I've been to Birmingham once before for the Bearcats bowl game last year.  I didn't really have anytime to take pictures then, but saw some photo-worthy stuff, so I thought I'd make an effort to make the short 2 hour trip there from Atlanta.  These photos are from about a month and a half ago...enjoy.

 

 

1. Downtown Birmingham

 

2.

 

3. Downtown was a ghost town.  It was Saturday afternoon, but still.

 

4.

 

5.

 

6.

 

7. Not open

 

8.

 

9.

 

10.

 

11.

 

12. Uh, yeah...not many people

 

13.

 

14.

 

15.

 

 

Now onto the Southside neighborhood.  This area is just south of the downtown area and is home to UAB and its medical campus, some residential, and a little patch of nightlife.

 

16.

 

17. Hey, some of these places were open.  I grabbed lunch at a burger place down on the far corner where there were quite a few hospital people taking their lunch.

 

18.

 

19. New-er stuff

 

20.

 

21.

 

22. New hotel underconstruction

 

23.

 

24. In the Five Points area of the Southside neighborhood now.  This is the little entertainment area I mentioned before.

 

25.

 

26.

 

27.

 

28. Couldn't pass up this Photoshop fun

 

29. This suburban Ruby Tuesday felt a little out of place here.

 

30.

 

31.

 

32.

 

33. This architectural style felt a little forced and unnatural.

 

34.

 

35. Close up on the fountain now

 

36. Hey there

 

37. And that's it from Birmingham's center city.

Some nice older buildings.  Some crap.  I do like how green many areas seem.  Especially the lanscaped median down that one street in pic 1 and 12.

It isn't too bad.  A bit like a Winston-Salem or something.

Looks interesting.

City Federal building looks interesting.... Looks like a building you would find  on small town Main  St.--- minus  20 some floors... I don't know the proper way to bring the pic down here.

Excellent photos. The juxtaposition of the United Methodist Church and what appears to be a pagan-themed fountain is a little strange, but overall the outlying areas look pleasant despite the suburban look of some of the businesses.

 

Downtown reminds me a lot of Youngstown, but without winters and with a longer growing season. In fact, the two cities do have something in common in their vanished industrial base of iron and steel making.

I love numbe 12. Beautiful street.

The juxtaposition of the United Methodist Church and what appears to be a pagan-themed fountain is a little strange...

 

I thought the same thing when I opened the photo on my computer for the first time.

 

I'm glad to see they have historic mid-rises and high-rises intact.

 

Unfortunately many of the mid/highrises downtown are in poor shape due to very low occupancy rates (as calculated by my eyes).  Some looked completely vacant and others were just ok.  The Southside is where all the attention now is, and downtown has seemingly been forgotten.

Ummm.  The south.  Interesting shots.

Apparently the city and Jefferson County as a whole is about to file for bankruptcy.

Nice shots!

It isn't too bad. A bit like a Winston-Salem or something.

 

Yeah, I'm living in Winston-Salem right now. Boring!!!! Not a bad place, but not my cup of tea. Can't wait until I can move.

Looks very attractive, much nicer than I imagined.  Such a shame the downtown was so deserted.

Birmingham has (or rather had) one of the only "northern" style downtowns and if you believe a lot of speculation was almost Atlanta instead of Atlanta.  According to legend a few big wigs got together in the late 60's-early 70's and decided that Atlanta was going to be capital of the south, and so it happened arbitrarily there, just like how Atlanta's location itself was randomly determined in the 1800's, and the rest is history.  Birmingham has more of a gridded square downtown as opposed to Atlanta's strip-style downtown and is surrounded by nice wooded hills but similarly is not located on a waterway. 

^You hit the nail right on the head with that post.

Some nice bones... but definately looks underutilized.