Tulsa, OK

[bm099433]

Does anybody have anything they can share about Tulsa? Good neighborhoods, bad neighborhoods, good night life spots?

[adstatus]

I have lived in Tulsa most of my life. It is a great city to live in. Lots of cool museums and the downtown Brady and Blue Dome districts have lots of trendy clubs and restaurants. Brookside has lots of fun shopping, bars and restaurants too.

If you are going to TU, midtown is the place to live. Lots of cool 'gingerbread' style homes built in the 30s and 40s. Expensive to live in midtown, but close access to everything. s

South Tulsa is more affluent as well as the suburbs of Broken Arrow and Owasso. I would avoid North Tulsa in a very general sense. There are some nice neighborhoods, but you have to hunt for them. Generally the main crime centers are in North Tulsa, and along Peoria and Riverside drives in the southern part of the city.

Tulsa has a really awesome event center - the BOK Center (BOK=Bank of Oklahoma) which is huge and they are bringing in many national acts, bands, concerts etc that rival Oklahoma City and Dallas.

Many of our roads are under construction which currently makes traffic a pain, but even at its worst, Tulsa traffic is no where near as bad as what you'll find in a major metro area like Dallas or Houston. You are 20 minutes or less from ANYTHING.

Tulsa is a great city to raise a family and has a pretty decent school system with lots of premier private schools.

If sports is your thing Tulsa can probably meet those needs too. Just down the turnpike in OKC we have our NBA fanchise the OKC Thunder. We have a AA BAseball, the Tulsa Drillers, which is a farm team for the Colorado Rockies. Tulsa also has a WNBA franchise, the Tulsa Shock. Of course there is TU sports, which is in the WAC. OU and OSU are also close by. OSU has a really nice Tulsa campus north of Downtown. And high school football RULES around here. Jenks and Union high schools are the biggest rivals in 6A football and are both powerhouses. They have traded state championships back and forth for years. Their annual meeting has been billed the "Backyard Bowl" which in recent years had to be moved to the stadium at the University of Tulsa to accommodtate all of the fans.

Hope this helps. Tulsa is generally a conservative city with nice people and plenty to do.

[equinox]

I grew up in Tulsa- it IS a really nice town! The only place in OK that I think is livable.

I'm not sure what "midtown" means, but yes- North Tulsa, not so good. On the other hand, compared to most places East or West Coast, also not actually that bad.

If you live VERY near the TU campus, you should be fine, but there are bad places a little further out. Lots of very new, quite cheap apartments all over.

Probably easier to find an apartment complex than a craigslist-type rental.

There are some beautiful historical areas- rose gardens, art museum, etc.

Edited March 10, 2011 by equinox

[okProteus]

Adstatus' description is accurate.

"Midtown" is generally accepted to mean 11th to about 31st or 41st, probably Peoria to Yale or Sheridan. It's really farther north and west than the "middle" of town, but Tulsa's main growth has been to the south and east for decades. The houses in that area are lovely.

Brookside (Peoria from about 41st to 31st) is a very fun place. Beware of neighborhoods south of there though. 61st and Peoria is one of the highest crime areas in town. It's worse than it initially looks. There are lots of apartments from 61st to 91st, around Peoria and Riverside. I'd avoid them.

Cherry Street area (15th from Peoria to Lewis or so) is similar to Brookside. Best coffee shop in town (IMO) is The Coffee House on Cherry Street. Good drinks (and food) and great atmosphere. As it's near TU, there are lots of TU students around.

The Blue Dome District area (generally the northeastern area of the downtown loop) is indeed the best night spot.

If you're studying at OU Tulsa, I'd personally recommend living a few miles south. I've lived in the area of 81st and Yale, and it's great. Less than four miles from the campus, relatively low traffic, low crime, lots of trees, etc.

Btw, Tulsa's overall crime rate is not good compared to a lot of east and west cost areas. For instance, plug in Tulsa vs. Los Angeles in on a website that compares crime rates and you'll see that Tulsa's crime is way higher than LA's - especially violent crime. However, Tulsa is quite economically and sociologically segregated, and most of the crime occurs: (1) north of Admiral, (2) around 31st and Garnett, and (3) around 61st and Peoria.

I would also pick my spots carefully in the area around TU, as that general area is sort of borderline between fairly nice midtown and near-ghetto.

The construction is annoying, and the quality of the roads is inconsistent (Sheridan from 41st north is like a back road in West Virginia, only with pavement rather than dirt) but it's as easy a city to navigate as you'll find.

[okProteus]

Btw, anyone with further questions about Tulsa is welcome to message me. If I'm an active user at the time and see your message, I'm happy to answer anything I'm capable of answering.

I also recommend City Data's forums. They tend to be fairly useful.

[RafAkd]

I am definitely going to attend to University of Tulsa. I am from Caracas, Venezuela; a city of 5.4 million people approximately so is going to be nice to live in a city of 300,000. I am moving with my wife and I will start to research which are the best zones for housing.

What about cycling? Are the roads in Tulsa cycling friendly? I mean, can I use a bicycle for traveling from home to the Campus?

Bye

[mse]

I am a graduate student at OSU Tulsa. I need information regarding the city, cost of living for students, crime rate and housing option near campus. I would really appreciate any help in this regard.

 Thanks a lot