Birmingham's Best Mechanics
Interviews with the public's choices for the best auto mechanics in Birmingham, Alabama.
Birmingham Magazine Articles
A local artist's interest in carving became a public, outdoor art gallery
If you're strolling through Orr Park in Montevallo, you may get the feeling you're being watched. But there's no need to worry. The faces you see along this Shoal Creek preserve don't belong to a gang of ruffians lurking in the woods, but are, instead, part of one of the most unusual public art galleries in the southeast.
Warrior Women
Meet eight women who have found exercise, confidence and friendship in the athletic activities they love.
Birmingham race car driver goes above and beyond for pediatric cancer patients
For the last four springs, local businessman Clint Guthrie has transformed into a superhero, complete with a helmet, a colorful uniform and one heck of a tricked-out car: a Porsche...
Bongiorno
A little bit of Italy in the heart of Crestline, Bongiorno's is a beautiful, quaint, and authentic Italian restaurant serving Birmingham for three decades.
Bonefish
Bonefish in Hoover operates from a simple premise: We get fish.
Standard Bistro
Standard Bistro at the town of Mt. Laurel reflects the passions of chef Michael Locascio and the inspirations of the seasons.
Shula's Steak House
From the grid iron to the grill, Shula's Steak House upholds a winning tradition.
Copper Grill
Harold Ruttenberg has created a big-city feel at Copper Grill.
Nonna Rose
Arman DeLorenz has another hit on his hands in Nonna Rose, a restaurant named for his beloved grandmother.
Little Savannah
Little Savannah has charmed an eclectic neighborhood with its creative, progressive menu and friendly atmosphere.
La Dolce Vita
When you find a restaurant like La Dloce Vita, where the distractions are few and the background is low-key but elegant, you know that the food takes center stage.
G
Already creating a buzz for its mix of modern sophistication, Southern charm, and expertly crafted cuisine, G might just lead a restaurant renaissance in the city center.
Daniel George
Daniel George, a collaborative endeavor among two bright and young culinary talents in Birmingham.
Taste of Thailand
Here the food is just what the name implies, with faithful adherence to culinary traditions of Thailand.
Fire
Owner Danny Lassiter flavors his Cajun cuisine with the spirit of family.
John's City Diner
This venerable restaurant has been re-invented as John's City Diner.
Fox Valley
Owners Sue Lemieux and Anrew Mangold have created a jewel of a restaurant in Helena.
Mauby's
Mauby's has been serving some of the best seafood and steaks for as long as anyone can remember.
Brazil
The city's first churrascaria - a traditional South American restaurant - there is simply nothing else to compare to Vestavia's Brazil.
Birmingham BBQ Banter
My first magazine cover story from the July 2000 issue of Birmingham Magazine focusing on the tradition of barbecue throughout the region.
Arts, crafts and food offer plenty of reasons to visit Springville
Springville's reputation as one of the area's most charming, scenic, and friendly small towns is becoming more and more well known by the day. Additionally, the last two years have...
It's Hammer Time
Can professional soccer succeed in the self-described Football Capital of the South? If one were to ask that question to the average Birminghamian 30 years ago, chances are laughter would...
Handball Holdouts
The game's popularity has waned since it's heyday in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, but a dedicated group keeps handball alive at the Downtown Bir...
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Portico Magazine
UAB Football: The Return, Phase 2
This moment comes just seven years after the cancellation of the football program and more than 20 years of failed attempts to build a new stadium to replace Legion Field. Frankly, it’s a miracle either of them exists at all.
The Third Act of Jack Owens - Loyd Mc Intosh
Jack Owens has lived one heck of a life. Spend a few minutes talking with the retired FBI agent and it’s hard not to feel slightly boring. Owens spent more than 30 years in the FBI (mostly in Birmingham) doing everything from tamping down prison riots to catching draft dodgers and bringing serial killers to justice.
Portico Magazine - Women In Medicine Special Issue
Special issue of Portico Magazine featuring the top women physicians from the Mountain Brook and Homewood communities of Birmingham, Alabama.
Birmingham Power
The ups and downs of the Birmingham Power, the city's first - and short-lived - women's professional basketball team.
Lauren Denton’s Glory Road | Portico Magazine
In her new book Glory Road, USA TODAY and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Lauren Denton brings readers a fresh new story featuring local Alabama culture, sprinkled with nuggets of gardening wisdom. Each element of Glory Road highlights the authors’ own experiences living in Mobile and Homewood, Alabama, along with influences from family and friends.
HAMMER DOWN!
Birmingham soccer fans have a reason – a real reason – to rejoice. Professional soccer has finally come to the Magic City.
10 Years Of INDYCAR
The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park has become an important cultural event
On April 11, 2010, Brazilian race car driver Hélio Castroneves took the checkered flag in the inaugural Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. A decade later, this early-season race has become one of the premier events on the IndyCar calendar as nearly 100,000 people descend on eastern Jefferson County for a weekend of world-class open-wheel auto racing. It’s a developmen
On April 11, 2010, Brazilian race car driver Hélio Castroneves took the checkered flag in the inaugural Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. A decade later, this early-season race has become one of the premier events on the IndyCar calendar as nearly 100,000 people descend on eastern Jefferson County for a weekend of world-class open-wheel auto racing. It’s a developmen
A Survivors Story
Education, early detection lead to improved cure rates.
Fit at 40
Fitness fun doesn't end at 40. WIth tailored programs and a little motivation, even the most sluggish boomer can discover the energy and physique of youth.
Path To Good Health
Three keys to making Birmingham a healthier place to live.
Go Speed Racer
Birmingham has become the nexus of the history, manufacture, and racing of fast machinery.
Snack Time!
From Grapico to Golden Flake, these Magic City specialties have put Birmingham on the snack-food map. Put that in your sweet tea and sip it!
Lacrossing Cultural Boundaries
In Birmingham, the deep south's first minority high school lacrosse team blazes a trail for the sport - and themselves.
Rugby In Birmingham
Local athletes get down and dirty on the rugby field.
Pedal Pushers
After the tragic hit-and-run death of Carol Johnson, local cyclists and community leaders come together to help make Birmingham a safer and more vibrant city.
Steel City Football
Birmingham's semi-pro football players struggle to keep the dream alive.
A Boxer's Story
Cover story from 2004 on Chris Godbe Olympic boxing hopeful from Birmingham, Alabama.
Taking Flight
A participatory story about taking a flying lesson at St. Clair County airport, a small airstrip near Birmingham, Alabama.
Whatever Happened to Racquetball
Feature story from Portico Magazine about the rise and fall of a once vibrant racquetball scene throughout Birmingham, Alabama.
Highway 11 Revisited
Feature story on the history and vitality of historic US Highway 11 through the heart of Birmingham, Alabama. Published in Portico Magazine
Majestic Monteagle
Escape to this Tennessee retreat high above it all.
Take A Hike
The great outdoors beckons hikers of all skill levels.
Mike Getman: UAB Head Soccer Coach
Profile of Mike Getman, UAB Head Men's Soccer Coach.
College Football Behind The Scenes
Follow two defensive stars, Mark Anderson of Alabama and T.J. Jackson of Auburn as they prepare for the 2005 college football season.
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Discover St. Clair
Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy
Backstage at the Pell City Center for Education and Performing Arts building on the campus of Pell City High School, Tristen Gressett is just 20 minutes away from taking the stage. In his first appearance since his meteoric rise and frankly, stunning elimination from American Idol, the 17-year-old is launching his solo career.
Chandler Mountain Challenge
It’s early in the morning of Saturday, March 2, and a diverse group of people is straggling into the grounds of Horse Pens 40. The air is crisp and cool, evidence that while spring is just around the corner, it hasn’t quite arrived. Despite the temperature hovering in the mid-40s, many of those assembled are walking around the grounds in T-shirts and shorts, specialty athletic shoes, and large, polyurethane mats strapped to their backs.
The Little Pizza Joint That Could
The parking lot of Carpenetti’s Pizzeria in Moody is packed! Cars are squeezed into any opening their
drivers can find – around the back of the building, in the grass, in the dead zone between the restaurant and the Chevron station next door. Inside, hungry diners jockey for attention from the hostess for one of only about a dozen tables as a steady stream of people queue in line for what seems like an endless run of take-out pies. The phone rings off the hook, the small staff constantly runs back and forth from the kitchen to the house, and pizzas fly in and out of the brick oven at a quicker pace than the ending sketch of an episode of the Benny Hill Show.
And the kicker is, it’s only Tuesday.
drivers can find – around the back of the building, in the grass, in the dead zone between the restaurant and the Chevron station next door. Inside, hungry diners jockey for attention from the hostess for one of only about a dozen tables as a steady stream of people queue in line for what seems like an endless run of take-out pies. The phone rings off the hook, the small staff constantly runs back and forth from the kitchen to the house, and pizzas fly in and out of the brick oven at a quicker pace than the ending sketch of an episode of the Benny Hill Show.
And the kicker is, it’s only Tuesday.
Biking With Bo
Pell City resident Charles Browning cycles with Bo Jackson to raise money and awareness for tornado-ravaged parts of Alabama.
Step Into The Ring
On a sweltering hot Friday afternoon in late July, the parking lot of Total Body Fitness is so full, many cars have parked in the grass and mud in the vacant lot next door. Inside, the gym is just as packed as dozens of athletes, trainers and others mill about. There is excitement and even a little tension in the air. All of this activity isn’t for a hot, new exercise class. No, excitement builds for the weigh-in for a boxing event taking place in a little over 24 hours at, of all places, the CEPA Building in Pell City.
St. Clair Outdoors
The promise of another spring is just around the corner. Time to shake off the fog of winter, as well as the handful of pounds many gained waiting for the wet, cold and gray misery of winter to finally come to an end. Spring is a time to put the remote control down, shut off the cell phone, get outdoors, learn a new skill, and, most
Gone Fishing
Few things in life are as secretive as people who fish often. Seriously, getting a fisherman – or fisherwoman – to give their closely-guarded secrets is like trying to track the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa. However, in this issue of Discover St. Clair, a handful of local fishing experts are divulging their secret fishing holes on Logan Martin, Henry Neely and the Coosa River for the first time in recorded history (may be an exaggeration, if only slight one).
Your Friendly Neighborhood Airport
A garage in the community of Ashville, Alabama becomes a hangar for retired Air Force office and experimental aircraft builder, Rusty Hood.
The Ponderosa
Feature story on The Ponderosa, a private hunting lodge owned by a handful of friends from Pell City, Alabama. Published in Discover St. Cla...
St. Clair's Best BBQ
Feature story on three new joints cooking up some great barbecue in St. Clair County, Alabama. Published in Discover St.Clair, February 2012...
Handmade for the Holidays
Local artists throughout St. Clair County, Alabama, create unique items perfect for gifts this Christmas.
House of Q
In the crazy, competitive world of competition barbecue, a new star is on the rise, and he just happens to call St. Clair County home. John Coon with his Kansas...
Wright Man For The Job
Restoring Pell City: Catching up with Andrew Wright
Tricky Fishing
Springtime in St. Clair County: fresh air, blue skies, green grass and, of course, fishing — lots and lots of fishing. By the time the ol’ groundhog’s predictions have taken...
Honey Boo Boo
Every generation has one of those cultural touchstones where they remember exactly where they were when they heard the news and were forced to take stock of the world around them. The dates are etched, to borrow a phrase, in infamy: December 7, 1941, the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; November 22, 1963, the day Lee Harvey Oswald changed the course of history...
Frankie’s Fried Pies
Fried foods may be bad for the heart, but they’re oh so great for the soul.
Done right, a deep-fried anything can be heaven in a flaky golden container. Case in point, in an episode of the old WB television series Gilmore Girls titled “Deep Fried Thanksgiving” the character Jackson Belleville, Sookie’s main squeeze, insists on frying a turkey for Thanksgiving in the front yard.
Done right, a deep-fried anything can be heaven in a flaky golden container. Case in point, in an episode of the old WB television series Gilmore Girls titled “Deep Fried Thanksgiving” the character Jackson Belleville, Sookie’s main squeeze, insists on frying a turkey for Thanksgiving in the front yard.
A Day at the Rodeo
The sun beats down on a stretch of gravel road and grass near Odenville as two men sit on some wooden bleachers next to a structure they hope will become the best unkept secret in St. Clair County.
Pure Flight
St. Clair residents revel in the thrill of hang gliding.
Flying High
St. Clair residents revel in the thrill of hang gliding Since the time the first human being turned his eyes upward and saw a strange-featured creature flapping its wings in...
Rising From the Rubble
By Loyd McIntosh Photos by Jerry Martin and Loyd McIntosh On a blazing hot Saturday in mid-June, Gary Liverett drives his white pickup truck onto the property of Alpha Ranch,...
Catfish Noodling
The following activities are illegal or prohibited in the State of Alabama: Bear wrestling matches, to chain an alligator to a fire hydrant, to wear a fake mustache that causes...