Someone recently drew my attention to this article on Birmingham, written by Jim Noles and printed in the New York Times. The central premise was what a visitor could do in Birmingham from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning. His suggested schedule includes:
- Vulcan
- Highlands Bar & Grill
- WorkPlay
- Continental Bakery
- Shopping at Mountain Brook Village / English Village
- Miss Myra’s Pit Bar-B-Q
- Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and the Civil Rights Institute
- Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and Motorsports Park
- Hot and Hot Fish Club
- Little Savannah
All well and good maybe for a well-heeled New Yawker, but I got to thinking about alternatives to Mr. Noles’ schedule:
- McWane Center (who needs kids?)
- Miss Myra’s Pit Bar-B-Q (why change a good thing? Maybe Milo’s?)
- Bottletree (check their calendar)
- The Original Pancake House (if not unique, good people-watching)
- Shopping in downtown Homewood or Cahaba Heights
- Irondale Cafe (fried green tomatoes)
- Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (music has always joined people together)
- Birmingham Botanical Gardens (still cool – still free)
- Niki’s West (put your phone away first)
- Klingler’s European Bakery & Cafe (different and good)
Why not this version? What do we think?