Tulsa: The City
Downtown Tulsa's most obvious landmark is the ornate Art Deco Union Depot , on the First Street and Boston Avenue Overpass, built in the early 1930s and now housing offices. The 320 Boston Building on Boston Avenue, known in the 1920s as the "Oil Bank of America," is worth a look for its huge brass doors, gargoyles and hand-painted ceilings. Further along the other side of the road, another distinctive Twenties skyscraper, the Philtower , 527 S Boston Ave, has a green and red tiled sloping roof and crouching gargoyles, a lobby richly decorated in brass and marble, and a small gallery of Tulsa history. Lyon's Indian Store , an old trading post a few blocks east at 401 E 11th St, sells authentic goods made by more than thirty Oklahoman tribes, including feather headdresses, bead work, rugs and jewelry. The huge and gloriously exuberant Art Deco Boston Avenue Methodist Church , 1301 S Boston Ave - at 255ft in height, it's practically cathedral-sized - offers good views of the city from its fourteenth story (free tours Mon-Fri 9am-4pm, Sun 12.15pm).Black life in Tulsa was traditionally centered around what is now the Greenwood Historic District , a small section of narrow streets north of downtown. In 1921, a brutal race riot erupted outside the city courthouse after a black man was accused of assaulting a white woman in a downtown elevator. The commotion spread to Greenwood, and houses, businesses and churches were burnt to the ground. Other properties fell victim to urban renewal in the mid-1960s, but community leaders managed to save a small grouping of buildings along Greenwood Avenue and Archer Street. The Greenwood Cultural Center, at 322 N Greenwood Ave (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; free), houses the Goodwin-Chappelle Gallery , a photographic portrait of the neighborhood's history, and the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame , a fascinating tribute to jazz greats who were either residents of the state (Wardell Gray, Charlie Christian) or passed through on national tours (Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie) to jam with local talent.
Outside downtown, to the south, the 75ft Creek Council Oak , 18th Street and Cheyenne Avenue, marks the spot where the Creek Indians ended their tortuous migration from Alabama in 1836, and founded Tulsa on the Arkansas River. The tree became a tribal meeting site, used ceremonially until 1896. The airy and stylish Philbrook Museum of Art , 2727 S Rockford Rd, in the house of oil man Waite Phillips in the well-heeled suburb of Mapleridge, is a Florentine-style mansion set amid an oasis of fountains and greenery (Tues, Wed, Fri & Sat 10am-5pm, Thurs 10am-8pm, Sun 11am-5pm; tours Thurs, Sat & Sun; $5). Though displays include Native American pottery, African sculpture, Chinese jades and Renaissance paintings, the house itself is every bit as decorative as the art, with ostentatious marble floors, indoor fountains and sweeping staircases.
Oral Roberts University , 7777 S Lewis Ave, is a must for kitsch obsessives. The campus, which bears a striking resemblance to Disneyland, welcomes visitors with a 60ft-high monument of hands in prayer. The University and television station concept was inspired by visionary Oral Roberts - who back in 1987 announced that God had decided to "call him home" unless he could raise $4.5 million before a certain deadline. Roberts retreated to a lonely vigil at the top of his Prayer Tower , a kind of B-movie space ship until he got his money, though his credibility was dented when the tower was allegedly struck by lightning at the moment of the deadline. In the base of the tower, you can now see a sycophantic exhibition, to the strains of a heavenly choir, on the great man's life (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm). In the upper level, the Abundant Life Prayer Group works 24 hours a day to answer phone calls from faith seekers worldwide.
The Gilcrease Museum , 1400 Gilcrease Museum Rd, just northwest of downtown, is set in the gently rolling Osage Hills , with a fine vista from the back and good view of downtown from the front. Thomas Gilcrease, of Indian heritage, grew very rich after oil was found on his land. His private collection of Western art includes Native American works, as well as excellent Remingtons, Russells and Morans (Mon -Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 11am-5pm; summer Thurs until 8pm; winter closed Mon; free tours daily at 2pm; $3 donation).
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