Tulsa Man Collects Stories, Memories Of The City's Lost Restaurants For New Book

We all have favorite restaurants we remember from years ago that aren’t around anymore.

A Tulsa man has created an entire book about Tulsa’s lost restaurants.

“I wanted to learn more about these places and why they stuck in people’s memories,” said Rhys Martin.

Martin says he has spent the last year and a half compiling stories and photographs of Tulsa’s lost restaurants, like Bishop’s.

“We are standing in the spot near where Bishop’s once stood, from the 1930s to the 60s,” he said.

One of its big claims to fame – it was open 24 hours.

“At three in the morning, people would come in to drink coffee and wait for the papers to hit the sidewalk, so they could read the reviews of the plays they had just acted in, stuff like that,” explained Martin.

Bishop’s closed before he was born, so he’s had to find former customers and employees to help him piece the history together.

“I wanted to tell the human story of all these places people have fond memories of,” he said.

Another of his favorites is The Golden Drumstick at 11th and Yale.
“It was a great Southwestern-style building that served fried chicken,” recalled Martin.

The book will feature stories and pictures of about 50 restaurants secured firmly in Tulsa’s collective memory but gone from the landscape.

It will be in stores in about a month and Rhys says he’s looking forward to the conversations it will spark.

“That’s what I’m looking forward to the most,” he said, “meeting people and hearing what their stories are.”