'Arts Bar' A Popular Attraction In Tulsa's Brady District

The Brady District is booming. Something new seems to be going up on every available corner.

A principal focus in the Brady District is art. There is a club in the district that is as much an art gallery as it is a bar.

Dr. Greg Gray is the very enthusiastic owner of Club 209, which he calls an arts bar. More than his bar, he's jazzed about the whole district.

"It goes from the BOK, the PAC, the Tulsa Train Depot with the OK Jazz Hall of Fame, the baseball diamond, and the Cain's ballroom," Gray said.

And right back to the Brady Theater. As we walked around he said there was never an organized group to promote all the arts down here, so they started one a decade ago. Thursday is his last day as president of it.

"It's great," Gray said.

It includes the big places and all the small ones that help the small artists grow, which brings us back to Club 209. A different local artist is featured here each month. For a few more days, it's Jill Leslye.

"What I love about Jill's is the 3D affect that she does," Gray said.

She uses meticulous layering of paint to give depth to her subjects.

Club 209 is full of Jill Leslye's work through the end of this weekend. The arts bar is a quiet, smoke-free watering hole located in Brady District north of downtown.

Tulsa loves their downtown," Gray said.

He says we'll love it even more when the museums, and the hotel and other building projects are completed in about a year.

Club 209 is open Thursday through Sunday at 7 p.m. A different artist's work is featured each month beginning on the first Friday.