New owners of an OKC rock music landmark want to reverse years of neglect
An Oklahoma City landmark, part of Oklahoma City’s rock-and-roll history, might finally undergo some much-needed repairs after languishing for the past 20 years.
Kevin Galliart, architect for the owners, recently filed a building permit to clean out and repair the interior and exterior of the 1915 property at 2401 N Classen. The building is best known as the former home of Rainbow Records and one of the last structures in the city with a rooftop billboard that has stood since 1940.
The owners declined to be interviewed, but Galliart said they are committed to preserving the corner, which consists of three storefronts. He said the first priority is to make wall and roof repairs to prevent further damage.
“The owners who bought the building remember the days they used to go in and buy records,” Galliart said. “Right now, we’re trying to keep the building structurally sound and weather tight. They like it the way it is. They want to make it ready to lease.”
Rainbow Records played a role in The Flaming Lips' rise to popularity
Rainbow Records opened at the corner in 1978. The store was where then-manager Scott Booker formed a friendship with The Flaming Lips, then a local band and regular customers. Handling phone calls for the band eventually evolved into the title of band manager just as the group’s members were signing a contract with Warner Bros. and about to become internationally acclaimed, Grammy-winning music icons.
The building has been empty since the store closed in 2003 and most of the building’s windows have been boarded up since the area was hit by a tornado in 2019.
The building initially opened as a grocery store with adjoining storefronts home to an array of tenants including a Xerox shop, real estate office and antiques store. The corner was home to Roberts Drugs, a pharmacy and soda fountain, that operated from 1927 to the mid-1960s.
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Assessor records show Leonard Roberts, longtime owner of the corner, sold the building to Winfred and Velma Parker in 1986. The Parkers at the time owned a Hoover vacuum store that opened in the north space of the corner in 1953.
Before the windows were boarded up, passersby could see a collection of vintage vacuum cleaners stacked up inside the closed Rainbow Records storefront. The Parkers sold the property for $425,000 to the new owner, Rainbow Records LLC (unrelated to the store), in April this year.
Redevelopment of the former Rainbow Records store would mark a turnaround for the area, where one adjoining building, formerly a dance studio at 1209 NW 23, has been renovated and leased to Craig’s Emporium while windows have been restored at a long boarded-up storefront at 1215 NW 23, which is now home to Workflow OKC.
Ginger Casper, who founded Workflow OKC with Chelsea Banks, converted the building into a community space for co-working, creative maker use, collaborative music uses, and meeting rooms and private offices.
Casper said the future of the neighboring former Rainbow Records store is a frequent question asked by visitors. She believes the corner can be fully brought back to life.
“Everybody loves the rainbow building, it’s an iconic corner,” Casper said. “With Craig’s going in, that made this a space for more diversity.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Rainbow Records, landmark part of Flaming Lips lore, to be renewed
