1st Avenue South

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1st Avenue South is a Birmingham street running from I-65 in the west to Roebuck in the east. In the downtown area it is just south of Powell Avenue and one block from the Railroad Reservation. As it proceeds eastward it is interrupted by I-20/59 near Gate City and resumes in Woodlawn separated from 1st Avenue North by Division Avenue. It is once again interrupted by I-59 at 82nd Street South in East Lake and then terminates at 87th Street South just shy of Parkway East near the Roebuck Municipal Golf Course

The downtown section of 1st Avenue South is in the early stages of large scale redevelopment. It is slated to become the main frontage for the Railroad Reservation Park between 14th and 18th Streets, and is also experiencing significant redevelopment around the location of the 1st Avenue Cut that runs from 20th to 24th Street.

The 24th Street viaduct and Red Mountain Expressway overpass shelter small homeless communities.

Moving east from the 24th Street viaduct the street is home to recent construction on the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad yard and spillover from the adjacent "Design District" around Dr Pepper Place in Lakeview. The CSX 32nd Street Yard is still active on the south side of the street, and is usually the area where the Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey's Circus train is parked while in town.

The area around the western ends of the railyards served as Birmingham's Red Light District in the early 20th century. The best known house in the district was operated by Blanche Bernard who, banned from soliciting at the Terminal Station instead offered gentlemen a free carriage to their hotel. The catch was that even if their hotel was located just down 5th Avenue North, the carriage would always tarry around the Southside Loop to show off the attractions of the Red Light District. The houses were finally razed in the 1930s.

On the relatively isolated stretch between 35th and 41st Streets there is frequent drag racing in the late evenings. Past 41st Street, 1st Avenue peters out into a local-access street.

1st Avenue South re-appears in downtown Woodlawn, with Georgia Road forking away to the south at 58th Street. The street continues underneath I-20 into East Lake and continues through 20 blocks of predominantly residential uses until it is again interrupted by I-59 a few blocks shy of its eastern end at 87th Street.

Notable locations

External links

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