If you stand at the intersection of Asp and Boyd on any given day you will get a taste of life at OU. Students, professors, friends and shoppers dominate the streets eating, talking, laughing and shopping. Drivers are depositing quarters into meters or begging the barista at The Earth to give them a parking token. There is an OU flag, T-shirt or poster in every window. This is life on historic Campus Corner.

Founded in 1917 with just one building built by the Whistler family, Campus Corner grew out of simple supply and demand, according to the official Campus Corner website. At the time, students were not allowed to have cars on campus, and student housing, as well as all the greek houses, were located north of Boyd Street. Any shopping or entertainment had to be within walking distance. This made the location of Campus Corner an obvious choice. This building’s first floor served as a bookstore, a school supply store and a restaurant while its third floor functioned as a dance floor.

While Campus Corner has experienced growth in the last decade, the small-town feel keeps everyone coming back for more.

If standing in front of Louie’s on the corner of Asp and Boyd, the name “Whistler” appears in tile over the entrance. The building would eventually turn into Rickner’s Bookstore, but the immensely popular dance floor remained. Nicknamed “The Organ Grinder,” the ballroom saw many long nights with students.

The building continued to function as a bookstore after being bought by Randy Ratcliffe until it was sold in 1948 to Norman businessman Harold Powell to house Harold’s Outlet.

Harold Powell began his career on Campus Corner, working at McCall’s, which opened in 1935 and was located at 329 West Boyd St. while he was in high school.

In 1996 the building was renovated, but it still stands today as the flagship store of Campus Corner.

The iconic Boomer Theater was built in 1947 at 765 Asp Ave. The single-screen theater played movies until the 1970s. The Boomer Theater was utilized in the late ’70s and early ’80s as a concert hall where acts like Jerry Jeff Walker played. Concerts were held until 1985 when the building was bought and remodeled by Harold’s Stores Inc.

Although the space is now used for office space, the iconic “Boomer” sign remains a landmark today.

Johnny Chappell and Ashleigh Barnett own the building found at 331 White Street. The two, who have been friends since they were 15, opened Crimson and Whipped Cream. Chappell, an OU graduate, says he felt the need to open a local bakery and coffee shop.

“There is so much here, but there wasn’t really a local bakery-coffee house type place,” Chappell says.

Chappell and Barnett both moved away from Norman, but found themselves pulled back to the Campus Corner area.

“I really wanted to give something back to the community that gave me so much,” he says.

Barnett went to culinary and pastry school in New York but said the area really appealed to her.

The building that is now the Crimson and Whipped Cream bakery previously functioned as an old typewriter shop called Greenshield’s.

“We did all the remodeling ourselves,” Chappell says.

Chappell, who graduated in the early 2000s and moved away from Norman for four years, has seen the ups and downs of Campus Corner.

“There has definitely been a sort of revival happening on Campus Corner,” he says. “There has been a ton of expansion and new things opening up. Almost every spot is full.”

While Crimson and Whipped Cream is a new addition to Campus Corner, Nancy’s Cookies­-N-Cards has been on the Corner for 22 years and owner Nancy Russell has been in the business for almost 34 years.

“I started in retail when I was 12 years old,” Russell says. “It was my dream to open my own store when I turned 21.”

She made her dream come true. She turned 21 on January 26 and opened her first store on February 6.

Campus Corner has provided a nurturing environment for her locally owned store.

“We live in the consumerist age,” she says. “Everyone is being bought up by corporations. We won’t be going corporate.”

In addition to the delicious treats available on Campus Corner, the big draw is the shopping. The Melting Pot on White Street has been on Campus Corner for six years, but the building has been there much longer.

“The building has been in my family for over 50 years,” owner Richard Alexander says.

Before it housed the fine gifts it does today, it served the community as a boot and shoe repair store.

Similarly, Antique Garden has been around for the last seven years but the building has been around for much longer. Once upon a time it housed John A. Brown’s department store.

“Back in the hippie days I bought a bra there specifically for lunch with my parents,” a customer says.

Owner Barbara Fite, along with her daughter Mariah, opened in 1996, but moved to Campus Corner in 2003. A big reason for the move was the architecture of the buildings.

“I think the building was built in 1927,” Fite says. “That was a big reason my daughter wanted to move over here.”

Along with the old buildings, the mother-daughter team cites the proximity and the walkability of Campus Corner as reasons for moving.

“When we moved over here people were calling it ‘Death Corner,’” Fite says.

Along with Saavy and Louie’s, Antique Garden was part of the revival of Campus Corner.

This story appears in Sooner 2011. To purchase your copy, go to www.studentmedia.ou.edu or call 405-325-3668.