School me on Lawton, OK

[tumbler]

I received a job offer and will most likely be moving to Lawton in the next couple of months. I have spent limited time there at Ft. Sill but not really any time inside of Lawton.

I'd like to find a house or apartment to rent in a safe, upscale area. Where should I look? What areas of town should I avoid? Does Lawton suck as bad as everyone says it does?

*ETA: I'm 33 y/o, single, no kids. I'd like to find a good girl to settle down with and start a family. Budget would be somewhere around $1K a month on rent as long as it's a nice, secure area.

Time constraints, not really sure yet. It all depends on finalizing the job offer, but most likely it'll be around 2 months from now. I'd really like to find a place to move and settle into rather than finding a temporary place.

 

[NightShade]

Lawton is a messed up town.

Need to fill in a few details though, are you single, married, kids?

What are your budget constraints, are you willing to find a place for a month or two while you look around or do you want something final when you make the move. Time constraints are also good info.

As far as apartments in an upscale area. . . good luck with that. The "upscale" area's are not in Lawton really and that I know of they don't have apartments and likely finding a house for rent will be tough as well. Most of the people are moving to Elgin or Geronimo for better area's and better schools. I know that there were some "new" apartments west of town on Gore that were supposed to be nicer but never dealt with anything out that way. I can say that the biggest area to stay AWAY from is near the airport, So basically south of Lee between 11th and at least Sheridan and within a couple blocks of those roads on either side. From my understanding the apartments on Sheridan South of Gore are not that great, the inspectors were talking about shoddy building. Also heard about some people kicking in the wall on the landing to get into the apartments as it was faster than the door, don't know if it's true but would not be surprised.

The better area's in town are on the east edge of town and the west edge respectively. But you will just have to go down there and see. I can say one thing, there is a lot of good food available if you like to eat out. Authentic NY style pizza at the Luigi's and Luigi's express, and I mean just that. Went out to NY after eating there and got a slice at a place and was seriously disappointed cause I could get the same thing at home. Still some places are worse than others, mostly chinese buffets if that's your thing, I know there was a place just north of Cache road just west of Ft. Sill Blvd that serves Korean food that a friend who was stationed in Korea for a while liked but can't remember it exactly think it was a bar of some sort. Was a Mexican place just north of Cache on Sheridan that was pretty good and more authentic than most of the others IMHO but it may or may not still be there.


As far as area's to avoid, pretty much anywhere at night. Last I heard Lawton had more gangs and members per capita than anywhere else in the state. While I was there a couple shootings happened at 38th and Cache when people were pulling money from the ATM, there was a shootout at the mall near the theatre murders in a couple of the flop house motels near Cache and Ft. Sill and after I left a "explosive device" was found in a car not too far from 2nd and Euclid. And there was a story about cars driving around with headlights off at night waiting for someone to flash and "remind" them to turn them on. The car would then follow and some sort of gang initiation would be done and the flasher would be the target. There is also a reason why the Walmart on Sheridan is referred to as the Ghetto Mart, I think it would be closely equal to the one at Classen near I44.

 

[TwoForFlinching]

It doesn't suck like evryone says. It's like every other town in America. The grass is greener over the neigh ors ceptic tank...

Most realtors in town subsidize the slowing market by managing properties. I would recommend walking in and sitting down with one of them to discuss your needs/wants in a home. PM and I'll recommend a few to you.

Don't trust rental status on Craigslist, most tempting listings are scams...common in military town.

Medicine Park is a cool community to live in, but it's miles from normal, and hipster pricey.

Elgin is nice, but expensive.

Duncan is far, and safe if you're not Australian or have crazy tweens.

Most upscale is on the far West and far East sides of Lawton. Also between Lawton and Cache. Military town, rent is high.

Come down sometime, I'll load up and show you around.

 

[tntrex]

Cache or hell to the no on that place.

 

[Brad A]

I've spent much time in l-town being from a mapdot very near to it. I was born there, in fact. It's not called the dirty southwest for no reason.
Hey, two for flinching, is the Golden Dragon still open?

 

[TwoForFlinching]

LOL! No. Lawton has changed a lot in the decade I've spent here. It's cleaner, taxes are actually being spent on city services, and crime is pretty well contained within a few blocks in the ghetto. There has been a lot of new business development in the last 5 years. There's a 5th asian buffet going in

 

[gfercaks33]

I'm down there for work quite frequently and I will say it's starting to pop up with new businesses and that's a good sign.

 

[otis147]

heh, a thread just popped up about Lawton on another forum i'm on...

http://jungletraining.com/forums/showthread.php?46603-Ode-to-Lawton-OK

 

[BallisticBiker]

heh, a thread just popped up about Lawton on another forum i'm on...

http://jungletraining.com/forums/showthread.php?46603-Ode-to-Lawton-OK

I find it quite amusing that you would denigrate my home town while you list your location as "methcalister." On both forums, no less! lol

I was born and raised here and wouldn't trade my upbringing for anything. That being said, it was boring as hell as a young adult on the chase of fun & frivolity, ergo, I moved to Arlington, Tx. when I turned 18. Once my wild oates had been sewn, I moved back here. I choose to live here vs. "being stuck" here.

Like 2fer said, it's like any other smaller city. We have our positives, we have our negatives. Personally, I like the fact that it's a 15 to 20 minute drive to wherever you want to go, including the lake or the mountains or out to my buddy's private shooting range.

Everybody says that the East side is the "nice" part of town yet there ain't but about two restaurants once you pass I44. haha Go West, young man.
For a grand a month, you should easily find a nice house in one of several "good" neighborhoods. One of the negatives about being a smaller city is the fact that crime isn't isolated to any one area. Anybody could be a victim anywhere. Do people in OKC feel that they are untouchable by bad apples? Living in a big city never gave me that impression. I've lived all over Ft.Worth and in Los Angeles. Maybe I just missed it when they were passing out the shields of invincibility....

Lawton gets a bad rap, and it may have deserved it at one of several points. Personally, I think the city is trying to evolve and progress, to a certain extent.

 

[otis147]

heh, that's my one experience in lawton, didn't say anything about any other part of it. i'd like to see where i said my town was better, being methcalister, we have tweekers, too... i'll take any place in s/e ok over any other region, but that's for the outdoors, not the people.