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Podcast: Voices of Oklahoma
Episode: Mike Samara
Description: The son of Lebanese immigrants, Michael Samara was born in 1924 in Oklahoma City. He started working in restaurants for his brother, Jake, at the age of twelve. He managed the Jamboree Supper Club in Oklahoma City and moved to Joplin, Missouri, to open and manage Mickey Mantle’s Holiday Inn for six years.Mike opened the Celebrity Club in Tulsa at a location which was then “way out east” at 31st and Yale Avenue in 1963.Beyond the Celebrity Club, Mike owned or had an interest in the Hilton Habana Inn, Big Mike’s Hamburgers, Utica 21 Club, and Slee...