Tower Theatre

[BDP]

And, yes, Matt was in the American Boyfriends.

[Urbanized]

Actually he was in BOTH bands.

[BDP]

When was he in the Mints? Did he record with them?

[warreng88]

Drove by this weekend and saw they were putting in a curbed area in front of the Tower Theatre entrance to block anyone from pakring directly in front of it. Also saw for lease signs via Banta on the store fronts to the west of the theatre. Anyone know of any other work going on besides this?

[trison]

Talked to the owner this weekend. The curb in front of the old Tower sign has been completed and a new sign has been ordered. I can't wait to see it lit back up.

[warreng88]

Talked to the owner this weekend. The curb in front of the old Tower sign has been completed and a new sign has been ordered. I can't wait to see it lit back up.

I saw some people working on the sign this weekend. Not sure what was going on, but glad to see progress.

[CuatrodeMayo]

That is going to be amazing to see that neon glowing down the street. I'm quite thrilled.

[sxl]

yeah. this should be awesome.

[securityinfo]

I hope Marty can pull this thing off... the interior is ratty and will need considerable work. I mean a LOT of work... $$$$. But a really nice 500-800 seat venue could possibly make it here in OkC. The last show I saw there was Tommy Chong a few years ago, and the stage was about to rot away then.

Marty is a great guy, and has lots of band/sound/venue experience. I just hope his money holds out.

[BDP]

Is it only 800 capacity? I think we actually need something in the 1000-1500 range.

[bluedogok]

It is supposed to be around 1,200.

[BDP]

That'd be perfect, imo.

[jbrown84]

"a new sign is being ordered"


I hope it's an exact replica, and not just some completely new sign.

[CuatrodeMayo]

It will take some major work to get it back in shape, but I doubt it will be a completely new sign, replica or not.

[Doug Loudenback]

I posted these in the 23rd street thread, but why not double-post good news?

I was glad to see the following as I drove by today:

[wsucougz]

Thanks, Doug!

[warreng88]

Marquee revamp conveys sign of Uptown’s progress in Oklahoma City
BY STEVE LACKMEYER
Published: July 8, 2009

The smashed marquee at the Tower Theater is gone and the letters are back in place — a hint that renovations are finally getting under way at the Uptown landmark.

Read the rest of Steve's article at:

http://newsok.com/marquee-revamp-con...ad_story_title

[BDP]

Future use of the former theater space won’t be decided until a restaurant operator is chosen, Dillon said.

"If a restaurant operator wants to take on the whole facility, they can lease that, as well as restaurant space,” Dillon said. "Or Uptown Development (Dillon’s development company) is willing to manage and run the theater space. It can run either way.”

That's actually not very encouraging in terms of it being used as a venue. Sounds more like a Will Rogers redux. Just another banquet room...

It'll be nice to have the Tower back in action, especially what it will do for mid-town, but I'm no longer getting my hopes up that it can or will become OKC's premier music venue.

[Steve]

Thanks WarrenG88 for the way you handled posting to the intro of my story without doing a full copy and paste.

[warreng88]

Thanks WarrenG88 for the way you handled posting to the intro of my story without doing a full copy and paste.

No problem Steve. I have a lot of respect for what you do and try to help the paper get more readers.

[bombermwc]

I'm so glad to see this place is being taken care of for real. And with some real future tenants.

I agree that using it as a restaurant isn't really that great, but at least it would get used. Will Rogers isn't exactlly doing poorly you know. I would have loved to have seen it as a music venue, but it's much harder to get stuff going in a place like that. Just having the sign not falling into the road will do wonders!

[metro]

BDP, well said, I too hope this is not another Will Rogers Theatre part deux.

[gen70]

I remember when my parents took our family to see movies at the Tower in the 50's. I thought the place was beautiful. I have many great memories of the place. Glad to see it's being saved and the surrounding area. To bad some of the other great theatres are gone. There's nothing to compare to today's theaters.

[Steve]

How did the Tower compare to the downtown theaters at that time?

[gen70]

They were all beautiful in their own way, hard to compare. Some were alot older.