The Pickup's Culture coverage is brought to you by Tulsa Artists' Coalition Gallery, 40 Years of Empowering Tulsa Artists. Visit TAC Gallery to see American Highway Revisited by VC Torneden and Melinda Harvey Green, June 5 – 27, 2026.
With the closure of Whitty Books in 2025, Kendall Whittier was left with a niche-bookstore-shaped hole. When Fulton Street Books packed up shop just a few months later, that hole grew and the future of unique, local bookstores in Tulsa seemed shaky. Thankfully, 2026 has brought two (count ‘em!) community-focused bookstores to fill that void. Meadow Market Books covers the Cherry Street area, but as a KW native, I yearned for another place close by.
Enter the founders of Palomino Books and Music: Paloma Lopez and Agalisiga “Chuj” Mackey. Together, the couple set out to create a space that celebrated their family’s blend of Cherokee and Mexican heritage. Growing up in and around Kendall Whittier my entire life, I knew the neighborhood as this particular Indigenous and Latine blend. It feels natural for a multicultural community hub to move in and complement the rest of the wonderful, locally-owned spots in KW. It’s a reflection of Tulsa as well, as we are just as much of a melting pot as any other urban area.
Palomino is a touch different from Tulsa’s other new and used bookstores: it will focus on providing multilingual books and a space for live music on top of various community resources. Lopez is an author and Mackey is a musician, which makes this combination a fitting one. With a wink, Lopez said “we are good at creating things together, whether it be creative projects or pretty babies.”
Walking into Palomino Books and Music for their Third Thursday pop-up, I immediately noticed the inviting nature of the store. The space is colorful, full of art (with more on the way), and bright. This is a space not only to explore Spanish-language and Indigenous-created literary works, but to browse Tulsa’s local music scene as well. It’s simply thrilling to see CDs from local musicians paired thoughtfully next to kids’ graphic novels. I could feel the love for Tulsa and Oklahoma throughout the space.