TUNNEL TOUR OPTIONS

There are options for seeing the tunnels: going on a group tour or taking a self-guided tour. Group tours are available through the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture and Tours of Tulsa. Tulsa Foundation for Architecture offers tours of the tunnels twice a year. The next tour is scheduled for the second Saturday in August. You can learn more at tulsaarchitecture.org/tours.

Kelly, Leah and I went on a tour offered by Tours of Tulsa. Their tunnel tours are every Friday at 3 p.m. and cost $25. You meet the group in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Downtown. You can also see the tunnels on your own. Go to tulsa.tours/ tulsa-tunnel-tour for instructions on taking the tour on your own. If you choose to go on a selfguided tour, keep in mind that the tunnels are only open until 4 p.m. on business days.

TOUR BREAKDOWN

Hyatt to 320 South Boston Building

We took the escalators down to street level from the lobby of the Hyatt Regency. We turned right into the parking garage and followed the signs to the 3rd Street Tunnel. We went through the doors and walked up the stairs leading us to a historic building, 320 S. Boston Ave.

Our tour guide, Jeffrey Tanenhaus, gave us some history behind the original oil tycoons in Tulsa, like J. Paul Getty, Harry Sinclair, and Charles Page. I was fascinated to learn that 98% of the wells drilled at Glenpool in the 1920s yielded oil.

At the top of the stairs, we rounded the bend and followed the hallway past GH2 Architects. We rode up an escalator to the bank lobby to admire impressive hand-painted ceilings with Venetian motifs and travertine walls. Built in 1917 for the Exchange National Bank, this became the largest office building in the state with an expansion done in 1928. The bank reorganized after the Great Depression and became known as the National Bank of Tulsa. The name remains above the doors on the Boston Avenue entrance. The name changed to Bank of Oklahoma in the 1970s. A branch remains in the lobby, but its headquarters are now across the street in the BOK tower. We traveled down the escalator and walked down the steps. We encountered a 55-ton vault now used for safety deposit boxes. When first built, the vault symbolized security to the oil tycoons who entrusted the bank with their wealth.

320 South Boston Building to Kennedy Building to Mid-Continent Building

Next, we walked to the left of the vault and out the door. We followed the corridor to a T-intersection and took the escalator up to the remarkable lobby of the Mid-Continent Building. The Italian marble walls and stained glass with Tulsa skyline imagery are breathtaking.

Mid-Continent to Atlas Life Building

We passed through the door and entered the Atlas Life Building, built in 1922 for Tulsa’s first life insurance company. Today it’s a Courtyard by Marriott with retail shops on the ground floor. The bronze statue of the Greek god Atlas shouldering a clock is a sight to behold. The Tulsa Press Club for journalists is here, and their non-profit bar is open to the public.

Atlas Life to Philtower Building

We passed through a short hallway with photos of old Tulsa to reach the Neo-Gothic Philtower Building, which opened in 1928. The lobby feels like a cathedral, enhanced by the locally-made chandeliers.

Philtower to Philcade

This was my favorite part of the tour – where we got to feel like Waite Phillips hiding from mobsters! We visited the semi-secret private tunnel that Phillips and his family used to travel between their two buildings. The tunnel does not have full access anymore, so you can go in partway, but you must turn around and go back out to cross 5th Street to enter the Philcade Building.

Waite Phillips opened Philcade in 1931 as a sister office building to Philtower with a shopping mall on the ground floor. He built a penthouse residence on top and lived there from 1939 –1945. Today, the Philcade is an office building with Art Deco exhibits in the lobby. Admire the golden ceiling with geometric patterns popular with early Deco.

Join

Give 5 is LIFE's innovative "volunteer match-making" program designed to connect Tulsa area residents aged 55+ with meaningful volunteer opportunities. Learn about the most challenging problems facing the community and uncover ways your skills and passions can be utilized to help make a difference. Throughout the community, Give 5’ers help out in a variety of ways after graduation Options exist to meet a variety of skills, schedules, and interests. We have availability in our April, July and October cohorts!

Interested in joining? Scan the QR code, visit our website at www.LIFEseniorservices.org or contact Carrie at (918) 664-9000 ext 1255 or email cclevenger@LIFEseniorservices.org.

LIFE PACE

Convenient. Supportive. Smart.

Call (918) 938-7653 or (918) 938-7660 (en Español) to speak to a LIFE PACE specialist. www.LIFEPACE.org. Recognized as a Medicare & Medicaid program.

BY KAREN SZABO

On April 23, 1995, 18-year-old Rebekah Barrett attended her prom in Collinsville, Oklahoma. Hours later, she was found injured in the middle of Garnett Road near Union Street in Collinsville. She would later die at the hospital. The investigation has never officially determined what happened to her. On October 4, 2004, 18-year-old Brittany Phillips’ body was found in her apartment near 65th Street and Mingo Road. Tulsa police said it looked like there had been a break-in and that Brittany was sexually assaulted before being strangled. But after all this time, her killer has never been found.

On June 6, 1998, 16-year-old Dena Dean left work at Marvin’s Food Store in the Town West Shopping Center in Tulsa. She was never heard from again. Dena’s vehicle was discovered in the store’s parking lot and six days later, her body was located in a field, near a pond about two miles north of Town West. The Tulsa Medical Examiner ruled the manner of death as a homicide.

These unsolved murders are among the 26 cold cases the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Task Force is working to help solve.

Recruiting A Team Of Investigators

The Task Force started in June of 2016 after Vic Regalado was elected sheriff. “Vic had been assigned to my squad before running for sheriff,” said Task Force Leader Mike Huff, a retired Tulsa Police Department sergeant and homicide detective. “As soon as he won his first election, he made cold cases and homicides a priority. He