Urban Standard is Reopening!

We've been missing Urban Standard, and excited to hear this morning that they are reopening Monday, April 24 at 7:00am! Urban has been a huge supporter of our neighborhood for years, so please go visit them as soon as they open back up. For those of you who are new to the neighborhood since Urban has been under renovation, and/or spent considerable time under a rock, they are located at 2320 2nd Ave N, Birmingham, AL 35203.

Update 4/21/2017- The opening date has been pushed back to April 26th

New Morris Avenue Loft for Rent

Location, location, location! Walking distance to grocery, restaurants and parks. This 1/1 located on one of the oldest streets in Birmingham is now available for rent. All new kitchen with stainless steel new appliances. Comes with one secure indoor parking space. Has elevator and rooftop deck access. Call Carrie Hill Smith for more info..205-533-4455 sorry no pets/ $30 credit/background check/ $1800 security deposit 

Update- This unit has been rented.

Volunteer for Artwalk September 9th and 10th!

Birmingham Artwalk, set for September 9 &10 is celebrating our 15 years of transforming downtown Birmingham into a walkable art gallery in STYLE! But, we need your help to make it the best year yet. Sign up TODAY to volunteer for a short shift at Birmingham Artwalk and you'll get a FREE ticket to our Artwalk After Party, featuring Matthew DeVine and a stellar cast of Birmingham's musical talent! Plus, food and drinks to thank you for your time over the weekend!

Sign up here!

Mystery Shop

The Mystery Machine

If you've passed by 2nd Avenue Storage or eaten at El Barrio lately, you may have noticed our lobby windows have been covered. We are excited to announce we have a new retail neighbor who will be opening up soon. What kind of shop? Well, we're sworn to secrecy but all will be revealed September 8th, so stop by for the grand opening!

Join us for Southern Summer Night 2016

Join us for the event of the summer! The Junior Board of Hands On Birmingham is proud to host their annual summer fundraiser Southern Summer Night on Thursday, July 28, 2016 from 5:30-8:30p.m. 

The festivities will take place at Tavern on 1st located in Birmingham's Historic Loft District. The evening will include fabulous food from Pranzo, a live auction with fantastic items for bid and the opportunity to win a cabinet of cheer donated by Ashley Furniture filled with wine and spirits.  Guests will enjoy food and two drinks with the purchase of a $25 ticket or guests can purchase a ticket and t-shirt for $40. Guests will also have the opportunity to network with professionals from the Birmingham area as well as learn more about Hands On Birmingham's volunteer programs.

Proceeds from this event will help Hands On Birmingham further its mission of connecting people with organized and meaningful volunteer opportunities to help bring about positive social change.  

To purchase a ticket or get more information about Southern Summer Night please visit www.southernsummernight.org 

We hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Benga Harrison
Director- Hands On Birmingham

Artisanal pizza coming downtown | Bhamarchitect's Blog

Our friends over at Bhamarchitect have posted a few details on a new restaurant slated to open up down the street from us, helmed by the geniuses that brought us Bamboo on 2nd! Take a look at their post.

We Hosted Karen Libecamp at Artwalk!

People came from all over the metro area to enjoy Artwalk this past weekend. Karen Libecamp showed her work in The Wade Smith Foyer Gallery. Karen has recently been featured on MTV News and The Huffington Post, so we were honored to host somebody super famous. She was very successful, even in spite of Friday night's rain. Saturday had a steady stream of traffic in all of the venues, and The Gallery was no exception. Everybody loved Karen's miniature paintings. If you weren't able to come out or missed Karen's work, you can catch up (and maybe even purchase) some up at her website or come by The Gallery; her work will be displayed all month!

Birmingham Artwalk

Karen Libecap got tons of traffic at The Wade Smith Foyer Gallery 

There was a line down the block to get into the after party.

Come to Artwalk this Weekend!

Artwalk is an arts festival that transforms Birmingham's loft neighborhood into an arts district, featuring the work of more than 100 visual artists, live musicians, street performers, food and drink vendors, and children's activities.

The event is free to the public and in the last three years has become a much anticipated fall event drawing visitors from all over to downtown Birmingham. For the past two years, more than 10,000 people walked the streets of downtown during the two-day event.

Through the good will of area businesses and the work of a dedicated staff of volunteers, Artwalk hosts established and emerging regional artists in the unique and architecturally rich setting of downtown Birmingham. Art lovers will see original work in all mediums priced from the affordable to the extravagant. Participating artists are predominantly from Birmingham and surrounding communities, showcasing the wealth of regional talent.

People of all ages can enjoy being downtown at a safe, family-friendly, community event. Friday night has been compared to a huge gallery opening with a street festival atmosphere, while Saturday afternoon caters more to the family crowd with special children's activities.

-From Artwalk's website. For more information, including a list of Artists and Musicians performing, go to Artwalk's website at http://www.birminghamartwalk.org/

Artwalk Volunteers Needed

Artwalk could not happen without the best volunteers in town. Please sign up for a short shift and you are guaranteed a grand time meeting new friends and supporting one of the best festivals in Birmingham! Plus you get a FREE limited edition shirt and a ticket to your SUPER After Party! Just click HERE to sign up!

Coming Soon- Tavern on 1st

The owners of a new upscale cocktail lounge appeared before the Central City Neighborhood Association this week. The bar is called Tavern on 1st and they are looking to open the first week of May on 1st Avenue across from A.C. Legg Lofts and Wooster Lofts.

The menu features a "Build Your Own Manhattan" concept that looks like a lot of fun. It also has local beers and a small appetizer menu. 

I like the design a lot. It is very representative of the neighborhood with exposed brick and wood, decorated with lots of old Birmingham black and white photos. The layout is pretty typical for a bar in the area but they have what looks like a private meeting room in the back.  The owner mentions a lot of comfortable seating and a shuffleboard table as well.

I don't see anything specific about signage, but I did notice the front of the menu has what looks to be a super cool neon blade sign. I hope that it isn't just a picture on menu and that they are going to actually build this, for several reasons. First, I just love these types of signs. More importantly, a bar on 1st Avenue really needs something to get passersby's attention because the motor traffic goes too fast and there isn't much foot traffic there. I'd really like to see 1st Avenue add to it's nightlife to continue to bridge 2nd Avenue and Morris.

Check out the menu and layout designs on CCNA's website and an interview with the owner at AL.com.

TOMORROW | Figure Drawing with Andy

Want to hang out with the Accordion Player and me? Thursday we will be taking our Figure Drawing with Andy class at Space 111, just down the street from 2nd Avenue Storage. The class is laid back and relaxing. All skill levels are welcome. Tomorrow we will be working on portraits. Here are a couple of portraits from the class I've done:

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PORTRAITURE with model Bekah Fox
6:15 – 8:45 pm
$25/drop-in rate
$15 for students

Space One Eleven
2409 2ND Avenue North
Birmingham, AL 35203-3809
205.328.0553 ext. 24 Phone
spaceoneeleven.org

New Restaurants in the Neighborhood

The Florentine recently opened as an event space. I haven't been lucky enough to go inside yet but the Accordion Player and I press our noses up against the glass whenever we walk by and it really looks beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I don't know that we will be invited because we might touch something. While they are currently only doing events and catering, they are supposedly going to open a restaurant very soon. I've been polishing my spats on the off chance that they will let us in.

Bamboo on 2nd was also just announced. I'm particularly excited because we haven't had a sushi restaurant close to 2nd Avenue since Thai Bowl closed. Now we will have one right across the street! Our friends at Appleseed are doing the work, so you know it is going to look cool, too.

The #DeckTheHam contest

I entered the #decktheham window painting contest that Birmingham Artcrawl sponsored on 2nd Avenue this year. To vote for me Retweet, Share, or Repost and make sure to include #decktheham. Thanks!

Here's my window painting:

Welcome Yo Mama's!

Yo Mama's had their soft opening today, so the Accordion Player and I walked over for lunch. It's located in the old Faith Skate storefront next to Urban Standard (2328 2nd Avenue North), and just a block away from 2nd Avenue Storage.

The decor is really cool. They kept the old brick and wooden beamed ceilings and gave it an open loft-style feel that fits really well with the rest of the neighborhood. They threw in some bright colors on the old plaster that make it feel really bright and exciting.

The second thing I noticed after the decoration was the friendly staff who took a lot of time to talk to us even though they were pretty busy. One of the proprietors (Yo Mama's daughter apparently) told us that they kept the menu small to focus on making a few things really well, with the daily specials really being the focal point. 

After eating our meals and looking at the other dishes, I will describe the menu like gourmet soul food. The daily special really did look tasty but I'm a sucker for hot wings. The hot wings were delicious, and not your normal buffalo sauce on greasy previously frozen wings. The wings were really meaty and the sauce was sweet and sticky with just the perfect amount of heat. Overall, a great addition to the neighborhood!

To see the full menu, go to Yo Mama's website: http://www.yomamasrestaurant.com/

Birmingham Featured in National Geographic Traveler

There is a wonderful article in National Geographic Traveler about the changing perception of Birmingham. A lot of it focuses on how the Downtown Revitalization has improved the metro area in general, and even mentions El Barrio! Read the article: Steel Magnolia -- National Geographic Traveler.

The Wade Smith Foyer Gallery

We enjoyed Artcrawl last month. There was a good turnout and the organizers did a great job. We transformed the entryway to 2nd Avenue Storage into "The Wade Smith Foyer Gallery." Cause it's my foyer, ya know? Special thanks to Billie Dupree for coming up with the name. Looking forward to next month's Artcrawl on July 3rd. Come on down to 2nd Avenue!

Upper Downtown?

I just read a listing for a walking tour of "Upper Downtown" given by Vulcan Park. The Vulcan Park folks are awesome and I bet this is a really interesting tour. Sign up here. However, I have no idea what "Upper Downtown" is. I assume they are talking about the area around Vulcan, with "Upper" possibly meaning "on the mountain." Personally, I would call this area Southside, but maybe that is too general, too. Which leads me to the question: where is "Downtown" Birmingham? Often, when people who live in the Loft District say "Downtown," they actually mean the Loft District, but that's not right. Most people in the metro area say the new Regions Park is in Downtown, but the signage in the area says "Midtown" and the city is trying call it "Parkside" (although I've never actually heard anybody refer to the area between Downtown and Southside as "Midtown" or "Parkside"). When people who live over-the-mountain say "Downtown" they usually mean what I think of as Downtown, Midtown/Parkside, and Southside as well. When you see a comment on AL.com about how dangerous "Downtown Birmingham" is, the commenters lump any part of the metro area they don't like into what they call "Downtown." It seems the further you live from whatever Downtown is, the larger it gets.

REV Birmingham and other people who are a lot smarter than me have been working on branding campaigns for various parts the city. Considering that none of us seem to know where anything is, maybe that's not a bad idea.

So what do you call the area around Vulcan? Southside? Upper Birmingham? Sub-Vulcan?

Storkland Returns to Downtown

So most of you will remember we used to call the Counts Brothers' Building the Storkland building. I had bought it from Tom Blair, and the last tenant had been Storkland, owned by Tom's brother Stan. Stan had kept Blair Furniture, his other furniture business, downtown in the same location next to the prior Storkland. Interestingly, El Barrio and the rest of the restaurants and bars on 2nd Avenue were bringing more and more foot traffic to the downtown store. So much so that Stan decided to close up his Vestavia store and bring Storkland back downtown!

Here's a great article from Mike Tomberlin on the move.

More things that happen at my house: Fashion Photo Shoot

If you've picked up the most recent issue of Birmingham Magazine you might recognize the setting of the fashion shoot. After doing a story on my place last year, our friends over at the magazine decided it would make a perfect setting to show off some swanky clothing. Here are some of the photos that didn't make the magazine. [gallery ids="1831,1830,1829,1828,1827,1826,1825,1824,1823,1822,1821"]

Behind me? BEHIND YOU! Behind the Scenes: Making a movie at Counts Brothers

The crew of "Behind You" showed up at my place early this morning. "Behind You" is an independent film directed by Rebecca Pugh and filmed by Joe Walker with the help of some other great people. I don't want to give anything away about the plot, but I'm sure you'll be able to catch it at Sidewalk Film Festival next year. The story is very cool and the production values are above and beyond your average short film. Joe explained all the technology, which I will recite here: it's filmed on a ds-err-etch-blem with eccity-eccity-ooo. The lighting is something also special, apparently.

The crew was fired up and it was fun to watch them set up the equipment. Here's a few pictures of the setup.