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Tulsa, OK: The Center of the Universe

Many Tulsans claimed to have stood in the center of the Universe, and they'd be right if they were referring to the Boston Ave pedestrian bridge.

"You have to go see the Center of the Universe" said Dane, the bartender at Elote Cafe in downtown. "It's this weird place with a circle, and when you stand in the circle is makes these strange echoes".

Sounded cool enough.

So after we scarfed down our burrito and puffy tacos, and drank down our beer and iced tea, we paid our bill and bid farewell as we proceeded to locate this aural anomaly in the heart of Tulsa's "new kind of energy".

It took awhile to find it, but we finally found the free-parking underneath the pedestrian bridge, and made our way up the stairs to find a rather modern-neo-post-apocalyptic art thingy that stood a hundred feet up into the sky (well maybe not that tall). In front of it was a circle made of bricks.

I stood in the circle and spoke a few words, and sure enough, I was treated to a stereophonic barrage of voices ping-ponging off of the several stones and walls surrounding the circle. It was like listening to myself holler in an 80s garage reggae band with overdone reverb and panoramic delay.

It's said that people standing outside of the circle can only hear your voice, not the echoes.

And no one understands exactly why.

It wasn't set up this way on purpose either. It just came out by accident.

And that big steel sculpture rising up into the sky has nothing to do with it. But somehow, it adds to the ambiance, giving the Center of the Universe some kind of ethereal, spiritual, metaphysical plasma kind of shit to the whole attraction, similar to what the monolith gave to the banging monkeys in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

But once you've had enough with shouting out across the Tulsa City Limits, and become a little more self-conscious of others making funny faces at you, it's time to get a beer at Tulsa's best brew pub, McNellie's Public House.

Located in the Blue Dome District of downtown, McNellie's doesn't look like much on the outside aside from one of the many old run down brick buildings that situate the east-side of downtown. But inside, the place is well appointed, looking every bit of a busy, cozy Irish pub. And with nearly 250 brands of beer on tap and in bottles, many of which are local Oklahoma-based labels, you'll never drink the same beer twice.

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And don't think Okies don't know how to brew beer. The "Bomb!" from Prairie Artisan Ales rivals many of the eclectic Imperial Russian Stouts I've had from names like Stone, Green Flash, and North Coast. At 14% ABV, it's aged in coffee, cacao, vanilla, and chile peppers, for a very rich and intense flavor. It's so good, they had to seal the bottle in wax just to keep the flavor from exploding out.

Center of the Universe
20 E Archer St.
Tulsa, OK 74103
Admission: Free