This is Birmingham, the one in Alabama not England, “The Magic City”, county seat of Jefferson County. Population just over 200,000, home of a big cast-iron statue of a half naked Roman god, a humongous and growing medical center, and me. I carry a camera. Dum De Dum Dum
Yes, it seems it will be a Walgreens; however Firehouse 22 will not be torn down but renovated to house Bogue’s Restaurant and the triple platinum salon, because what wets the appetite more than the smell of fried chicken and hair getting fried by peroxide next door?
However it won’t be until around the middle of the summer of 2012 before all this is finished, and at least according to that trader who’s interview on the BBC has gone viral, by that time we’ll all be dealing with a worldwide collapse while Goldman Sachs plays Tina Turner in a Road Warrior, leathers and feathers, Thunderdome hell-scape.
I see there are some changes taking place along Clairmont Avenue, two old (ish) buildings, the former Fire House # 22, and Clairmont Auto Service, are being take down with the space to be filled by ?
Perhaps the Walgreen that had been talked about some time back?That plan, or so I’ve been told, would also have removed Bogue’s Restaurant, however at least for now it seems to still be open for business.
As a reminder for the last year Fire House # 22 has just been the resting place of some outdoor art, by whom I do not know.
Whatever they plan on putting there, they seem to be moving at a pretty good clip, so they should be gone and the new construstion should start soon and we'll what it is.
This Monday, September the 19th, starting at 4:00 p.m. and running until after 6:00 p.m., five telephone lines will be open and ready to help students from grands 3 to 12 with their homework.
Also, if they have access to the Brighthouse Cable digital channels they can see the teacher who is helping them by tuning to Channel 634 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (for that matter if you have digital cable you can watch me do part of my job as I run four channels that go to the schools and one of them, Channel 11, also stands in for Channel 634 during the day.)
However that is not needed, they can still call the numbers below for help with their homework.
The numbers are:
231-2045 for grades 3 through 12 (visible on Channel 634 Bright House Digital)
231-2046 for grades 3 through 5
231-2047 for grades 6 through 8
231-2048 for English as a Second Language help and
231-2049 for High School
A scene from a Homework Hotline from a few years ago.
This photo is from almost 60 years ago, December 1951, take from the collection of Charles Cushman
Charles Weever Cushman, amateur photographer and Indiana University alumnus, bequeathed approximately 14,500 Kodachrome color slides to his alma mater. The photographs in this collection bridge a thirty-two year span from 1938 to 1969, during which time he extensively documented the United States as well as other countries.
The man traveled a LOT!
The link below will take you to his 12 photos take in Birmingham 60 years ago, from there you can find other pictures of his from around the world.
For the Birmingham School System school starts up again the 8th of August.
For that here are some shots of the newly refurbished Phillips Academy (formerly Phillips High School, formerly Birmingham High School), which will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in just 11 years.
As would be expected, in a building that old, while it has been updated and buffed up, there are still some parts quite a bit less so.
As you can see in the first picture the rooms are bright and ready for students, I only wish the classrooms had been so cheery when I was going to grade school! Back in those long lost days it was more Too Kill a Mocking Bird meets the Shawshank Redemption.
Below that are some shots of the below ground Phillips.
Where water and power and the other needs are a building almost a city block in size are taken care of.
However even this part has been repaired and cleaned up, leaving some areas below the below still like they were close to the start of the structure.
However even this part has been repaired and cleaned up, leaving some areas below the below still like they were close to the start of the structures beginnings.
