A special exhibit at The Woody Guthrie Center gives a sneak peek of some of the historic collection The Outsiders House Museum will feature when it opens later this spring.

The exhibit opens Monday on the 36th anniversary of the release of The Outsiders movie, which is based off the novel by Tulsa author S.E. Hinton.

“It's just like the Woody Guthrie's messages. It's timeless. It continues to be relevant, and the issues that were brought up in book are still issues that we battle with,” said Woody Guthrie Center Executive Director Deana McCloud.

“You're talking about class differences, those differences and conflicts that arrive when you have the haves and have nots competing in an environment where sharing things might  be better.”

The Outsiders Way in north Tulsa, where the house from the 1983 movie The Outsiders sits, has become a hot spot on Tulsa's list historic places.

“I started to wonder and worry about was this was gonna get torn down and that it would be lost forever, and my hunch was right; this was on a short list for tear down,” said Danny Boy O’Connor.

Danny Boy O'Connor, from the hip-hop group 'House of Pain,' bought the iconic corner lot after a tour stop in Tulsa several years ago. He says he paid $15,000 for the deteriorating house, sight unseen.  

He has spent more than two years working to recreate the set inside and out. Now, the house the Curtis brothers called home is a museum, which is set to open this spring.

“It's like an art project more than it is like a fluff and buff of an old house that you're trying to fix up quick and flip,” O’Connor said.

“There's nothing I won't do to make sure we have the best. I want people to come here and go, 'It was worth the wait. It's incredible what you've done.'”

Before The Outsiders House Museum opens, The Woody Guthrie Center is giving Greaser fans a first look at some of the memorabilia the new museum will feature.

McCloud says Tulsa is unique because museums that could view each other as competitors build each other up instead.

“We all work together. We understand that a united front makes us all stronger and makes Tulsa a bigger tourist destination,” McCloud said.

The display will showcase movie wardrobes, collectables and never before seen photos. Some of the photos include pieces photographer and artist Patrick McNicholas created where he mixed past and present pictures from some of the movie's historic locations.

“We've been working on it for 6 months now,” McNicholas said. “[Danny] kind got me into doing pop culture kind of composites.”

“He does mashes to the next level, so sometimes it's so good, I can't tell where the mash starts and the historic photo begins. He’s that good,” O’Connor said.

For McNicholas, it's his first art show. But for Danny, the exhibit is just a small sample of his big passion to preserve a special piece of Tulsa history.

“For me it's been a pleasure. I still like pinch myself,” O’Connor said.

“This house, I kind of feel like it chose me to like save it. And so I've been like championing it for the last few years and it's the greatest struggle I never knew I wanted.”

The Woody Guthrie Center is hosting a sold-out question and answer session with O’Connor Monday, but The Outsiders House exhibit goes through April.

As for the The Outsiders House Museum, it hasn’t set an opening date; however, O’Connor says it should happen in the next couple of months.

We restored some videos from the News On 6 vault to see some coverage from the year The Outsiders was made: