This post we leave our beloved Renaissance Neighborhood and travel to the Crosbie Heights neighborhood of Tulsa. Crosbie Heights is situated South of Highway 412, West of Interstate 244, North of the Arkansas River with South 25th West Avenue as the Western boundary. We are visiting 1623 West Charles Page Boulevard, the Tulsa Cave House to be exact. If you have ever driven by the Cave House you have certainly craned your neck as you passed. It stands alone, nestled into the side of the hill and at first glance it looks like something straight out of The Flintstones.
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The Cave House is owned by Linda Collier who gives tours on a regular basis. They include a top to bottom showing of the house and tons of information. Rumors about the house have circulated for years and include tales of bootlegging, secret passwords, a 'rag lady' and a 'key woman'.
The architect of the structure is Daniel Eichenfeld and it was built by Jospeh Koberling Sr. (father of architect Joe Koberling Jr who designed several homes in RNA including the art deco streamline at 1142 South College Avenue) and James Perszer. It was a 1924 business venture called the Cave Garden Restaurant.
Elderly local residents still recall the restaurant known for the fried chicken and apple pie. They described that patrons ate on picnic table and benches outdoors. After dark the establishment may have served alcohol at time when prohibition was in full swing. Reportedly one had to "speak easy" or whisper a password before entering the bar through the fireplace. A tunnel through the fireplace led into the hill, down some stairs and into a large room complete with a clam shell stage. Legend has it that 'Pretty Boy Floyd' and his gang of outlaws were regulars.
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| A picture of the establishment in the early days |
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Waitresses at the Garden Cave Restaurant
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There are also legends that tunnels behind the building led through the hill to nearby residences and were a means of transporting illegal alcohol. It has also been rumored that black victims of the Ku Klux Klan were buried in the tunnels. Further, Newblock Park, across the street from the Cave House has long been suspected of being the site of a mass grave for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. (See
This Land article)
The racial climate of Tulsa may explain the eccentric behavior of one of the residents of the house. She was known as the "Rag Lady." Residents of the area recall a woman who dressed in layers and layers of clothing regardless of the weather or time of year. She was known to collect rags, wash them and hang them in the windows to dry. Linda, the current owner, describes that after purchasing the house, she would get calls from friends telling her the windows looked looked ridiculous- she would check to find windows covered in rags- rags she didn't put there. At first she thought someone was playing a trick on her, but her husband and friends swore they were not involved.
Linda learned that the "rag lady" was actually Ella Walker. Her family reached out to Linda and wanted to set the record straight. They felt strongly that did not have a mental illness.
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| Ms. Ella Walker is pictured on the far right. |
Linda theorizes that Ms. Walker may have had African American heritage deliberately attempted to disguise herself or present as mentally ill in order to keep people at a distance.
A woman known as "the Key Woman" is another eccentric resident of the Cave House. Linda describes that this woman worked as a 'turn key' in Tulsa, taking care of shops and businesses when their owners were away. She was known to carry a large ring of keys prominently attached to her person. There are also tales of her finding lost keys and even taking them from people. Since owning the Cave House, Linda has accumulated a significant number of strange experiences in which keys disappear, only to turn up in obvious places. The experiences, which have happened to Linda, her family and her guests are unusual. In fact during the tour, Linda quite earnestly tells everyone not to joke about losing their keys, it isn't funny. In homage to the "Key Woman" Linda has keys everywhere! There is one tree in the living room where most of them hang, but if you keep your eyes peeled they are throughout the house.
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The bike and 'key tree' pay homage to the "Key Woman"
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Linda's contribution to the eccentric history of the Cave House are the sticks that she has draped from ceilings, piled in corners and woven into canopies throughout the house.
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| Sticks are woven into the craggy wall framing the fireplace. |
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| Sticks artfully piled in a corner. |
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| Linda's stick masterpiece is this bed frame in the upstairs bedroom. |
I definitely recommend taking a tour of the Cave House when you can. The home has no running water and does not actually function as a residence but serves as an eccentric art installation memorializing past residents and Tulsa history.
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| The fireplace and rumored entry to the speakeasy, sealed up long ago. |
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| Built in cabinet next to fireplace. |
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| Birds eye view of the kitchen from a tiny twisting staircase that leads to the upstairs rooms. |
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| The original bathroom, non-functioning and heavily decorated. |
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| Linda demonstrating the slide that she installed in an upstairs room. |
Tours are $10 by appointment or most Saturdays. Call Linda 918-378-1952 to schedule.
References:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/homeandgarden/tulsa-s-cave-house-filmed-for-hgtv-s-home-strange/article_9ea93c86-c179-5d92-8809-d00a7d10d2fd.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_R._Koberling_Jr.
http://cavehousetulsa.com/index.html
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