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The Brady Arts District is one of Tulsa's oldest areas, characterized by two-story brick warehouses. It contains two of Tulsa's most historic entertainment venues, The Brady Theater and Cain's Ballroom in addition to many local artists' galleries, restaurants with late night hours, bars and dance clubs.
The Brady Theater, built between 1912 and 1914, was originally designed to serve as the City's Municipal Auditorium and was simply called "Convention Hall" for the first 40 years of its life. In 1952, major additions were added and the building was renamed Tulsa Municipal Theater. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Supplanted as the City Auditorium in 1979 by construction of the Performing Arts Center in Downtown, "the Old Lady on Brady" continues to be used today for a wide variety of concerts and theatrical productions.
North of the Brady on Main Street is the Cain's Ballroom, the home of Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys and the Light Crust Doughboys. To many, Cain's is the cornerstone of western swing music in the United States. It is also one of only two still-surviving venues from the Sex Pistols' infamous 1978 USA Tour. The Sex Pistols played at Cain's on January 12, 1978. Today, Cain's leads a thriving existence by attracting an eclectic mix of country, rock, "jamband," jazz, and roots music.
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