Tulsa, OK
October 18-19, 2013
A couple of months ago, I got a random request to join a group on Facebook from Alicia Carney. Her, and a few others, were trying to get a big group of Al fans in one place to attend a concert together like old times. These types of gatherings were pretty popular on Touring With Scissors, and over the subsequent tours fell out of favor for smaller, more localized groups. Since it's been a while since there's been one of these mega fan gettogethers, the idea took off quickly and took on the working name Al Gal Fest Con Fest Con 2013. Of course, guys were welcome too.
Soon it became that the location would be Tulsa. Not only was it the last tour date on the Alpocolypse Tour, but RSU TV was embracing the 25th anniversary of the filming of "UHF," and throughout October and culminating with the weekend of the concert, they were holding UHF related events. All this, and the fact that I've always wanted to do the UHF pilgrimage since I found TulsaTVMemories.com many years ago. Vikki DeVries signed on to be my comrade, as Jackie was out of town on a "Walking Dead" escape and could only fly in just in time for the concert.
Since it was unlikely we would get to Tulsa again, Vikki and I wanted to see as many "UHF" sights as possible. Fortunately for us, we were not the first by far to do this. As mentioned, great sites like Mike Ransom's TulsaVTVMemories.com exist. Also, from that site, the UHF DVD commentary, and his own UHF pilgrimige, Jeremy Samples put together an awesone driving itinerary hitting all of the highlights. You can see that here. Since we used that as our navigation, I will be using that as a guide for my review as well.
In full disclosure, I must say, despite months to plan, we pretty much winged the thing. No planning whatsoever went into this. That will become obvious as you read on. Also, you will see that it took us more than a day to do everything. But that's because of poor planning and not starting until right before lunch. If you're planning to do this, start early, and you can easily do it in a single day.
A - First stop, Big Edna's Burgers! Except now it's called Billy Ray's Catfish and BBQ. This place was fun, one of my favorites. It looks exactly the same on the outside and inside. No one named Edna worked there and the staff was really nice and accomidating. They recognized us as Weird Al fans right away, and put up with us taking many silly pictures, and told us they get it all the time. Also, they said they had the best catfish in Oklahoma. We didn't eat there, so I can't vouch for that, but if you like catfish, it looks like a great place to stop for lunch.
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B - Next stop, Bowling For Burgers! Actually, the next stop was McDonalds. Because here's where we realized we didn't plan ahead. We had no burgers for props. In fact, we had no props whatsoever. So, here's my first bit of advice if you are thinking of making the drive, look over the list of sights you want to go to and figure out what props you want, and buy them ahead of time. We wasted a lot of time getting props as we were going along. Anyway, Bowling For Burgers was filmed over at the Rose Bowl Lanes, which is closed, and has been for years, but you can stop and take pictures out front.
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C - There are a few soundstages on this tour. These are building where sets were built and indoor scenes were filmed. We didn't bother to go into any of them, because the set is long gone, and there's not really too much to see or do, but since we had the addresses to a few, we decided it would be kind of cool to be there where the scenes were filmed. They are generally quick stops, and you can use that to your time advantage or skip them to get back on schdule if you need to. At this soundstage, the news set was filmed. Also, across the street is a dollar store where we stocked up on props.
D - Tulsa International Airport. We thought about skipping this stop becuase of heightened airport security and because we both had already been there, but we didn't want to pass up the opportunity to stand outside with a "BILCHIK" sign, so we went for it. If you go during off peak hours and don't act suspicious or hang around too long, you should be okay.
E - The next stop was the Channel 62 UHF transmitter. This one's a bit of a drive away, but it's worth it. It's in the middle of a field off of Edison St. The easiest way to find it is to look up. It's tall and hard to miss. There was a metal gate prohibiting vehicle access, but we parked the car, ducked under the gate, and walked up to the transmitter. You should probably seek permission to go past the metal gate, but we came this far and it was the middle of nowhere and no one was around, so we chanced it. It wasn't until we got up to the metal fence surrounding the actual transmitter that we saw a sign that said, "No Tresspassing." Oopsie! The U-62 building doesn't exist anymore. It was knocked down several years ago and in its place is a small storage shed. I brought my iPod and portable speakers and played "UHF" in honor of this location. Also, for some reason, it was really freaking cold and windy here.
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G - We were getting hungry, so we decided to modify the route a little and hit Joey's House Of Blues before Spatula City, so that's why my lettering is not alphabetical. We were excited about this stop becasue we could probably get some food there in addition to the obligatory beer or blueberry daqueri with an umbrella. When we arrived, however, there was no bar, but a blue building under construction. Thinking we might have had the wrong address, we stopped at the gas station across the street and asked if they knew where the bar was. They did. It burned down a little while ago, and they are putting up the new building at the spot. This was the first casualty of the tour. At least it was blue.
F - Spatula City! This was another really fun stop. It's actually called Warehouse Market, and it is a grocery store. But it still looks exactly like the movie. We went inside to see if they actually sold spatulas and they did! There was quite a selection of metal and colored spatulas available. Thousands to choose from in every shape, size, and color. I played "Spatula City" on the iPod in honor of this location.
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H - Not far away is the office building used for the exterior for evil Channel 8. This also still looks exactly like it does in the movie. Since we were a bit behind schedule, and because people were working inside, we didn't go in. Lack of preparation also left us without a box to deliver to R.J. Fletcher, or a mop, so we didn't stay too long here.
I - By this point it was early afternoon and we hadn't eaten lunch yet. So, on the way to the next location, we stopped and bought more props at Walgreens, then had lunch at Schlotzky's. Across the street from where we ate and right down the street from Channel 8 is the sound stage where they filmed Wheel Of Fish. It used to be a mall, but now it is a DISH Network office building. Short on time, and lack of red snappers or a box, again due to poor planning, we drove into the parking lot, took pictures from the car, and moved on.
J - Next, we almost had the second casualty of the tour. The address we had for the dental office where Teri worked was not quite correct. Instead it lead us to a office building. Fortunately, right next door was a dental office, so it appears we were only slightly off. The office belongs to Dr. Arnould. We didn't bother going inside so I'm unsure if the inside still looks like it does in the movie.
K - Our next stop was a private residence used for Uncle Harvey and Aunt Esther's house. This house is very pretty in a very pretty neighborhood. We stopped and took a few pictures from the street. We didn't bother checking to see if anyone was home, so I don't know if the inside still looks like the movie. There is a pool in the backyard where the pool scene was filmed, which excited me very much. Remember to ask permission if you want to look inside or view any part of the property that is not visible from the public street.
L - Around the block from the Bilchik residence is Teri's apartment. It's in a rather big apartment complex and we drove around for a while looking for a building that had 4322 on it, but we never found it. I've been told the inside still looks the same, but it may have changed. Since it is a private residence, you should seek permission if you want to go inside. Had we planned better, we would have parked the car and walked around a bit until we found it. At this point though, we were way behind schedule and there were other higher priority sights we wanted to see, so we cut our losses and moved on.
M - We were getting a little worried that we would run out of daylight so at this point, rather than rush the rest of the sights, we decided to go until we no longer could, then pick up where we left off the next day. The next stop was Philo's Workshop, which is now the home of Cloud Nine Productions. We didn't bother going inside, instead opting to shoot a short video in the parking lot.
N - Down the street and around the corner is Crazy Ernie's. There's a ton of used car dealerships on this road so make sure you look for Marc Miller Buick GMC, as that's the one where the commercial was filmed. The original building from the film no longer exists, but there is a small building that has "USED CARS" in big lighted letters there, so we used that for our photo opportunity. The parking lot was crushed stone as it was in the process of being paved, and as such there were no cars on the lot. We parked out rental car out front, and placed the baby seal stuffed animal we got at Walgreens on the hood. I went in the trunk to get the tire iron so I would have something to club the baby seal with, and here's where I found out that the rental car we had not only didn't have a tire iron, but didn't have a spare tire. Thanks Alamo. We were getting strange looks from the people inside the dealership, so we just took a picture with the seal and got back in the car. Someone finally came out and asked us if we needed help. Yes sir, we do. We need help!
O - Since we didn't have an exact address, and since the attraction no longer exists, and since it started to rain, and since we were really far behind schedule, we skipped the former home of the Spatula City billboard.
P - The skies opened and it was pouring rain as we arrived at the Plots R' Us Mortuary Service, which is actually the Rosewood Chapel Funeral Home. There was plenty of free parking, and it did not appear any services were going on. As we parked, a woman walked out of the front door and towards her car. I think she was an employee, but I did say, "I'm sorry for your loss" to her just in case. We took a few pictures up close, but I wanted a picture of the entire exterior from across the street. Normally I would have walked the 50 feet to the other side of the street, but it was pouring rain so hard, I got in the car and drove. I'm glad I did because as we were leaving the parking lot, two men walked out the front door. Maybe there was a service going on? Oopsie! I kept driving, circled around the block, and by the time I came around the men had left and I took the picture I wanted.
Q - Our next stop took us to a very residential neighborhood to the private residence that the Spatula City commercial was filmed at. We didn't bother to check if anyone was home, so I don't know if the kitchen still looks the same. Get permission if you want to view anything other than what can be seen from the public street or sidewalk.
R - It was starting to get late, so we were worried about not making the Plots R' Us Cemetery before it closed, but when we got there the gates were still open, so we drove in. We quickly realized that we had a big problem. We had no idea where to find the graves that were used in the film. The only clue we had was that we should be looking 15 North of East, and that the fence posts were on the left. Um, this was a pretty big cemetery. We're doomed! I was determined not to make this stop another casualty, so we pulled up TulsaTVMemories.com and studied the screen shot from the movie. The key would be finding a flat stone next to a rounded stone, with an urn behind them. Well, we drove through the whole freaking cemetery at about 2 miles per hour for 15 minutes looking for urns. Finally Vikki found one that looked close to the screen shot, but it wasn't quite right. The flat stone was the wrong shape. Was it possible the stone had been replaced? I got out of the car and walked over to get a better look. The stone had fallen over. It was the correct place! I up righted the stone the best I could, but it was slippery because of the rain that was still falling, and too heavy to lift onto the pedestal. I also noted the location and names on the stones. The easiest way to find the correct place is go in the main entrance, make a left at the flag pole, and take the first right. You will be in section 3. From there, look East and you will see the urn. The names on the stones nearby are Barata, Watson and Lucas.
S - Cold, wet, tired, and hungry, we decided to make Raul's apartment our last stop for the day. It was right down the street from the cemetery, and it still looks exactly like the movie, except it is now called El Niņo. Raul's apartment is on the third floor, left side. There was someone carrying a mattress out while we were there, so it's possible the place is vacant. We didn't go inside to check. Keep in mind, it is a private residence, so get permission if you want to view anything other than what can be seen from the public street or sidewalk.
From there we made plans to meet up with the Al Gal Fest Con Fest Con 2013 crew at the Circle Cinema in downtown Tulsa at 8 pm. Circle Cinema was doing a "UHF" marathon that weekend. Every two hours they were showing "UHF." I was pretty excited as I had never seen "UHF" in a movie theater. I was happy my first time would be with true fans of the movie.
After the movie, we took a group photo in the theater, and then checked out all the cool posters in the lobby, followed by another group photo. I drove Sarah Alperin, Peggy Riley, and Nancy McCarthy to their hotel, and then Vikki and I hit Spaghetti Warehouse for a late dinner. We made plans to hit three of the last four stops on the pilgrimage, and a supply closet on Rogers State University the next day.
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