Getting $15 million renovation. Great news for this. I have always loved this place.

Vinita Turnpike Landmark To Get $14.6 Million Makeover - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports | (http://www.news9.com/story/21797087/vinita-turnpike-landmark-to-get-146-million-makeover)

Back in the 60's we used to stop there and eat on our trips up to Chicago to visit my grandparents. It was really a pretty structure back then. The vertical louvers over the windows are actually aircraft wings that were repurposed into the original design. I hope they refurbish it back to what it looked like originally. It looked pretty tacky after McDonalds got their hands on it.

Renovations are about to start!

Vinita Service Plaza On Will Rogers Turnpike Closing In June - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports | (http://www.news9.com/story/22173843/vinita-service-plaza-on-will-rogers-turnpike-to-close-for-renovations)

It would be nice if they would upgrade the rest stops as well. Right now they are about as appealling as something you would find in Somalia.

"The turnpike will remain open to traffic."

No $%^& Sherlock?!? Talk about an awesome sentence, lol...

lol

Vinita Trivia: Other than the travel center there is only one other operating gas station in Vinita (on old Rt. 66).

So two restaurants and a convenience store are going in here. Does this mean McDonald's is gone, or will it be one of the two stores?

So two restaurants and a convenience store are going in here. Does this mean McDonald's is gone, or will it be one of the two stores?I think McDonalds is staying and getting a makeover

http://www.beckdesign.com/projects/design/ota-glass-house/

http://www.beckdesign.com/projects/design/ota-glass-house/

Wow, that actually looks pretty cool.

That looks awesome!!!!!!

I guess my request did not fall on deaf ears after all. I posted on McDonalds and the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's Facebook pages last summer after we made our trip to Branson. I commented on how this place is an Oklahoma Icon and it should be renovated especially when people are paying to use the road. I figured between McDonalds and OTA that one if not both would see the need to preserve this place. Oklahoma is constantly beating the drum of being a first class state yet this place looked like a bus terminal. The restrooms were dirty and the gift shop looked like something that should be in the middle of a Flea Market, McDonald's only occupied a small footprint of the place.

It looks like McDonald's and Subway will be the restaurants. Hopefully they will use the new cafe layouts they are using in both franchises these days.

From CuatrodeMayo's link.

http://www.beckdesign.com/media/5629/2010-0921_oklahoma_signage_study-curved_r.jpg

http://www.beckdesign.com/media/5626/cam_4_niter.jpg

http://www.beckdesign.com/media/5632/cam_2_dayr.jpg

http://www.beckdesign.com/media/5635/cam_3_dayr.jpg

http://www.beckdesign.com/media/5638/entryr.jpg

http://www.beckdesign.com/media/5641/visitor_arear.jpg


Beck Design was selected through a design competition that resulted in being challenged to reimagine one of the most unique and recognizable buildings in Oklahoma. The Glass House which hovers above the Will Rogers Turnpike has been a traveller's landmark since it was originally built in 1957. Essentially a concrete bridge structure, the enclosure is completed by a parabolic arch that gives the former restaurant its signature look of modernist architecture. It has fallen into disrepair and OTA has wisely decided to invest in saving this very significant building.

The innovative approach for the new design has been to ensure that this character is preserved with new glass finishes, and amenities will serve the building into the future. When the renovation is complete, the building will provide nearly 30,000 square feet of new restaurants, convenience stores and Oklahoma tourism exhibits. It will once again offer a cultural unique destination for the weary traveller.

^ Nice

I don't know, I think I like it the old way better. There is something about not changing something that's a classic and I think that's exactly what this is doing. Maybe I'm the only one.

I don't know, I think I like it the old way better. There is something about not changing something that's a classic and I think that's exactly what this is doing. Maybe I'm the only one.

Apparently you have not been up there lately. My wife and I went to Branson last summer and stopped on the way and on the way back. It's a dump to say the least. I'm talking Greyhound Bus Terminal dump. Restoring to the old version would have been like trying to restore the rusty Belvedere that was pulled out of the ground in Tulsa a few years ago. They likely weighed the options and this design was the most economical and maintenance friendly.

02/23/2014
https://scontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t31/1556248_10202380402223923_1407156193_o.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t31/1898713_10202380403583957_2047137509_o.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/t31/1498750_10202380404183972_1041153462_o.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t31/1655476_10202380404503980_953639037_o.jpg
https://scontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t31/1556449_10202380404903990_932777487_o.jpg

Memories! Remember the pedestrian bridge over the Turner at the midway (Stroud)? When I was a kid I thought that was really neat.

Service plaza outside of Vinita named the Will Rogers Archway - Tulsa World: News (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/service-plaza-outside-of-vinita-named-the-will-rogers-archway/article_9e34e462-c03a-51f0-816a-4cc0036424e0.html)

Brings back fond memories of my visits to my grandmother, who lived on Grand Lake from the late sixties until she passed away in the early nineties.

I wondered what they were doing with this when I went to Grand earlier this year.

I hope in that first pic PluPan someone else was taking that pick. ;)

One time, we--that is, my sweet wife and I--foller'd whut's left of th' original "Route 66/MotherRoad of America" as fer as we could. In Oklahoma. With, of course, detours in the vicinity of Bernice, Grove and Vinita. 'Round Vinita, on the way home, we needed to stop fer gas. Dadgummed if'in thar' warn't but one actual fillin' station a-still operatin' in the actual, real CityLimits of Vinita. Way off'in whut us'da be the main Threwofare without having to pay a fair fare.

One gas station. At a Convenience Store. It was a eye-openin' experience. We bought some chips and maybe a Cola 'r Dr. Pepper 'r Grapette 'r Whutever . . . and rolled on, in a vaguely SW direction, towards OKC. Marvellin' at the fact that Vinita, proper, didn't have but one gas station. In town.

We did heed the signs and didn't pick up any hitchhikers.

It made up for the sort of depressing ambiance of Afton.
On account of the Turnpike. And attitudes and stuff.

Of course, this was all back around 2007 or so . . .

Maybe the new Turnpike Traveler Ultra-Convinced Center will have RC Cola or Double Cola on Tap.
Sure hope they don't have to tear it down in a few years to make way for that High Speed Locomotive . . .

Service plaza outside of Vinita named the Will Rogers Archway - Tulsa World: News (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/service-plaza-outside-of-vinita-named-the-will-rogers-archway/article_9e34e462-c03a-51f0-816a-4cc0036424e0.html)

The name is close to perfect.
It's like a tribute or something.
To an old-tymee humorist.
I hope McDonalds Corporate gets the joke.

The name is close to perfect.
It's like a tribute or something.
To an old-tymee humorist.
I hope McDonalds Corporate gets the joke.

Only if they paint the whole thing a ghastly yellow.

Oklahoma Landmark Travel Plaza Reopens Monday In Vinita - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports | (http://www.news9.com/story/27687009/oklahoma-landmark-travel-plaza-re-opens-monday-in-vinita)

Iconic arch over Will Rogers Turnpike reopens - Tulsa World: Homepage5 (http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepage5/iconic-arch-over-will-rogers-turnpike-reopens/article_206e2761-2ca3-556a-8f21-91ef0da5872f.html)

I'm almost 56 yo. As a little girl we would stop there traveling from California to Chicago.

It was amazing to read how many people commented on this not from this state, but from out of state on a couple websites I was perusing. This is definitely an iconic landmark for some and I'm glad they finally decided to invest in it. Definitely puts Oklahoma in the 21st century and perhaps a good first impression from those coming from the Northeast.