The Outsiders House Museum

The Outsiders House Museum
	The Outsiders House Museum The Outsiders House Museum
Established	2017 (House built in 1920)
Location	731 N. St Louis Avenue; Tulsa, Oklahoma 74106; USA
Founder	Danny O'Connor
Website	The Outsiders House

The Outsiders House Museum is a museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It aims to preserve the primary film set for the Curtis Brothers' house in the 1983 coming-of-age movie The Outsiders for fans to enjoy in the future. The museum was bought by Danny Boy O'Connor, a founding member of the hip hop group House of Pain.^[3] A long-time fan of The Outsiders, O'Connor bought the house for $15,000 before ever stepping foot inside.

History

Production

Built in 1920, the house was largely unremarkable until it was used as the set for the Curtis Brothers' house during the filming of The Outsiders, a 1983 movie starring Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, C Thomas Howell, Diane Lane and Tom Cruise.^[4] The movie was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and based on the 1967 novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton.^[5]

Purchase

The house was purchased in 2015 by musician Danny O'Connor. O'Connor was a long-time fan and collector of the movie's memorabilia and, after playing at Tulsa's Cain's Ballroom in 2009, he asked a cab driver to take him on a tour of the neighbourhood. O'Connor saw the house and fell in love with it and, after the house's tenants grew eight months behind in rent, the former owner agreed to sell the property.^[6]

Restoration and renovation

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.^[7] O'Connor teamed up with Oklahoma residents to carry out the restoration, which involved extensive renovations including removing walls and ceilings.^[8] A crew of volunteers shoveled trash for three days while ripping out broken 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 movie, such as by retaining fence damage^[9] and missing wood panels in windows.^[10]

The project was supported by the TYPros Foundation^[11], 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^[12], and a GoFundMe campaign has also raised over $30,000 of a $75,000 target.^[13].

Many members of the movie's cast and crew have helped to raise awareness by appearing at events and donating items to the museum's collection. Author S. E. Hinton offered her support for the project and donated $10,000 and various items and exhibits to the museum. Additionally, actor C Thomas Howell (who played Ponyboy) donated a hooded sweatshirt and Ralph Macchio (Johnny Cade) donated a pair of sneakers, both of which were worn in the movie.