What old business do you remember in OKC?

[soonergeezer]

Wow.
All this talk of old car dealerships just reminded me of . . .
Tom "'WHEEL DEAL' Handful of Fake Money Fanning" Padgham
and
Alan "Torture Time Again: We Shupply th' Methsican Market" Merrell.

Some of the best local TV commercial viewing ever with the possible exception of Linda Soundtrack.

Closest thing to it nowadays is that We Buy Houses Lady . . .

My older brother was a salesman for Alan Merrell Chevrolet, can't remember the years, probably late 60s or early 70s.

[RadicalModerate]

Can you imagine how far Alan Merrell might have gone in the car selling business if he hadn't had that speech impediment?
Near as I can recall, he was always looking for cars to sell to The Mexican Market.
It's sort of ironic, in a way. (I don't think he was local . . . I think more like Chicago or thereabouts)

Who was that shyster, with the wad of bills in his hand, on television, fanning through them like a deck of cards saying, "We'll Deal."
It wasn't Alan Merell . . . It was that other guy . . . I think his brother in laws kid started UBuildIt or is related to that other local scamartist who actually once retired on camera in front of the "In Your Corner Dude" . . . so he could make a comeback, like, recently, again. =)

Sorry . . . For just a moment there I forgot Tom Padghem and repeated myself.

Kudos for your bro' for his part in the cultural continuum. =)

[soonergeezer]

Don't forget Coffeen Oldsmobile that was there before Bolen... Henry Coffeen was a classmate of mine at Classen (along with Breene Kerr, from whom I much much later bought a Fiat X-1/9)...

I went to school with Breen Kerr's son(Breen jr.) and also went out with his daughter Kim, maybe twice. One of the times we went out, she showed up at my house in the most beautiful 51 Jag convertible. Much later I owned a taxi service and carried Breen sr. and his wife Sherry to and from the airport when he lived near 63rd and Grand blvd. In the late 80s he moved to Greenwich Conn. and hired me to drive a green Jag to Greenwich. Since then I've lost track of him, don't know if he' still alive.

[soonergeezer]

Skyrick, I discovered Abextra in 1968. Prior to '67, who would be selling trip glasses, anyway? Once, in the blacklight room, a friend's fake tooth was revealed.

Anyone remember that wonderful Jefferson Airplane poster, the wooden looking one? Man, that was cool.

Speaking of magazines, did they sell Eye Magazine, or did I buy it elsewhere?

If you hung out at the Abextra, do you remember the black chick with the giant afro? It was huge, maybe 3 or 4 feet wide. I still have a San Fransisco poster and an eagle carved out of wood and mounted on copper that I bought there.

[jmpokc1957]

Does anyone remember Gangus Whitfield VW and used car lot on nw 39th just west of where Cable VW is now. I worked there in the early 70s.

I remember it, but vaguely. My dad had a 63 VW Beetle which I know he had serviced there. For some reason I have a memory that they may have moved further south towards Norman sometime later as I can remember his taking the car down that way and us having a test drive of a new beetle.

I still have the screw driver that went with the tool kit which was stored under the front "hood". It has a wooden handle!

I also remember the windshield washer reservoir had a schrader valve and you used a tire pump to pressurize it!

A very well built and air-tight car.

[soonergeezer]

In Britton near the Broadway ext..

I saw Canned Heat play at Ruby's, don't remember the year.

[soonergeezer]

Does anyone remember a car wash shaped like a whale on or around NW 50th and Meridian??

Or am I just crazy??

You are not crazy,I think it was bight blue.

[soonergeezer]

There was a Sub Stop on 2nd and Broadway in that old gas station.

Sub Stop moved from 36th and Macarthur to 2nd. I ate there often, and one day came by and they were gone. They gave no warning, or very little they were moving.

[soonergeezer]

My memory fails me so does anyone remember the names of my favorite hangouts: the drive-in at May and Britton Rd., the drive-in next to the Founders Tower and a burger place I think it was called Kennedy's (if I remember right it was on May just north of Hefner? Maybe someone else has a better memory than me.

I remember all of those places, Twilight Gardens, NW drive-in, and Kennedy's(Across the Street, and about 4 other names over the years)

[soonergeezer]

Yes but wasn't there one at around May and Hefner? Or something similar?
I remember ordering from the tables using the phones that were at the tables and no it wasn't Del Rancho.

You are exactly right about the phones, they had very good chili-cheese burger, the food was always good. It's still there(the building) under another name.

[soonergeezer]

If you actually placed a metaphorical or analogical bet in this context . . . you lose. (I remember =)

(Dang! This total recall ain't what it's cracked up to be! ~ Arnold Schwartnegger, "The Big Book of Clichés, Pt. 2: The Paraphrases) =)

Lets test your memory again, do you remember when the Red Dog had a club in Nichols Hills, on Western between 63rd and Wilshire, east side of the road?

[bluedogok]

I'll bet no on remembers when Maxey's had a motorcycle store on Broadway ext. It was on the east side of Broad. ext. between Wilshire and nw 63rd. Even before that they had a store in the shopping center where Johnnies hamburgers on Britton rd, is now, on the far east side of the shopping center.

The 39th location is the only one that I remember. I do know before they picked up Yamaha we would buy parts at Buck's Yamaha at NW 65th & May where Sweet Memories (I think) is/was located. We also bought some Yamaha parts at a dealer on NW 39th in the downtown area of Yukon.

Sub Stop moved from 36th and Macarthur to 2nd. I ate there often, and one day came by and they were gone. They gave no warning, or very little they were moving.

There were several Sub Stops around town at one time, one next to the old Sammy's Pizza on North Western between 63rd & Wilshire. I think there was one just south of Britton Rd on May for a short time. I thought Subs Etc. at Hefner & Penn was pretty good. In Norman I thought a place with a unique sandwich was Dave's Hole in the Wall Pizza and Subs in the Campus Corner area.

[soonergeezer]

The only Neptunes I remember eating at a lot was on NW 16th and Rockewell. I loved their roast beef subs slightly warmed up.

My favorite was the roast beef with swiss cheese lettuce and that great Italian oil they made themselves. I ate at the one on n. MAY at 63rd.

[soonergeezer]

The 39th location is the only one that I remember. I do know before they picked up Yamaha we would buy parts at Buck's Yamaha at NW 65th & May where Sweet Memories (I think) is/was located. We also bought some Yamaha parts at a dealer on NW 39th in the downtown area of Yukon.


There were several Sub Stops around town at one time, one next to the old Sammy's Pizza on North Western between 63rd & Wilshire. I think there was one just south of Britton Rd on May for a short time. I thought Subs Etc. at Hefner & Penn was pretty good. In Norman I thought a place with a unique sandwich was Dave's Hole in the Wall Pizza and Subs in the Campus Corner area.

There was also a Sub Stop at 122nd and May, northwest corner, they weren't there very long.

[Jim Kyle]

I also remember taking my 450 Honda to an area close to where UPS on I-40 is now and climbing a really steep hill with about 75 or 80 other people, there was always a bunch of people there riding dirt bikes. The hill and the whole area was destroyed when they built I-40.

You've reminded me of the "Motorcycle hills" area between Western and Santa Fe, between NW 50 and Deep Fork, now occupied by I-44. In the late 40s and early 50s, it was THE place for hill climbs, using little bikes like the Famous James (around 250 cc as I recall). The inclines approached an angle of 60 degrees and it wasn't uncommon for an inexperienced rider to do an inadvertent backward somersault if he didn't give it enough throttle at the critical moment!

[ctchandler]

Soonergeezer,
Was it Gandara Buick?
C. T.

I don't remember details, but they did sell Buicks and Opal Gts.

[Jim Kyle]

Gandara Buick was on N May, just south of NW 63, where the Braum's is now located. Before that, Jack Clark Dodge and Plymouth was located there...

[ctchandler]

Bluedogok,
Wasn't that a "Subs and Stuff"? I worked in the Hertz building on Penn, just South of Hefner. I ate there lots of times but I don't remember Subs Etc. It might have changed after I moved to the Data Center on NW Expressway and MacArthur.
C. T.

The 39th l I thought Subs Etc. at Hefner & Penn was pretty good.

[soonergeezer]

Soonergeezer,
Was it Gandara Buick?
C. T.

Yes, but I think that was after they moved to n May just south of nw 63rd.

[soonergeezer]

Gandara Buick was on N May, just south of NW 63, where the Braum's is now located. Before that, Jack Clark Dodge and Plymouth was located there...

I think the father of the current Cable VW owners had a Chrysler dealership at that same location. They had a commercial with a cable car bell ringing.

[bluedogok]

Bluedogok,
Wasn't that a "Subs and Stuff"? I worked in the Hertz building on Penn, just South of Hefner. I ate there lots of times but I don't remember Subs Etc. It might have changed after I moved to the Data Center on NW Expressway and MacArthur.
C. T.

Yes it was for a long time, not sure where I got the Etc. name.

[SoonerExile]

Thank you. I love the great collection of history represented here !

[tfvc.org]

My grandpa had a hardware store called Stan-Way on SE 57th and Shields in the 2 tone brown brick building on the North East side. I went in there recently and now it is some guy doing furniture restoration. I still have a ton of pencils, incoice receipts, and flat head screwdriver key chain promotional stuff with the name and address on them.

[RadicalModerate]

Your mention of an old hardware store reminded me of a couple of places I used to visit, from time to time, though neither of them was technically in OKC. One was the Original Evans (ace) Hardware down around 15th and Douglas or Midwest Blvd. and the other was Koelsch's Hardware over there in the vicinity of 10th and SoonerAirDepot. Both CLASSIC, old-school, examples of what Hardware Stores used to be.

Koelsch's had a slogan on an old, hand painted sign in the vicinity of the place: "If We Don't Have It, You Don't Need It"

Gee . . . Somehow I just thought of Bollenger's Books on May Ave.
At that time it was almost like a trip across the country to pay them a visit.
Now, where it used to be, is about five minutes away.

[Tritone]

Koelsch Hardware was a neat place. There is another old-style hadware store that's worth a look. It's the store on the north edge of Newcastle, two miles south of Tri-City on US 62. It's a step back into yesteryear.

Here's another oddity about Koelsch. It sits on the corner of Reno and Sooner Road where a railroad crosses diagonally through the center of the intersection. Any takers on the other two OKC intersections with tracks running diagonally through them? Hint: They're both intersections of section lines. (Now watch, these folks will name a couple more that I don't know about.)