One day last week I took a longish ride into Downtown OKC. I was hoping to see some of the new projects our tax dollars have funded. But what caught my attention first that day was the low-flying clouds that obscured our tallest skyscrapers. Imagine the view from the top. The sun did break through later, but not completely. The day was in and out of clouds until the afternoon.
This occupies a space very hard to use. It was previously just some grass and a tree or two, in a triangular island between streets that converged. That huge cylindrical fixture in the middle is covered in “OKC” lettering at all angles. Inside is nothing more than a bed of gravel, and you can’t access it normally. Still, if you don’t mind the noise of traffic, it’s a nice place to sit in fine weather.
There aren’t many angles where you can capture this all-glass mirrored tower. I’m sitting in a space referred to as “the Commons” because the park is shared by several buildings, including one that houses some OKC tourism offices and so forth. At least, that’s what the signs led me to believe. I never bothered to get the name of the mirrored building; I was more interested in simply how it looks. The city has cleaned up nicely, so far.
This is the front of the historic Skirvin Hotel. There was considerable drama over the years before this place was restored to actual use as a hotel. It sat empty for a while, but eventually was rescued after some bigshots made noises about tearing it down. It’s the same anywhere else: The people who most wanted to save it were those who could never afford to spend a single night there. It’s a lovely building, though.
During portions of my childhood, I lived in or near the downtown area of OKC. One of my strongest memories was this old Downtown Library. I knew where everything was and went often to dig up books on subjects that were quite obscure. Then they built this nice-looking place in honor of some previous mayor who wanted his name on some stuff. The newer one does offer a few advantages over the old one, but to be honest, the Internet outshines it these days. No surprise that the majority of those who visit do so for the free wifi. But the building still houses some pretty rare volumes, so it’s not a complete waste.
We’ve got several of these skybridges around the city. This one was easy to capture because there was a safe place to stand out of the traffic. To be honest, a major part of this trip was to find objects that would make good blog header images, but this one just didn’t seem to hit that purpose. The view is looking north along the western boundary of the heaviest developed parts of Downtown OKC. There are a few nice things west of this street, but the skyscrapers pretty much stop on that line. And just for balance, I believe there are still a bunch of underground corridors that connect a lot of buildings, too.
The Devon Tower is currently the tallest building we have. It’s easy to find lots of nice pictures of the front, or of the whole thing, but I was looking for views you might miss if you weren’t paying attention. Then again, they had a crew busy with renovating the flower beds and blocking the view of some nice architectural art. I’ll get that on another visit some time. But on the day I went up last week, this caught my eye. The pillars and curved wall, with water at the foot, shadowed by the trees along the walk… You’d never know where it was if I didn’t tell you.
As part of the Devon Tower facilities, there is a terribly expensive restaurant (by local standards) called “Vast“. The street entrance is next door to the Devon Tower, but the restaurant’s main venue is up near the top of the tower. This is its own entrance on the side of the tower, and you can see there is some lounging space here at ground level. You can find reviews and tons of photos online if that’s your kind of thing. I can’t afford a glass of water at places like this.
It doesn’t have a Wikipedia page, but the Colcord Hotel is OKC’s other historic hotel building. It was the first “skyscraper” in the city, built in 1910. It’s currently run by Hilton. Continuing east from the Devon Tower, this is next to the Vast and offers its own fancy restaurant with outdoor seating. I like the way it looks, but it’s another place I could not afford to visit. The hotel itself simply isn’t much to look at, but it still have guests every day of the year. The location is the key for this one’s longevity, right in the heart of Downtown OKC.
This fountain is very popular; I had to wait a while to catch it with no tourists hanging around on it. Later this summer it will never be alone. From what I heard, the stones are native to Oklahoma, of course, just not from this area. It’s one entrance to a large complex called Myriad Gardens. There was crew ripping into the flower beds here, so I didn’t want to take too many pictures of the rest of it. This fountain is relatively new; the gardens have been here in one form or another for a very long time, and covers an entire city block in the most expensive real estate I know about in this state.
The centerpiece of the Myriad Gardens is the Crystal Bridge. It’s been there since my youth, but it’s seen an awful lot of renovation. The thing is not a really solid structure. Inside is a botanical garden that used to be free access. Now you have to pay to get in. But the cascading levels of paths and sitting places is very popular in warmer weather. You’ll find the place packed with folks bringing their lunch during most summer work days. I believe the far side still offers a small outdoor public performance venue. I have no idea who performs in there, but I have seen it listed a few times.
Just a block away from the Myriad Gardens is the Scissortail Park, something I’ve featured before on this blog. The thing that caught my eye was this snackbar called Spark, with a high hat so you can find it from other parts of the park. You probably should see the whole thing from Google Earth or some other satellite view that has kept up with development. This building is on the north end of the park.
Below are a few blog header cuts from the visit. As always, all of my images are free for use:
I’m really digging how the Skirvin looks. It reminds me a bit of the Omni William Penn in downtown Pgh. It’s a bit older than the OWP, and I like the brickwork a little better. The OWP facade is a little too plain for me…the Skirvin has more texture, and it has those rounded parts in between the three sections that jut out (it would help if I knew some architectural terms, but I don’t).
Interesting to note that both hotels have three prominent sections like that. Maybe that’s an Art Deco thing? The interiors look similar, too.
I believe the triple sections is common, but not necessary. It’s more complex than that, though I’m not sure I can describe it very well. The rounded portions are very common, though.