Time was, you could fire a cannon down the middle of Main Street after 5pm and not worry a single soul. It wasn’t that long ago. Before moving the shop into the Rose District, I would occasionally take a slight detour after locking up and drive through Old Downtown BA.
Dead.
You could have parked anywhere, but wouldn’t have had much of a reason to do so. Nothing much was open. I should know. For years, I was probably the last retail shop open after five or six o’clock on Main.
Take a look at the picture. You can click on it for a slightly larger view, if you like. The snapshot was taken about seven-thirty this evening. As you can see, it’s a completely different scenario these days. The image is looking south through the Main and Commercial Street intersection, from in front of the shop. When I looked the other direction, the parking spaces were filled all the way to Broadway.
Since I don’t own an NSA secret-agent look-around-the-corner camera, you can’t see the cars parked east and west along Commercial.
And in the public lot on Ash Street.
The photo was taken about the time of day I would occasionally drive down Main before heading to the house, back when the shop was in the Oak Crest Center. Back then, you could have had your pick of spaces in which to park, but not many shopping or dining options.
That was before Main Street Tavern and the Bruhouse Grill and Fiesta Mambo. And with yesterday’s announcement about The Rooftop (to open in June above In the Raw’s new restaurant location), and the rumored restaurant to be located right next door, the evening activity will certainly make for busy sidewalks and happy, hungry guests.
But no more firing of cannons down the middle of Main.
Come visit!
McHuston
Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!
