Tag: downtown Oklahoma City

Solomon’s ‘road trip’ to OKC’s Omni Hotel

Solomon walking
Solomon rolls his new backpack up to OKC’s Omni Hotel on Friday morning.


This is what happens when his GiGi is out of town on business and Papa is left in charge of entertainment on a Friday for our grandson, Solomon.

I’ll preface this with the fact that 5-year-old Solomon received a nice, “Lilo and Stitch” rolling backpack this week when some visiting relatives presented it to him.

So, when it was just us two early Friday, Solomon said he wanted to go on a road trip. He suggested “the beach” and then Branson.

I said we couldn’t do either of those today, but maybe we could drive up to Guthrie and find a place to eat.

Solomon sort of accepted that, but later told me he wanted to go to that “nice Thunder hotel downtown.” All of us had stayed the night at OKC’s Omni Hotel last year when my wife, Paula, was booked there for a convention meeting.

A visit to the Omni seemed the perfect time-killer. So, I said ‘sure.’

Next thing I knew is that Solomon was loading his backpack up with shirts, shorts and underwear for our trip. Three complete outfits.

He insisted I take my overnight case, too.

So, we loaded up the car and headed downtown about 9:30 am and found a parking space along the street just north of Scissortail Park.

I got Solomon’s backpack out of the trunk, and he immediately began marching toward the hotel. I trailed along behind.

Anyway, we entered the lobby of the hotel and found a nice couch to lounge on and soaked up the cool air for a while. Solomon was great for a few minutes, then got a little restless.

ice creamI suggested we walk around and explore the hotel. We took the escalator the second floor and discovered the massive meeting spaces the hotel offers (I was surprised at the amount of meeting space because the hotel sits adjacent to OKC’s new convention center).

Then we headed back downstairs and found the hotel coffee shop, Park Grounds. I got a coffee and Solomon enjoyed a cup of ice cream.

We sat there for several enjoyable minutes. I met a young woman from St. Louis who was here in town for a national sorority meeting next door at the convention center.

My serenity was broken when Solomon finished his ice cream and walked over to my chair.

“Papa, I’m ready to go up to our room now.”

I had to break it to him that we had no room at the Omni. We were merely loiterers who were taking advantage of the hotel’s cool air and nice ambiance

So, we closed out our visit with another few minutes of lounging and people watching in the lobby.

Finally, I told Solomon we had to go. He grabbed his backpack and rolled it back onto the sidewalk outside.

We had killed most of the morning at the Omni. And that’s a winner!

lounging
Solomon lounging in the lobby of OKC’s downtown Omni Hotel.

Discovering real value of OKC Streetcar

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OKC Streetcar at the Business District stop in downtown Oklahoma City

A few weeks ago, I made the argument in a blog post that the OKC Streetcar had no real purpose, even though I’m a huge fan.

The point was that the Streetcar has no destination, so you can’t really plan a trip, say to the Capitol from downtown. You can read the post here.

After this past weekend of big downtown events, I think I need to revisit the subject.

I made the argument in the original post that maybe the Streetcar could find a purpose by providing transportation into downtown for big events like Thunder games.

Rather than enduring traffic jams and competing for expensive parking near the Chesapeake Arena, fans could find parking near the north end of the Streetcar and ride down to the arena.

Bingo.

Aboard
Aboard the OKC Streetcar, Arts Fest bound

This past weekend confirmed to me that the Streetcar can indeed bring value to our population. With the OKC PrideFest and Arts Festival ongoing simultaneously, thousands of people were drawn to downtown.

My family and I drove downtown Friday evening to visit the Arts Fest and found a convenient (and empty!) lot near N. 11th Street. It was near the North Hudson Streetcar stop.

So, we caught the Streetcar there and rode it down to the Business District stop. We exited and walked a block over to the Arts Fest.

Turns out, there were scores of others who had the same idea. We boarded a Streetcar that had a least 20 people on it along with four others at our stop.

We saw multiple groups of people parking and walking to the northern-most Streetcar stops to ride into the downtown.

My friend Steve reports that his family visited the Arts Fest on Saturday and took the Streetcar down from the North Hudson stop, as well.

When Steve and his family left the Arts Fest to make the return trip, the car on which they rode was packed with more than 50 people, he said.

Of course, the Streetcar was free last week. so take that into account.

And, as Steve points out, occasional festivals and NBA games don’t create ongoing value for the Streetcar.

paula streetcar1
Paula and grandson Solomon Stafford at OKC Streetcar Library stop

This morning’s edition of The Oklahoman has an in-depth look at the Streetcar and makes the case that its real value is that of encouraging investment in real estate and construction downtown.

That’s not exactly an endorsement of a Streetcar that serves the greater good.

“It truly is a downtown novelty until ridership is majority residential commuter,” Steve said.

If that is true, then we need a bigger downtown population that is willing to give up their cars to commute, along with an extension of the Streetcar line.

I’m still arguing for a connection to the nearby University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the Capitol.

But I took heart in the numbers of people this past weekend who found value in the Streetcar as a means of transportation to big downtown events.

The OKC Streetcar proved to me that it has an actual purpose beyond real estate development and tourism.

It IS there to serve the greater good.