Since I'm a great big suck-up, I sent Mr. Lileks a note about my post on Tuesday, in which I proclaimed my willingness to join with all the other anal-retentive, middle-aged, meat-eating, Target-shopping, dog-walking, suburb-dwelling dads for La Revolution. Because he is nice and answers his e-mail (how he does this is a mystery--I've done calculations and have come to the conclusion that Lileksdays must have about 35 Earth hours in them) he sent me a short note with a gleeful vow to scatter the entrails of our enemies in the streets. Of course, this will make a mess, and we'll have to clean up after ourselves, but it's nice to see he has his priorities right. He also noted that he considers himself non-suburbanite, in that lovely Jasperwood is within the city proper. No nice big old homes out in the 'burbs.

Actually, those nice old homes on their winding, tree-lined streets once WERE the suburbs. Many were the result of the urban reformer movement of the late-19th Century, which held that cities were unwholesome nests of disease and decay, and only by removing dwellers to the fresh air and civility available 10 blocks away could progress be made. Birmingham is ringed with such streetcar suburbs; Five Points South, Avondale, Norwood, Glen Iris Park, Highland Avenue, Bush Boulevard, Forest Park, then there's the City of Homewood (especially the Hollywood section) and the City of Mountain Brook, all of which were all touted as escapes from the hot, dirty, polluted air of Jones Valley, and most of which really are only about 10 to 15 blocks away from the original business core of the city. Of course, they are now mostly swallowed up by the city and surrounded by commercial development.

One of Lileks' hobbies is old postcards, and so I sent him some links to Historic Postcards of Alabama, which is a great site at the University of Alabama. The collection, which is the part of the Sturdivant Hall Collection, has 234 postcards from 1900 to 1920. They are beautiful glimpses of the past, and a few of them show some of those early streetcar suburbs.

Here are the ones I recommended:


East Lake (recently planned to be eliminated to make room for Birmingham Airport runway expansion--this plan has been put on hold, though)

Mountain Terrace

Glen Iris Park (this one is lovely, most of these homes are still occupied today)

Five Points South (now a hopping downtown dining/entertainment district, but still has a few old homes)

'Nother one of Five Points (streetcar turnaround in the center)

Be sure to look through all of the cards when you get a chance--there are some real gems in there, especially of old Birmingham.

posted by Terry at 11:03:00 AM