Not Brad James. He lived in one from about 2004-10, taking up residence in what was then a derelict Kendall Whittier District.

“There was prostitution and dope deals and thievery all day long,” he said. “You couldn’t set anything down and turn your back on it…”

One of three founders of Guitar Technical Services, 2207 E. Admiral Blvd., James now works across the street where he used to sleep, repairing instruments in a revamped Kendall Whittier District that is currying artistry and commerce.

“The fact that it’s cleaned up makes people feel better about being here,” said James, who established GTS with Steve “Doc” Hickerson and Jess DiPesa in an historic garage building in July 2013. “The more people that are here, the less comfortable the bad element is. They go somewhere else rather than lay around on the sidewalk.”

Since January 2013, 26 new businesses have opened in the Kendall Whittier service area, representing 198 jobs and $16.2 million in private investment, said Ed Sharrer, executive director of Kendall Whittier Main Street, a nonprofit that supports revitalization of the area. He expects six more new businesses will open in 2017.

“It’s been a really exciting time,” Sharrer said during a recent interview in the historic district. “Once one (business) has gone in, word of mouth has spread. We’ve become a destination of choice for creative businesses and folks.

“We used to be known for our cheap rent. We’re not cheap rent anymore. We’re affordable. The property owners are here for the long game. They’re not here for the quick buck and to sell out.”

TPC Studios is among the district’s newest move-ins. Relocated from downtown earlier this year, it injected about $2.5 million into refurbishing the former home of Swinney Hardware, a store that operated 74 years at 32 S. Lewis Ave. until its closing in 2008.

A short walk away, Calaveras Mexican Grill is expanding, Sharrer said. Also, three new tenants are planning to move this spring into the a renovated 12,000 square-building between TPC Studios and Circle Cinema along Lewis Avenue: nonprofit Growing Together Tulsa, HP Engineering and Orth Contemporary, he said.

The new businesses are meshing with an emerging art studio community served by Zeigler Art and Frame, a neighborhood anchor for more than 40 years. Kendall Whittier, along with the Brady Arts District in Tulsa, remains one of only seven certified cultural districts in the state, according to the Oklahoma Arts Council.

“If you look between downtown and TU and (Interstate) 244 and the BA (Expressway), this is really sort of the creative corridor of Tulsa,” Sharrer said. “There are only two neighborhoods there. It’s Kendall Whittier and the Pearl (District)…If you make something, if you’re creative, this is where you want to be.”

May Yang and Nick Nold of Flash Flood Print Studios, a screen-printing company at 2407 E. Admiral Blvd., left the Pearl District to come to Kendall Whittier in the summer of 2015.

“We had friends who were working out of creative co-working spaces on the other side of Lewis (Avenue), and we just really liked that creative energy in the neighborhood,” Yang said. “There was a lot of stuff up-and-coming here. We saw the space and thought it was a good fit for us.”

Just west of Flash Flood was a former adult book store and later an Alcoholics Anonymous hall, a corner building that stayed boarded up for decades. It has been transformed into Fair Fellow Coffee, where customers bathe in sunshine fed by wraparound windows.

“We figured it was the first time in 40 years that people had been able to see in and out of the building,” Sharrer said. “There were things that maybe we weren’t proud of or shady activity going on behind closed doors. Now it’s light and open and transparent.”

Fair Fellow, owned by Jeff Pelt, his wife, Kaitlyn, and Andy Unruh, started as the Hoot Owl in 2015 before opening under its current name in April, Jeff Pelt said.

“Just owning a business, dreaming as big as Ed pushed us, it really is rewarding and we can definitely see the benefits of what we’ve put into it,” he said.

The Pelts are former restaurant servers who want to take customer satisfaction to the next level.

“I treated every table as my own personal business because that’s essentially what it is,” Jeff Pelt said. “It’s a paycheck at every table. I thought if I could pull money in and, in a sense, charm and make a business of every table, I could do it at a larger scale.”