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Photo by Frank Couch.
East Lake’s First Avenue North commercial district, in or near the 7600 block, is in the midst of a revival. The block includes a public courtyard built on a small vacant lot in 2015 by merchants and volunteers coordinated by REV Birmingham.
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Birmingham’s historic East Lake neighborhood — like many American inner-city areas — began to decay in the 1980s and 1990s as older residents died or moved away, and younger families fled to the suburbs.
This decline, including crime, abandoned houses and a loss of local businesses, was reflected in the drab state of East Lake’s First Avenue North commercial strip.
But the district — at least its traditional center in or near First Avenue’s 7600 block — is reviving, thanks to entrepreneurs who have started businesses, made cosmetic improvements and believe strongly that East Lake has an underserved population, overlooked opportunities and a bright future — just like Avondale and Woodlawn.
There’s been a “major, positive change” in the district, said Ken Baldwin, owner of Urban Attic Fitness Center in the 7600 block.
“It still has a ways to go, but compared to what it was five years ago, it’s 180 degrees,” added Vince Amaro, owner of Estate Liquidators and a key player in the nascent revitalization.
Amaro opened his store about five years ago in a building his family had owned since the 1960s in the 7600 block. He later moved to a larger space a few doors away and now owns all but one storefront on the block’s south side.
In 2014, Amaro and some partners gave the area a big boost when they bought an adult theater and adult bookstore on the north side of the block and got rid of those businesses. The adult-entertainment house — in the old College Theatre, formerly a neighborhood movie house — existed since the 1970s as a nagging symbol of decline.
There is one other adult video store still open adjacent to Amaro’s properties on the north side. However, Amaro said he is hopeful that arrangements can be made soon for the store to relocate.
Amaro has worked hard to upgrade his buildings along the south side.
“They have plants, a whole new paint job,” Baldwin said. “It’s a major difference in the way people feel and look at East Lake.”
The block has a public courtyard built on a small vacant lot in 2015 by merchants and volunteers coordinated by REV Birmingham.
Amaro also has brought more businesses to the 7600 block. “At one time, almost all the buildings were vacant,” he said.
The 2015 opening of East 59 Vintage & Café — a coffee house owned by East Lake residents Anna Brown and Amber Glenn Tolbert — “has been a catalyst for a lot of stuff that’s happened” on the block, said Robert Emerick of REV Birmingham.
“They have brought in a whole new customer base … and that will hopefully attract other businesses that the area really needs and doesn’t have,” Amaro said.
Those needs include “more eating places [and] more service-oriented businesses,” Amaro said.
East Lake could use “more restaurants, a grocery store [and] entertainment options,” said Paige Jordan, director of development for the nonprofit East Lake Initiative.
The businesses along the strip seem to be in good shape. “We have definitely seen business improving,” Brown said.
Business at Massey Mercantile at 78th Street, which moved from downtown in 2005, “gets better and better every week,” co-owner Liz Whidden said.
Perhaps more important, “perceptions of the area are improving,” Brown said.
“When we first moved, it was bad, because people would call up and fuss, ‘Why would you move to a place like that?’” Whidden said. “Now nobody says anything.”
Boosters fight an image that East Lake isn’t good for business, Emerick said.
There’s a “perception among prospective business people when they are moving to Woodlawn, Ensley or East Lake that people don’t have money to spend, but they do,” he said.
Main Street Alabama and Revive Birmingham are conducting an assessment of retail opportunities in the area, Emerick said, who added there could be an opportunity for some “destination retail.”
Amaro would like to see the old College Theatre, now called the East Lake Theatre, become a performing arts center that would draw people to the area, though he is taking suggestions for “alternate uses,” he said.
However, it will take time and money to renovate the building, Amaro said.
“We found some structural problems that have to be addressed first,” he said. “It will take a lot of engineering, analysis and repairs to get it where it can be used for anything.”
Brown said she “would love to see some sort of anchor” in the area, referring to a large store or other attraction — perhaps the performing arts center, a music venue or art gallery — that could attract visitors.
Brown and Tolbert, along with family investors — funded in part with $15,000 the group won in the REV Birmingham Big Pitch contest — also are renovating a building on Oporto-Madrid Boulevard near First Avenue for use as an events center.
Baldwin said he is optimistic about the business district. “We’re growing (and) new businesses are coming to the area,” he said.
“There are a lot of opportunities, a lot of buildings … all along First Avenue,” Amaro said. “When that finally clicks, it’s going to explode.”
East Lake will benefit from a trend in which people are moving east and transforming Crestwood and Woodlawn, Whidden said.
“It will trickle down here,” she said.
“We need that one thing,” Amaro said, referring to the area’s need for a high-profile attraction, like Avondale’s Good People Brewing Co. “But it’s going to happen, and this place will pop.”
