For years, 11th Street, east of downtown, was synonymous with urban blight. The once venerable artery became a shadow of its colorful Route 66 glory days. A smattering of businesses β mostly appliance repair shops, garages and small auto dealerships β punctuated empty storefronts, degraded buildings and boarded-up windows along the street. Prostitution and drugs were commonplace. Today, a resurgence led by the private sector is well underway on 11th Street, primarily between South Peoria and Yale avenues.
New businesses are popping up in renovated old buildings as organic growth, fueled by convenient location, affordability and Route 66 nostalgia, takes hold. Back in the late s, Tulsan Cyrus Avery, the father of the Mother Road, made sure 24 miles of the famous Chicago-to-Los Angeles blacktop passed through his hometown.
Eleventh Street and Route 66 were one and the same for a magical era stretching from until Route 66 was decommissioned in Today, 11th Street remains part of Historic Route 66 and, as such, has become a small part of a 2,mile-long tourist destination for bucket-listers from around the world. For decades, up and down 11th Street, travelers and locals alike had many retail options. Gradually, Route 66 lost its luster, a consequence of the more direct Interstate system and more reliable vehicles, which allowed people to get to their destinations both faster and with fewer stops.
This is when 11th Street really took it on the chops, economically speaking. Those less-than-desirable conditions prevailed on 11st Street and in nearby neighborhoods. Tulsa Police Officer Gerard Stege has patrolled 11th Street for nearly 20 years and recalls the area when it was deeply troubled. Slowly, clean-up efforts in the nearby Kendall Whittier neighborhood by the City of Tulsa, law enforcement crackdowns and the expansion of the University of Tulsa forced many of the bad elements back into the shadows.
They took out a lot of the crappy hotels and apartment complexes. When you get more legitimate businesses in there, it makes the illegitimate ones nervous. Busby is excited about the direction 11th Street is heading. One of the busiest 11th Street developers is Aaron Meek.
