Introducing Tulsa

Self-billed as the 'Oil Capital of the World,' Tulsa has never dirtied its hands much on the black gold that oozes out elsewhere in the state. Rather, it is the home to scores of energy companies that make their living drilling for oil, selling it or supplying those who do. The steady wealth this provides once helped create Tulsa's richly detailed art-deco downtown. But today Tulsa (population 392,000) is not the most charming Great Plains town: suburban sprawl has dispersed its appeal and much life seems to center on the malls and chains gathered at highway interchanges.