Note of the Living Deb

Robin took me to the Overholser Mansion in Oklahoma City, a Victorian style mansion built after Victorian houses had gone out of style. His friends made fun of him. Also they wondered why he built his house out in the middle of nowhere. Turns out that meant there was plenty of room for other rich people to build their houses nearby.



Here is the family entry way. (That figure is a little racy for company, we're thinking.)



This is from the guest entry.



They hired a guy to do some stenciling. I've heard that stenciling is the poor man's wallpaper. Not this stenciling. If I'm remembering correctly, it took three years for the person they hired to do the entire house. I think he earned his money, too.



No need for a stairwell to be boring.



Can't quite decide how to decorate? You can have it all. You can have drapes, sheers, and stained glass in the windows. You can have moldings and painted frames. You can have stenciling and a chandelier. Still looking a little empty? Just add an imported rug, large solid furniture, and a table runner. And wall lamps.



This room is over-the-top, too, but still I want to go in there and write some letters or something at that table.



This is probably my favorite room, though. Just a little pantry between the kitchen and dining room.



The other side of the pantry has the portable food warmer.



People make fun of Robin for his wagon-wheel table. This guy has a wagon-wheel ceiling over the table. Maybe no one will notice.



Of course they still had the modern conveniences.



Even a new stove. Of course sometimes the modern versions aren't as good as the versions being replaced. In this case the cook would not allow them to get rid of the old stove, or else she said she would leave.

Oklahoma City has a riverwalk. Unlike the one in San Antonio, it is completely man-made. Like the one in San Antonio, it is located in what used to be a run-down part of town, in this case, the factory area where all the buildings were made of red brick. Now this area is called Bricktown. The canal is drained and cleaned every few years (compared to every year for the San Antonio Riverwalk).



We took a cruise along this one-mile-long canal.



The most shocking thing I learned is that in 1993, the mayor imposed a 1-cent sales tax for five years specifically for the purpose of carrying out several building projects. Then after the five years were up, they actually stopped collecting the tax and did the projects. The projects included building the canal, a convention center, and a ball park, among other things.

Can you believe that? Saving up ahead of time? In my town, we call this sort of thing "bond issues." And then stopping collecting the tax? And still having all the money? In my town, the mayor would be crying about inflation and needing more money. And then it actually got done? In a reasonable amount of time? And people like it? And the stuff actually works (for example, the canal was full of water, the ball park was voted best minor league facility by someone).

It's sad that I feel this way.

The canal opened in 1993. They dug out where a street used to be to make it.

My favorite of the river guide's suggestions was about swimming. There's a hotel with a pool on the canal that charges $240 a night, which is a lot of money in Oklahoma City. And there is a $250 fine for swimming in the canal. So, if you want to go swimming, you can save $10 by staying at the hotel.

My favorite of the guide's puns is about the painted buffalo that popped up all over town for their centennial celebration. Their bison-tennial celebration.



Besides buffalo, there are a lot of nice murals around town.



And I couldn't quite stop staring at this downtown building.



Sonic headquarters is located on the canal.



My favorite canal site was the land run statues. Oklahoma City was one of the starting points where people were offered free land if they would just come and claim it. The term "Sooners" originally referred to the people who cheated by coming out early.



At the start of the local land run, there were 7 residents in the area. At the end of the day, there were 10,000. Oklahoma City had become the sixtieth-largest American city in a single day. Our guide said, "Maybe Rome wasn't built in a day, but Oklahoma sure was." (Now there are 1.3 million residents.)

Here's another work of art, commemorating the black man's struggle with the white world. Apparently there were lots of sit-ins in Oklahoma City during the civil rights era.



We ate at Chilinos, the only place to eat when the canal was first opened. (Hey, it was still in business. That has to be a good sign, right?) The best things there were the tortillas. And they knew it, too. Not only do they bring out chips and salsa to start with, they also bring out flour tortillas and queso. (The queso was more like a thick cheese soup than what I'm used to, but the tortillas were awesome.) Their enchiladas (made with corn tortillas) were quite good, too, which is why I'm making a blanket statement about the tortillas. So, if you're ever in Bricktown, I recommend getting visiting Chilinos and ordering something involving tortillas.

We took a day trip north to Bartlesville to see the tallest (of two) skyscrapers designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that was actually built, the Price Tower.



This was built to give everyone good views and yet to keep the sun at bay. That picket-fence-looking thing on the top floor is actually made of louvers that at least used to be adjustable. You can see a few of them here.



Do you want to see a close-up of the triangular lights over those cute little balconies in the first picture? There are some just like it in the little cafe.



Oh, too bad, I thought I heard you say yes. (The rest of that room is not original.)

Here is a close-up of my favorite windows. There are some like these in the kitchens of the little apartments inside.



Wright wanted plants to be all over the place, inside and out. But now, there are virtually no plants remaining. Here is a picture of a cool one.



I wish I could show you the apartments. They were very unusual, but probably quite livable except perhaps for the extremely narrow staircase. For example, he was not into 90-degree angles at all. Here are some pictures from the Fall 2005 Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly.



(You wouldn't think there could be a quarterly on a dead guy, but there is, and it's totally cool.)

Most things are closed on both Sunday and Monday in Tulsa, but we did find one super-cool thing: the Harweldon mansion. We wanted to see this because it supposedly has gargoyles, but we never found any.

Still, it is my dream house. (Remember, I don't want to actually own my dream house--it's too expensive and otherwise impractical. But that doesn't mean I don't have a dream house.) I never realized it before, but my dream house is gothic.



I'm a sucker for red brick. But check out that slate roof. And the pointy bits. And the totally awesome door. Here's another view:



Look how shapely, and how shaded. Check out the entry way:



Plenty of space, wood and stone walls, nice door opening, fancy lighting. And of course there's a library:



A bit too small, but the books are protected, and even the ceiling is fun, but not too crazy. And now check out the awesome breakfast nook (now apparently used as a bar):



Lots of space, lots of dappled light coming through pretty windows, brick walls. It's sort of fussy like Victorian stuff, but much more roomy. Big and stately and solid like a castle, but more homey.

I didn't see any sign of spiral staircases, revolving bookcases, or trap doors, but those could definitely fit in.

It's not so easy to find a tour book on Oklahoma, but we did find one that included Oklahoma among other states at our local library and brought it with us.

We actually ended up using the restaurant section to help us find good local places to eat. I had always thought that was dumb because the book would probably lead us to overpriced and/or overcrowded places that may or may not still be good. (For example, an Austin tour book would probably recommend places like Kirby Lane instead of places like Mangia Pizza.)

But Robin said no, no, that's exactly what these books are for. So because of that book we ended up in the Classen Grill, which promised breakfast. It was, indeed, crowded but also good.

The best thing was the juicing machine.



Too bad you can't see it in action. You just load the oranges into the top and the machine grabs one at a time, slices it, juices it, and knocks the last rind out of the way. Those little green orange holders move back and forth in a semicircle to first grab an orange, then move it to the slicer, then knock the last rind out of the way while placing the new halves over the juicer, then juicing the oranges and then starting over.

Too bad I can't draw better. This is better than I usually draw:



That juice was pretty good, too. Tasted a lot like oranges.