Day 16: Birmingham and Beyond
I made a lot of progress today. It really helped to hit Birmingham on a Saturday when there was basically no traffic whatsoever. So now, just a bit more Northwest AL tomorrow and then on to MS. Hopefully, I can bang through that state in three days as well. We’re officially around the bend — just past the halfway point of this trip. It feels like I’ve been at this a month already. I think it’s all the rain and killer goals I’ve set up for myself each day. Plus I’m still a little stressed about the key situation.
The weather was even more beautiful today than yesterday. I didn’t get the dogs nearly as much exercise as they would’ve liked. Will have to make it up to them tomorrow in some more rural-ish areas. It’s also time for another oil change — passed the 6,000 mile mark for this trip today.
Lots and lots of signs for you today so let’s get to it. I already uploaded a bunch to Flickr but still have lots of “lesser” signs for the blog. For those of you that are interested in such things, here’s the order of my nightly “homework”:
* check and answer emails; respond to Flickr comments
* crop & tweak photos for Flickr & blog
* upload photos to Flickr
* write the blog post
So that’s why I don’t get to bed til well after midnight and the blog posts will always be a rough draft.
Aha! So that sign that I posted for you last night from Selma was not unique. There must’ve been a chain that used these. What chain though? This one was in Sylacauga:
Sylacauga calls itself the “Marble City”. According to their website, the city is constructed on a solid deposit of the hardest, whitest marble in the world. Many famous buildings around the country have been faced with it, including this mid-century bank:
A massive sign from Talladega — still in business:
A colorful Masonic sign from Anniston:
The rusty crusty Van Thomas sign was looking extra nice in the sun:
This “Lounge” sign is in Pell City or just a hair north of it:
This painted wall sign in Birmingham appears to be authentic:
Another wall ad in Birmingham. There are still uniform shops in the building:
Three “rusties” from Birmingham:
I really like this one a lot. The delicate hand over the razor wire. Is the hand holding a business card? It would help to know the original use of the sign I suppose:
And lastly, I’m drawing a blank about this one which is west of downtown. Was this a Jack’s restaurant? Hopefully, Mr. Hollis or another Birmingham-er will identify this place:
March 28, 2010 at 7:15 am
That was a Jacks
March 28, 2010 at 7:40 am
Great – thanks! I thought it was but needed the nod from an expert.
March 28, 2010 at 7:43 am
Here’s a page about the Jack’s chain which shows what this building & sign would have looked like originally:
http://www.birminghamrewound.com/jacks.htm
March 28, 2010 at 8:41 pm
The South has the very best signs. Like you, I am drawn to the old motel signs and photograph them whenever possible.
Yesterday, I thought of you as I sped by a sign for Sunken Gardens in St. Pete that has been rotting away on the 441 since the pre-Disney days!
March 28, 2010 at 9:44 pm
It’s a great sign — and in great shape. Not “rotting away” at all. I have it at this page:
http://www.agilitynut.com/signs/fl3.html
What I post to Flickr & the blog are just a teensy sampling of what you’ll find at my website. There are lots of great signs in the South — but if you poke around, you’ll see there are plenty in all regions of the country as well.
March 28, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Did you get to Pete’s Famous Hot Dogs in downtown Birmingham? The light was so wrong when we were there last summer.
March 28, 2010 at 9:41 pm
I saw it but didn’t shoot it. It’s a little plain for me. I’m a little snooty about text-only signs.
April 2, 2010 at 3:37 pm
I learn something new about you everyday.
April 2, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Ten years from now, I will be kicking myself for not shooting them!
March 29, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Those Rusties are great! What a difference some sunshine makes, huh?
March 29, 2010 at 7:55 pm
The sun is everything! And I had one glorious day of it just now.
September 16, 2012 at 9:13 pm
Can’t believe I’ve missed this blog! I’m the webmaster of Birmingham Rewound, and I see that someone else has told you about Jack’s Hamburgers … but let me add a little side story: what you saw is the sole remaining example of the original Jack’s walk-up stand from the 1960s. This location (3rd Ave. N.) was VERY short-lived, and had closed long before the 1970s, when Jack’s modified/enlarged its locations to include dining rooms, and soon thereafter discarded the old five-post sign in favor of the “lollipop” style signs still in use today. So, while it’s been through a lot of uses (when I took pics for the website some years back, it was a glass shop, and the sign had a hideous green/brown color scheme), it’s a sweet reminder of what was.
Oh, and to answer your question about the traffic light signs — those were part of a long-gone car wash chain called Stop ‘N’ Go. Many of their locations had those traffic lights … they rotated, and their colors flashed accordingly. Neat to watch. I haven’t seen one in action since the ’70s, though.
September 17, 2012 at 9:53 am
Thanks for the info.
I do have the identification as Stop-N-Go car wash at my website but never updated the blog. The blog is just a little sampling of my photos posted each night while on the road. The “real deal” is my website. The Stop-N-Go sign is at the bottom of this page:
http://www.agilitynut.com/signs/al.html