Bricktown Walking Tour: A Self-Guided History & Food Walk in Oklahoma City

"The Bricktown Canal opened in 1999, built along the path of a former rail spur that once served the district's warehouses. It runs about a mile through the neighborhood and was one of the signature projects funded by the 1993 MAPS sales tax, a temporary penny sales tax voters approved specifically to rebuild downtown after decades of decline. The water taxis that cruise it today started running in 2001, styled loosely on Venetian gondolas but built for the Oklahoma climate."

Walk the north bank rather than paying for a water taxi unless you want the guided version — the taxi drivers narrate the same history you're getting here, just from the water. Early morning is quiet and the light on the water is better for photos than midday glare.

"The ballpark opened in 1998 as the home of the Oklahoma RedHawks (now the Oklahoma City Comets), another MAPS-funded project designed to anchor the district's east end. In 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, it briefly hosted the New Orleans Hornets NBA franchise for a stretch of home games while New Orleans arenas were unusable, a run that helped convince the league Oklahoma City could support an NBA team of its own. That connection led directly to the Thunder's arrival in 2008."

You can't get inside without a game ticket, but the exterior plaza and the brick facade facing the canal are worth a look regardless. If a Comets game happens to be on during your walk, tickets are cheap (often under $15) and worth the detour.

"Much of Bricktown's warehouse stock dates to the 1890s–1920s rail boom, when Oklahoma City was a shipping point for cotton, grain, and farm equipment moving through the Rock Island and Santa Fe rail lines. These buildings used unreinforced brick construction typical of the era, with thick load-bearing walls and heavy timber floors built to hold stacked freight. Many stood vacant through the 1970s and 80s after rail freight shifted to trucking, before redevelopment in the 1990s converted them to restaurants, theaters, and lofts."

Look up at the cornices and painted ghost signs on the upper floors — several buildings along Mickey Mantle Drive and Sheridan still carry faded lettering from their original warehouse tenants. It costs nothing to walk this stretch and it's the best concentration of unaltered brick facades in the district.

"This street was renamed for Mickey Mantle, who grew up in Commerce, Oklahoma and became a Yankees legend, as part of Bricktown's 1990s rebranding push. It runs parallel to the canal and connects to the district's western edge near the site of Oklahoma City's 1889 Land Run settlement, when the townsite was staked out in a single afternoon after the Unassigned Lands opened to non-Native settlement. The street's brick paving pattern echoes the district's original surface, though it was relaid during the 1990s renovation."

This is a good spot to slow down rather than a single attraction — read the sidewalk plaques if you're curious, but don't expect a formal monument here. It connects well to the Oklahoma City National Memorial a half mile west if you want to extend the walk another day.

"Before refrigeration was standard, Oklahoma City relied on icehouses to keep produce and meat cold for rail shipment, and several of Bricktown's brick buildings served exactly that function into the early 20th century. The thick brick walls that made these buildings good insulation for ice now make them good sound insulation for the bars and restaurants that occupy them today. Restoration work through the 1990s largely preserved the original masonry rather than replacing it, which is why the brick here looks weathered rather than sandblasted clean."

Skip going inside unless you're stopping to eat — the value here is the exterior brickwork and the sense of scale these old cold-storage buildings had. Early evening light hits this stretch well for photos.

"This bridge crosses near where Bricktown's canal system connects toward the Oklahoma River, part of a broader MAPS-era effort to reconnect the city's downtown to a river it had largely turned its back on since the 1950s. The Oklahoma River itself was dammed and channeled in the 1920s for flood control, cutting off the kind of waterfront access other cities kept. The 2004 MAPS-funded rowing venues downstream turned this stretch into a training site used by U.S. Olympic rowing and canoe/kayak teams."

This stop is more about context than spectacle — there's no dramatic view, just a useful vantage point to understand how the canal ties into the larger river system. Don't linger long; it's a five-minute stop before heading back toward the restaurants.

"Country singer Toby Keith, an Oklahoma native from Clinton, opened this restaurant on Mickey Mantle Drive in 2003, naming it after his own 2003 hit single. It occupies a renovated brick warehouse space typical of the district and has functioned as one of Bricktown's steady anchors for over two decades, hosting live music most weekends. The building itself carries the same early-1900s brick construction as its neighbors, adapted with a large patio facing the canal."

Get a table on the canal-facing patio if the weather's decent — it's the best people-watching seat in the district. The barbecue combo plates and the chicken-fried steak are the reliable orders; go elsewhere if you want something lighter, since the menu leans heavy and the portions are large. Expect a wait after 7pm on weekends.