Does anybody know when the LAST Borden's cafeteria or restaurant closed? And where it was located?
Thanks,
Paul
I think it was on Admiral in the shopping center off the Yale exit. Sign may still be there and I think one of the Borden's still owns the property.
If I am thinking of the same place...the Borden's sign there marks the corporate office of the real estate part of the business now run by one of the sons. Was that ever a cafeteria/restaurant ?
If so, when did it stop being a cafeteria/restaurant ?
Paul
If you scroll half way through you will see the one from Sheridan Village:
http://www.losttulsa.com/labels/demolition.html (http://www.losttulsa.com/labels/demolition.html)
I think the last one was either South Land, or Sheridan Village. The one in the Shoppers Fair Center had become Crystal's Pizza by the late 70's.
An email from Phil Borden (son of the cafeteria owner) says the last cafeteria "was located at 1st & Lewis, and closed (approximately) in 1985."
Since they opened their first restaurant in 1935 that means they were in the business for 50 years in Tulsa.
Paul
I can't picture which corner Bordens was on at 1st & Lewis. Wasn't there also one at 51st & Peoria south of I-44?
Quote from: Conan71 on October 22, 2009, 09:40:15 AM
I can't picture which corner Bordens was on at 1st & Lewis. Wasn't there also one at 51st & Peoria south of I-44?
I think so. I think it was in the shopping center on the south east side, and it was in the middle of the stretch that faced west. There was some variety store, Woolworth or Otasco next to it.
Quote from: dbacks fan on October 22, 2009, 09:58:08 AM
I think so. I think it was in the shopping center on the south east side, and it was in the middle of the stretch that faced west. There was some variety store, Woolworth or Otasco next to it.
That's right. The 51st and Peoria Borden's was a Po Folks in the '90s.
Quote from: MichaelBates on October 22, 2009, 11:35:27 AM
That's right. The 51st and Peoria Borden's was a Po Folks in the '90s.
Po Folk's. I could not think of it.
Quote from: Conan71 on October 22, 2009, 09:40:15 AM
I can't picture which corner Bordens was on at 1st & Lewis. Wasn't there also one at 51st & Peoria south of I-44?
Coney, the one at 1st and Lewis was on the South East corner facing into Whittier Square. It was diagonally across from the TG&Y and just south of Otasco and the Silver Castle. My childhood shopping center. :)
Quote from: waterboy on October 22, 2009, 12:56:06 PM
Coney, the one at 1st and Lewis was on the South East corner facing into Whittier Square. It was diagonally across from the TG&Y and just south of Otasco and the Silver Castle. My childhood shopping center. :)
I used to go to the Thursday 25 cent matinees at the Circle when I was a kid and cannot, for the life of me, picture the Bordens. I keep picturing OTASCO on the north side of 3rd St. at Lewis. Hmmm, can't picture TG&Y either.
Anyone have any photos they could post?
Quote from: Conan71 on October 22, 2009, 01:50:28 PM
I used to go to the Thursday 25 cent matinees at the Circle when I was a kid and cannot, for the life of me, picture the Bordens. I keep picturing OTASCO on the north side of 3rd St. at Lewis. Hmmm, can't picture TG&Y either.
Anyone have any photos they could post?
There was a TG&Y at 3rd and Utica on the south east corner, and just south of there was a Dairy Queen (Taco Mayo is there now). I have been trying to find something on Google but to no avail.
Found this: http://irritatedtulsan.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/vintage-ads-from-tulsas-past/ (http://irritatedtulsan.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/vintage-ads-from-tulsas-past/)
$1.49 Steak, salad,potato, toast, and coffee or tea at Sirloin Stockade on Tuesdays.
Quote from: dbacks fan on October 22, 2009, 03:22:03 PM
There was a TG&Y at 3rd and Utica on the south east corner, and just south of there was a Dairy Queen (Taco Mayo is there now). I have been trying to find something on Google but to no avail.
Found this: http://irritatedtulsan.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/vintage-ads-from-tulsas-past/ (http://irritatedtulsan.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/vintage-ads-from-tulsas-past/)
$1.49 Steak, salad,potato, toast, and coffee or tea at Sirloin Stockade on Tuesdays.
Ahh, SE corner of 3rd & Lewis is now a Warehouse Market.
Quote from: Conan71 on October 22, 2009, 01:50:28 PM
I used to go to the Thursday 25 cent matinees at the Circle when I was a kid and cannot, for the life of me, picture the Bordens. I keep picturing OTASCO on the north side of 3rd St. at Lewis. Hmmm, can't picture TG&Y either.
Anyone have any photos they could post?
3rd street and Lewis was actually a Warehouse Mkt, then directly north were two car lots, Then the Bordens at first, then Silver Castle, then farther north by Admiral was Otasco.
TG&Y had been on Admiral west of Lewis, next to Swinney's Hardware and Crown Drug, but when Banfield Meat Market moved out at 1st and Lewis they took it over. Funny, the only thing still in existence after all these years...is the liquor store at 2nd & Lewis.
Saturday matinee at the Circle was 10cents in my day. Dang...that hurts.
None of these seem to be of the Whittier Square Borden's but here's a link to every Borden's picture in the Beryl Ford Collection (http://opac.tulsalibrary.org/search~S27?/tberyl+ford+collection/tberyl+ford+collection/1%2C1%2C23072%2CB/exact&FF=tberyl+ford+collection&1%2C23072%2C/limit?).
UPDATE: Never mind -- can't link directly to the search results. Type "Borden's" in the title field on that page and you should get the list of 17 photos.
On the old board there was an interior pic of the Borden's @ 1st and Lewis. I remember it as a new (built in the early/middish 60's) building, buff colored painted cinder block with white decorative cement blocks - it was built right up to the sidewalk on Lewis. The parking lot was on the south side of the building going east/west. In fact one could drive across Lewis at 1st into Borden's parking lot with just a slight jog. I did plenty of dining at Silver Castle and Borden's, one of my Dad's car lots was next to the little building that is still there on the SW corner of 1st and Lewis (then a Household Finance/storefront church now).
When Swinney's closed...it was located in the old TG&Y. The offset double door of Swinney's was TG&Y's front door and you could also use the door on the south side that was closed off during Swinney's time. If you stand at that main front door and look east...you would be looking straight @ Borden's. There was an Anthony's, a shoe store, the post office to the north between TG&Y and the Circle. Swinney's plumbing department entrance was the back entrance into the shoe store.
I remember when the area on both east & west sides of Lewis between 3rd and 1st were car lots. Hundreds upon hundreds of clear incandescent bulb light strings made the whole area look like the Tulsa State Fair's midway. One really big car lot had corrugated tin along the back borders, all brightly painted with lots of graphics of happy customers driving away down street scenes. At the age of 2 or 3 I was sure it WAS a carnival and highly disappointed my Dad wouldn't let me go ride the rides.
Undoubtedly, we are from the same hood. The string of incandescent bulbs and garish neon along the Circle still occassionally reside in my dreams. It was a cool little shopping area.
Do you remember when the tornado came down Lewis ave. and bent all the light posts of the Warehouse Mkt at odd angles? It barely touched down and scared us all silly.