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The impact of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine

I recently responded to an appeal from the Internet Archive, seeking testimonials about the value of their Wayback Machine, the tool that allows researchers to go back to earlier snapshots of webpages, including many from long-gone websites. Here's what I wrote: Tell us about the first time you used the...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 7, 2024 11:56 AM

Black Friday exposes the folly of parking minimums

Strong Towns is once again using Black Friday to call attention to parking minimums, zoning laws that require a ridiculous amount of land to be set aside for off-street parking. #BlackFridayParking is a nationwide event drawing attention to the harmful nature of minimum parking requirements. Parking minimums create a barrier...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 29, 2019 11:09 AM

Tulsa attorney restores Bruce Goff-designed home

There's a flat-roofed home that stands at the crest of a hill at 14th and Quaker, just east of Peoria Avenue. It's easy to spot as you pass by on the Broken Arrow Expressway heading into downtown. It sits in a narrow residential sliver between the expressway and the Cherry...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 8, 2014 10:21 PM

Historical surveys of Oklahoma cities and towns

The Oklahoma Historical Society has been scanning and posting documents from their archives, and there is a page full of links to architectural and historical surveys of Oklahoma cities and towns. The surveys were mainly conducted over the past 20 years, often by teams of students led by an architectural...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 18, 2014 8:55 PM

Blair Mansion, Riverside Drive landmark, to be demolished

BatesLine photo, October 15, 2011, All Rights Reserved For over a half-century, motorists driving north on Riverside Drive in Tulsa, after navigating the tricky Midland Valley underpass, were rewarded with the sight of an elegant white mansion across a vast expanse of manicured lawn. Tomorrow, all that will end....

Posted by Michael Bates on January 31, 2014 9:35 PM

Downtown Tulsa needs demolition limits, regulatory and tax relief

Route 66 "planter" and "nature band-aid" attempt to distract from ugliness of Tulsa Community College surface parking lot. UPDATE 2019/11/29: I'm revisiting this entry years later, as Strong Towns uses Black Friday to call attention to parking minimums, zoning laws that require a minimum number of parking spaces based...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 18, 2013 5:56 AM

Independence's Riverside Park preserves historic fun, adds safety

The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Preservation Blog has put its spotlight on the efforts of the City of Independence, Kansas, and the Friends of Riverside Park and Zoo (FORPAZ) to preserve the park's historic playground equipment while meeting modern safety requirements: When Riverside Park's insurance company told park...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 12, 2013 12:57 PM

Bob Wills Fresno home endangered

ABOVE: Bob Wills and his wife Betty hang out the washing to dry at the Triple B Ranch in Fresno, California The Triple B Ranch in Fresno, California, Bob Wills's home in the last half of the 1940s, is to be demolished and replaced with a housing subdivision, despite...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 24, 2013 7:33 PM

Bits of Tulsa history for sale: architectural salvage, antiques

Received this in email and thought it might be of interest to BatesLine readers who are interested in historic preservation and local history. The sale runs three of the next four weekends, 10 am to 4 pm. Reclamation Station LLC 412 So. Frankfort, Tulsa, OK Pam Curtis, proprietor YEARS OF...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 23, 2012 5:46 PM

Saving East Germany's near ruins -- and Tulsa's?

Duane Lester, the All-American Blogger, links to an article in Der Spiegel about a photographer, Stefan Koppelkamm, who toured former East Germany in 1990 and 1991, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and returned a dozen years later, re-photographing the buildings he captured twenty years ago. These buildings...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 14, 2012 12:48 AM

Small area planning kickoff, Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The City of Tulsa Planning Department will officially launch three small area plans this coming Tuesday night, February 28, 2012, at 6 p.m., at the Greenwood Cultural Center, 322 N. Greenwood Ave, in Tulsa. (Doors open at 5:30, the program will go from 6 to 7, followed by Q &...

Posted by Michael Bates on February 24, 2012 11:34 PM

Talyllyn Railway: "The Railway with a Heart of Gold"

Amongst the cache of educational short-subject films available at the Internet Archive, I came across this documentary of a narrow-gauge railway in northwestern Wales, the Talyllyn Railway, being kept alive by preservationists. The documentary was released in 1965, but was filmed in the early 1950s. The railway opened in 1866...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 17, 2011 4:06 PM

Tulsa's Swan Lake one of "America's Great Neighborhoods"

The American Planning Association has named Tulsa's historic Swan Lake neighborhood one of ten Great Neighborhoods for 2011, part of the APA's annual recognition of "Great Places In America." (Hat tip to KRMG News for the story.) From the APA's citation: What dominates this attractive and popular neighborhood are...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 5, 2011 12:12 AM

Tulsa District 4: Blake Ewing on historic preservation and infill

I'm sad to say that Democrat voters in Tulsa's District 4 made my choice in the general election an easy one. Friends and supporters of incumbent Councilor Maria Barnes appreciate her commitment to defending neighborhoods against inappropriate encroachment, a problem in District 4 where modern-day commercial development (and its accompanying...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 18, 2011 1:26 AM

Bill Leighty on historic preservation

Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission chairman Bill Leighty has an excellent op-ed in the latest issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly about the importance of historical preservation to Tulsa's future. I'm tempted to quote the whole thing. The heart of the article is an account of a recent Preservation Leadership Training...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 31, 2011 10:36 PM

What will become of Wilson Middle School? Public meeting Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Tulsa Public Schools is holding a public forum on Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 6 to 7 pm, regarding the sale of Wilson Middle School, one of 14 school buildings closed at the end of the last school year as part of the district's cost-cutting plan. The forum will be held...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 7, 2011 12:36 AM

Historic preservation amendment deserves Tulsa Council support

Updated, May 9, 2011: Scroll down for commentary on the outcome of the vote. Tomorrow night, Thursday, May 5, 2011, the Tulsa City Council will vote on a very simple, crystal clear, eleven-word-long amendment that fixes a loophole in our zoning code, a loophole that endangers the investment that homeowners...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 4, 2011 10:23 PM

Airman museum looking for memories, money

During one of my recent trips to San Antonio's Lackland AFB, on a lunch break, I visited the US Air Force Airman Heritage Museum. It's a modest facility with a monumental plans to preserve and display the history of the Air Force's enlisted men and women and the basic military...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 9, 2011 7:08 PM

Kansas is committed to historic preservation

Wichita has a downtown grocery store. I came across it while out for a walk in the eastern part of downtown, near the recently opened Intrust Arena. (Some people go to the Y or the hotel exercise room. I walk through downtowns and historic neighborhoods.) The store would be easy...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 30, 2010 6:08 PM

Tulsa Realtor Martha Thomas Cobb on historic preservation zoning

URGENT UPDATE: I've heard that Ms. Cobb sent an email blast that's generating some panicked comments attacking PLANiTULSA. If her email is as misinformative as her remarks to the TMAPC (see below), her influence will need to be countered by those who have actually read the PLANiTULSA policy plan and...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 9, 2010 7:35 AM