Filed under: Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham, AL, Civic Engagement, Ensley, Magic City Flickr Group, Photographs, Random shots, Sustainable Development, Village Creek, urban parks
Just figured you’d be interested in seeing a couple of the images I have from this morning’s clean up effort in Ensley. We posted the general info for the event yesterday. There are images from the event up on both the Flickr and Smugmug accounts.
This image shows us the reason we were there.
Hopefully next time we’ll see even more people out there.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Cheers.
Filed under: AL, Architecture, B'ham Wiki, Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham, AL, Carver Theatre, Neon in B'ham, Photographs, Random shots, Sidewalk, art, films, history, jazz, music, music venues, neon signs
It is not quite a nighttime shot of the historic Carver Theatre, but it does give an idea of just how majestic its facade is and how dominant a feature it is in the 4th Avenue historic district. As mentioned in its Bham Wiki listing, it is currently the home of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. It’s located at 1631 4th Avenue North and is an excellent example of the Art Deco style still standing in the Magic City. It has seen extensive use in recent years, with this past weekend providing a good example of its extremes. It hosted films as part of the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, served as a landmark for the annual Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival. It had also served one of its standing purposes, home to Onstage at the Carver, an open mic poetry night held the 3rd Sunday of the month in the historic theater. And admission is free (for this event).
Take a trip down there and take a closer look at this important piece of African American history, just around the corner. If you time it right, you may be able to learn a dance step or two as well. It is an excellent example of the beginnings of one of the entertainment districts that was eluded to in this morning’s post.
Click here to view the entire Neon in Birmingham series. If you have any suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us here at the Ramblings via e-mail (acnatta[at]gmail[dot]com).
Cheers.
Filed under: Birmingham, AL, Catalyst, Ensley, Renew our Rivers, Village Creek, city stages
Click on the image below to view a PDF containing information about Saturday’s clean-up event at Village Creek in Ensley. We mentioned it in this morning’s post.
Look forward to seeing some of you out there on Saturday, September 30. There will be some members of the Catalyst Parks and Greenspace committee at the event as well (previously mentioned here) participating in the clean-up as they work towards keeping the pillars active in addition to the partnership announced with City Stages we mentioned in this morning’s post. This will be the Village Creek Society’s first ever clean up in the area as they work with other partners towards developing a greenway system. It will be part of the Renew Our Rivers program. Let’s see if we can make it memorable for them.
Cheers.
Filed under: Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham, AL, Catalyst, Civic Engagement, News Media (as source & subject), The Birmingham News, city stages, music, music venues, urban farms, urban issues, urban parks
There’s a buzz in the air, and it’s not reverb
As the radars begin to pick up on our renewed music scene and our ever evolving technology scene, attention has definitely been driven to it. A drive by the Innovation Depot shows significant progress. ONB’s monthly breakfast briefing is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. The focus of the breakfast is music, with Henry Panion among those scheduled to speak. Dr. Panion is the new owner of Audiostate 55, which we’ve also talked about in earlier posts. This morning there may even be some members of Catalyst’s board available to talk about the announcement that first appeared online late in the afternoon about a partnership between the 3-year old civic organization and City Stages. The following links should provide you with enough information about the project, which hopes to erase the current debt of the festival and provide a cushion for operating in the near future. Hopefully a long-term solution for the problem once the debt is erased may be the development of an endowment that may prevent some of these shortfalls from occurring again.
A Very Important Announcement from Catalyst, catalyst4birmingham.org
Indebted City Stages out to raise $1 million, The Birmingham News, September 28, 2006
City Stages, Catalyst launch fundraising campaign to pull festival out of debt, Birmingham Business Journal, September 27, 2006 (web published)
I’d be very interested in hearing from you about your thoughts on the partnership or about any ideas for success in the future for the event.
The Gardens of Park Place are getting closer to development
There are several things starting to happen in the area of greenspace development here in Birmingham. We’ve spoken many times before about the activities of Edwin Marty and the Jones Valley Urban Farm’s garden adjacent to the HOPE VI development in the city center. This morning the city’s Design Review Committee approved the master plan for the development of the Gardens at Park Place. The plans call for a place that will hopefully be embraced and have a sense of ownership among Park Place and City Center residents. The announcement comes as JVUF prepares to have its annual fund raiser at its current location on October 15. Click here to learn more about the event.
Come out and see the future of greenway development
The Renew Our Rivers program makes its way into Ensley this week. People have already been working all week in Village Creek; Saturday volunteers will work on cleaning up the banks of the creek as well as the Ensley and Tuxedo neighborhoods. It’s a productive way to spend your day helping bring attention to a section of the city that is about to see an explosion of activity (and more investments). We’ll post more information with details later this morning.
More later.
Cheers.
(additional links to be installed later today)
