JE-RE-CO..CLUB

TULSA....MY STORY ,,",WALK IN THE PARK IS TRUE" EXCEPT FOR ENDING....MOST  FUTURE STORIES WILL BE BUILT AROUNT TULSA, BECAUSE SO MANY MEMORIBLTHINGS HAPPENED THERE, , THE 200 BLOCK, OF SOUTH FRISCO......WEST OF DOWNTOWN, WAS A TREE SHADED STREET WITH OLD WHITE HOUSES, WHICH HAD MOSTLY BEEN CONVERTED TO DUPLEXES.  MOST OF THE RENTERS WERE WIDOWS.  THEY COULD BE SEEN TENDING THEIR FLOWERS DURING THE DAY, BUT FINDING REFUGE FROM THE HEAT AFTER ABOUT 10 A.M.  OBVIOUSLY, I AM SPEAKING OF SUMMER AS THAT IS WHEN WE WOULD VACATION THERE. AT THE CORNER OF THIRD AND FRISCO...ON SW CORNER, THERE WAS A WINDOWLESS BRICK BUILDING THAT WAS A NIGHT CLUB..THE JERICO CLUB.  OKLAHOMA BECAME A LEGAL LIQUOR STORE STATE IN 1959.  BEFORE THEN, HARD LIQUOR WAS BOOT-LEGGED IN.  NO PROBLEM!  WHEN I VISITED THERE, I USUALLY WENT TO SIT ON FRONT PORCH SWING TO OBSERVE VERY LATE NIGHT ACTIVITIES.  AS A YOUTH, IT WAS FRIGHTENING, AND I OFTEN RETREATED INTO THE SAFETY OF INSIDE...FIGHTS WERE THE RULE, AND THESE FIGHTS OFTEN ENVOLVED FEMALES..DRUNK AS A SKUNK...FOUL LANGUAGE...BREAKING OF BOTTLES, YELLING, HITTING, CLAWING,  ETC.  IN RETRO, THE POLICE MUST HAVE BEEN PAYED OFF TO STAY AWAY.  ACROSS THE STREET WAS A VERY LEGIT BUSINESS...A SKELLY GAS STATION.  A SMALL BUILDING FOR OFFICE AND THEN A GARAGE WHERE LUBES AND WASH JOBS WERE DONE. THE FACADES WERE WHITE STUCCO WITH BLUE TILE ROOFS.  THE TULSA SKYLINE HAD A CAPTIVATING QUALITY TO IT..THREE OR FOUR MAJOR BUILDINGS IN HEIGHT, AND THE FURTHER YOU WENT FROM THESE, THE SHORTER THE BUILDINGS GOT.  SO, FROM A DISTANCE, THE DOWNTOWN SEEMED LAYERED..THE NATIONAL BANK OF TULSA WAS KING OF THE HILL IN THOSE DAYS,,,,,TWENTY TWO STORIES AT 400 FEET TALL..IT DID COMMAND ATTENTION.  SUCH A GENIOUS DESIGN.  IN FACT, I WONDER IF THE ARCHITECT REALLY KNEW THE IMPACT IT WOULD HAVE,      HARD TO DESCRIBE..IN A WAY, LIKE A GREAT HYPO NEEDLE POKING THE SKY.  A SLENDER AND CONICAL DOME TOPPED IT OUT AND A NUMBER OF SPOT LIGHTS PLAYED ON THIS DOME...15 SECOND INTERVALS...THE DOME WAS GREEN, THEN ORANGE, THEN WHITE.  IN 1949, TV CAME TO TULSA, AND THE CHANNEL SIX TRANSMITTING TOWER WAS PLACED ON TOP OF THIS DOME.   SO, THE HYPO NEEDLE WAS COMPLETE.  DURING THE INSTALLATION OF THIS TOWER, A WORKMAN DROPPED A WRENCH AND IT FELL TO THE GROUND. BOUNCED ACROSS THE STREET, STRUCK A WOMAN IN THE HEAD...AND KILLED HER.  I SPOKE OF AUNT NORA AND UNCLE LEM WHO LIVED IN BACK....NONIE, AS WE CALLED HER, WAS A VERY SHORT PERSON WHO WAS STOOPED.  SHE ROLLED HER GREY HAIR INTO A BUN ON THE BACK OF HER HEAD.  THERE WAS A LOOSE FOLD OF SKIN THAT RAN FROM HER CHIN TO HER THROAT.  I USED TO CALL IT HER WADDLE.  SHE BAKED THE MOST DELICIOUS LEMON PIES WITH THICK FROSTING ...ON TOP.  A SWIRLED EGGY TOPPING WITH LITTLE RIDGES OF BROWN FROM OVEN BAKING.  THERE WAS A PECULIAR FEEL TO NIGHT TIME.  JUST AS THE SUN HAD POURED ITS HEAT INTO THE EARTH AND HUMANS ALIKE, SO THE NIGHT SEEMED A PAY BACK TIME...I SHOULD SAY A RELEASE FROM TENSIONS AND WEARINESS OF THE DAY...MOST PEOPLE WERE DAMMED TIRED AND THEY SOUGHT THEIR SOLACE IN HOMES AND SOME IN BEER BARS...I REMEMBER THAT ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THIRD ST, THERE WERE A NUMBER OF THREE OR FOUR STORY APT BUILDINGS..RED BRICK .  EACH HALL HAD A VENTILLATING FAN AT END OF HALL, AND I COULD SEE THEM TURNING VIA THE DIM LIGHTED HALLS.  IT WAS REST TIME...LIVES RESTLESSLY THRASHING ON HOT SHEETS, TRYING TO FIND A COOL SPOT....AND THE RADIO...NOTES AT NIGHT ON KVOO.  A CARPET RIDE INTO THE BECKONING ARMS,,,,PROVIDED BY A MAN ALONE IN HIS STUDIO.....THE DISK JOCKEY....POOL HALLS WITH THEIR REGULARS...THE 3/2 BEER  BARS WITH THEIR REGULARS...THE NIGHT PEOPLE..THE CABBIES, THE POLICE..THE HOSPITAL NIGHT NURSES....IT GOES ON AND ON AND ON.  THE SUN WAS HAVIN ITS WAY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD....ONLY TO RISE AGAIN IN TULSA....SOME WOULD GO HOME FROM NIGHT JOBS AND SLEEP, OTHERS WOULD RISE FOR DAY WORK.....THE LIGHT ON THE DOME WAS TURNED OFF,,,,AND...THE DISC JOCKY BID EVERY ONE A GOOD BYE....B