Out Of The Ordinary

Linda Burton posting from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – There are two out-of-the-ordinary things about the Oklahoma state capitol. No other state capitol once had a working oil well on its front lawn named Petunia. And no other state capitol sat without a dome for 85 years, and then added one. It was designed to have a dome, but budget overruns forced a change of plans. “How can we save money?” became the pressing question; postponing the dome was the most logical answer. When the capitol was officially opened for business June 30, 1917, ten years into statehood, it had an almost flat roof. Inside an inverted bowl-shaped construction decorated with a painted plaster seal did faux-dome duty. Fast forward to 2001. With private donations in the coffer, the time for the doming of the capitol had arrived; workers removed the two million pounds of brick and concrete that made up the old flat roof. Because the original plans called for a dome, the existing building was ready to carry the new five-million-pound construction; it was completed in 2002. Outside, it looks the way it was always meant to look. Inside, everything above a narrow purple ring is new construction, offering a visually stunning upward-sweeping view to a state seal now surrounded by shimmering glass. Beautiful! Now, about that oil well named Petunia. » read more

Afternoon in Paris

Linda Burton posting from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “No, we have a house,” was the deadpan answer. The young Dad held his little boy mid-air over the stroller while the Mom re-arranged jackets and diaper bag. She laughed, and I did too, amending my question from “Do you live here?” to “Do you come here often?” The Mom affirmed that they were frequent visitors to this beautiful park. The mood was light and why wouldn’t it be – we’re in a magical place where a fairy-tale lake disappears beneath a curving crystal tube that’s filled with jungle orchids; outside it’s Paris. Indeed, parts of this 17-acre oasis were inspired by the Tuileries Gardens of Paris, where Parisians celebrated, met, promenaded, and relaxed. Which is what I’m doing this afternoon in downtown Oklahoma City. If I were designing a place for people to gather in the heart of the city I’d do it just like the Oklahoma City planners did. I’d start with I M Pei. And I’d wind up with something like the Myriad Botanical Gardens. » read more

Here’s The Beef

Linda Burton posting from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – “Just climb those steps and walk the walkway over the pens. The auction is in that red barn over yonder.” Those directions were followed by a good squirt-through-the-teeth spit onto the ground and a nod towards a large red barn. Way over yonder. I climbed the steps as high as the walkway, but vertigo took over then. A small group of handsome black cattle stood penned below me; ears tagged; beyond them more cattle in brown; and way beyond that, the red auction barn. They stared at me and I stared back, each of us wondering where they were headed next. A man approached the steps wearing a long pony tail and a high-powered camera; I asked what he was planning to shoot. “Cows and cowboys,” he answered. “I’m just looking for something interesting.” He proceeded along the walkway over the cattle pens, headed for the red barn. The morning auction went on without me; I more sure-footedly explored Stockyards City from a ground-level view. Later I caught up with the crowd at Cattlemen’s Steakhouse, where cowboys and cattlemen have been going since 1910. » read more

Divide and Conquer

Linda Burton posting from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Divide and conquer. An old expression, still good advice. There’s an Oklahoma windstorm going on outside, promising a temperature drop from 80 to 30 degrees, so I’m reading up on Oklahoma City and making my list of Things To Do when the weather calms. I don’t know much about OKC; is it a cowtown of the west, or a modern metropolis? Or both? I do know it’s the 8^th largest capital city with a population of 580,000, and there’s an oil well on the capitol lawn. The literature I picked up at the Oklahoma Welcome Center includes the 2012 OKC Visitor Guide, titled Bold & Beautiful and subtitled Cool & Warm (published by the Convention & Visitors Bureau). Inside I read, “Over the past two decades we’ve transformed our city through more than $5 billion of public and private investment in quality-of-life improvements….There’s an energy here….It’s the kind of place you want to be.” The letter from Mayor Mick Cornett suggests a perfect day in Oklahoma City: start at the OKC Museum of Art to see Chihuly Glass, stroll through the Botanical Gardens and Crystal Bridge, lunch at Cattlemen’s Steakhouse, afternoon at the Plaza District and then head to Classen Curve for shopping and dinner. End the day with a sunset at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. I can’t do all that in a day! Divide and conquer to see it all, that’s my plan. » read more

The Promised Land

Linda Burton posting from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma –Rome wasn’t built in a day, they say, but Oklahoma City almost was. And Guthrie too, Oklahoma’s first capital city. At high noon on April 22, 1889, the resident population of Guthrie was nothing; before sundown it was at least 10,000. In that time streets were laid out, town lots staked off, and steps taken toward the formation of a municipal government. The same thing was happening in Oklahoma City, which would later become the capital. Within a month of its beginnings, Oklahoma City had five banks and six newspapers. This phenomenal development is known as The Land Run, or, as some called it back then, Harrison’s Horserace. You see, President Benjamin Harrison announced on March 3 of that momentous year that almost two million acres of “unassigned lands” in Indian Territory would be opened for settlement on April 22. With only seven weeks to prepare, land-hungry Americans quickly began to gather. By the appointed day more than 50,000 hopefuls were living in tent cities on all four sides of the territory, waiting for the signal to claim their land. Precisely at noon in one of the most dramatized and chaotic episodes in western history, the cannons were fired. » read more

Simplicity in Symbolism

Linda Burton posting from Santa Fe, New Mexico – Clean modern lines reflecting ancient traditions – how do you combine that into a stunning and meaningful setting appropriate for the business of the state? New Mexico is one of the newer states (47^th in 1912) and now has one of the newer capitol buildings (dedicated 1966). It also has the oldest – the Palace of Governors (1609) still stands on the north side of the Plaza, as the state museum. In between, New Mexico had an elaborate Victorian capitol (1886) which citizens called “audacious” and a traditional capitol with a silver dome (1900) which was often criticized as not being appropriate for the state; in 1950 the dome was removed. Building #4 seems to have done the trick for New Mexico; its New Mexico Territorial style – that unique combo of Greek Revival and Pueblo adobe – fits the ambiance, and the sensibilities, of the capital city. When viewed from above you can see that the unusual circular building resembles the Zia Sun Symbol, with four entrance wings protruding from the main center. That Zia symbol represents values important to the people of New Mexico. » read more

The Air and The Waters

Linda Burton posting from Santa Fe, New Mexico – “The air.” That has been the answer by many as I have asked the question “What do you like best about Santa Fe?” Santa Fe is the country’s highest capital city with an elevation of 7,000 feet, give or take a few depending on which side of town you’re on. It is high desert country, with about 320 days of sunshine a year. It sits at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, that sub-range of the Rockies that extends 240 miles from Colorado into New Mexico. Near Taos to the north is Wheeler Peak, New Mexico’s highest point, at 13,161 feet; just outside Santa Fe is Truchas Peak, at 13,102. So here you have a pretty place where the sun almost always shines, it doesn’t get too hot or too cold, and the air is clean. Very attractive! Santa Fe air has been attracting people for thousands of years; it appears to have both an inspirational and a healing effect on those who come. John Gaw Meem (the architect) came to recover from tuberculosis in 1920, where he met Carlos Vierra (the artist) at Sunmount Sanatorium (we’ve already talked about them). Sunmount was in business from the early 1900’s to that point in time when medication became available for the disease; it offered patients clean dry air and a chance to rest, far from the pressures of the madding crowd. » read more

A Petri Dish of Culture

Linda Burton posting from Santa Fe, New Mexico – Everybody loves a party, and there’s been a big one going on this year in New Mexico. It’s a Centennial year, celebrating New Mexico’s 100 years of statehood; on January 6, 1912 it became the 47^th state. Festivals and events have been happening from one corner of the state to the other; there was even a Culture Pass for sale! It cost $25 and offered access to the 8 museums and 6 monuments that fall within the aegis of New Mexico’s Department of Cultural Affairs. http://www.newmexicoculture.org/index.php . This department, headquartered in Santa Fe, was created back in 1978 and, according to its website, is dedicated to “preserving and celebrating the cultural integrity and diversity of our state.” It oversees a broad range of New Mexico’s arts and cultural heritage agencies (15 divisions); there are 500 employees and about a thousand volunteers who put in 70,000 hours annually. Every year more than $2 million goes directly to New Mexico’s cultural activities to fund arts and cultural programs; over three million people are served. But back to that Culture Pass, and the doors it would open. » read more

They Get It

Linda Burton posting from Santa Fe, New Mexico – “There is no other place in the country where cultures meet, and blend, like they do here.” So said Maria, explaining to me why she loves Santa Fe so much. My first question to her was “Why are all the buildings brown?” She answered that the southwest adobe style was the heritage of centuries past. Maria, a Greek transplant from Chicago, laughed as she pointed out her dark hair and skin tones. “People think I’m Spanish,” she continued, “and because I speak Spanish fluently, I fit in here from the first day. I get what this city is all about. Some people don’t. I can see it on their face; they seem puzzled by what they interpret as ‘sameness.’ To me, it is a love and respect for the land, and for the traditions of the past. As a child I visited my grandparent’s farm in Greece; they lived simply and wasted nothing. They used what they had, and that’s what Native Americans did here centuries ago. They had sand and clay and water and straw; that’s what they used to make their houses. Their houses were earth-toned because they were made of earth! That tradition is held today in Santa Fe. And besides, it’s the law.” The law? After my conversation with Maria, I did some research into the city’s history. I found The Ordinance of 1957, and I learned about John Gaw Meem. » read more

Hushpuppies

Capitol April 1999

Linda Burton posting from Santa Fe, New Mexico – I’m in Santa Fe now, my break is over and I’m back on Capital City duty again. I’ll be hard at work exploring this fascinating capital city for the next two weeks. And tasting the tasty cuisine that I’ve read so much about. My plan today was Sunday brunch. According to the internet, Tecolote offered the “best breakfast in town” and it was just down the street from me; after that I would check out the beautiful pink adobe state capitol. I failed to write the Tecolote address on a post-it note; the GPS will know the name, I thought. It did not; alas, I never found it. Onwards toward the capitol; one-way streets round the Plaza; the Sunday leisure crowd. Restaurants everywhere. Parking not. Curving roads. Right-turn only lanes that caught me unaware.

Capitol October 2012

Crosseyed and addlebrained and getting nowhere fast, I finally spotted a sign pointing to the Visitor Center. Ahh. Maps! Brochures! Directions! The capitol was just across the street, I was advised. I crossed, but the beautiful pink adobe I remembered from my visit in 1999 was nowhere to be seen. I remembered the sidewalks and the trees planted between; OMG they’ve grown! Bushy and still in full leaf, they obliterated any street view of the building. Planters have been added; more greenery in the way. And where’s the statue of Earth Mother? I found her over to the left, backed by a mass of trees; not only moved but replaced. The final surprise: the capitol is closed on Sundays. » read more