TULSA, Okla. — Starship Records & Tapes has been a hub for music and community in Tulsa since 1972 — thanks in part to its founder, Matt Bunyan.
Bunyan passed away earlier in July. The Starship family, and those who visited the shop often, remember Matt as "one of a kind" and "a legend."
Starship used to be on the corner of 11th and Delaware before TU bought the land. Around 2005, the store was forced to move to its current home on 12th and Lewis.
But the vibes carried over.
2 News talked with W.A. Santiago, who's been visiting the store since 1995.
He recalled how the old shop caught his eye on Route 66.
"The bright yellow and blue exterior that looked like a 5-year-old drew on a paper napkin while eating in an old 50s diner with its parents on a leisurely drive down Route 66," Santiago said.
But it's inside the shop where the magic happened because of Matt and his crew.
"They were literally gods of music, history, and whatever wild/funny theories about random stuff," he said.
Santiago said Matt taught him about music he'd never find on his own.
Before smartphones and Ticketmaster, Santiago and many others would buy concert tickets for Cains at Starship.
Santiago said he would go to Starship the day tickets were available to meet other fans of his favorite music.
"If you went to buy tickets the first day, you would encounter a whole bunch of like-minded people that you could talk to face to face about everything you loved about that band and suggest other bands to each other and you knew you'd see them again at that show a few weeks or months later," he said.
The community Matt built and his impact on all who walked through the doors, whether at 11th and Delaware or at 12th and Lewis, is clear to Santiago.
"Times were different, and many things changed over the decades, even their location, but that feeling walking through Starship's doors and as the strong scent of incense punches you in the face, it takes me back to the summer of 1995," he said.
Starship is open Tuesday through Saturday. The crew welcomes anyone who was impacted by Matt and Starship to stop by and share a story.
"May he Rest in Palaces," Santiago said.
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