2nd Avenue North

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1900 block of 2nd Avenue North in 2006

2nd Avenue North (or Second Avenue North, formerly just 2nd Avenue) is an east-west street running through downtown Birmingham. The street is so named from Center Street in the west (where it becomes Tuscaloosa Avenue), continuously through downtown, to 29th Street North, after which it dead ends.

Sections of 2nd Avenue North reappear between 32nd and 35th Streets, between 47th and 52nd Streets, between 53rd and 54th Streets, and again east of Trotwood Park between 71st and 78th Streets. A short stub of 2nd Avenue North runs toward East Lake Park from 80th Street near I-59, then resumes between 85th and 86th Streets near Roebuck.

The area surrounding 2nd and 3rd Avenue North near the Alabama and Lyric Theatres is considered the heart of Birmingham's Theater District. The section between 22nd and 25th Streets is part of the City Center Loft District, utilized for the annual ArtWalk festival.

The area north of 2nd Avenue between 11th and 14th Streets was once known as Baconsides, and was particularly hard hit by the 1873 cholera epidemic. 2nd Avenue North is the setting for the fictional "Olympia Gym" in the novel and film, Stay Hungry.

The section of 2nd Avenue between 20th and 24th Street is part of the Downtown Birmingham Historic District. Until the mid-1980s, Red Mountain Expressway terminated at the 2nd Avenue North offramp.

MAX Transit Route 1 and MAX Transit Route 3 take 2nd Avenue westward to Elyton.

Notable locations

For an alphabetical list of locations, see the 2nd Avenue North category.