer than a
roadgrader.
"I just cruise around and around," limo driver Rudy
Badillo explains after dropping off a group of young women at a
Bricktown bar. Enjoying the limo's full bar, yelling out the
windows and having a shiny "stretch 120" wait for them
while they dance obviously was worth $70 an hour.
"Every week," Badillo says, when asked how often people
spend such money for such service.
Around the corner, Joe Sims monitors the endless motorcade and
its growl of revving engines. He straddles a 1,000 cc Yamaha R1
in a parking area he and other sport bikers have co-opted for a
view of one of Bricktown's main drags. Harley guys park down
the street.
"A couple of the guys I ride with come out here and just
hang out," Sims said. He's not happy when he and other
bikers get run out of parking areas filled with cars.
"We're just out here having a good time, and they
don't let us park anywhere," he said. "Parking out
here is terrible."
Still, like many Bricktown patrons willing to trade convenience
for fun, the 25-year-old firefighter from south Oklahoma City can
be found here on many summer Saturdays. He usually shows up
between 9 and 11 p.m., "the coolest part of the night before
it gets too late to get home. Oh yeah, it's a good place.
It's a great place."
There are fewer of them than earlier, but families still remain
late into this evening in Bricktown.
Married, 27 years old and with a daughter, Stephen Gipson
isn't much of a club-goer anymore. When he's in town to
visit his sister, he comes to Bricktown for the food. Besides,
11-month-old Karee, squealing as Gipson holds her up next to
fountains children have claimed as a cooling-off station,
"loves it," Gipson's wife, Angie, said.
Bricktown History 8/04/2001
1979: Developer Neal Horton begins buying properties in an old
warehouse district just east of downtown Oklahoma City.
Fall 1981: Horton begins publicizing his plans for "Brick
Town USA," a reconstruction of Oklahoma City's first
wholesale commercial district. Horton plans to restore 11
buildings and says he will start work almost immediately on the
first of three restorations, the Glass Company at 116 E Sheridan,
followed by the neighboring Baden and Confectionary
buildings.
Sept. 1984: Horton's Warehouse Development Co. files for
bankruptcy, listing liabilities totaling $1,216,402 and assets
totaling $645,358.
Fall 1984: Jim Brewer starts the "Bricktown Haunted
Warehouse" - now an annual Halloween tradition.
Fall 1985: Don Karchmer, Jim Tolbert and Jim Brewer become major
Bricktown property owners as a result of debt settlements between
Horton's group and the Bank of Oklahoma.
Nov. 1989: Spaghetti Warehouse opens in the renovated Awalt
Building.
Spring 1990: Restaurants and clubs begin opening in other
buildings centered on Oklahoma and Sheridan avenues. By mid-1990,
the district has five restaurants and three clubs. The only
business still open is Spaghetti Warehouse. Bricktown merchants
say they're hearing complaints from customers about
inadequate parking.
Dec. 1993: Voters approve the Metropolitan Area Projects ballot,
which includes funding for a San Antonio-styled waterway and
baseball park to be built in Bricktown.
1993-1994: A wave of restaurant openings is led by the Bricktown
Brewery, Abuelo's and Chelino's - all three eateries
remain among Bricktown's most popular draws. Three comedy
clubs open, but none remain open today.
April 1998: The SBC Bricktown Ballpark opens to sell-out crowds
and rave reviews
July 1999: The Bricktown Canal opens; 250,000 attend the opening
weekend festivities. Only one restaurant, Chelino's, has
patio seating on the waterway.
Spring/Summer 2000: Restaurants, clubs and offices begin to
locate along the canal. New businesses include Zio's, Bourbon
Street Cafe, Mickey Mantle Steakhouse and Bricktown 54.
Summer 2002: Development picks up again on Sheridan Avenue. Two
buildings are constructed, two others are renovated for new clubs
and restaurants along Bricktown's original main drag.
Patrons stand in a block-long line outside a row of nightclubs. A
boy no older than 10 waves from a passing stretch limo. People
pack restaurant patios waiting for tables. Hundreds of others
line up for water taxis cruising the one-mile canal.
Bricktown, by almost any measure, has become a full-blown
entertainment district rivaling its role model to the south,
Dallas' West End.
Twelve years ago, the district offered just two restaurants and a
nightclub amid a four-block area of empty warehouses and
crumbling brick streets. Now, those warehouses have been
renovated into offices, 19 restaurants with two more about to
open, four gift shops, two banquet halls and almost two dozen
nightclubs.
According to a survey of area merchants by Downtown Oklahoma City
Inc., the district has about 4 million visitors a year.
"There is no way for anyone to come down here and say
Bricktown is not a success," said Jim Cowan, owner of
Bricktown Brewery.
Cowan and fellow merchants still dread Bricktown's off-season
- January and February. Weekday afternoons also can be a bit
slow, but are improving as more tour buses include the Bricktown
Canal in their excursions through Oklahoma.
Special events, such as the recent Triple A All Star baseball
game and concerts by The Eagles and Britney Spears, are bringing
thousands to Bricktown restaurants and clubs.
Special events
Some special events, such as The Eagles concert, attract an ideal
demographic for Bricktown merchants. Others, such as All Star
games, funnel customers into some businesses and away from
others.
Norm Bekoff, operator of Water Taxi of Oklahoma, has developed a
sense of which night will be a boom or bust. Festivals, such as
those organized by developer Jim Brewer, are sure draws. But some
bring only browsers and others bring spenders, Bekoff said.
Business also ebbs and flows when the RedHawks play at the SBC
Bricktown Ballpark.
"If it gets too quiet over there, we start preparing for a
rush from crowds leaving early," Bekoff said.
Bekoff has run a profitable canal boat operation for three
years.
During the week, he sees bus-touring retirees combining a stop in
Bricktown with visits to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the
Oklahoma City National Memorial. Local residents, meanwhile,
bring plenty of out-of-town guests.
Concerts at Ford Center have been the latest boost for merchants.
A sold-out Eagles performance brought "people who have lots
of disposable income and are ready to spend it," Beckoff
said.
Restaurants
Just a decade ago, Bricktown had two restaurants: Spaghetti
Warehouse and Piggy's Barbecue. The district was a dark,
crumbling brick street fronted by empty warehouses and a couple
of underground nightclubs.
Sheridan Avenue, one block north of the canal and the
district's original main drag, still has several longtime
eateries including Abuelo's, Bricktown Brewery, Spaghetti
Warehouse, Chelino's, The Varsity and Pearl's
Crabtown.
The task now is to stand out among more than two dozen
restaurants and clubs.
"Back in 1992, restaurants were limited," Cowan said.
"If you had 10,000 people at the Myriad, they only had two
restaurants to go to. Now, with all the selections available, you
have to reinvent yourself to stay competitive."
Retail Diversions
Bricktown is offering more than food and drink. Visitors can take
a carriage ride or rent a moped by the hour. Street performers
roam the sidewalks.
On one recent evening, a guitarist serenaded visitors by the
canal while on a sidewalk above a musician played the flute for
passersby and diners at nearby Chelinos listened to a brass
band.
The district also offers free diversions for families. Children
can run through dancing fountains or enjoy a playground near Reno
Avenue.
Retailers also are taking root. Steve Wistrand, owner of the
Laughing Fish, sees different crowds. During the day, it's
tourists who also are visiting the Oklahoma City National
Memorial. In the evenings, he sells to families, couples and
out-of-town visitors waiting for restaurant tables. Later at
night, especially weekends, he caters to club patrons.
Club Life
This summer, about a half-dozen clubs have opened in
Bricktown.
Open just a few weeks, The Bar is attracting capacity crowds.
"Bricktown is such a wonderful place," said owner Keith
Reilly, who says he's originally from Ireland and came to
Oklahoma two months ago. "They seem to have put a lot of
money into downtown, and they've built up a wonderful
entertainment district. We're just wanting to join the
party."
Lit has a 1960s modernist look. The Blue Duck has a small-town
bar feel.
However, on the same weekend Bricktown Keys was named best blues
club in a newspaper survey, its doors were locked and a "For
Lease" sign hung in the window. Banana Joe's and
Margarita Mamas, which a year ago were drawing overflow crowds,
also have closed.
Devery Youngblood, president of Downtown Oklahoma City Inc., has
watched Bricktown's growth for years since his start as a
cheerleader for the city's Metropolitan Area
Projects
"Throughout its history, we've seen an ebb and
flow," Youngblood said of Bricktown. "And we might now
have more clubs than people might be comfortable with. But
it's all a part of the area maturing."
Youngblood disputes claims that Banana Joe's demise hints at
weakness in the district. He said the club's landlord
celebrated the club's closing.
"You had someone who... was not a good long-term fit for the
district. They moved out of the way, and now you have an
available key location with an aggressive owner," Youngblood
said. "Tell me how that's bad."
Cowan and Youngblood agree Bricktown is entering a new phase in
its young life. What was just a sleepy warehouse district 20
years ago is becoming a tourist draw. They credit much of the
success to voters, who invested more than $52 million through
MAPS to build the SBC Bricktown Ballpark and Bricktown Canal.
"Have we reached the goals a lot of us want to reach?
No," Cowan said. "But all these businesses down here
are generating sales taxes for the city. And wasn't that the
whole reason behind MAPS?"