End of an Era in Tulsa and we were there.

This weekend a popular 50s diner in Tulsa will shut it's doors for good. The Metro diner has been a favorite spot for the hot rod crowd to eat for a long time. Some of us got together tonight for the last time to say goodbye. And why you ask, Tulsa Univerisity bought the property and will probably make a parking lot out of it.

 

man that sucks ive eatin there a few yrs ago sorry to see another go under

 

Wow, thats a shame... Looks like a cool place.

 

"Screw history, we need places to park our overpriced hybrids!"


A shame it's being lost.

 

Hey, act quick and make arrangements so you can get that cool old sign - bring it home and put it in the garage for now - that sign is to cool to let it get crunched into junk!

 

I've eaten there several times, I'm saddened by this loss.

 

What a sad deal.
It is a shame that money talks that strong.Like they couldn't find another property for a parking lot?
When those kind of places are gone they are gone forever. Whats next the White house,the Washington monument.

 

That is just plain SAD......America is gonna end up bein the land of..... PARKING LOTS......

 

Oh man, I hate to here these stories. It just sucks everything getting torn down to make way for more chain malls. I hate it. Hope you can find a new, old place to hang.

 

Man that sux. What was that song ? Pave paridise put up a parking lot !! Dont know what you got till its gone.

 

ate there myself...cool place...tulsa is gearhead haven...

 

From your photos, it already looks like a pretty good parking lot to me.

We lost a good local diner here this year. It's sad to see it lay dormant.

 

That BLOWS!!! I grew up in Tulsa, and am actually here right now for Thanksgiving. I had no idea this was going on, or I would have been there. I had many great late nights at the Metro when I lived there. I am really sorry for your loss guys. There are many other places around that area for a freakin' parking lot!! The greasy spoon diner hang out is a dying breed in this world. Someone does need to try and save the sign, or any other memorabilia they can. Sorry again...

 

When I was in high school and college (at TU), the Metro Diner was an Arbys. We used to go there when we didn't feel like going across the street to Coney Islander. The Metro Diner isn't all that old, compared to real 50s diners. Is Pennington's still down on Brookside? Or Weber's Root Beer? Those are genuine oldies.

 

The number 1 cause of parking lots, is, GASP. CARS. Just crush em all. We wouln't need parking lots, just more bike racks, & the enviromentalists would be doing handsprings!!! LOL.

It would be sad to see the local hang out go. Kinda like The Hollywood Knights. Ours all went long ago.

 

Man that is a shame, its also a shame that young kids like mine are not gonna get a chance to see stuff like that. Hope ya'll sent them out with a big bang and a whole crap loads of rods

 

Webers is still there on Brookside, Penningtons is gone.

 

Alway got to ask, Was the place supported but regular attendance or was it taken for granite. So many of these places are sold because folks just do not eat there enough, ya we like to look at it and dont want to see it go, but only eat there a few times a year.. Hope this was not the case and it was just economics of property being worth more as a lot them a business.

 

...from what I hear, the owner wants to retire. All the cool memorabilia inside will be auctioned off....yes, fatboy was there but you can't see me cause I was the official ladder holder...

 

What about the car ????

 

Sadly, the Metro was not regularly attended in that there was no "cruise night" there or anything. As said, the Metro is not very old and the saddest part of it all is that it hasn't been maintained like it should have been.

I remember going there in high school but I graduated in 86. The waitresses used to wear poodle skirts and the whole bit.

They knocked down Penningtons and built a Kentucky Dried Chicken and Webers is still there but they tore down the original building and built a tiny little building in the corner of the lot with a strip mall flanking it. They killed the vibe there for good.

So the real sad part is there is no "50's" style diner left that has been here for any length of time.

Tulsa University is snatching up EVERYTHING from their existing campus south to 11th Street, which just happens to be part of the original Route 66. That's probably the saddest part of losing the diner of all.

The plan is to build the grand entrance to Tulsa University that it has never had. It is to be parks, fountains and trees.

http://www.utulsa.edu/physicalplant/projects/projects_entrance.shtml

So, in a way the Diner dies for progress but helps another Tulsa icon continue it's even longer line of Tradition.

 

Metro was built around 84 or so. I figure any restuarant that can last over 20 years has got to be good.

 

Well shit, if we'd known it we would've been there. My wife showed me that place years ago, and most times we went to Tulsa we would eat there. Even when I got out of the hospital for heart attack we went and ate greasy food. I just showed her this post. Now she feels bad cause we were not there. DAMN it was a good place to eat.

 

Dammit. I always wanted to go there when I lived there. That just stinks.

 

It's a done deal. Monkey went by on his way to our club dinner and the owner shut the sign off. Monkey pulled his 40 Ford PU up in front of it anyway to get a pic before they tear it down. He said the owner saw him pull in and park by the sign so he turned it back on.

I would expect Monkey will post the pic.

 

Wow....that place brings back memories. Like everyone stated, we used to go there in High school. I dont remember the crosstreets though? where was it located?

When I went home in August I really had a hard time getting around. The streets seemed so different than my memory served them up.

 

It is (until tomorrow morning when they bulldoze it) located on 11th street inbetween harvard and deleware

 

wish id known about the last cruise,i might have come out of the deer stand alittle early to eat...

 

Sad but this shit happens everywhere....Progress.....Nice 58 Ford..???? Info

 

pave paradice, put up a parking lot