Vintage Birmingham Signs
By Tim Hollis
()
About this ebook
Tim Hollis
Tim Hollis has published twenty-four books on pop culture history. For more than thirty years he has maintained a museum of cartoon-related merchandise in Dora, Alabama. He is the author of Dixie before Disney: 100 Years of Roadside Fun; Florida's Miracle Strip: From Redneck Riviera to Emerald Coast; Hi There, Boys and Girls! America's Local Children's TV Programs; Ain't That a Knee-Slapper: Rural Comedy in the Twentieth Century; Toons in Toyland: The Story of Cartoon Character Merchandise; and, with Greg Ehrbar, Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records, all published by University Press of Mississippi.
Read more from Tim Hollis
The Land of Oz Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristimas in Birmingham Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stone Mountain Park Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Attractions of the Smoky Mountains Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Six Flags Over Georgia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost Birmingham Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsToons in Toyland: The Story of Cartoon Character Merchandise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memories of Downtown Birmingham: Where All the Lights Were Bright Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristmas Wishes: A Catalog of Vintage Holiday Treats & Treasures Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Loveman's: Meet Me Under the Clock Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lost Attractions of Alabama Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5See Rock City: The History of Rock City Gardens Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pizitz: Your Store Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Birmingham's Theater and Retail District Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lost Attractions of Florida's Miracle Strip Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBirmingham Broadcasting Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See Alabama First: The Story of Alabama Tourism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lost Attractions of the Ozarks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRock City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Vintage Birmingham Signs
Related ebooks
Memories of Downtown Birmingham: Where All the Lights Were Bright Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBloomingdale's Illustrated 1886 Catalog Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKaufmann's: The Big Store in Pittsburgh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Theatres of San Francisco Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVanishing Los Angeles County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLake Pontchartrain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Birmingham Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEast Fishkill Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLoveman's: Meet Me Under the Clock Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Zeon Files: Art and Design of Historic Route 66 Signs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCompany Towns of Michigan's Upper Peninsula Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Richmond:: A Historic Walking Tour Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Ann Arbor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Attractions of Alabama Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Auburn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShop Pomeroy's First Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Herbst Department Store Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGale Researcher Guide for: Mid-Century Modern Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsItalians of Northeastern Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKnoxville Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Walking Tour of New Bern, North Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Statue of Liberty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gadsden: Stories of the Great Depression Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Historic Roswell Georgia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlabama Afternoons: Profiles and Conversations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Elmore County Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Grand Haven Area 1905-1975 in Vintage Postcards Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe 1942 Sears Christmas Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Greetings from Route 66: The Ultimate Road Trip Back Through Time Along America's Main Street Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Ogden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Travel For You
The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes from a Small Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/550 Great American Places: Essential Historic Sites Across the U.S. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spotting Danger Before It Spots You: Build Situational Awareness To Stay Safe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fodor's Best Road Trips in the USA: 50 Epic Trips Across All 50 States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fodor's Bucket List USA: From the Epic to the Eccentric, 500+ Ultimate Experiences Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpanish Verbs - Conjugations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRV Hacks: 400+ Ways to Make Life on the Road Easier, Safer, and More Fun! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKon-Tiki Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fodor's Bucket List Europe: From the Epic to the Eccentric, 500+ Ultimate Experiences Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Atlas of Countries That Don't Exist: A Compendium of Fifty Unrecognized and Largely Unnoticed States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disney Declassified Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Travel Guide to Ireland: From Dublin to Galway and Cork to Donegal - a complete guide to the Emerald Isle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouth: Shackleton's Endurance Expedition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lonely Planet The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Let's Build A Camper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tales from the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Guidebook to Yosemite National Park Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFodor's New Orleans Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge: Traveler's Guide to Batuu Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rocks and Minerals of The World: Geology for Kids - Minerology and Sedimentology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Vintage Birmingham Signs
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Vintage Birmingham Signs - Tim Hollis
collection.)
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever stopped to think about how many of your nostalgic memories involve signs? Probably not, unless you live in the past as I do. (That is not in a figurative sense, either; my house is a museum of pop culture history, so I really do live in the past.) Regardless, the following pages will prove that signs, as well as the larger commercial landscape, have played a bigger part in Birmingham residents’ past than one might expect.
For the purposes of this book, the term signs
includes not only the classic neon signs that are usually associated with the name, but also billboards, signs painted on brick walls, and even more modern plastic signage (which has been around for so long that even its early examples look nostalgic by now). Because Birmingham’s neon sign companies did a far more complete job of archiving photographs of their work than did the others, the neon variety will far outnumber the rest—but in many cases, as you will see, a single photograph will involve more than one type. You should plan on having your magnifying glass handy in order to fully experience all the background detail in some of these priceless shots.
Unfortunately, there are still some well-remembered Birmingham signs that do not appear here simply because no one seems to have preserved any photographs of them. One of the most often mentioned is the spectacular one atop the old Merita bakery on Twentieth Street with its giant loaf of bread with neon slices falling off onto a plate. Exhaustive research has failed to turn up a single view of that landmark. Also missing in action are some of the giant fiberglass figures that served as signage for their respective companies: the Consolidated Dairies cows and the giant Lynn Strickland tire man (although at least he does still exist, but not in the same location). Perhaps some of these will turn up later, and when they do, you can certainly expect them to appear on www.BirminghamRewound.com.
Since signs are purely visual, that is enough wordy introduction. Let’s get right into the photographs themselves and see whether you agree that these signs, originally meant only to sell a product or service, evoke fond memories for you. Even though most of them are now consigned to the junkyard, in photographs such as the ones that follow their lights can glow forever.
There is hardly anyone in Birmingham who is not familiar with the famous vertical sign of the Alabama Theatre. However, this photograph from 1928, the year after the showplace opened, is one of the few that shows the original screw-in lightbulbs that outlined the letters. Later the bulbs would be replaced with red and green neon, which continues to light the Third Avenue North sidewalk today. (BPL collection.)
One
THE LIGHTS ARE MUCH BRIGHTER THERE
In the late 1920s, Second Avenue North was the hub of theater and shopping activity. In this incredible shot, notice the Erlanger Theatre (formerly the Jefferson) and the J. E. Cain furniture store on the left and the newly opened Ritz Theatre and huge Pizitz store on the right. (BPL collection.)
This September 1954 view of Second Avenue North was taken from a couple of blocks west of the photograph we just saw. By that time, other types of stores and restaurants had moved into the neighborhood, but the Ritz and Pizitz would hold down their respective lots until the 1980s. (Dixie Neon collection.)
The Loveman, Joseph, and Loeb department store was no shy violet when it came to announcing its presence on Third Avenue North. If you do not remember this gigantic mural, it is