News & Updates

When NACOK met with Gypsy Hogan at her home in rural NE Oklahoma City, no one asked if they could set up a tent in her backyard, but the temptation was there. When she invited us, she said, “Come to my house and see why I’d never want to live in a city neighborhood again!” Gypsy has created a beautiful, peaceful retreat on a wooded acreage, surrounded by pollinators, wildlife, native plants and ancient oaks.

Originally an East Texas girl, her family lived in The Village during her teens. Her first job was at the original Casa Bonita Mexican restaurant, 39th and Portland. “I couldn’t have asked for a better first job because Bill and Francis Waugh, who started the Casa Bonita chain, were such wonderful role models themselves. They took such an interest in who they hired and the kids who worked there. And they worked right alongside us. They just made it fun. And we all worked so hard.” That sense of a strong community working to make something good happen carried over into several of her future jobs, including as a newspaper reporter and a magazine editor, as well as in parent organizations, church groups and neighborhood efforts.

Gypsy is considered one of the first “urban pioneers” who helped revitalize an older neighborhood in Oklahoma City’s inner core. After college, with the help of a HUD 312 Rehabilitation Loan, she was able to buy a duplex in what was then the Comeback Neighborhood, now Mesta Park. The program offered second mortgages at 3 percent interest for home rehab, making it possible for people to remodel homes in areas experiencing deterioration. However, there were strict specifications regarding the work done.

“You had to meet so many requirements, and at the time it didn’t make sense to me, but through the years, I realized that was the most beautiful part of the whole plan. …They did such a beautiful outline of everything that had to be done.” The program helped ensure that homeowners had work done properly and in ways that would enhance future maintenance. “I’ve done other remodels since, but could never find someone to do a plan and monitor the work like the 312 offered.”

While Mesta Park today is a beautiful, desirable area, the Comeback was not. “I had friends who said ‘Nice house in the hood.’ People were afraid to park on the street and come to a party.”

However, she found a community of neighbors who bonded over a shared love of their homes and all the details that made them special. And the energy crises of the late ‘70s, when gas prices soared, created an added interest in wanting to live closer to work areas.

“We had a great group of energetic people who could just make things happen. I remember one meeting where we were trying to figure out a way to raise some money. By that time, Heritage Hills was doing gangbusters with their home tour. But we knew our neighborhood was not ready for that — we had too many houses that were still in disrepair. “That’s when we got the idea to have a night-time event, Christmas in Mesta Park. 

“The reasoning was that it would be nighttime and visitors wouldn’t see some of the disrepair. We’d focus on that ‘come home for Christmas’ feel’ rather than rehab and decor,” she remembered.  From there, ideas flew. Houses on 18th Street were lined up because the wider street would allow for carriage rides, hot chocolate sales, holiday lighting, photos with Santa. 

“I am so amazed to see that Mesta Park’s Holiday Home Tour has become such a community tradition,” she said.

While there were neighbors willing to work to move the area forward, the area also had its share of people not as supportive, people she can now laugh about. “There was this one guy who would come to neighborhood meetings in the Wilson Elementary cafeteria and spit tobacco juice on the floor. You cannot imagine how much we hated having to clean that up once the meeting was over.” 

Another neighbor — a big guy with a big voice — would disrupt meetings with objections and complaints if Robert’s Rules of Order weren’t being followed. When Gypsy became neighborhood association president, she had the idea to make him an offer. “We are thinking about creating a sargeant-at-arms position, and I am wondering if you would be willing to keep order in the meetings,” she recalled asking him. “I thought it could go either way, but he loved the idea, quit disrupting the meetings and became a good friend.” 

Her life today, she said, is still one with neighbors, but a neighbor can live a mile away with only a handful of houses in between. However, people invariably get to know each other — lost dogs, horses or cattle that escape, the threat of fires and especially when the occasional zoning case comes up. Most in the area want to preserve the Ancient Cross Timbers with its old trees and biodiversity. And there’s concern about the depletion of the Garber-Wellington aquifer that provides well water for her and many neighbors. Then there’s the OKC Plan with its recommendation that the area should continue to develop with homes on acreages. 

“For me, I like that there’s not much focus on code violations and more focus on bigger ideas and keeping peace with your neighbor,” she said “I feel like our challenge is finding ways to get the larger OKC to see the value of preserving this area. I see the value in preserving homes that were built a hundred or more years ago, but I see even more value in preserving our oak and walnut trees that are just as old if not older. I love having neighbors who share those concerns.”

Looking back through her experiences, she thinks the thing she has learned the most is to put peace with your neighbors first. A great way to do that, she said, is being self-aware of your own actions and habits and how they may influence others. Having neighbors you can call on in an emergency, trust with a house key, help in their time of need — those are the best.