"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
18 September 2006Think smallishI like big developments as much as the next guy — unless, of course, the next guy is the one who plans to make his fortune on them — but for those of us who aren't in the real-estate game, it's the small stuff that makes an inner-city area more interesting and more livable. Michael Bates offers a case in point: the Gypsy Coffee House in Tulsa's Oldtown. The name comes from the long-defunct Gypsy Oil Company, whose building was boarded up in the 1970s and more or less abandoned. New owner Bradley René Garcia took over on the last day of 1998 and faced a massive task: there were interior walls to remove, leaks to fix, amenities to install. It took six months to get to the point where he could start building what he wanted. Still, it's paying off. The second floor is now occupied by a salon; the coffee house is open weeknights until midnight, Friday and Saturday until 3 am. Says Garcia:
I am grateful to be given the chance, through hard work and sacrifice, to leave Tulsa a little bit better off, and to leave something better than it was before & that will be here, long after I am gone.
We do need the big guys with the vast visions; but we need folks like Mr Garcia, devoted to the smaller things, just as much. Posted at 7:46 AM to SoonerlandTrackBack: 9:38 PM, 18 September 2006 » Rescuing a Gypsy from BatesLine I get weary of hearing people who are smart enough to know better to talk about buildings and neighborhoods as too far gone to be worth any effort or investment. Someone was lobbying me about $788 million plan to build islands in the Arkansas River, an......[read more] I think today's economy is MOSTLY built up by the hungry, hardworking little guys. The big guys (think Enron's bosses) are mostly just skimming off the top. I've seen this firsthand in so many situations. Today's corporate culture is absolutely ossified, with a handful of exceptions (WalMart is still pretty dynamic for a firm so huge, The Container Store is holding its own, and everyone at Apple is terrified of you-know-who). If all but a couple dozen of them slid into the swamp, the overall US economy would hardly know the difference. Hey, Polaroid went bust and Kodak's on its last legs. Ford's coughing up blood. Anyone notice? Heh. Container Store holding its own. Heh. Heh. Posted by: Mister Snitch! at 8:32 PM on 19 September 2006 |