Garage Café

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Garage Café's courtyard in May 2002

The Garage Café, later The Garage, is a bar and sandwich shop located at 2304 10th Terrace South off Highland Avenue in Southside. The bar, opened in 1994 by Jimmy Watson, occupies part of the 1930s-era "The Plaza Garages", built for the Highland Plaza apartment building.

The former garage stalls flank an open courtyard now shaded by crape myrtles and wisteria. The stalls are filled with antiques collected by former owner Fritz Woehle and now owned by his daughter, Kay. The bar's seating extends into the courtyard casually-arranged piles of old lawn statues, architectural fragments and plumbing fixtures share the shade with café tables.

The Garage serves a limited menu of thick deli sandwiches served on Big Sky Bread Company bread.

In 2003 GQ magazine named The Garage Café one of its "10 Bars Worth Flying To". It has since been written up in Esquire and other publications as well. The bar's resident Garage Kitty was struck by a car and killed in 2007. In 2010 Hot and Hot Fish Club owner Chris Hastings considered building a new restaurant in the adjacent spaces and covering the courtyard, which would be shared with the bar. He dropped those plans in the face of a popular backlash and unfavorable cost estimates.

In 2014, Southern Living named the Garage Café as one of the "Top 100 Bars in the South."

Watson traditionally closed the bar during the week of Labor Day and treated his staff to a trip to Grayton Beach, Florida.

Jimmy Watson died in March 2014 from injuries suffered in a vehicle collision. His brother Kenny ran the Garage Café until it closed on Saturday August 30 of that year. Fritz Woehle's daughter Kay opened a new bar, called The Garage, in the same space after the traditional Labor Day closure. Longtime bartender Jyl Williamson stayed on as co-manager. Most of the staff and decorations, with exception of the Watson brothers' personal belongings, stayed the same.

In December 2022 Woehle sold the bar to Bob "Irish Bob" Ryan, who hired Chelsea Bishop as manager.

References

  • Harris, Neely ( ) "Garage Café". Esquire magazine.
  • McAlister, Laura, Joe O'Donnell, Mary Ellen Stancill and Carla Jean Whitley (2009) "The Drinker's Dozen" Birmingham magazine
  • Geiss, Chuck (September 30, 2010) "Naked Birmingham" Black & White
  • Carlton, Bob (January 28, 2011) "Birmingham chef Chris Hastings drops plans for restaurant in Garage Cafe building." The Birmingham News
  • Carlton, Bob (January 23, 2014) "Birmingham well-represented on Southern Living's list of '100 Best Bars in the South'." The Birmingham News
  • Whitmire, Kyle (March 6, 2014) "Hardheaded and softhearted, Garage Cafe proprietor Jimmy Watson made a mark on Birmingham." The Birmingham News
  • Carlton, Bob (August 28, 2014) "Birmingham treasure the Garage Cafe is changing hands after 20 years." The Birmingham News
  • Moore, Holly (August 31, 2018) "The Garage, Birmingham’s original beer garden, in Southside is still as cool as ever." Bham Now
  • Thornton, William (December 15, 2022) "Birmingham’s The Garage Cafe sold to longtime patron." AL.com

External links