Filed under: AL, Architecture, Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham Zoo, Birmingham, AL, Cities, Civic Engagement, Ensley, Jackson-Olin High School, MySpace, Photographs, Random shots, The Ticker
The signs they are a changing…
A quick drive out to Graffeo Bros Grocery in Ensley yielded the first signs of the store’s pending change in ownership. The image on the left shows what the long time Ensley business looked like before the alterations began, presumably in the last two weeks. While many are concerned with the likes of AmSouth and Parisian disappearing into the corporate night, many more are just now learning about the loss of one of the last vestiges of metro Birmingham’s “Little Italy”.
(Graffeo family to sell grocery store, The Birmingham News, 8.9.2006)
Check out the Magic City MySpace Page!
For those that have not visited yet, the Magic City MySpace page is up and running. Click here to view the previous post talking about the page, and click here to visit the page itself.
School’s open in the Magic City
Today marks the first day of the 2006-2007 school year in the City of Birmingham. As promised last week, here are additional images from the new P.D. Jackson-Olin High School in Ensley, the most notable physical change in the system. (Images will be available shortly) There have also been some changes on the web for the school system as it boasts a new, more dynamic website. Click here to look around and see all that we will be able to know about our school system as the site begins to be used fully.
The choice is yours (and yes, he’s cute)
Juno, one of the resident giraffes at the Birmingham Zoo, gave birth to a son on Monday, giving our zoo four giraffes. That’s him to the left. They’re asking you to come up with its name by visiting their website (the contest page is available by clicking here) or by visiting the zoo by August 25th. The zoo’s homepage also provides some additional information about the newest addition to the Magic City’s zoo family. We’ll try to keep you abreast of the results of the contest when it’s announced.
There are a couple more after the jump…
Alabama Adventure embarks on one of its own
When we first posted about the future of our regional theme park, Alabama Adventure, we assumed with everyone else that the changes were years away. We’re probably as surprised as everyone else that the proposed additions have been put on the fast track. As the park grows, it can only be a good thing for the region, especially western Jefferson County.
(Park plans hotel, more, The Birmingham News, 8.9.2006)
Construction’s moving along at Baptist Princeton
This is a current image of construction work being completed on the new P.O.B. (that’s Professional Office Building… I grew up in a hospital family and still had to look it up). It is the first of what hospital administrators hope will be several new additions to the hospital’s campus in the coming months. Princeton Baptist’s planned improvements, including this $20 million project, have led to several additions investments in the area, including a new McDonald’s building replacing a long time structure at Princeton Parkway and additional proposed projects by area businesses.
Let us know if you have any ideas. We’ll finally continue the Chicago series tomorrow. Have a great day!
Cheers.
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And all this time 95.7 JAMZ has been telling me that POB stood for Platinum of Birmingham!
I’m very saddened to hear that Graffeo Bros is closing…. Mr P’s is the only meat shop left in town now I think… (other than the carnicerias scattered around town)
Comment by 3choBoomer August 10, 2006 @ 12:55 pmJefferson County school students went back today, too. Mike should be grumbling mightily this evening after dealing with clueless 10th graders.
Comment by Elaine August 10, 2006 @ 1:29 pmthought this would interest you… here’s the transcript from 42 Daily News 10pm on the 10th of August:
“after a century of operation…. one of the last links to what was once a vibrant italian community in ensley, prepares to change hands . its a change that many are calling an end of an era. for decades, ensley was home to birminghams italian community, which played a major role in building the magic city. graffeos market was a staple.. supplying a familiar flair,.. iluding their famous handmade italian sausage for the citys new populace. now, after 100 years in business, they are calling it a day and turning it over to neownership. but, the third generation owners admit, it s hard to leave. we made a living here, more importantly we made friends. weve seen families, just like ours grow up people on a first name basis. weve seen a lot of them pass away so you just dont leave here with out having some kind of mixed emotions . some people are sad some are upset that were leaving they have theyre mixed emotions. as time marches on, so to did the italian community. but graffeos remained. in its current location since 1937, joe graffeo says, its truly an end to an era. joe its just something you never will forget i mean its something well all rember as we do have to walk out of this store turn around look back and say i hope they realize we tried to do the best we could while we where there. victor and joe graffeo both say they plan to leave the business the first of september…but they are keeping their options open for future endeavors.”
Comment by Curtis Palmer August 14, 2006 @ 9:10 pm