À la recherche du temps perdu

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A bit more from What's On Second in Birmingham. You could fashionably decorate your entire home by spending a few hours here.

There are lots more B'ham pictures but I need to get back home. Lots going on in The Lou this weekend - look for something tomorrow.

TIME MARCHES ON: it occurred to me that yesterday was the 38th anniversary of my admission to the bar. Long time, makes me feel a bit elderly. And, if I keep the usual schedule, STL DPB with publish its 2,000th post next weekend. Any suggestions for what I should do about it?

What's On Second

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Those of us old enough to remember Abbot and Costello know the classic baseball comedy skit Who's On First. Full original version here. Note the name of Lou Abbott's baseball team.

Birmingham has a variation on the theme, the store What's On Second (so named because it's on 2nd Avenue). Technically, you could call it an antique store but that term doesn't convey the ambiance. It's more of a warehouse of American cultural debris from the 20th century. It's got more junk than you could possibly imagine, all of it fascinating. These are but a few examples. By the way, the picture of Ozzie Osborne below was in a coffin. More of these tomorrow.

'Bama Q

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On Monday, Virginia took us to lunch at Birmingham institution, Saw's Soul Kitchen. This hovel is a temple of Alabama barbecue and Southern cooking. 

Feeling completely lost, I asked the lady at the counter what I should eat. (I often do that when I'm in an unfamiliar eatery. It works.) So, that's my meal in the second picture: grits covered in collard greens covered in pulled pork (light sauce, a bit tart and vinegary, perfect on the greens) covered in onion rings (the lightest I've ever tasted). Yum-umm-y, but not endorsed by 9 out of 10 cardiologists.

As you can see in the following pictures, the locals take their BBQ seriously. The tiny place is so busy that spillover seating is on a picnic table in the alley.

I wondered where the name Saw's came from. An occasionally reliable source with a thorough knowledge of B'ham culture and history informs me that decades ago the owner was known as Sorry Ass Wilson. It stuck, if only in an acronym.

Hope to get back to commenting on my friends' blogs later today. We got up at 4 this morning to make our early flight home. Need to go to sleep.

Alabama, The Only State In The Country Where You Can Drown Standing Up

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The caption was a snip of conversation I heard yesterday morning at the Birmingham edition of The Color Run. It had the ring of truth.

Readers may recall that I shot the first stop on the tour in St. Louis a couple of weeks ago. Well, it was pouring down rain at Barber Motorsports Park outside of B'ham where the run was held. Virginia, Mrs. C and I drove out to see and shoot the spectacle. No rain delays, just go for it.

This was way different than the one back home. No dry, dusty color hanging in the air, just streams of colored mud. What fools these mortals be.

Downtown Birmingham: Bon Ton Hatters & Shoe Repair

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Downtown Birmingham is pretty quiet on a Sunday. The few restaurants that are open get a rush after church services, and there some fabulous examples of religious architecture still in use (unlike some Arch dominated cities we could think of). But Virginia knows lots of the characters.

Meet Jimmy Callis, proprietor of Bon Ton Hatters & Shoe Repair. He has lived right upstairs for 12 years but was down in the shop getting some work done yesterday. Although the place was closed, Virginia knows him and he invited us in.

Jimmy is a man of strong opinions. He lives above his place of business because gasoline is too expensive and rents in the area are way too high. He told me that the old building down the street has been converted into fancy apartments and they want the better part of a thousand dollars a month for a one-bedroom. Jimmy, I prayed silently, don't you ever go to New York City.

Birmingham has been an unexpected delight. Remember the Color Run I shot in STL a couple of weeks ago? Birmingham's is this morning. Virginia and I will be out breathing the powdered pigment.

Wham B'ham!

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Hey, here we are in Birmingham, Alabama, visiting Virginia. Of course, it's late as I write this so just some first shots. Above, red neck haute cuisine at a superb restaurant where we ate last night, Little Savannah. Below, segregation lives on, at least in a limited form. Birmingham used to be a major steel producing city, the "Pittsburgh of the South." It is watched over by a giant statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of the forge. The statue was first exhibited in St. Louis at the 1904 World's Fair before coming back here. Bottom, the guardian of Charlotte Woodson Antiques, run by Virginia's friend, Dinah Toro.

More tomorrow.

People Watching

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It's monthly theme day on City Daily Photo, now on Facebook after the demise of the portal. The topic is people watching.

I met these two at the Festival of Nations. Such a sweet face, such tender eyes, such a beautiful girlfriend for that hat. Wonder what she thinks about it, not to mention what motivated him to wear it. Maybe he thinks that kind of thing is cool.

We're getting periods of heavy rain from the dregs of Hurricane Isaac but not as bad as first predicted. Doesn't look like flights will be canceled (all fingers crossed) and our long weekend trip will proceed. We'll get to a place this afternoon we've never been before. Gods of the air willing, there will be a report tomorrow.