As a kid, Libby Auld would hang out downtown with some guys who rode skateboards.

"I thought downtown was really cool back then," she said. "As a teenager, I loved that there was no one on the streets."

She wasn't looking at it from the standpoint of economic development back then, she said. Mostly, it was just a place to escape adults and act like a teenager.

Now, Auld is owner of Elote Cafe and Catering at 514 S. Boston Ave., in an area where she used to watch her skateboarding friends.

But the streets aren't empty like they used to be.

Last week, on her way to a Drillers game, she was walking through downtown with her family, listening to live music and window shopping with a pretty decent-sized crowd.

"It was a bit of a big-city moment, and a huge sense of pride in my city came over me," said Auld, whom some people refer to as "the mayor of Boston Avenue."

"Don't call me that," she said, smiling, while sitting at a table in Mod's Coffee & Crepes one afternoon with Mod's owner, Rusty Rowe; and Kelli Groblewski, owner of Okie Crowe, which opened this summer in the Philcade Building.

They met to chat about the Deco District, their burgeoning business and entertainment neighborhood that encompasses an area south from about First to Eighth streets, then west from Cincinnati to Denver avenues.

It's one of the pockets of the downtown area, along with the Blue Dome and Brady Arts districts, that is experiencing rapid growth, with a new eatery, shop or business opening practically every month.

Auld, Groblewski and Rowe are members of the Downtown Deco District Association, which was formed in 2010 by a group of downtown business owners, their goal being to celebrate Tulsa's historic Art Deco heritage while also promoting downtown living, shopping, working and having fun.

When Auld opened Elote in 2007, not much else was happening around her. In fact, she was a bit anxious when layoffs started happening at surrounding businesses.

That was back when she was only open for lunch, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays. Now, six years later, she's open for lunch and dinner, six days a week.

Best of the past, present

G.T. Bynum has childhood memories of visiting his grandfather's office in the Philtower, one of the city's architectural jewels, smack dab in the middle of the Deco District.

It was like going to Rocke- feller Center in New York, "glamorous and busy and exciting," said Bynum, Tulsa City Council chairman.

After she moved here in 1983, Pat Kroblin would shop at Renberg's on Main Street, and spend hours around the former Bartlett Square fountain at Fifth and Main streets.

"It wasn't booming, but the cobwebs had yet to take over," said Kroblin, co-owner with her daughter, Sarah Bryson, of The Full Deco shop at 15 E. Fifth St. They opened in December 2012.

Following the oil bust in the '80s, Kroblin's attention was focused in other areas of town, like Cherry Street or Brookside.

"It seems I only came downtown for Mayfest because there just wasn't anything else to do as building upon building would close up," she said. When out-of-town friends came to visit, she'd drive them around, looking at the architecture.

"... and they'd laugh at the downtown with no people and the river with no water," she said. "That isn't the Tulsa I wanted them to know. I wanted them to understand how wonderful my adopted city was."

Five years ago, Bynum had friends from around the country attend the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual conference - "a big deal," he said, as Tulsa was probably the smallest city to hold it in recent years. Architecture enthusiasts who came were "blown away" by the physical infrastructure of downtown.

"But they were also blown away by how empty it was at night," Bynum said, recalling how several of them remarked that they'd never seen a downtown with assets like Tulsa's so empty after rush hour.

"Today, you would never hear that kind of comment," he said. "You saw that transformation happen first in the Blue Dome, and now it is happening in the Deco and Brady (Arts) districts."

Kroblin credits part of the growth to entrepreneurs like Michael Sager, David Sharp and Elliot Nelson. The latter started out with McNellie's in the Blue Dome District in 2004. Since then, he's opened El Guapo's Cantina, Fassler Hall, Dilly Deli, Yokozuna and The Dust Bowl Lanes, all in Blue Dome. The Tavern is his restaurant in Brady Arts.

"That was a sign that perhaps life was rising," Kroblin said.

Then, Auld opened Elote, Rowe opened Mod's and "soon there were pop-up shops that lingered after the pop - that was a good sign," Kroblin said. "And then rents started going up, and you just knew downtown was coming back."

Now, the Deco District is a showcase of Tulsa's world-class architecture, which is fused with a young entrepreneurial spirit that has become more noticeable in the past decade, Bynum said.

For that reason, he moved his business office to the Philtower.

"This is a remarkable combination of the best of the past and present," Bynum said.

District troubles

Growth has its challenges, though.

For one, it's easier for a landlord to dedicate funds for a project that fully fills his or her building, Rowe said. For example, in the Blue Dome and Brady Arts districts, most buildings are completely filled by one tenant.

"In the Deco, with all the skyscrapers, it takes many, many tenants coming in at different times to fill a building," he said. Consequently, landlords take bigger risks in filling their bottom floors and hoping the others fill up quickly.

Also, some buildings are on the National Historic Register and have renovation requirements, Auld said. Many of the tall buildings that have been renovated have received low-interest loans from the city as a product of Vision 2025.

"Hopefully, there will be more money available in the future to help entice those building owners to move forward," Auld said.

Another issue is that the Deco District is more spread out with more vacancies in between, Rowe said. In comparison, Blue Dome is two square blocks with high occupancy.

"We're spread out to accommodate all the businesses that we consider to be a part of our neighborhood," he said.

Another challenge is that many of the businesses are only open for lunch, some having done so for decades.

"It will take a lot to convince everyone to open into the night," Rowe said. "A thriving district is alive throughout the day, not just from 11 (a.m.) to 2 (p.m.)."

Nonetheless, he and other members of the district's business association are optimistic - if not flat-out convinced - of the area's potential.

You need only look at recent openings for that.

Jimmy John's, a national sandwich franchise, opened its fifth location in the Tulsa area in the historic Thompson Building, 20 E. Fifth St.

RadioIDL.com, a new internet radio station, recently came to the neighborhood, Kroblin said. Auld and Rowe mentioned Zip Inn, a concierge-free hotel geared toward overnight business travelers, which has a big "coming soon" sign painted on a window in the bottom floor of First Place Tower, 15 E. Fifth St.

There's also a candy shop, an Italian restaurant and a Deco-inspired gift shop.

Perhaps even more impressively, one of those pop-up shops - the men's store, Bison & Bear - is moving into a bigger space with a more visible storefront.

The brothers who opened it, Michael and Joel Hitsman, decided to start the store downtown because of the area's heritage, Michael Hitsman said.

"When we decided to move the store to a larger space, we stayed downtown for the very same reasons we opened there in the first place," he said. "From opening our store and growing our vision there, we were able to really experience the rich culture that the new downtown Tulsa was developing."

Each week, it seems, Kroblin hears "tales of leases signed and new ideas on the horizon," she said. "And there's a neighborhood. Yes, people live in the Deco District, walk their dogs, take their children to the park - exhilarating."

The business association plans events, such as this month's Chalkfest, to draw more people downtown to see the shops, eat in the restaurants and have fun.

"It's an event, it's a to-do, it's a reason not to put your pajamas on just yet," Rowe said.

Now, they need to work on retaining people and luring others, he continued. That's his "crazy big goal," to add enough services and stuff to do that people will want to live here.

Like Groblewski, who couldn't wait to leave Tulsa and move to New York City. She'd come back to visit and would usually end up hanging out downtown.

Eventually, tired of "the big lifestyle," she and her husband moved to Bixby, then to Brookside - then, for her business, the Deco District.

"You can see the heart in it," Groblewski said. "It's really awesome to be a part of that."

What would be awesome to Auld would be some of the empty buildings around her turning into apartments, she said.

Until then, she and her fellow Deco District merchants are gung-ho and goal-oriented. Rowe even made comparisons to Austin, Texas, although Tulsa's downtown just isn't that sustainable.

"Yet," Auld quickly added, smiling.

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2 Bucks on Boston

About four years ago, Elote at 514 S. Boston Ave. started offering $2 puffy tacos each Wednesday night, trying to get more folks in the door, explained the restaurant's owner, Libby Auld.

That led to 2 Bucks on Boston, in which about 10 shops in the Deco District participate every Wednesday, with each merchant offering its own $2 deal. Among them are Mod's ($2 gelato and hot cocoa), Candy Castle ($2 for 1/2 pound of gummies), Tavolo ($2 Arnacinis, which are fried risotto cakes) and The Vault ($2 Miller High Life).

Other merchants who offer $2 deals include Decopolis, London Pavement, Made: The Indie Emporium, Okie Crowe, Picklesworth, The Bookerie and The Full Deco.

Another highlight of each Wednesday evening is live music at the corner of Fifth Street and Boston Avenue.

For more, visit tulsaworld.com/decodistricttulsa

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Chalkfest

The third-annual Chalkfest will be held in downtown's Deco District 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sept. 14.

Produced by the Tulsa Deco District Association, this fun family-friendly event will be set up on Boston Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets, as well as on Fifth Street between Main Street and Boston Avenue.

Artists - in categories including high school, adult and professional - will be designated 10-by-10-foot squares of asphalt on which to create their chalk murals. Judging of the murals will start at 5 p.m., and ribbons will be awarded at 7 p.m.

Visitors can also browse work by local artists, who will have booths set up. Plus, merchants in the Deco District will be open for shopping opportunities.

Individuals wishing to be street muralists or artists who want to set up booths can find more information and an entry form at tulsaworld.com/chalkfestentry

Those wishing to sponsor the event ($150-$1,000) can check out tulsaworld.com/chalkfestsponsor

The event is free. For more, tulsaworld.com/chalkfest

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Jason Ashley Wright 918-581-8483
jason.wright@tulsaworld.com