Brady Theater To Change Name To Tulsa Theater

Tulsa's historic Brady Theater will soon be known by a different name. It may be one of the last things in the city still using the name Brady, but now that's about to change too.

In a news release, owner Peter Mayo said the venue will become Tulsa Theater in 2019. The news release said Mayo and his management team at DCF Enterprises have been in talks since the 2013 renaming of Brady St. to M.B. Brady St.

The announcement comes a week after city council voted to officially change the name of Brady Street to Reconciliation Way. Motivation to change the street name began over five years ago when it was discovered that Tate Brady, a Tulsan for whom the street was originally named, had ties with the KKK. 

Related Story: Tulsa City Council Votes To Officially Rename Brady Street 

The release said the council’s vote to change the name of M.B. Brady to Reconciliation Way in July of 2019 solidified that it's time for the venue’s name to change as well.  

Mayo says the theater will install the giant stainless steel TULSA sign that hung from the building from 1952 until 1979 when it was known as the Tulsa Municipal Theatre.

It's been stored for 40 years by Gaylord and Judy Herron of G. Oscar Bike Shop.

“Gaylord understood the sign’s importance to Tulsa history and I am grateful," said Mayo. "Because of him, we have this beautiful, sculptural sign preserved.”

Mayo said the sign will be refurbished before being re-installed. 

"The historic name for the building was originally the Convention Hall, and then it was the Tulsa Municipal Theater for for decades," said Amanda DeCort, Tulsa Foundation of Architecture.

"So we are really in a way returning to an historic name for the building."

DeCort said the street itself is no longer named Brady, so the theater is no longer the Old Lady On Brady.

"It's time to move on, and traditions change," she said.

There have been positive and negative reactions to the change.

"I think people will get used to it pretty quickly. I really do. I still fumble and say Brady District sometimes. We all do, but I think people will adjust more quickly than they think they will," said Amanda DeCort.

There will be a grand re-opening of the theater sometime in 2019 where they will re-hang the Tulsa sign.