Eddie Kendrick Memorial Park

SW corner 4th Ave and 18th St N. Walking on the south side of the street to get a fl avor of district life, go a block east to

the corner of 4th Ave and 18th Street to fi nd Eddie Kendrick

Memorial Park, honoring the Birmingham native and Temptations

lead singer. Step inside the park to fully enjoy the lively sculpture.

(Kendrick added an s to his name for the stage.)

Alabama Penny Savings Bank / Pythian Temple Building

310 18th St N. Mid-block to the south on 18th Street is the Alabama Penny Savings Bank (1913; later Pythian Temple), also

designed by an African-American architect and built by a black

construction company. A pastor of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church

was among the founders of the Alabama Penny Savings Bank,

the state s fi rst black-owned bank and the second largest

African-American bank in the country in 1907. The building initially

housed the offi ces of The Birmingham Reporter and the Colored

Citizens League of Birmingham, as well as the offi ces of the fi rst

black attorney to practice in Birmingham. The building was later

acquired by the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization.

Lyric Theatre

1800 3rd Ave N. At the corner of 18th Street and 3rd Ave N, the Lyric Theatre (1913) recalls the entertainment district that

once boasted a dozen or more theaters within a few blocks of

here. The Lyric opened in January 1914 as a vaudeville venue,

where stars such as Will Rogers, Jack Benny, Mae West, and

the Marx brothers, among others, played in its elegant interior.

When vaudeville declined, it became a movie house. After years

of neglect and deterioration, an $11 million restoration has given

the Lyric a new life.

DOWNTOWN WEST

Fourth Avenue Historic District

1600-1800 blocks of 4th Ave N & parts of the 300 blocks of 17th & 18th St N. Walk around to the south side of Kelly Ingram Park and take 17th Street a block to the Fourth Avenue Historic

District. The district, which is listed in the National Register of

Historic Places, is a remnant of what was once the heart of

Birmingham s black social, cultural, and professional life, during

the Jim Crow era of racial segregation.

Masonic Temple Building

1630 4th Ave N. Built by the same African-American

construction company as

Sixteenth Street Baptist

Church, the Masonic Temple

Building (1922) was designed by two black architects (one, the

fi rst black graduate of MIT, 1892, taught at Tuskegee Institute).

Lawyers, doctors, dentists, journalists, and other infl uential

members of the African-American community had their offi ces

here. This includes the offi ce of attorney Arthur Shores, who

prepared milestone civil rights cases that helped end legal

segregation. The building s second-fl oor ballroom, where jazz

greats such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie played, was

a center of black social life as well.

Carver Cinema / Jazz Hall of Fame

1631 4th Ave N. The Carver Cinema/Jazz Hall of Fame

(ca. 1941) is notable for its

Art Moderne architecture as

well as exhibits that tell the

story of jazz and the well-

known musicians with ties to

Birmingham and Alabama.