[white01l]

Originally Posted by chiefshan

I live in Tulsa, but I have friends and family in OKC. My vote is for OKC. Bricktown is better, although Brookside is pretty cool (it just gets old). And OKC gets more concerts. Plus, it's close to Norman, which is pretty awesome too. I just know if I were making the choice, I'd lean more toward the city.

I live outside Tulsa in Cleveland, I would advise you to strongly consider OKC over Tulsa for the many reasons already posted, closer to Big city Dallas, more concerts, better developed entertainment district, potential for major league sports team. Now lets talk about roads, the roads in and around Tulsa are terrible, let me repeat terrible. Very poor maintenance and not many new expressways being added unlike OKC. Did I mention that to get out of Tulsa on a major road you have to pay a toll. OKC has two major free interstates passing thru it I-35 and I-40 as well as toll road I-44. Tulsa has no major free interstate highways passing thru. State capitol is OKC, so where do you think the money is spent first.

OK enough of this, let me help you out in short paragraph. Choose OKC over Tulsa anyday, for transportion (OKC has passenger rail Tulsa doesn't), entertainment (Tulsa is trying to catch up but willl never make it), roads.

[gonefishing]

Located in the heart of Oklahoma's "Green Country" Tulsa, Oklahoma is a historic, cosmopolitan city nestled in the rolling foothills of the Ozark Mountains. This sophisticated city is home to several nationally recognized museums, including the Philbrook and Thomas Gilcrease museums.

With all that being said....probably for what you are looking for you might want to live in OKC but do visit Tulsa.

Admiral Twin Drive In Movie Theatre (Opened 1951)
Allen Ranch (working ranch)
Art Deco Buildings built in the 1920s and 1930s
Art Deco Walking Tours
Art in the Square is at Utica Square Shopping Center...I think in Oct)Arkansas River Historical Society
Bells Amusement Park....not sure what is going to happen with this
Big Splash Waterpark
Blue Dome (Festival held in May)
Blue Whale Swimming Park Landmark (Catoosa)
Brady Theatre (Built around 1910 as the Tulsa Convention Hall)
Brookside Residents there refer to it as a village
Cains Ballroom (National Register of Historical Places)
Camp Takatoka (YMCA)
Casinos- Creek Nation and Cherokee
Celebration Station Amusement Park
Civic Art Statues, fountains, murals, lighting, paintings, stained glass
Cherry Street District In the 1900's when trolley cars and horse drawn carriages were common, 15th street was known as Cherry Street.
Cherry Street Farmer's Market 15th & Peoria, Saturday during April-October 7 am to 11 am.
Clarke Theatre
Comedy Clinic
Creek Council Oak Tree--Where Tulsa Began
Discoveryland! Rodgers and Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA!" musical, June-August. 2000 seat amphitheater
Drillers Baseball (Farm team)
Exchange Tower 320 S. Boston built in 1917. (Used as a lighted "weather station" which could be seen for 20 miles )
Expo Square the largest clear-span building in the world
Fair Meadows Horse Racing
Fenster Museum of Jewish Art see Sherwin Miller Museum
Frankoma Pottery Factory, Sapulpa
Gatesway Hot Air Balloon Festival - Aug.
Gilcrease Museum includes the work of Frederic Remington, Charles Russell and Thomas Moran.
Greenwood Cultural Center (Black Wall Street) preserves the history of "The Black Wall street" prior to the infamous race riot of 1921.
Golden Driller (76 Ft tall)
Hands of Children Museum 7704 E 38th St
Harwelden 2210 S. Main (1923 Mansion can be rented.)
Hot Air Balloon Rides
Ida Dennie Willis Miniatures Museum (Trains, Robots, Dolls, Toys) 628 N. Country Club Drive (In a 1910 Tudor mansion)
Imax Theatre 71st and Hwy U.S. 169
Incredible Pizza (indoor go-kart races, bumper cars, miniature golf, bowling, and game arcade.)
J. M. Davis Gun Museum or The Gun Museum/ the largest private gun collection in the world, is located in Claremore
Labyrinth at Hunter Park 5804 E. 91st St.

[gonefishing]

Lavender Hill Farm
Mabee Center
Mabel Little Heritage House
Mac's Antique Car Museum 1319 East 4th St
Mayfest -
Miss Jackson's Tulsa's oldest department store, (very upscale!)
Missions Memorial Museum & Gardens 8863 E. 91st St.
Nightingale Theatre
Oklahoma Aquarium (underwater tunnel!)
Oklahoma Blues Festival - May
Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
Oktoberfest -
Oklahoma Scottish Games, River West Festival Park. September .
Oral Roberts University
Oxley Nature Center
Penguins on Parade
Perryman Wrangler Ranch - first ranch established in the Tulsa area, 11524 S. Elwood Ave
Philbrook Museum of Art museum and botanical gardens
Philtower ( Art Deco)
Port of Catoosa
Promenade Mall 41st and Yale
Prayer Tower- ORU
Redbud Valley Nature Center
Rhema (Christmas Lights)
Riverlanes Bowling Center
River Parks 10 mile asphalt paved trail along the banks of the Arkansas has picturesque gardens, fountains, wildlife sculptures and murals.
River Walk Crossing
Route 66 (11th Street from East Tulsa through downtown to West Tulsa and on to Sapulpa)
Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art Holocaust Education Center, with World War II memorabilia
Skydive Tulsa
Society of Exploration Geophysicists Geoscience Center reflects the city's strong connection to the petroleum industry
South Tulsa Children's Ballet
Spotlight Theater
Starlight Concerts Riverparks Amphitheatre (free)
Summer's 5th Night features live music every Thursday in summer at Utica Square
Sunbelt Railroad Museum 1323 E. 5th (Sat 10-4) Free/Donations accepted
Swan Lake near Utica Square (Starting in 1919 homes were built to overlook "lake". Previously known as Orcutt Lake, it had an amusement park)
Sweet Adelines
Theatre Tulsa
Tulsa Air and Space Center
Tulsa Ballet
Tulsa Convention Center
Tulsa Drillers Baseball
Tulsa Flea Market (Saturdays ~ Tulsa Fairgrounds ~ )
Tulsa Historical Society (Next to Tulsa Garden center)
Tulsa Indian Artfest
Tulsa Opera, internationally known.
Tulsa Oratorio
Tulsa Parks
Tulsa Performing Arts Center
Tulsa Rose Garden
Tulsa Raceway Park
Tulsa Rowing Club
Tulsa State Fair end of September /first of Oct
Tulsa's Underground Tunnels (downtown)
Tulsa Union Station, Art Deco building built in 1931
Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum recognized as America's favorite zoo
Utica Square Shopping Center Water fountains, English phone booths, wrought iron benches, Old World tower clocks
Vineyards ~ Wineries in the area
West Bank (River West Festival Park) amphitheater and floating stage.
Willard Elsing Museum
Williams Center Tower (The largest skyscraper in Oklahoma ~ located on 2nd street)
Woodland Hills Mall 1.2 million sq. foot shopping center (150 specialty shops and four department stores)
Woodward Park (a bridge where couples have pictures made) Historical 1919 home there houses Tulsa Garden Center.


I know I have forgotten some things.....

[carrymehome22]

Lived in Tulsa for over 10 yrs. I don't live there anymore for the past 4 yrs now.
Back then I was in University so my perspective may be different.
Be prepared for "all you can eat" everything! There was really no social life but it was and I believ still is quite the place for raising a family or retiring.

[gonefishing]

[url]http://www.tulsapreservationcommission.org/nationalregister/buildings/[/url]

[Griffis]

Tulsa > OKC.

It's an odd proposition for me-- I live in Norman (leaving soon) and Norman is a pretty decent college town. I'm from Tulsa. And I've lived and worked and spent tons of time in OKC as well.

If I had to live in OK, it would be Tulsa or Norman hands down. I really dislike OKC, though it does have more of a night life than Tulsa if you like strip malls full of sports bars and grills. (They do get more big name concerts than Tulsa too.)

Traffic IS hell in Tulsa, but it's no better in OKC.

Norman is kinda cool in that it's still easy to get around, because of the university there is some night life and cool shops, clubs, etc., and if you want to get to a bigger place with a little more going on, OKC is only 20 miles away.

Personally, I'm anxious to leave. I've lived in many different parts of the US. OK isn't my type of political or meteorological climate. The summers suck and there's not much to the landscape. All the lakes are man made and very few of them are pretty at all (the ones in the Tulsa region are FAR prettier than those in the OKC region, as is the land itself. And downtown Tulsa is far prettier than OKC, IMO.)

I know there are worse places to live than OK, but I've had several out of state job interviews and interest from potential out-of-state employers, particularly in Virginia, as it has worked out, so I'm looking forward to relocating my family.

[Synopsis]

Good luck to you Griffis. I'm a big proponent of Oklahoma living, but I see a lot of intelligent observations in your posts.

[gonefishing]

Tulsa- George Kaiser Family Foundation announced a $12.4 donation to River Parks to help create a premier trail system with larger landscaped trails, separating pedestrians from cyclists. With money from the third penny sales tax funds that were allocated to River Parks trail improvements there is a total of $15 million to pay for the project. (Lighting, new benches, drinking fountains and trash bins.)

[rabok416]

I am not originally from OK, but I came here to go to school at OU and then took a job in Tulsa. I will be moving back to the OKC area to continue my studies soon. I'd go with OKC. Here's how I would rate the two cities:

Proximity to other areas- a wash. OKC is close to Dallas, so close that it almost seems like a huge suburb of Dallas. You can even buy the Dallas Morning News throughout the state. OKC is also not boxed in by toll roads. Tulsa is close to Kansas City, which has more soul to it than Big D. Original poster said that he is a black male- KC has the jazz museum and the Negro League museum, along with some great barbecue. Tulsa is also close to places like Branson and not too far from St. Louis.

Downtown- 10 years ago, it was Tulsa. Now, it is definitely OKC. OKC has a new arena, baseball stadium, and tons of restaurants in a relatively safe area. Tulsa is building an arena next to the jail and the homeless shelters, and its "leaders" have refused to promote sensible river development.

Family life- Both are great.

Traffic- totally depends on where you live in each area. OKC may one day get a light rail system, which would swing the pendulum in its favor.

Crime- OKC is much safer for the most part

Cost of living- In my experience, OKC is cheaper on a lot of things because of the additional cost of using the turnpikes to get to Tulsa. Gas is also cheaper in OKC because there is no market leader, whereas in Tulsa it costs about 5 cents more per gallon due to the fact that the Tulsa gasoline market is an example of a Stackelberg oligopoly.

Nightlife- Tulsa's is more homegrown, OKC's is more commercial

Terrain- Tulsa has variety and greenery

Basically, Tulsa is eastern and OKC is western, more laid-back. Tulsa is slightly more elitist and liberal and OKC is a bit more conservative (look at their newspapers for a clue). Of course, I am sure the die-hard Tulsans will disagree. Also, people in Tulsa surrounding suburbs with the exceptions of Broken Arrow, Bixby, and Jenks are much less pretentious than those in the richer parts of town.

[gonefishing]

Originally Posted by rabok416

Original poster said that he is a black male- KC has the jazz museum and the Negro League museum, along with some great barbecue.

Check out the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in Tulsa [url]http://www.okjazz.org/[/url]. It is located off of the Martin Luther King Memorial Expressway and adjacent to the campus of OSU/Tulsa.

Juneteenth on Greenwood

Greenwood Jazz Festival


Speaking of good BBQ in Tulsa- Elmers on Peoria is good and Barry Sanders has been seen in there. Billy Simms BBQ at the Farm is also good.