A Trip to the Depot

If you needed to locate someone in the oil business during the last oil boom, the first place to look was the Depot in the Concourse of downtown Oklahoma City. Everyone in the oil patch knew about the Depot, by far the most notorious restaurant in town. Far more than just a restaurant, the Depot was every bit the old west saloon featured in every western ever filmed.

The Depot was a sprawling restaurant at the base of the escalator in the 101 Park Avenue Building. Even deeper than the Concourse, the Depot resided at the bottom of a flight of stairs. The Depot was, in fact, the sunken living room of the Concourse. No matter what time of the day or night, the club was always packed.

A person entering the Depot would first encounter a well lit hallway, on an even elevation with the Concourse that led to several restaurant offices and bathrooms. Beyond the hallway lay a darkened nether world replete with loud voices, laughter and music. The first person a visitor was likely to encounter was a scantily clad waitress sporting a big welcoming smile.

It's a fact that there are many gorgeous women in Oklahoma City and the depot waitresses were no exception. They were always happy, or seemed so, because the service company salesmen that frequented the club all had endless expense accounts. The Depot was always filled with oil company personnel being plied with food, drink and other things (cocaine, pot, women, under the table bribes) to induce them to use their particular service instead of the person holding court at the next table.

A big, circular bar fronted the rectangular shaped room. The entire place was dimly lit, and some of the back booths barely visible. The term bat cave comes to mind and the trysts that went on in these darkened recesses are legend.

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