The Outsiders House Museum

Located in North Tulsa's Crutchfield neighborhood at 731 North St. Louis Ave on the corner it shares with East Independence Street,[5] and built in 1920, the house served as a private residence except for the time it became a set for the Curtis Brothers' home during the filming of the movie The Outsiders (1983) circa 1982.[6] The film was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and based on the 1967 novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton.[7] The film is notable for casting young actors before their rise to fame, which includes C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, and Diane Lane.[8] Furthermore since it's release it retains a following.

After the filming the house returned to its original purpose.[6]

In 2009, hip hop artist Danny Boy O'Connor was touring and had a three days layover in Tulsa. O'Connor, a life long fan of The Outsiders, suddenly remembered that he was in the town where the film was shot and asked a cab driver to take him on a tour of the locations and rediscovered the house.[6] He took a picture, posted it on MySpace, and the photo went viral. This led O'Connor to found The Delta Bravo Urban Exploration Team, a project that leads a team to visit documents notable pop culture landmarks from film, television, music, and true crime.[9] The house is noted to be their first location.[10]

Afterward O'Connor would continue to visit the location while stopping in Tulsa.[6]

In 2015, O'Connor purchased the house, after the house's tenants grew eight months behind in rent, the former owner agreed to sell the property.[11]

O'Connor bought the house sight unseen for $15,000 and had to sneak in through a window to get inside. It had to be emptied of detritus before restoration could begin.[12] O'Connor teamed up with Oklahoma residents to carry out the restoration, which involved extensive renovations including removing walls and ceilings.[13] A crew of volunteers shoveled trash for three days while ripping out broken home appliances and using bug bombs to fumigate the property.

As part of the restoration efforts, the renovation team worked to make sure that the house looked as it did in the film, such as by retaining fence damage[14] and missing wood panels in windows.[15]

The project was supported by the TYPros Foundation,[16] the Oklahoma Film and Music Office, Visit Tulsa and the Oklahoma City Council, and items and exhibits were donated from fans from across the world. Fundraisers for the project were held in August 2016 and May 2017.[17]

The Museum was scheduled to open in late 2017. However, the house was still undergoing renovations in March, 2018. On August 9th, 2019, a ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the official opening of the museum.[18]