Mobile Bay Magazine - February 2021

Mobile Bay !

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THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE FOR MOBILE AND BALDWIN COUNTIES

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February 2021

50 DELICIOUS

T 50

H

CELEBRATING

YEARS OF

STORIES

DIG IN! WINTZELL’S

OYSTER PO’BOY THE BAY AREA’S QUINTESSENTIAL DISH

FIFTY MOBILIANS 50 STATES WHERE ARE THEY NOW? SIX RECIPES FOR

TRIED AND TRUE LOCAL FLAVOR

COVERING GULF COAST CULTURE, FOOD AND HISTORY

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CONTENTS | VOLUME XXXVII / ISSUE 2

FEBRUARY 2021 52

Mobilians Across America Bay-area natives have stretched across the nation, from sea to shining sea.

Meet one from every state!

64

Weekend Getaways

LITTLE POINT CLEAR SUITES AND SPACE IS THE PERFECT ESCAPE. PHOTO BY JUSTINE AND WAYNE

Everyone could use a vacation right about now. Explore eight safe and convenient gems, ripe for exploration.

76

This is How We (Used to) Roll Read accounts from RV City, the once-legendary pop-up community under I-10 during Carnivals of yesteryear.

 Any far-flung Mobilians we shouldn’t have missed in “Mobilians Across America” on page 52?

Let us know by emailing bpappas@pmtpublishing.com. (Extra points awarded for Hawaii and Alaska.)

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CONTENTS | VOLUME XXXVII / ISSUE 2

FEBRUARY 2021 29

26 ON OUR COVER A Wintzell’s fried oyster po’boy for the win.

43

PHOTO BY MATTHEW COUGHLIN

9 EDITOR’S NOTE 10 REACTION 12 OBSERVATIONS Seven memories from publisher Jocko Potts

A DIVINE SPREAD AT BAY BARBEQUE / PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU PICKLED SHRIMP / PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU RACONTEUR AND FORMER MB CONTRIBUTOR EUGENE WALTER

14 BITE-SIZED Foodie William Peebles dissects the oyster loaf 16 OBSERVATIONS Heartfelt memories from past magazine staffers 20 BY THE NUMBERS A “then and now” look at Mobile from 1971 to 2021 22 ODDS & ENDS 25 THE DISH

26 TASTINGS Pull up a chair at Bay Barbeque on Florida Street

29 BAY TABLES Local ingredients meet timeless recipes in this collection of Mobile’s familiar culinary hits

49 TRADITIONS Fifty years ago, when MB originated, 50 dollars sure went a lot further

106 ORANGE JUICE Writer Audrey McDonald Atkins’ tale of Valentine’s Day revenge

43 SPOTLIGHT A nod to eccentric former MB contributor Eugene Walter

94 CALENDAR

108 ASK MCGEHEE Historian Tom McGehee answers the question, “What is the history of the state docks?”

46 ARCHIVES Historian John Sledge examines a rarely seen photograph from Mobile’s 1898 Mardi Gras

99 ARCHIVES Take a closer view of Chief Slac’s Mardi Gras outfit from the 1970s 102 AMAZING LIFE Preserving the story of local civil rights activist Dorothy P. Williams

114 BACK STORY Sift through the fine details of a photograph from MAMGA’s 1975 luncheon

 “If I don’t have some Bon Secour oysters and a Dew Drop Inn crab omelet sandwich within a year, I’ll die.” Bon vivant and former MB contributor Eugene Walter knew what he liked. On page 43, take a look back at the man and his unusual life.

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Mobile Bay VOLUME XXXVII

No2

FEB 2021

PUBLISHER T. J. Potts Stephen Potts Judy Culbreth

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Maggie Lacey MANAGING EDITOR/WEB Abby Parrott

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Amanda Hartin

ART DIRECTOR Laurie Kilpatrick

ASSISTANT PUBLISHER

EDITORIAL CONSULTANT

ADVERTISING S R. ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Joseph A. Hyland Anna Pavao ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Jennifer Ray

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

ADMINISTRATION CIRCULATION Anita Miller ACCOUNTING Keith Crabtree

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Audrey McDonald Atkins, Dooley Berry, Cart Blackwell, Emmett Burnett, Josh Givens, Scotty Kirkland, Tom McGehee, Breck Pappas, William Peebles, John Sledge CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Matthew Coughlin, Elizabeth Gelineau, Meggan and Jeff Haller ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES

3729 Cottage Hill Road, Suite H Mobile, AL 36609-6500 251-473-6269 Subscription inquiries and all remittances should be sent to: Mobile Bay P.O. Box 43 Congers, NY 10920-9922 1-833-454-5060 MOVING? Please note: U.S. Postal Service will not forward magazines mailed through their bulk mail unit.

Please send old label along with your new address four to six weeks prior to moving.

Mobile Bay is published 12 times per year for the Gulf Coast area. All contents © 2021 by PMT Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of the contents without written permission is prohibited. Comments written in this magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the ownership or the management of Mobile Bay. This magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. All submissions will be edited for length, clarity and style.

PUBLISHED BY PMT PUBLISHING INC .

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EXTRAS | EDITOR’S NOTE

I Got You Covered

GET COMFY 100% ORGANIC, FAIR TRADE COTTON PJS FOR THE KIDDOS WITH KING CAKES AND CROWNS ARE THE EPITOME OF SWEET DREAMS. NOLA TAWK KIDS PJS • THE HOLIDAY

W

LOVE THIS ISSUE OH BABY MARDI GRAS MAY NOT BE HAPPENING, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN’T ENJOY THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON! I PLAN TO HOLD MY OWN PERSONAL KING CAKE OFF, TRYING THEM ALL ON FOR SIZE AND EVEN BAKING MY OWN. BUT I WILL BE SORELY IN NEED OF LENT WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER! A PAGE TURNER IT’S TIME TO REVISIT A FEW OF MY FAVORITE READS CELEBRATING THE CARNIVAL SEASON. (LEFT) MARDI GRAS IN ALABAMA CHILDREN’S BOOK • KARYN TUNKS • $18 (BELOW) BON TEMPS:ALABAMA’S MARDI GRAS • JEFF AND MEGGAN HALLER AND ELEANOR INGE BAKER • $65

PHOTO BY KEYHOLE PHOTO

e take our covers pretty seriously around here. A cover is the epitome of a first impression, and we want each one to knock it out of the park. Some have succeeded more than others, and we wondered, what would be the right fit for our 50th anniversary issue? After all, when a magazine has been published (under one publisher or another) for five decades, it’s used a lot of paper and ink, words and photos. How do you sum up the hard work of so many individuals in just one photo? That lofty of a goal, I argue, is a true mission impossible, but in the end, we kept coming back to one thing that all in our area hold dear — local seafood. More specifically, the fried oyster po’boy.

It’s always been my personal go-to Saturday lunch around town, even when I was a girl. But stories about the delectable sandwich go way back in my family, too. My grandmother used to talk about how her grandfather, James McPhillips, would walk from his office at McPhillips Grocery on Commerce Street to the Athelstan Club for a drink every Friday afternoon in the 1920s. Then he would order an oyster loaf, as they were then known, to be carried home to his family for Friday supper. My great-great Aunt Rose would be sent down to fetch him in the only car the family owned — a Packard — to bring him and the waxed paper-wrapped commodity home.

An oyster loaf was not unlike today’s po’boy — a baker’s loaf of bread sliced down the middle, hollowed out and filled with fried bivalves. The Athelstan poured melted butter over the oysters before returning the bread lid and wrapping it tight, guaranteed to arrive home still warm.

Patrons at the Dew Drop even today order a “baby oyster loaf,” probably without realizing that this stems from an individual portion of the larger loaf described above. While the rest of our town has adopted the New Orleans moniker of po’boy, a true Mobile institution — like the Dew Drop, of course — would keep it authentic.

We hope this issue helps you remember and appreciate other authentic things about our area. A lot has changed, and in some ways not enough. And yet we will continue to celebrate and hold dear those things that make us who we are.

Here’s to 50 more.

STICK WITH ME SHOW YOUR LOVE FOR MOBILE, THE MOTHER OF MYSTICS, WITH STICKERS FOR YOUR CAR, COOLER OR LAPTOP. MOBTOWN MERCH STICKERS • URBAN EMPORIUM• $3 EACH

Maggie Lacey EXECUTIVE EDITOR

maggie@pmtpublishing.com

 This issue’s Weekend Getaways story has me planning a much-needed vacation — close to home! I had my first real job at the Grand Hotel pool, and it’s high time my family and I return for some waterfront R&R. I just checked my calendar for Tuesday, February 16, and it turns out I don’t have any plans ...

SOME WARM SUNSHINE AND SANDY TOES AWAIT AT THE GRAND HOTEL BEACH.

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 9

EXTRAS | REACTION

Tell us how you really feel ...

TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

On January’s feature, “Fired Up,” about art collector, activist and Mobilian, Peggy Cooper Cafritz (right)

Readers look back on 50 years of MB

This is a must-read about another member of an amazing family.

I love the magazine because it covers stories about our area, from food to style and people who live here who are inventive and creative.

- Ellen Heyer Your publication is outstanding all the time, but I especially like the fact that you cover so many different topics from food to home design to Bay-area history and nostalgia. The photography is top-notch, and the magazine fit and finish are excellent as well!

And who doesn’t look forward to “Ask McGehee” each month?

- Linda Winn Grill

Marbury babysat my boys when we all lived on Venetia Road. I loved her mother Katherine. I had no idea they had done this with the home place!

- Ann Akridge Such an amazingly written article about my grandmother’s house. Thank you!

- Newman Deaton I enjoyed reading the article on Dan de Lion Lodge. I grew up on Dog River on Venetia Road and have many wonderful memories of life on the river.

I just wanted you to know how much your article on Peggy - Tommy Potter Cooper Cafritz moved PEGGY COOPER CAFRITZ / me. I was simultanePHOTO BY KELLI M. ANDERSON, Just send me to my SOJOURNALS BRAND CREATIVE ously delighted to room with that gin learn about her and and tonic plus Dave’s irritated that I hadn’t - Jerry Cowart tomato omelette with already. I lived very near the Duke feta and mozzarella One of the true “glossies” left. MB Ellington School of the Arts and always cheese. captures Mobile and the area like admired it for its beauty and mission. My no other! admiration is now even deeper.

- Mary Ann Pappas What a long way we have to go in Richardson Byron Hornaday HOLIDAY GIN & TONIC giving attention to native Mobilians, PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU particularly those of color, that live lives we can learn and draw inspiration from.

GIMME SOME SUGAR Our history has so much more to offer On January’s Tastings of Mo’Bay Beignet Co. YOU’RE THE BEST OF THE BEST than just Mardi Gras and MoonPies.

Ordered these for our friends for On MB’s 2020 Class of 40 Under 40 Thank you for shining a light on this Christmas; they loved them! remarkable woman.

Congratulations, F. Demetrius Stokes - Anna Schiffer-Vassallo and Smac Walker. It’s great to know - Jessica Deese we have such influential and impactful individuals representing our community.

FEELING DAN-DE

APPLY WITHIN

On December’s Editor’s Note, featuring a local favorite, Heavenly Hash In the last issue, you mentioned the Visitation Shop’s Heavenly Hash, and now we cannot buy any to mail to family and friends for Christmas and to eat as we have done for many, many, many years. I watched a stream of older ladies fight the steep stairs at the entrance to the shop to receive the bad news — sold out.

Solution: They need more nuns, and you should advertise that fact. Bah humbug.

- Robert Peneguy

On December’s Bay Tables featuring Dan de Lion Lodge, a 103-year-old speakeasy-turnedAirbnb on Dog River What a great story, and those recipes — ­ must try the pimiento cheese.

- Michelle Irvin I grew up on Dog River and never heard this story. I enjoyed it very much.

- Lela Victoria Shout out to Niki Coker who’s always kicking butt and taking names!

- Kay Coker Jones Congratulations, Dr. Niland. I would like to throw in, most handsome of the bunch.

- Nakia Reid-Rankin

- Billy Daniels

I enjoy reading about people who are making a difference.

I was so happy to read this very interesting article about the lodge. Thank you for the insight to this place.

Fantastic cover! Congrats, Ankit, and all the 40 under 40s.

- Karen McGahagin

- Joy Hallmark

- Wendy Wilson

 Want to share your thoughts and reactions to this issue? Email maggie@pmtpublishing.com.

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EXTRAS | ON THE WEB

More Ways to Connect We’re not just in print. Find us online, on social media and in your inbox. text by ABBY PARROTT

mobilebaymag.com

MARDI GRAS MAGIC Carnival celebrations will certainly look different this year, but you can still keep the revelry alive at home!

We have all the recipes you need to let the good times roll: Fried shrimp and oysters, cheese straws, milk punch, and every MoonPie and king cake concoction you could ever dream of.

Bon appétit!

FEELIN’ THE LOVE Slide into their DMs with the perfect local love note. Go online to find our Mobile Bay-themed Valentine’s Day cards.

PUT A RING ON IT Share your proposal story with us and we’ll feature your engagement announcement online and on social media — for free!

SPRUCE IT UP Exterior designer Catherine Arensberg shares tips and tricks for creating the outdoor space you’ve always wanted. Go online to explore the full video archive.

LET’S GET COOKING Need a last-minute dinner idea? A fun cocktail for the weekend? Follow us on social media for our go-to recipes of the week.

HELLO, SPRING We’re already daydreaming about sunny skies and perfect March weather.

Check out our online guide for a list of the fun, safe activities on our bucket list this spring.

MOONPIE PIE / PHOTO BY JENNIE TEWELL BOUTONNIERE BY WILDFLOWERS / PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU PHOTO BY CATHERINE ARENSBERG

FEELING INSPIRED

JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST

Didn’t get a chance to see the MB Inspiration Home in person? Never fear! You can save all of the images from the home directly to your Pinterest boards in a matter of seconds. Simply open the Pinterest app, click search, click the camera icon and hover over this circular image.

Finally, an email you’ll actually love to read.

Get the latest in food, art, homes, local history and events delivered right to your inbox. You’ll also be the first to know about new products and exclusive offers. Sign up online today!

 FOLLOW US!

MOBILEBAYMAGAZINE

@MOBILEBAYMAG

@MOBILEBAYMAGAZINE

MOBILEBAY

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GUMBO | OBSERVATIONS

Those Were the Days A publisher looks back at some of the things that stick to mind after decades of storytelling with Mobile Bay — the good, bad and ugly — in no particular order. text by JOCKO POTTS

AN ANNIVERSARY LIKE THIS REQUIRES YOU TO REMINISCE. WE STARTED OUR PUBLISHING CAREER IN 1979 WITH AZALEA CITY NEWS, AND 11 YEARS LATER WE ACQUIRED THIS LITTLE MAGAZINE THAT HAD A LOT OF POTENTIAL. HERE ARE A HANDFUL OF HAPPENINGS THAT STICK OUT IN MY MIND AS I REFLECT ON FOUR DECADES OF FUN IN PUBLISHING.

A PARTY TO A HURRICANE Our first foray into the publishing world was Azalea City News, a somewhat alternative newspaper with a great staff and an extremely loyal readership.

When Hurricane Frederic hit in 1979, the devastation in the city was unlike any that I had seen. Photographer Alan Whitman and I jumped in a VW Beetle, and I drove around the city while he took some incredible pictures — our little car could get places others couldn’t. We had moved our production equipment to the Civic Center because they had power, so we were the first paper to hit the streets after the storm.

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That was the only issue where we had to do a second print run, and National Geographic ended up using some of Alan’s photos.

all over again, please note that over the years, our staff has adopted/rescued many, many furry friends).

THE MADDEST PEOPLE EVER GOT In our April, 2014 issue, we did a brief, two-page story on a woman who breeds English goldendoodles, a cross between an English golden retriever and a poodle. The dog community was stormthe-capitol mad, angry that we would dare do a story on a breeder. Their vitriol poured into the comments section on our website, and we learned our lesson to never, ever upset animal rights activists. (And before you dog people get mad

THE SECOND MADDEST PEOPLE EVER GOT In 1995, some topics, especially homosexuality, were still sensitive. So when our September issue, headlined “Gays: Mobile’s True Secret Society,” hit mailboxes, we were hit with subscription cancellations and angry letters (one even compared me to Hitler). We actually received strong, emotional responses from both sides of the issue.

INTRODUCING EUGENE WALTER A former coworker of mine always told me of her friend Eugene, whom she had worked with on local theatre projects.

One day I was having lunch at Bernard’s, and I heard this guy at a nearby table being loud and exuberant, but in a good way. Somehow I knew it had to be Eugene, so I went up and introduced myself, and I asked him if he wanted to discuss contributing to Azalea City News.

The rest is history. Our readers really took to him.

INTERVIEW WITH A LEGEND We got the opportunity to interview E.O. Wilson for Mobile Bay, and he is easily one of the most decorated and renowned people I’ve ever met. I spent a couple of hours with him, just listening to him talk into my recorder about growing up in Mobile. He was modest; rather than focus on everything he knew, he focused on all he thought he didn’t know yet.

FIGHTING THE LAW (ALMOST) We used to do an article, “The Best & Worst of Mobile,” in which readers would vote on things like best restaurant, worst eyesore, etc. A longtime friend, then the sheriff, took umbrage at the fact that he was voted worst politician. He called, threatening to come whip my ass, which he certainly could have done, as he was a former top-10 welterweight boxer in the world. Luckily, we are back to being friends again.

EMPLOYEE TURNOVER We had one employee who would sleep at his desk, snoring loudly. Another that would be randomly standing on his head doing yoga. And another that walked off with computers.

But the one that easily stands out the most was the editor (for one of our other publications) whose last day went like this: Comes to work, starts drinking. Leaves for lunch, gets married. Returns from lunch with food from the McDonald’s drive-thru.

Eats. Quits.

Good times.

Opposite top Group shot of Azalea City News & Review staff, circa 1982, on the front porch of the Potts’ house. Several notables are included and we’ll give two free subscriptions to anyone who can name the most people pictured.

Middle Jane Potts, who assumed a major role at the ACN&R and Mobile Bay, generating revenues and keeping the trains on the rails.

Bottom Jocko and close friends Jimmy and Hetty Newell.

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FOOD | BITE-SIZED

A Peace Offering for Your Palate Local Epicurean William Peebles investigates the origins of the oyster loaf and the claim that Mobile played a role in its evolution. text by WILLIAM PEEBLES

M

uch beloved in the Mobile area, the oyster loaf exists in a pantheon of “folk foods” that, while locally endemic, have a somewhat murky history. New Orleans and, interestingly, San Francisco both have credible claims on the oyster loaf, the po’boy precursor that was so beloved it earned a nickname: the peacemaker. The idea was that a hollowed-out loaf of bread, stuffed with fried oysters, made the perfect bundle for an inebriated gent to carry home to his fed-up wife. In fact, an 1893 newspaper clipping declares, “When the New Orleans man returns from making a night of it ‘with the boys’ he provides himself with what is called a peacemaker and carries it home under his arm. The peacemaker is also known as an oyster loaf.”

Food history at large is particularly difficult to pin down for a couple of reasons; there is a general lack of primary sources, and cultural ownership of something you eat is very subjective. The most thorough research will fall on deaf ears as long as Grandma made an oyster sandwich.

Quite frankly, I would have to side with Grandma. For these reasons, my goal here is to tell the story of the oyster loaf in terms of the “why” and not the “how.”

As to the “why,” the question becomes: “Why did people, however many centuries ago, decide to hollow out a loaf of bread and stuff it with fried oysters?” The short answer is that it tastes great, but the long answer gets to something more fundamental: People needed to be fed.

To the best of my knowledge, the earliest published

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recipe for an oyster loaf comes from the 1878 “Gulf City Cook Book,” in which the ladies of the St. Francis Street Methodist Church (currently known as the Steeple) compiled dozens of everyday recipes from their parishioners.

In the introduction to the 1990 reprint of the GCCB, George H. Daniels, Professor of History at South Alabama, writes “eating is such basic human activity that works dealing with it do reveal a great deal about the society that produces them.” That is to say, this cookbook should be considered a window into the daily diet of these Mobilians at the time, and, as an extension, the oyster loaf can be seen as an everyday dish eaten fairly widely.

Later in his introduction, Daniels goes on to say, “Oysters were plentiful at twenty-five cents a hundred or they could be had for the taking from the apparently inexhaustible beds in the shallow waters at the south end of the bay.” This might come as a surprise to anybody who has checked the current market rate for oysters, but once upon a time, they were one of the cheapest food sources available, to the point of being practically free to harvest.

This places the oyster loaf in a particular class of food so humble that it could be enjoyed by just about anyone.

More importantly, given the incredibly accessible nature of oysters at the time, it isn’t a stretch to see how anyone with a loaf of bread would have been able to put the whole thing together with no trouble at all. This brings us back to the beginning, back to the “why” of the oyster loaf. Anyone who cooks does so in order to feed, and based on the

evidence, we can reasonably assume that a loaf of bread stuffed with fried oysters would have organically come together in any environment where these ingredients overlapped. Whether it’s New Orleans, San Fransisco or Mobile that wants to claim it is frankly irrelevant as long as it is sustaining; a peace offering for your palate.

Below you can find the recipe for an oyster loaf, as well as the fried oysters it is stuffed with, as it appeared in the original text of the “Gulf City Cook Book.”

Fried Oysters Select large oysters, drain and spread on a cloth to absorb all moisture. Beat well two or three eggs, and season them with pepper and salt. Roll some crackers, and dip the oysters in the egg and then in the crumbs, then again in the egg and cracker crumbs. Drop into boiling lard, sufficient to cover them, and cook till of a light brown.

Oyster Loaves Cut off carefully the end of a loaf of baker’s bread, reserving the end; scoop out the crumb inside the loaf, leaving the crust entire. Fill the loaf with hot oysters, fried as above, leaving room for slices of pickle.

Carefully replace the end cut off. If the oysters are hot, and the loaf well covered, they can be carried quite a distance, or eaten some time after being prepared, without getting cold.

This is nice for a hasty lunch or a late supper. One dozen oysters will fill an ordinary sized loaf. MB

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EXTRAS | OBSERVATIONS

A Blast From the Past FORMER EDITORS, WRITERS AND ART DIRECTORS TELL US WHAT THEY REMEMBER ABOUT THEIR DAYS HAMMERING OUT THE PAGES OF MOBILE BAY MAGAZINE.

A

fter decades of covering the history, homes, food and culture of the Bay area, the office at Mobile Bay is a welloiled machine. An impressive roster of contributors have propelled MB’s long and accomplished trajectory and continued to usher in fresh ideas, design and technology.

What began as Mobile Magazine in 1971 by the Mobile

Focus on Photography and Special Projects While I was at the magazine, we were very focused on improving the photography and styling for photo shoots. In layout design, we were intent on making stories more reader friendly, with quick reads bookending a well of sprawling feature stories with more creative design aesthetics in the vein of some of the larger national publications. We also launched several special projects, including a Mobile Bay Bride annual publication and the Bay Appétit cookbooks. Our staff became such a family with plenty of the wacky inside jokes that come with that. Some Monday mornings I still feel the need to guess the meaning of Jocko’s vocabulary word of the day. I’ll never hear the Spice Girls’ song “Wannabe” or the clang of gong without feeling the need to celebrate an issue’s final approval with the printer or a new advertising contract signed.

Lawren Largue

Editorial Assistant 2006, then Assistant Editor, Associate Editor and then Executive Editor from November 2009 - May 2017

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Chamber of Commerce has evolved through years, with new owners and slight name changes, to become what you see today — a magazine that many hands, heads and hearts have formed into a local mainstay. Our history is yours, and we cherish sharing a taste of it with readers each month.

Allow us to reminisce a moment.

An Exciting Forum Mobile Bay in many ways evolved out of publisher Jocko Potts’ first local publication, the Azalea City News & Review, a weekly newspaper that was keen on all categories of coverage, especially those neglected by the daily newspaper — particularly environment, community development and historic development.

It was exciting to provide a forum for the issues skirted by the biggest print media in town. In the magazine, pictures and design became more exciting as the technology of print evolved into the digital era.

The colorization of historic photos and the aerial photos of the Delta in the December 2020 issue, for example, are amazing compared to the old days and in keeping with the magazine’s grounding in heritage and environment.

Chris McFadyen

Associate editor, editor and now contributing writer for Mobile Bay Magazine and Business Alabama Magazine, 1986 - Present

New and Exciting Technology I wrote about people with interesting jobs, places worth seeing or unusual events (I once covered a hamster race). The new and exciting technology when I started was a cutting-edge development called “email.” I sent my first email with an attachment to Mobile Bay magazine. At about the same time, contributors were switching from film to digital photography.

One memorable story was “Ghostbusters of Mobile.” With the city’s permission, a photographer, an editor and I spent the night in Church Street Cemetery with professional ghostbusters. Sitting by a tombstone at midnight, a ghostbuster told of eerie experiences she witnessed in such cemeteries. As she spoke, a possum came out of nowhere and raced by my legs. I do not believe in ghosts, but I do believe in possums.

Emmett Burnett

Freelance Contributor / Writer, 1999 - Present

Design and Consistency

A Breath of Old Mobile at Its Best

Judy Culbreth — our big New York editor — had just been hired, and she and Jocko brought me on to work on redesigning the magazine and keeping it consistent every month. For you nerdy types out there — we had just switched over from the design program QuarkXpress to Adobe Indesign. Although I had to self-learn the program, it was a game changer — definitely more user-friendly! Even the editors got in there and were able to make the necessary layout changes! There are so many memorable articles, it’s hard to pick just one. I really enjoyed one that we did at Judy’s beautiful house on Weeks Bay. All of the staff made, brought, and shared a family recipe to photograph and include in a story, and I chose my grandmother’s homemade ice cream, along with her homemade sauces. We still make it in her memory every year! We would celebrate once we finally got that magazine PDF’d, uploaded and shipped. One month, we missed our deadline on finalizing the magazine for the printer, and it just so happened to be the night my husband proposed! I was late to the proposal and had him sweating bullets until we got the magazine out. Nothing like the last minute!

For me, Mobilebased PMT Publishing Company has always meant the now-defunct Azalea City News & Review and Mobile Bay Magazine, though the company has other enterprises elsewhere in Alabama.

Both publications have functioned as the mirror of Greater Mobile, the repository of local memory and the reflection of local pride. In some ways, Mobile Bay is the successor to the ACN&R, though one was a weekly newspaper and the other is a monthly magazine, the connecting thread being publishers Jocko and Jane Potts and their vision for life in our wide-ranging, two-county metropolis. I first worked for the Azalea City News in the summer of 1978 when it was a small, very counterculture wisp of a newspaper. After PMT bought and vastly expanded it, I worked there as a full-time staff writer and reporter from 1979 - 1983. The staff was young and rambunctious with the exception of writer Eugene Walter, who was a generation older than us and even more rambunctious. We were the gadfly to the daily Mobile Press-Register. Fortunately, when PMT Publishing acquired what was then Mobile Magazine, it too underwent a vast expansion. When I look at the beautiful photography, glitzy layouts and thick issues of the current Mobile Bay, I marvel to think of the slim, simple and more sober magazine I recall from the early ’80s, which looked rather like a trade quarterly. My greatest involvement was in the 2000 - 2005 time period when I wrote a weekly column covering city planning issues and local culture entitled “Lizard Fever,” named after a poem by Eugene Walter. The article in this series that was the most fun to write was “Local History’s Trickster” in 2005, a profile of Francois Diard, an aficionado of local history and

Kelley Beville Ogburn

Art Director, 2005 - 2011

Three Times the Fun We had such fun as a staff working on that triplet photo shoot at the beach — it was freezing!

Marie Katz Production Director, 2012 - 2017

mythomaniac who created a number of charming imaginary stories about Mobile Mardi Gras and other topics that are still repeated unskeptically to this day. At a time when print publications are disappearing, Mobile Bay prospers. Mobile Bay Magazine is, as I once wrote of Francois Diard, “a breath of old Mobile at its best: self-absorbed, yes, but cosmopolitan, mischievous, and flavorful.”

Frank Daugherty

Freelance Contributor / Writer, 2000 - Present

Fun, Creative Environment When I got to PMT, everything was new and exciting to me!

I loved being taught to edit according to AP style and to write stories. I also learned a little bit about layout and design, which was outside of my wheelhouse but very cool. Although I work in forensic psychology now (a very different field), I still have some holdover habits from my editorial days (e.g., writing “TK” in my assessment reports when I need to go back and add something later).

It was such a fun, creative environment. Marie Katz and I were very focused on the vending machine. We managed to get an extra slot for Diet Coke, and it was a game changer.

I think we drank 4 - 5 cans a day.

I loved getting a phone buzz from Jocko’s office (“Haley? Come in here...”), inviting me to discuss whatever ideas he had bouncing around his head. He would randomly share these insane stories about the Mobile of yesteryear; I swear, the man has more illustrative life stories in Alabama than Forrest Gump.

Haley Potts

Editorial Assistant, 2013 - 2015

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 17

Friendly Competition I wrote a regular humor column for the magazine, which continued even after I helped found Lagniappe for a while. I also wrote feature stories for MBM. One I’m always proud of is a feature I wrote on Osman and Mirjana Ademovic, who founded Osman’s restaurant in 2000. Their picture ran on the cover of the magazine, and I think it helped what would quickly become one of the very best restaurants in town get some needed publicity. Somehow I also managed to get my good friend David Rasp on the cover sitting in his hot tub for a story about people’s favorite places to unwind. I’m not sure having Rasp half naked on the cover is something any of us should be proud of, but it still makes me laugh.

Jocko, Jane and Stephen Potts have always been incredibly generous and kind to me and were nothing but supportive as we got Lagniappe up and going 18 years ago. That’s a rarity in the catty world of publishing. We’ve had a long friendship, and they have always had my respect as professionals who have maintained a great product for decades. When I showed up in Mobile in 1998, let’s just say I was at a professional low point. The Potts helped me get my feet back under me as a journalist, and for that I am always grateful.

Rob Holbert

Freelance writer and columnist, 1999 - 2003

Longest and Best-Loved Gig When I moved from New York back to the Bay area in September 2005, I was hired

by Jocko as a consultant. We established that the magazine’s prime focus was telling the stories of Mobile and Baldwin counties with

18 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

respect for the past and inspiration for the present and future. After the consulting project, I was hired as editor-in-chief. The magazine I began to lead was already well liked. Jocko’s mandate was, “Don’t mess things up!” I worked as editor-in-chief of Mobile Bay Monthly from November 2005 to some time in 2009. I have been editorial director and consultant since then. I worked at a number of magazines in New York: Seventeen, Ladies’ Home Journal, Mademoiselle, Redbook, Working Mother, Parent & Child. A couple are still in business. Mobile Bay is my longest and best-loved gig. It has been a pleasure to serve its readers.

When I first began the revamp, I worked with Laura VanLandingham, who was almost single-handedly producing the magazine. Part of her job was keeping the art director awake.

Seriously. He was asleep at the wheel in more ways than one.

We hired the talented designer Kelly Beville (Ogburn) in time for the January 2006 issue. Readers noticed Kelly’s visual impact immediately. Stephen Potts joined the magazine about that time as an assistant editor.

He brought the editorial staff count to four and contributed a flurry of ideas.

My favorite issue was February 2008 that celebrated Fairhope’s 100th anniversary with rediscovered, never-before-published heirloom photos. This was an extraordinary collaboration that included descendants of the Dealy / Brown / Jennings family — Carey J. Killian and Nancye Dealy Jennings — the Fairhope Single Tax Corp, underwriters Cunningham Bounds LLC, and contributors Dean Mosher, Rebecca Byrne, Cathy Donelson and Leighton Mosteller. I still share my copy of this issue with visitors.

Judy Culbreth

Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Consultant, 2005 - Present

Stories That Embraced the Mobile Bay Area’s History and Traditions Yikes. It’s been over 15 years since I first wrote for Mobile Bay! Theneditor Judy Culbreth encouraged me to contribute stories to the magazine. At the time, a priority of MB was featuring stories that embraced the Mobile Bay area’s history and traditions. My father-in-law was one of the original campers at Camp Beckwith, the Episcopal diocesan camp nestled on Weeks Bay. I wrote a piece on this sacred property which has been the setting for the nurturing of our youth in this community (including my now-adult four children) for generations. I’m glad to see that MB continues to share stories that thread our past with our future.

Rebecca Byrne

Freelance Contributor, 2000s

Swimsuits and Social Media The magazine went through quite a few design changes while I was there. We published the first issue of Mobile Bay Bride, developed the first website and started using social media. Back then, it was Myspace! I worked on the 40th anniversary issue, and I loved that one! I also liked doing the swimsuit issues. We would have to start taking those pictures really early in the morning to get the morning light.”

Laura VanLandingham Stakelum Freelance Writer, then Managing Editor of Mobile Bay Monthly (as it was called then) and Mobile Bay Bride, 2003 - 2007

The Perfect Job May 1988’s Maggie Sikes’ Etchings (my third MBM article) premiered a new department called Gallery.

MBM’s September 2015 profile of sculptor Frank Ledbetter, Flying Sparks, was my 95th Gallery article. Both were memorable, as were nearly all that fell in between. More than any single story, it was experiencing firsthand the depth and diversity of our area’s art scene that’s most memorable for me.

For 30-some years, Mobile and Baldwin county artisans welcomed me into their homes and studios. They answered all of my dumb questions; they educated me and taught me to see in new ways. It was, for me, the perfect job. My one regret about my time writing about and photographing local artists, and the amazing things they create, is all of those who somehow got away — artists that should have been featured but never made it into print.

Adrian C. Hoff

Regular Contributor 1987 - 1992, Freelance Writer - present

Inspire and Define Each of us has a story to tell as we share, explore, enjoy, remember and protect the waters that touch Mobile — from Dauphin Island, Fowl River, Dog River, the Causeway, Spanish Fort, Daphne, Fairhope, Fort Morgan and Gulf Shores — to the Gulf of Mexico, and all the communities, secrets and tales that swim between the pages of Mobile Bay Magazine.

Robin Delaney

Freelance Writer, 1990s

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 19

EXTRAS | BY THE NUMBERS

Then & Now A lot has changed in our neck of the woods over Mobile Bay Magazine’s 50-year history. Let’s break it down.

1971 <1

text by BRECK PAPPAS

KNOWN BROWN PELICANS IN OUR AREA

MOBILE & BALDWIN COUNTY PROPERTIES ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

2021

1971: 10 | 2021: 200

> 10,000

POPULATION GROWTH BALDWIN COUNTY

MOBILE COUNTY

30%

285% 1971 - 2021 59,382

228,613

1971 - 2021 317,308

412,512

SINCE 1971, WE’VE GAINED • 5 breweries • 1 island (see right) • 30 million leprechauninspired YouTube views • 1 cruise line

GRIDIRON PERSPECTIVE

1971

2021

6 Local players in the NFL

9 Local players in the NFL

(Ken Stabler, Rich Caster, Scott Hunter, Clifton McNeil, Carter Campbell, Larry Shears)

(Rodney Hudson, Julio Jones, AJ McCarron, TJ Yeldon, Jaquiski Tartt, Ryan Anderson, Ito Smith, Taylor Stallworth, Mark Barron)

Senior Bowl

Senior Bowl

LADD MEMORIAL STADIUM

HANCOCK WHITNEY STADIUM

North team head coach Lou Saban, Denver Broncos

North team head coach Matt Rhule, Carolina Panthers

South team head coach Weeb Ewbank, New York Jets

South team head coach Brian Flores, Miami Dolphins

20 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

BROWN PELICANS Populations of brown pelicans were decimated in the U.S. by pesticides in the 1950s and ’60s. Thanks to the 1972 ban on DDT and the creation of Gaillard Island in Mobile Bay, a biologist in 1983 discovered four brown pelicans nesting on the island. This was the first sighting of a brown pelican in Alabama since the species’s decline decades earlier.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA ENROLLMENT 19 71

5,221 2 0 21

14,505

MOBILE’S TALLEST BUILDING 1971 FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING (NOW THE RSA TRUSTMARK BUILDING)

424 FEET 2021

RSA BATTLE HOUSE TOWER

745 FEET

YEAR’S FIRST NO. 1 SONG Jan. 1971 “My Sweet Lord”

by George Harrison

Jan. 2021 “Mood”

by 24kGoldn featuring iann dior

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 21

22 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

EXTRAS | ODDS & ENDS

My Lovely Valentine text by MB EDITORIAL STAFF

SHUCK FINN?

“Make a batter of two eggs, three gills of milk, two spoonfuls of flour, and some fine bread crumbs. Beat it well.

Dip each oyster into the batter, and fry in lard.”

- Mark Twain’s fried oyster recipe, published in 1846. It is one of the earliest recipes in which oysters are fried.

NOTABLE

FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS 12th

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

22nd

GEORGE WASHINGTON

25th

CARROT TOP

...really?

“A few days ago I thought I loved you; but since I last saw you I feel I love you a thousand times more … I beg you, let me see some of your faults: be less beautiful, less graceful, less kind, less good.”

– Napoleon Bonaparte, while commanding the French army near Italy, in a love letter to his wife Joséphine.

[FEBRUARY 14]

VALENTINE’S DAY Kiss me next year.

$400 The amount paid at auction in 2018 for an 1878 Gulf City Cook Book (Mobile’s original tome of local cooking).

Grandma’s cookbook shelf might hold more green than you ever dreamed!

Dem.o.nym (noun): A word, such as “Mobilian,” used to denote a person who inhabits or is native to a particular place.

We set out to find a local in all 50 states, and the results are fascinating! Turn to page 52 to meet the “Mobilians Across America.”

7

TEMPERATURE DURING THE 1899 MARDI GRAS, THE COLDEST ON RECORD

°

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 23

24 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

FOOD | THE DISH

Bite of the Bay MB’s contributing food fanatics share their go-to local dishes.

E. LEE WEBB III, Commercial Relationship Manager, Trustmark National Bank

OHANA POKE BOWL AT OHANA POKE “One of my favorite spots for lunch in Fairhope is Ohana Poke. I like the signature Ohana poke bowl, but I sometimes alter this menu staple, which is very easy to do online or in-store. I add one extra scoop of the spicy salmon, and I substitute the scallion for the wakame seaweed. The rest pretty much stays in place (maybe extra avocado). The spicy tuna and spicy salmon with the jalapeño definitely gives this one a kick! Pro tip: Get the poke sauce on the side to regulate as the bowl dwindles.”

OHANA POKE • 561 FAIRHOPE AVE. UNIT 102,

DANIEL HUGGINS, Chief Operating Officer, Children’s Medical Group, P.A.

OHANA POKE BOWL. PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU

FAIRHOPE • 517-7760 • OPFAIRHOPE.COM

ASIAN PERSUASION WINGS AT MOE’S “The culinary team at Moe’s truly pays close attention to the detail of their meals and preparation. The Asian Persuasion wings are to die for. The flavor from the “smoker” gives the wings a great distinct taste, and the meat falls right off the bones. And let’s not forget the macaroni and cheese — it has yet to fail me and my taste buds. ” MOE’S ORIGINAL BBQ • 701 SPRING HILL AVE. 410-6377 • MOESORIGINALBBQ.COM

MARISSA THETFORD, Owner, Marissa Thetford Marketing

CRAB AND CORN CHOWDER FROM EAST SHORE CAFE “Olde Towne Daphne’s East Shore Cafe is one of those places where my order never changes. Their crab and corn chowder is comfort food at its finest, especially on winter days. Loaded with fresh crabmeat and plenty of cream and butter, the depth of flavor is rich and decadent. It’s also a great ‘to-go’ dish and can be ordered ahead of time in larger quantities for easy entertaining or simple weeknight suppers.”

MICHELLE PARVINROUH, Executive Director, Innovation Portal

PRIX FIXE MEAL AT SOCU “I was not quite prepared to be completely blown away! Far from ordinary, the lobster-topped deviled eggs actually made me swoon, and the combination of the crisp of the stack and the fluffiness of the fish that comprised the catfish stack was a delight. The SOCU oysters, pork chops, and the lobster, scallops and salmon entrees were all flawless. You will not want to miss out on the sweet potatoes or crispy Brussels sprouts.”

EAST SHORE CAFE • 1506 MAIN ST, DAPHNE

SOCU SOUTHERN • 455 DAUPHIN ST.

625-0055 • FB: @EASTSHORECAFE

287-6766 • SOCUMOBILE.COM

 What dishes made you drool and left you hungry for more? Share them on our Facebook page! february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 25

FOOD | TASTINGS

Bay Barbeque text by MAGGIE LACEY • photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU

P

itmaster Arthur Green slowly opens the door to his wood-smoker inside the little house on Florida Street in Midtown Mobile where he has been smoking meats for the past two years. The heavenly smell of mesquite, hickory and pork fat wafts into the room and throughout all of Bay Barbeque, causing salivary glands to shift into overdrive. He deftly pulls out large slabs of baby-back ribs, one at a time. They are sliced and boxed for his eager customers, many of whom have called ahead to make sure he hasn’t run out. “We smoke our meats daily,” he explains, “and it takes hours to do, so you can’t just make more if you have a busy day. We are open until we run out.”

While he insists it’s all about the protein, the sides are equally tempting and sometimes unexpected. Coleslaw and hoppin’ John were the first sides offered, while fried green tomatoes, pickled deviled eggs and more have since joined the roster. There’s no potato salad or baked beans here, (“I didn’t want to recreate what someone else was doing,” he confides) but the feel of the menu is truly Southern and perfectly divine.

Given the roadblocks Bay Barbeque has experienced since first opening its doors, however, there is no doubt Green (above) was at times unsure if the customers would come at all. Just four months after this former developer and entrepreneur hung up his sign, the road construction on Florida Street began. Hungry clientele were practically unable to get to the restaurant, while all the businesses on the heavily-trafficked thoroughfare suffered through months of disruptions. “It was a dirt road out there with holes everywhere. We got down to selling just 15 lunch plates — on a good day.” As soon as the construction was completed, sales tripled as hungry businessfolk on their lunch breaks flocked in for the meaty fare. Then the pandemic added another hump in this roller coaster trajectory, undoubtedly testing Green’s resolve.

Nevertheless, Bay Barbeque has remained open through it all.

Customers are making the most of the outdoor tables, and to-go orders are streaming in as Mobile hopefully rounds the final corner of a pandemic that has decimated the restaurant industry.

Green, however, plans to be smoking on the other side. MB

 Bay Barbeque • 59 N Florida Street • 408-9997 • baybarbeque.com • 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tu - Sa, or until they sell out 26 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

FOOD | TASTINGS

[ON THE MENU]

BAY RIBS The pitmaster dehydrates all his own spices to create the rub on these mild but tasty ribs, which are woodsmoked daily. Sliced onions and homemade sauce are served on the side.

THE BAY RIBS

PICKLED DEVILED EGGS

BRISKET WITH ESPRESSO SAUCE

Not the egg from the church Easter egg hunt, these vinegary morsels are packed with tangy flavor and topped with a dash of dried dill.

Fall-apart tender beef brisket perfectly exemplifies the pitmasters mantra, “It’s all about the protein.” Addictive fried green tomatoes are served alongside.

SKINS AND SAUCE The one menu item not made from scratch, you can’t help but love a place that brings a pork rinds snack to your table while you wait for the main event.

FOOD | BAY TABLES

In honor of MB’s 50th anniversary, we dive deep into some old standby recipes — along with the people and ingredients that made them possible.

DIGGING IN TO LOCAL FAVORITES text by DOOLEY BERRY • photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 29

Oysters en Brochette

by Brooke Grehan first appeared in our January 2011 issue and can be found in the first edition of the Bay AppĂŠtit cookbook.

30 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

GULF OYSTERS

Oysters en Brochette Brooke Grehan fries up perfectly crisp bivalves and explores the connections between Mobile’s food culture and that of New Orleans

“T

he Oysters en Brochette recipe,” explains foodie Brooke Grehan, “is actually not my own creation, but is a take off of New Orleans radio host Tom Fitzmorris, who does a daily talk show about New Orleans food and restaurants.” Brooke uses Fitzmorris’ popular website, nomenu.com, for recipe ideas and great New Orleans restaurant recommendations.

New Orleans transplant, Brooke Grehan, loves to gather with friends to watch Saints football. Oysters en Brochette, featuring crispy oysters skewered with slices of bacon, is a favorite, as well as BBQ shrimp. He cooks these standbys every time his children come to town,

but this talented home cook never misses a chance to enjoy the local restaurant scene either, which he admits has dramatically improved since moving to Mobile thirteen years ago.

“New Orleans has the classic fine restaurants like Antoine’s and Commander’s Palace and many others. But Mobile and the Eastern Shore have plenty of great seafood places that we hit regularly, as well as other favorites we have found such as Via Emilia, Osman’s and the Wash House,” he adds.

“Of course,” says Brooke, “ I always go back to the oysters and I am still looking for the best fried oyster po’boy in town.”

Not a bad assignment.

PHOTO BY TODD DOUGLAS

LEAVE IT TO THE EXPERTS

Wintzell’s Oyster House 605 Dauphin Street, Mobile With excellent service and a one-of-a-kind atmosphere, this original downtown location consistently serves the freshest, well-prepared southern fried oysters and has done so for more than 75 years. A fried oyster dinner plate is under $20.

Original Oyster House

The marshland view is always interesting and adds pleasant ambiance. The restaurant has been open since 1983.

Half Shell Oyster House 3654 Airport Blvd., Mobile Breaded with seasoned corn flour, oysters here fry up to a perfect golden brown.

3733 Battleship Parkway, Spanish Fort

Bluegill Restaurant

When the word “oyster” is in the name of the restaurant, you can bet that their fried oysters will always be fresh and good.

3775 Battleship Parkway, Spanish Fort This “great local dive” has been an authentic piece of the Causeway’s history

INGREDIENTS 4 - 8 cups peanut oil (depending on fryer size) 2 (12-ounce) boxes Zatarain’s Fish-Fri 1/4 cup Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning 3 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 cup milk 2 quarts oysters, drained 1 pound bacon, partially cooked in microwave, then cut into square pieces wooden skewers

1. Fill fryer with peanut oil.

Heat to 375 - 400 degrees.

2. Combine fish fry and Tony Chachere’s in a bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, mix eggs and milk to create eggwash. Dip oysters in eggwash and place oysters and bacon on skewers. Note: Use wooden skewers, and make sure they are short enough to fit lengthwise in the fryer. Dredge skewers in the fish fry mixture.

4. Place skewers into the fryer.

Cook for 2 - 3 minutes, until golden. (Brooke suggests frying only 2 skewers at a time.)

5. Drain on paper towels.

Makes approximately 12 - 15 skewers, depending on the size of the oysters.

since 1958. Fried and chargrilled oysters are a fave.

Kraver’s Seafood Restaurant 2368 Leroy Stevens Road, Mobile 25965 State Highway 181, Daphne Fried oysters are over-thetop at this family-friendly seafood spot. Locations on the both sides of the Bay makes it perfectly convenient, too!

Felix’s Fish Camp 1530 Battleship Parkway, Spanish Fort Located on scenic Mobile Bay, near the USS Alabama,

Felix’s is the well-known choice for fresh seafood and fried oysters. Many of the recipes are old Mobile favorites.

Boudreaux’s Cajun Grill 29249 US Highway 98 Daphne The fried oyster plate comes with crispy fries and coleslaw at this Creole, Cajun and Acadian inspired restaurant in Daphne. This family-run restaurant, with an appealing outdoor deck, is nestled invitingly along Mobile Bay on the Eastern Shore in Daphne. Fresh seafood right on the bay with excellent service is hard to beat!

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 31

FRESH SHRIMP

Pickled Shrimp

INGREDIENTS SERVES 6 3 pounds fresh shrimp in shells 3/4 cup celery tops 1/2 cup mixed pickling spices * 1 tablespoon salt 2 1/2 cups sliced onion 10 bay leaves Pickling marinade

A love of seafood runs deep in the family behind the former Southern Fish and Oyster, and Tripp Atkins argues it does in all of us who live beside the Bay, as well.

F

ormer owner of “Southern Fish and Oyster Company”, Tripp Atkins, waxes nostalgically as he shares memories.

“I was the fourth generation to sit within the realms of the fabled “Southern Fish and Oyster Company,” he says.

“As a young boy, I spent much of my time on the dock outside along the Mobile River fishing, collecting driftwood and watching the barges go by.”

“When you own a seafood business,” he continues, “you must not be afraid to get dirty. Your hands are in and on everything— tugging on shrimp whiskers to check freshness or examining the gills of a fresh catch to confirm that perfect shade of scarlet.”

Being positioned along the bay and the Gulf, natives like Tripp can attest to fond memories of being on some sort of watercraft, cruising the delta, speck fishing in January along the

1. Cover shrimp with boiling water, add celery tops, spices and salt.

Cover and simmer for five minutes.

Drain, peel and de-vein shrimp under cold water. Alternate cleaned shrimp, onions and bay leaves in a shallow baking dish.

Deer River or gigging flounder during the heat of July. Tripp cherishes these water-laden memories.

He shares, “As south Alabamians, we recognize our seasons not by weather patterns, but as they relate to our seafood bounty, harvests and outdoor activities. These seasonal catches clearly dictate our dishes and steer, not only what local chefs serve, but also what we serve when eating and entertaining. Recipes passed on from previous generations showcase our very lives— our memories, our livelihoods and kitchens. Everyone has a marinated shrimp recipe, their spin on gumbo, and an opinion on whether to boil or steam crabs (boil clearly!).”

Tripp adds, “We, in this area, will always have that connection to the waterfront and, if we’re wise, cherish what it provides both nutritionally and spiritually.” Seafood, it seems, runs deep in all our veins.

PICKLING MARINADE 2 cups salad oil 1 cup white vinegar 4 tablespoons capers with juice 3 teaspoons celery seed 2 teaspoons salt Few drops Tabasco

1. Combine ingredients, mix well, pour over shrimp and cover.

Chill at least twenty-four hours, spooning marinade over shrimp occasionally. Keeps about a week in refrigerator. May be served as hors d’oeuvres or salad. *Pickling spices can be found at grocery stores, but in a pinch it can be made with whole mustard, allspice and coriander seeds, cloves and plenty of bay leaves.

SEAFOOD IN SEASON While flash-freezing on boats and at the dock allows us to enjoy incredibly fresh seafood yearround, this handy list will help you choose the best of all that swims, at just the right time.

32 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

Amberjack

Flounder

Oysters

Shrimp

AUG - APRIL

MAY - NOV

OCT - APRIL

JUN - FEB

Black Drum

Grouper

Pompano

Spanish Mackerel

NOV - APRIL

JULY - FEB

MAR - OCT

MAR - OCT

Blue Crab

King Mackerel

Red Drum

Triggerfish

YEAR ROUND

MAY - NOV

YEAR ROUND

MAR - JULY

Softshell Blue Crab

Mahi-Mahi

Red Snapper

Tuna

MAY - AUG

MAY - NOV

JUN - AUG

APRIL - AUG

Cobia

Mullet

Sheepshead

Wahoo

MAR -AUG

MAR - DEC

NOV - APRIL

APRIL - NOV

This Pickled Shrimp recipe

by Mrs. O.H. Delchamps, Jr. was first published in the Junior League of Mobile’s Recipe Jubilee. It later appeared in our September 1989 issue, and can be found in the first edition of the Bay Appétit cookbook.

Creamy Greens Casserole by Sallye Irvine first appeared in our January 2009 issue, and can be found in the first edition of the Bay AppĂŠtit cookbook.

34 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

LEAFY GREENS

Creamy Greens Casserole Food writer and recipe collector Sallye Irvine seeks to keep recipes from being lost to time.

W

hen wordweaver, food enthusiast and recipe creator/gatherer, Sallye Irvine, steps into the kitchen, prepare to be dazzled on many fronts. As a former MB magazine writer for over twelve years, Sallye knows all about cooking, creating recipes and preserving food traditions.

When she first moved to Mobile as a young bride, the New Orleans native discovered “similarities in the cuisines of these two food cultures, but subtle differences, as well.

The local staples of fried crab claws, pickled shrimp and West Indies salad were all new to me. In New Orleans, we ate our crab claws marinated, enjoyed boiled shrimp and our crab salad was made with mayonnaise.

All delicious!”

She believes that nothing compares to learning about cooking alongside a parent or grandparent. With love added as an ingredient, these hands-on experiences create fun family rituals and marvelous memories.

However, if the recipes are not recorded in some way, they can be lost over time. As many home cooks find themselves using, “a pinch here or a dash there”, Sallye finds that preserving the exact recipes with pre-

PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU

GROWING GREENS IN SILVERHILL

cise measurements can ensure the recipe’s success for future generations.

Folks generally fall into two categories, she explains—those who happily share and those who prefer to keep their recipes secret.

“Those are the recipes that are often lost to time. Sharing simply allows everyone to enjoy more good food, keeping wonderful recipes from disappearing altogether.”

INGREDIENTS 2 pounds greens of your choice 1/2 cup water salt and pepper 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth 1 cup half-and-half 4 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup flour 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup ricotta cheese 2-3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs 1/2-1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut away any tough stems and thick center ribs from the greens. Discard. Rinse greens in several changes of water. Shake off excess water. Chop greens into approximately 1/2-inch pieces.

Since 2013, Silverhill farmer Will Mastin has been farming varieties of greens hydroponically— without soil in nutrient-rich water. “Chefs want lettuces that have a pretty appearance as well as taste good,” he shares. “We try to grow what the chefs want— crunchy, curly leaves that look good and have great flavor.

We are always trying new varieties— those that are heattolerant, best disease resistant and look pretty on the plate.”

Will and his partners at Local Appetite Growers, as their

2. Cook the greens in a large skillet over medium heat, adding them by handfuls and stirring them down as they wilt.

Add water, stir well, then cover the skillet and braise for 10-15 minutes, or until tender. Pour off any remaining liquid and season the greens to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a mixing bowl and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, in a saucepan over low heat, cook broth and half-and-half just until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, approximately 4-5 minutes.

4. In the large skillet used for the greens, melt butter over low heat. Add flour and cook, stirring for about one minute.

Add hot broth/half-and-half mixture all at once and stir over medium heat until the sauce is smooth and thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk in Parmesan cheese and ricotta cheese.

Stir braised greens into cheese mixture and pour into a greased 1 1/2-quart to 2-quart baking dish, or casserole. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake approximately 30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve immediately.

Serves about 8.

farm is known, grow green and red lettuces, oakleaf, butterleaf and other heirloom lettuces in attempts to please.

“There is a new lettuce we are trying called Deer Tongue. Its leaves have a pointy shape like a deer’s tongue. We are also trying new varieties of kale as it becomes more and more popular.”

There are advantages to growing crops hydroponically. Less handling and time in the cooler means better nutrition for consumers and efforts are made to

harvest quickly and get fresher produce to market.

Local Appetite also cultivates carrots, radishes, tomatoes and peppers in organic raised beds. Although most of his customers are wooed at farmers’ markets, grocery stores and restaurants, due to the pandemic, Will has begun internet sales and home delivery in Baldwin County. Local Appetite is helping hydroponic farming come into its own, developing and growing tasty crops that are more nutrientrich for the next generation.

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 35

SPECKLED TROUT

INGREDIENTS

Trout Romez Stew Home cook and caterer Romie Perez knows how to make local seafood shine

C

aterer Romie Perez, calls himself a “homeschooled cook.”

“My mama, Alyce Hicks Perez, raised eleven children and put three homecooked meals on the table every day,” Romie shares.

“Daddy gave her a budget of $40 every two weeks and, back then, $40 would fill up our Ford station wagon.

I used to watch her cook and help her from when I was a young boy. She never followed recipes. ‘You have to taste food as you cook,’ she’d say. ‘If it doesn’t taste

good, add more seasoning.” Young Romie became quite an accomplished cook following his mama’s guidelines.

With two uncles who were early restaurateurs in the 30’s and 40’s-(“Uncle Julius was founder of ‘The Tiny Diner’ on Holcombe Avenue,”)it is no wonder that recipe creator, Romie, has a love and real talent for creating and preparing delicious recipes using local seafood and produce.

Romie’s delicious Trout Romez recipe came about when his wife became tired of eating fried speckled trout. “I came up with a chowder type dish and my wife liked it,” says Romie. “I had a great fishing mentor, G.B.Taylor, who taught me how to catch trout and about how to cater food, so it is in his honor that I dedicate this recipe.”

All of Romie’s trout recipes use fish caught in local waters-Mobile Bay, Fowl River, Mississippi Sound.

He has created a seafood gumbo that is a crowd favorite that he sells from his catering food truck, “Bacon My Day.” “Nothing matters more to me than the taste of a dish-something that offers a variety of flavors in one bite,” he says. “People, these days, want recipes that are simple and quick-but patience in the kitchen, is highly underrated. Good food takes time!”

2 tablespoons olive oil 3 medium onions, chopped 1 medium bell pepper, diced 6 celery stalks, chopped 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 16 ounce can petit diced tomatoes 1 10.5 ounce can cream of shrimp soup 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce 1 1/2 quarts water 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste 1 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste 1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning 1 tablespoon garlic powder 6 bay leaves 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning 1 teaspoon creole seasoning, like Tony Chachere’s Cornstarch 6 large speckled trout filets (approximately 2 pounds), cut into 1/2” chunks 5 cups cooked rice, for serving

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet.

Add in onions, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Saute for several minutes, until soft.

2. In an 8 quart pot, stir together tomatoes, soup, tomato sauce and water. Add sautéed vegetables and stir in seasonings. Simmer 30 minutes.

3. Thicken with a little cornstarch to your liking. Add trout and simmer for an additional 20-30 minutes or until fish is just “falling apart.”

Serve over cooked rice.

IN SEARCH OF SPECKS Captain Richard Rutland is a native Mobilian and has been fishing the waters of Mobile Bay for over fifteen years. After leaving the area for a stint in the Navy, Richard returned to Mobile and pursued his dream of becoming a charter captain.

“I am strictly a recreational fisherman,” Captain Richard says. “I take folks out on charters every day. Trout fishing is really in a good place right now. Trout is the 36 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

most popular seafood in Alabama. Most of my customers want to catch speckled trout,” he adds, “but we also fish for white trout, redfish and triple-tail.”

An optimistic fisherman, Richard will take charters all over the local waters from Mobile Bay to the rivers of the delta, depending on the time of year and where the fish go. He is dedicated to making his guided fishing trips fun, as well as success-

ful. He is very much into educating the public about how to fish safely and strongly supports the preservation of all species of fish. He works with several local organizations to that end.

“Speckled trout is healthy food and great table fare,” the captain says. “The future is bright, but you gotta know where to catch em and that’s where I come in!”

Trout Romez by Romie Perez first appeared in our September 2007 issue, and can be found in the first edition of the Bay AppĂŠtit cookbook.

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 37

Vidalia Onion Cornbread by Camille Brewster first appeared in our January 2009 issue, and can be found in the first edition of the Bay AppĂŠtit cookbook.

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VIDALIA ONIONS

Vidalia Onion Cornbread

2 teaspoons vegetable oil 1/4 cup butter 1 large Vidalia onion, chopped 1 (8-ounce) package of cornbread/muffin mix (Jiffy) 1 egg, beaten 1/3 cup whole milk 1 cup sour cream 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese 1/4 teaspoon dried dill, optional

You can make this cornbread in muffin tins or nonstick baking dish, but Brewster far prefers the trusty, time-honored, cast-iron skillet.

C

amille Brewster, a mortgage banker in Mobile, believes that the wide variety of foods that we love in our area is what makes us unique.

“Cornbread has always been a staple in our house,” she says. “I probably make cornbread once a week. I think of cornbread as a blank canvas that can become anything you want that day. You can add jalapenos, kernel corn, ground sausage or sweet Vidalia onions, as in this recipe. This variation hits so many flavor notes— the sour cream, sharp cheddar cheese and dill create a richer, tastier bread.”

Camille uses this recipe for many special times around the table.

“It’s great with the traditional New

CARING FOR CAST IRON

Year’s Day meal and as a tasty addition with grilled chicken and pasta dishes,” she says.

Camille certainly appreciates the legacy of family recipes. “We can take our great-grandmother’s dressing and make it our own, adding new flavors without losing that flood of smells and memories that come with the first bite.”

Even though she might change up her cornbread recipes from time to time or from occasion to occasion, some things, she shares, will never change— like that seasoned cast iron skillet that she bakes it in!

Chef Jeremiah Matthews of Southwood Kitchen, in Daphne, grew up in a family that used cast iron pans to prepare food.

And today that is often his choice when preparing his own outstanding dishes. He still uses those old pans and dutch ovens because they “were made to last and to cook over different types of heat, not just stoves.”

He shares that once they are seasoned, and if taken care of, cast iron becomes almost foolproof. The most important thing to remember with cast iron, according to Jeremiah, is that they need care when cleaning and cooking. His pro tips:

INGREDIENTS

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a seasoned, 10-inch cast-iron skillet with two teaspoons vegetable oil.

Keep warm in oven.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan. Cook onion about 5 minutes, until tender and starting to turn golden brown on edges. Remove from heat. Drain onion on paper towels, if desired.

In mixing bowl, combine onion, cornbread mix, egg, milk, sour cream, 1/2 cup of the cheese and dill (if using). Pour into the heated castiron skillet and top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cornbread comes out clean. Serves 6-8.

Season well

Take care

To season a pan, first heat it until it is nearly smoking. Then apply a thin layer of oil— preferably grapeseed oil or lard. “ I try to avoid olive oil due to its low smoking point and it can get sticky when it breaks down.” Allow the pan to cool, then wipe out again and store in the oven, where it lives when not in use.

When finished cooking, clean the pan immediately while it is still hot. You can clean it with a mild dish soap, but I prefer not to. Just wipe it out, dry completely and apply a thin coat of oil or lard and return it to the oven.

Start Hot Always begin cooking with a hot pan to keep food from sticking.

Avoid Acid Cooking acidic foods like tomatoes in cast iron can affect flavor and strip the seasoning.

Tough Stuff If something is stubbornly sticking, use a wooden spoon or kosher salt and a paper towel to remove it.

Not All Are Created Equal My favorite brand of pan is Smithey, out of Charleston, South Carolina. Their ultra polished surface seasons very well. I can cook bacon in a Smithey and roll right onto an omelet and it won’t stick.

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 39

SWEET POTATOES

INGREDIENTS

Sweet Potato Cake Local tubers enrich a bundt cake with flavor and sweetness, promising the perfect balance at the end of Mobilian Victoria Stimpson’s meals.

L

ife is all about balance. Victoria Stimpson knows this well. As an avid runner— even marathoner—she is constantly balancing hard work and play, healthy foods and decadent treats. This bundt cake made with sweet and nutritious sweet potatoes tows that line perfectly.

Victoria, who has five daughters, enjoys cooking and especially loves to make desserts. She balances that love of sweets with healthy meals, sometimes vegetarian, for her family. As an adventurous cook, she often finds healthful recipes online to add to her roster of tried-and-true dishes from her personal collection.

She is quick, however, to credit others for many of her dishes. “This sweet potato cake recipe was given to me by a friend, and I still make it for special occasions. The car-

amel icing is wonderful on other cakes, too.”

Victoria first shared this recipe with MB in August 2009 when she prepared the perfect pre-marathon meal, but there’s no need to wait for such lofty endeavors to make this cake full of the deep south’s favorite tuber.

A native crop to the Americas, sweet potatoes are often confused with African yams, although the two are merely distant cousins.

While these days many home cooks relegate the orange tuber to the Thanksgiving table, they add moisture and sweetness to myriad baked goods. With B vitamins, Vitamin C and D, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Thiamin, Zinc and plenty of antioxidants, we are going to overlook that generous slathering of caramel icing and count this as a full serving of vegetables.

DIGGING SPUDS Baldwin County farmer Daniel Penry shares a legacy of growing sweet potatoes since 1953. “The changes in farming this much-loved crop have been monumental since those early days

last century,” Daniel says.

Obviously, there have been huge leaps in technology.

Tractors are now gps-driven, spreaders and sprayers consume less resources and 35 horsepower tractors are now up to 335 horsepower.

Daniel also hopes that sweet potato farmers are more environmentally-conscious— he certainly is.

“We are always trying to be more efficient and economical without sacrificing yield or quality,” Daniel says.

“This certainly keeps us on our toes— always listening, learning and adapting to the market quickly.”

PHOTO BY MATTHEW COUGHLIN

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4 (8-ounce) sweet potatoes 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Cook sweet potatoes in the microwave, for 16 minutes, turning once at 8 minutes. Cool, peel and mash.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Spray Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.

3. Sift all dry ingredients (except sugar). Measure out 2 cups of sweet potatoes, combine with sugar and oil and beat until smooth.

4. Add eggs, 2 at a time. Add sifted ingredients and beat until blended. Stir in vanilla and pour into Bundt pan.

5. Bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack.

When completely cool, turn out and drizzle generously with caramel icing. Serves 12 - 16.

CARAMEL ICING

Like his father Steve, grandfather Bill and great-grandfather W.E. Penry, Daniel is quite proud of the massive impact and scale of the quality and how sweet potatoes are grown in Baldwin County.

He proudly states, “Southern Alabama produces superior sweet potatoes that are internationally desired and sought out by the world’s largest grocery dealers.

We would love for our own county of chefs, cooks and even home kitchens to embrace the sweet potato as a local product that is unique and valuable.”

1 cup powdered sugar 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar 1/2 cup whipping cream 1/4 cup butter 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Sift powdered sugar into a large bowl. Stir brown sugar, whipping cream and butter over medium low heat until melted. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over powdered sugar and whisk for one minute.

Let cool, stirring every once and a while for 15 minutes. Spoon lavishly over cake.

Sweet Potato Cake

by Victoria Stimpson first appeared in our August 2009 issue, and can be found in the first edition of the Bay AppĂŠtit cookbook.

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 41

PEOPLE | SPOTLIGHT

When Eugene Wrote for Us: Memories of the ’80s Decades abroad never dimmed the signposts pointing Eugene Walter back to Mobile. text by FR ANK DAUGHERTY

I

n the five decades of Mobile Bay Magazine, out of all the many writers and reporters who have appeared on these pages, none is remembered more fondly than novelist and poet Eugene Walter, who was also an actor, artist, illustrator, typographer, decorator, gardener and cook. He was a founding member of the Paris Review, he acted in Fellini’s “8 1/2” and over 100 other Italian films, he wrote Time-Life’s “American Cooking: Southern Style,” and all that’s just for starters. Born in 1921, Eugene grew up mostly on Bayou

Street in old downtown Mobile, served as a military cryptographer in the Aleutian Islands during World War II, and then after a few years back in Mobile and then New York, he went off to Europe, spending five years in Paris and 25 years in Rome.

Thirty years later, in 1979, it was on these pages that Eugene announced his return with the article “Home at Last!” In it, Eugene says that he had never intended to stay away so long and frequently saw “signposts” in Europe indicating that he must return to Mobile. When

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 43

translating a paragraph from English to French during a French language exam, a description of children playing hide-andseek while the street lights were coming on, he says, “With a shock I recognized it as an excerpt from a Mobile story of mine which had appeared in an anthology a year earlier.” Riding a train to the heel of Italy, he thought, “If I don’t have some Bon Secour oysters and a Dew Drop Inn crab omelet sandwich within a year, I’ll die.” Stepping down from the train he sees “a wagonload of okra. Signpost!”

Eugene’s articles mainly appeared during the 1979 - 1982 time period when the magazine was known simply as Mobile, an official publication of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce. Under senior editor Nell Burks, the magazine blossomed remarkably. Joaquin Holloway Jr. wrote a brilliant music column called “Jazz Notes,” Patricia Boyd Wilson, former writer for the Chris-

44 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

tian Science Monitor, wrote about art, and Elizabeth Gould about architectural history. Nell had been friends with Eugene after the war, and she assembled other writers for the magazine whom they had known in their youth at the Haunted Book Shop, nexus of Mobile bohemians in the 1940s.

These included historian Caldwell Delaney, writer Julian Lee Rayford and F. Taylor Peck. Some were also associated with Termite Hall, the fabled literary manse on Dauphin Street.

Nell was enthusiastic, breathless, wideeyed and welcoming, a born patron, hostess and bringer-together. She encouraged Eugene to write copiously about books, food and lifestyle. Mardi Gras loomed large in his writing. One cooking column of his is entitled “Soups for Grand Balls and Cotillions.” One of his best articles is about John “Gus” Hines, who, starting in 1868, designed parade floats for several Mobile mystic societies, including the legendary Cowbellion de Rakin society in 1871. Hines was “classified primitive or naif as an artist,” Walter says, “but his style and humor were sophisticated,” with witty themes such as “Social Bores and Pests” or “A Burlesque History of England.” The illustrations are original float designs by Hines from Eugene’s personal collection.

A write-up of a social event at the Downtown Athelstan Club notes that “things do go on in Mobile as before,” and he quotes Hammond Gayfer, owner of Gayfer’s department store and for a time Eugene’s guardian when he was a teenager, as say-

ing that “the quickest way to get a piece of information disseminated to all corners of Mobile County was to whisper it in the Athelstan bar.” Odd bits of information and observations from Eugene’s compendious memory flash out as from a chamber of curiosities: “Louis XIV kept English meat cooks in his kitchens and liked to quaff English Cider with rare roast beef.”

Or, we learn, in the 1800s Gossip Publishing Company pirated Dickens and Thackeray and printed them here in Mobile before the existence of copyright laws. In an article on the fountains of Mobile, Eugene marvels that some people have lived here all their lives yet never noticed that there are horned satyrs and Greek acanthus leaves on the fountain in Bienville Square.

Among his numerous reviews, Eugene hails books with a Mobile Bay connection, such as Winston Groom’s novel set in Mobile, “As Summers Die,” or “Music for Chameleons” by Truman Capote, the “perfect book for dipping, keeping, redipping.” Eugene calls him Truman Persons, for that was how he knew him in the 1930s, when as children they both wrote for the Mobile Press-Register’s Sunshine Club page. Eugene’s style is inimitable, as when he says of a book about Native American artifacts in Alabama, “Sun Circles and Human Hands,” “No hunter, no fisherman, no amateur botanist, not even the infrequent picknicker nor, again, the gatherer of smilax must be without this book.”

Eugene Walter’s perspective is often peculiar, always Southern. The cumulative effect of these articles from Mobile Bay’s past is a lightness of spirit. Cares fall away, life is a seated dinner, everyone is smiling, and the serene conversation flows on and on. MB

Opening portrait Eugene Walter signs his books in Mobile. PHOTO COURTESY CAMMIE EAST, THE DOY LEALE MCCALL RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA.

Top Eugene with his moggies at his Grand Boulevard home in Mobile. PHOTO COURTESY RENEE PAUL, THE DOY LEALE MCCALL RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA.

Above Left Eugene on a balcony in Paris during the early 1950s. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALABAMA

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 45

HISTORY | ARCHIVES

Carnival 1898 A candid Victorian-era photograph taken at the margins of a Mardi Gras parade reveals rich details.

text by TEXT BY JOHN S. SLEDGE • photo courtesy ROGERS -RICK ARBY COLLECTION

D

orothea Lange once said that it is “not enough to photograph the obviously picturesque.” No indeed, and, thankfully, whoever took this extraordinary picture over 120 years ago subscribed to that very philosophy. It depicts the backwash of a Victorian-era Mardi Gras parade, underway but invisible at the far left corner of the image where crowds can be seen lining St. Francis Street. The photographer was most likely perched on a second-story balcony on the south side of Dauphin Street. The view is north up St. Joseph Street, with Bienville Square out of frame on the left and the old Athelstan Club and Franklin Fire House (then called the Hook and Ladder No. 4) on the right. Just beyond the fire house is a three-story bank with a shed-roofed carpenter’s shop situated alongside. The Masonic Temple (constructed 1901 but now, alas, lost), is not yet built, which helps date the photograph.

There is a universe of richness in this shot, particularly among the people — blacks and whites, children, vendors, the litter, the jammed balconies, the women in either fancy hats and fine dresses or plain hats and black shawls, a man waving as he crosses the street, the clamor and thrum at an exciting but fleeting moment, captured for all time by one very alert shutterbug. A few notable details are circled at right.

Look closely, and spot your own. MB

John S. Sledge is the author of “The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History.”

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LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY A child in a Fauntleroy suit holds a man’s hand. The suit features a cutaway jacket, knee breeches, and a white lace collar. Inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1886 novel, it was beloved of American mothers and endured by their sons until the 1920s.

VENDOR’S WAGON Three children crowd a wagon with some kind of box on its flat bed. Closer examination reveals what looks to be treats wrapped in paper stuffed into the box. Hence the children’s interest!

DOWNTOWN ARCH An elegant brick archway covered in stucco divides the former Athelstan Club and the fire house. This intriguing architectural feature is still extant and can be used to cut through to Royal Street.

A LADY STROLLS AWAY A well-dressed lady with an elaborate hat strolls away from the parade. Unlike the majority of her sex in this picture, she sports light-colored clothing. Partially obscuring her is a stout angled post, one of several supporting the extra weight on the balcony overhead.

MEN’S FURNISHINGS The top hat sign advertises Lazarus Schwarz’s men’s hat and shoe store, with an address of 112 Dauphin Street.

The business occupied the entire building’s ground floor. Schwarz would later be mayor.

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 47

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GUMBO | TRADITIONS

$50

THROUGH THE DECADES

TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT 50 “JEFFERSONS,” 5 “HAMILTONS” OR ONE “GRANT” WOULD BUY THROUGHOUT THE LAST FIVE DECADES.

1970s

text by AMANDA HARTIN

One Leather jacket

Between “The Fonz” on “Happy Days” and the punk rock band, the Ramones, who could resist having an eternally cool hide of their own?

77 Big Macs

The classic “two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun” burger would set you back 65 cents apiece.

20 Annual Subscriptions to Mobile, Alabama magazine

Stories covered throughout the decade ranged from Fort Condé’s reconstruction (written by Jo Ann Flirt) to Mobile Theatre Guild’s 25th anniversary (written by Anne Scott).

Six Tickets to see Peter Frampton at the Mobile Municipal Auditorium

Frampton no doubt sang hit “Show Me the Way” and then drove the audience wild with his voice box in “Do You Feel Like We Do.”

One Cassette Recorder

Portable music was a huge upgrade from previous decades’ Stereo 8-track players and reel-to-reel tape decks. Cassette use would remain popular in automobiles and homes — think answering machines and boom boxes — well into the 1990s.

One Bentwood Rocker Wicker furniture saw a resurgence in the ’70s, and World of Wicker, then-located on Dauphin Street, was the place to shop. What better way to add a touch of the pliable plant to your home decor than on a bentwood rocker? German Craftsman Michael Thonet created the first bentwood rocking chair in 1860. And while rocking chairs are generally thought of for such tasks as lulling a baby to sleep, its original use, believe it or not, was as a garden furnishing.

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 49

In the early ’80s, some investors believed video games were a fad.

Nintendo churned out games for its console, however, including classics like “Excitebike,” and “Mario Bros.”

10 Boxes of Cheer Detergent from Delchamps

Perhaps “The Cheer Man,” the silent fellow seen testing detergent in commercials, came to mind as shoppers walked the soap aisle in Delchamps’ first super store, located at the North Gate Shopping Center, now known as Dauphin Square.

Two Pairs Men’s Trousers from Barnett-Simmons Men’s Clothier

Dapper Mobilians shopped this fine boys’ and gentlemen’s clothing store on Old Shell Road, near McGregor Avenue, in Spring Hill.

In 1998, one year after the team’s arrival, the Mobile Bay Bears were crowned Southern League West Division champions.

That season, the average attendance at Hank Aaron Stadium, per game, was about 3,800.

One Hoover Upright Vacuum Cleaner

Good ol’ classic upright vacuums have been around since 1926, thanks to William Henry Hoover, whose last name is also used as a verb, meaning “to vacuum.” But toward the late 1990s, robotic vacuum cleaners started trickling onto the market.

Pair Men’s microfiber shorts from Parisian at Bel Air Mall

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Bel Air Mall added Birminghambased Parisian to its list of department stores. The 37,000-squarefeet of floorspace was rebranded as “Belk” in September 2007.

In 2011, you’d be set One ticket to see Lyle Lovett at the Saenger Theatre

In 2000, the non-profit organization, Centre for the Living Arts, Inc., formed and began operation of Mobile’s Saenger Theatre.

With the help of generous community donations, the group oversaw the art house’s $6 million renovation.

17 Martinis at Cooper T’s Grille House

Opened in 2006, this unique restaurant was located at 6341 Airport Road. A portion of an airplane was attached to this dining locale, with seating available inside a salvaged tail section of a 727. The travel-themed restaurant (and accompanying airplane) were demolished in June 2007.

One copy of “Queens of Mardi Gras” by Emily Staples Van Antwerp Hearin, sold at Bienville Books Bienville Books opened in 2002 in downtown Mobile.

The bookstore, now called “The Haunted Book Shop” and owned by former Bienville Books employee, Angela Trigg, offers a large selection of new and used books, many of which are Mobile- and Alabamacentered.

back about $3.50 per gallon of gas. One place to fill ‘er up was — and still is — Griffith Service Station, located at 1260 Government St. A Mobile staple, the stop-n-shop has been family owned and operated since 1958.

Six movie tickets

Top movies of the decade included “The Social Network” and “Get Out,” a thriller that was filmed in Mobile and Fairhope.

16 double-scoop cones from Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shoppe Praline and peppermint and pumkin, oh my! Choosing which flavors to top your waffle cone would have been difficult. Choosing where to get the cold treat wasn’t. Since 2011, Cammie Wayne and her husband have been whipping up and scooping out ice cream at their creamery.

2010s

One Nintendo Entertainment System Game

7 Tickets to a Mobile Bay Bears’ game

1990s

Basketball stars Moses Malone and Charles Barkley, both of the Philadelphia 76ers, shot hoops in these kicks.

2000s

1980s Pair Nike Air Force Basketball Shoes

14 Gallons of Gas at Griffith Service Station

One Costco Membership

The wholesale giant opened its doors in McGowin Park in June 2015, allowing Mobile to add another first to its list of claimto-fames: the Port City’s Costco was the first in Alabama to sell hard liquor.

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 51

MOBILIANS ACROSS AMERICA

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text by BRECK PAPPAS

MOONPIES IN MAINE? WEST INDIES SALAD IN WEST VIRGINIA? SOME SAID IT COULDN’T BE DONE, BUT ALAS, MOBILE BAY MAGAZINE HAS FOUND A BAY-AREA TRANSPLANT IN ALL 50 STATES (AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA) IN HONOR OF OUR 50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY. ALTHOUGH THE SELECTIONS STRETCH ACROSS CLIMATES, TIME ZONES AND THE PACIFIC OCEAN (WINK WINK, HAWAII), ONE THING IS CERTAIN — WHEN A MOBILE OR BALDWIN COUNTY NATIVE RELOCATES, THEY ALWAYS TAKE A LITTLE PIECE OF HOME WITH THEM. FROM THE MOUNTAINS, TO THE PRAIRIES, TO THE OCEANS WHITE WITH FOAM, GOD BLESS MOBILIANS, FAR FROM THEIR HOME!

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 53

Beverly K. Johnson Carly Haas

Drew Gottlieb

Alabama Beverly K. Johnson

Program Analyst, NASA Lives in Huntsville At NASA, West Mobilian and Baker graduate Beverly Johnson manages multimillion dollar budgets for teams supporting the Human Landing System program, responsible for sending the next crew to the moon.

“One great perk of working for NASA is meeting our astronauts,” she adds. Huntsville, she says, “is a blend of being a college, military and government city,” but nothing beats home’s fresh seafood. “I’ve recently discovered a little place in Mobile called K&D Seafood that does the best low-country boils.”

Alaska Carly Haas

Nurse Practitioner, Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Lives in Sitka Carly Haas, West Mobile-raised and Davidson-educated, works in a pediatric clinic that serves a local boarding school. “The biggest difference between Mobile and Sitka is the climate and

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size,” Carly says. “Sitka typically has temperatures between 30 60 degrees … and 14-plus hours of daylight / darkness, depending on the time of year,” not to mention a population of only 8,500. A fun fact: “We went fishing on my due date for my son and were able to see whales, sea otters and sea lions while catching large halibut.”

Arizona Reid Marshall

Quality Assurance Admin., Vanguard (Investment Firm) Lives in Scottsdale “Phoenix is sunny every day,” Reid Marshall says from nearby Scottsdale. “Every. Day. I have stopped checking the weather because I know it will be sunny and warm. I never thought I would miss rain, but here I am.”

Nevertheless, Reid, a graduate of St. Paul’s, marvels over the diverse climates available across the state. “You can go from a hot desert to places with over a foot of snow in about an hour of driving.” What he misses most about Mobile? “How green everything is. Lawns out here are rocks instead of grass, so it just isn’t the same.”

Arkansas Vincent Turner Jr.

Assistant Vice-President of Continuum of Care, St. Bernards Healthcare Lives in Jonesboro As VP of continuum of care, Vincent Turner Jr. guides and tracks patients over time through an array of health services at Arkansas’s St. Bernards Healthcare. The Davidson graduate says, “When I visit home, I’m looking to get on the water and eat good food.”

California Tim Cook

CEO, Apple Lives in Palo Alto Though born in Mobile, Tim Cook, the leader of the world’s first company to be valued at $1 trillion, moved with his family to Robertsdale in middle school. Tim’s father worked as a foreman for Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding while his mother worked at Robertsdale’s Lee Drug Store. The future CEO played trombone in the band, served on the Robertsdale High School yearbook staff and

delivered newspapers for spending money. After graduating from Auburn, Tim worked at IBM, Intelligent Electronics and Compaq before being hired by Steve Jobs at Apple. Named Apple’s CEO in 2011, Tim still calls himself a “proud son of the South”; he often visits family in Robertsdale.

Colorado Drew Gottlieb

Attorney, Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti LLP Lives in Denver Drew Gottlieb traded the altitude of Spring Hill, where he was raised, for the mile-high altitude of Denver. He practices corporate law in nearby Boulder and also provides consulting in the music industry. “With Denver’s access to the mountains, it’s easy to take weekend trips all year round to beautiful settings,” he says, but there’s a lot to miss about home. “The proximity to the Gulf is definitely what I miss the most. We always have to take a trip to Dauphin Island, Dog River, or over the Bay when I’m home and splurge on fresh seafood as much as possible.”

Reid Marshall

Paul Atkins

Harrah Friedlander

Connecticut Karen Moseley Waggoner

Program Manager, Targeted Leadership Consulting Inc. Lives in Mystic Mobilians Karen and David Waggoner have learned to embrace, and even enjoy, the cold. “Despite growing up in the South, we have both adapted to the cold winters,” Karen says. “From downhill skiing to cross-country skiing to platform tennis, we have learned to embrace the snow and cold temperatures.”

When they return to Mobile, the couple and their two children make sure to visit “any place that has fried crab claws.”

Delaware Curtis Kennington

Rector, Immanuel Episcopal Church Lives in Wilmington Having lived on both sides of the Bay (Midtown Mobile and Fairhope), Curtis Kennington says his yearnings for home range from the oak trees on Government Street to the October sunsets from Orange Street Pier in Fairhope. “The

Delaware beaches are grey,” he says, “but beautiful.” The Murphy High School graduate earned his Master of Divinity from General Seminary in New York City, a leading center of theological education in the Anglican Communion. He and his wife Sellers have two sons.

Florida Jennifer Eslava

Bartender/manager, Blue Fish Restaurant & Oyster Bar Lives in Jacksonville Baker High School graduate Jennifer Eslava says she misses the Southern charm of Mobile, “even though I’m technically still in the South. Also I carry heritage in Mobile, so it will always be close to my heart. You don’t find Eslava on a street sign here often!” Jennifer is also the founding artist of Eslava Arts, through which she has created and sold abstract art for over 12 years.

Georgia J.D. Ellis

Management Consulting Manager, Accenture Lives in Marietta

B.C. Rain graduate J.D. Ellis is a problem solver, specializing in finding management solutions to complex problems. He is also a 6th-generation descendant of two shipmates on the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to come to America. J.D. recently appeared as a panelist on a “60 Minutes” segment highlighting the story. “Since I can remember, my family has been on the frontlines working to preserve the history and legacy of our ancestors and Africatown.” The camera seems to find J.D.; “I’ve randomly stumbled upon different projects while they were filming in the Atlanta area.”

Hawaii Paul Atkins

Cinematographer and documentary filmmaker, Moana Productions Inc. Lives in Honolulu Paul Atkins has come a long way since his time as a student at Augusta Evans, Sidney Phillips Jr. High School then Murphy High School (C’68).

The Emmy Award-winning filmmaker has filmed wildlife with National Geographic, the BBC’s “Planet Earth” and has even worked in fictional filmmak-

ing: On a 40-day voyage around Cape Horn, he filmed the storm footage for “Master and Commander,” which won the 2004 Academy Award for cinematography for Russell Boyd. “Mobile and Honolulu are two different worlds in so many ways,” says the filmmaker, who works with his wife Grace. “The islands are a crossroads in the middle of the Pacific, so we are exposed to many different cultures from both east and west … and surrounded by the deep, impossibly rich blue Pacific Ocean.

That is what attracted me to Hawaii initially, as I moved here to study marine biology at University of Hawaii.” Even in that tropical paradise, Paul still misses “local Gulf Coast seafood, especially blue crab, shrimp and oysters, which are simply the best in the world.”

Idaho Harrah Friedlander

Studying conservation biology at the University of Idaho Lives in Moscow “Moscow is a lot smaller than Mobile and is surrounded by serenely beautiful rolling hills,” says Harrah Friedlander, who grew up in Spring Hill

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Greg Ellis

Reginald Bracy

and graduated from St. Paul’s.

“There’s just so much space everywhere.”

Illinois Anna Todd

Counseling Intern, Chicago Women’s Health Center Lives in Chicago Daphne native and Bayside graduate Anna Todd is working as a counseling intern while earning her Masters in Social Work degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Compared with Mobile, she says, “Chicago has more seasons, craft beer, cheese curds, public transit and pro sports teams. While Mobilians crank down the AC during their hot, humid summers, Chicagoans blast the heat in their freezing winter temps. It can be a bit jarring for this Southern girl to wear sweaters well into May, or sometimes even June!”

Indiana Polly Blythe

Online fitness coach and trainer Lives in Fishers As an entrepreneur in the fitness industry for four years,

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Polly Blythe “helps people become the strongest, healthiest and best versions of themselves.” The Faith Academy graduate still proudly carries home around with her — intentionally or not. “Many people still pick up on my Alabama accent even though I’ve lived in the Indianapolis area for almost 7 years,” she says.

Iowa Reginald Bracy Student-Athlete, University of Iowa Lives in Iowa City

Former St. Paul’s multi-sport standout Reginald Bracy has fought off the Iowa City cold to learn the system as a defensive back for the Hawkeyes. In an interview with the university, Reggie said, “Iowa City is a great city, I love it here. It is a great college town and has a loving atmosphere.” What he misses most about home? “My family and friends— and can’t forget Foosackly’s.”

Kansas Kellie Gentry Hussman Lives in Fort Leavenworth

Polly Blythe

A Daphne native must adapt when living in a landlocked state. “We found a nearby lake to enjoy this summer, but it sure doesn’t beat the Gulf,” Kellie Hussman says. She confirms that she has gotten used to cooking her hometown favorites for husband Ross and son Everett, “and the commissary actually carries Conecuh sausage, which helps a lot!”

Kentucky Dr. April S. Prather

Clinical Staff Pharmacist, University of Kentucky Lives in Lexington Dr. April Prather grew up in Whistler and on Dauphin Island Parkway and attended Murphy High School. Today, she assists employers in non-profit higher education, health care and the public sector by providing costeffective prescription benefits to their employees and retirees. “I have also been a longtime hobby crafter,” she shares, “and I was able to start a homebased sewing and embroidery business called Tailored Visions Embroidery and Design during the pandemic.” When she visits home, “even if the weather

Photo by Kathy Hicks

does not permit a beach trip, I’m always sure to stop by some of my favorite restaurants — Foosackly’s and Briquettes.”

Louisiana Kate Teague

Singer / songwriter; preschool music teacher Lives in New Orleans McGill-Toolen graduate Kate Teague is a recording musician in the Big Easy, where she also shares her love of music as a preschool teacher. The difference between Mobile and Nola? “More impromptu street parties in New Orleans,” she says. “More MoonPies in Mobile.” When homesick, she mostly craves Carpe Diem, Nova Espresso and Callaghan’s, “and there are days I hit up all three.” Fun fact: Kate’s roommate, Mary Ball, is a visual artist hailing from Mobile!

Maine Maggie Fleming

Administration Analyst, Town of Falmouth, Maine Lives in Portland Since earning her Master of

Brenden Ingraham

Policy, Planning and Management from the University of Southern Maine Muskie School of Public Service, Maggie Fleming has worked for the town of Falmouth, managing special projects. “Summer and fall in Maine are beautiful,” she says, “but I enjoy a Christmas vacation in Mobile.”

Maryland Greg Ellis

Performance Physical Therapist, Rehab 2 Perform Lives in Baltimore “As much as I used to complain about the traffic on Airport Boulevard,” says West Mobile native Greg Ellis, “it is nothing compared to the constant traffic in the Baltimore-Washington metro area.” Reflecting on home, the physical therapist adds, “Growing up, I would walk a few times a week from St. Paul’s down Old Shell Road, past Spring Hill College and through the Avenue of the Oaks to the church where my father preached. I always make a point to go see that area when I’m in town. I’ll also go out of my way to make sure I can get a Box at Foosackly’s as a guilty pleasure.”

Massachusetts E.O. Wilson

University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University Lives in Lexington As a young boy exploring the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, E.O. Wilson discovered his passion for the natural sciences. Today, Wilson is a world-renowned expert on ants and considered by many to be the most important living biologist in the world. In his younger days, Wilson attended Barton Academy and even worked as a newspaper delivery boy for the Mobile Register. He has written more than 30 books, two of which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Wilson worked for 40 years as a faculty member at Harvard University.

Michigan Laura Brown

Ceramic Artist, Lou Pottery Lives in Empire Nicknamed “Lou,” Laura Brown has created an eponymous pottery business focusing on “pieces that are both functional and beautiful. I love my job and feel so blessed that I get to make art

for a living.” Her hometown of Empire has a population of 300, and she says that nearby Lake Michigan “is as beautiful as the Caribbean … just a bit colder.”

Minnesota Brenden Ingraham, M.D.

Cardiology Fellow, Mayo Clinic Lives in Rochester “Mobile was home,” says Brenden Ingraham, who grew up in West Mobile and attended Spring Hill College. “Rochester is my new family where everyone lives and breathes medicine. It’s a special and exciting place to live and train but different.” When daydreaming of home, Brenden’s mind drifts to cakes and cookies from ellenJay. “I always make a stop there when I’m home and have their cookie gift boxes delivered a few times a year. Those ladies have quite the business.”

Mississippi Manning McPhillips Jr. Government Affairs Advisor, Watkins & Eager Lives in Jackson

Despite having lived in Oxford,

Dr. April S. Prather

Mississippi; Montgomery, Alabama; New York City; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, North Carolina; and now Jackson, Manning McPhillips says, “Mobilians are a whole different breed of people from the other places I’ve lived. Their hospitality, ability to throw a party, cooking, storytelling and dedication to living the good life are really unique — and missed.”

Manning (a St. Ignatius and St. Paul’s alum) and his wife Margaret enjoy taking their four children on adventures, but he says he misses “being close to the water and having the ability to go for a boat ride or fish without a whole lot of effort.”

Missouri Kathya (Kat) Castaneda Lead Dental Assistant, Ladue Dental Group Lives in St. Louis

It’s only fitting that Kathya Castaneda now works in dentistry: “My aunt and uncle own Pollman’s Bakery, so growing up I was always there,” she says.

“My cousin and I as kids would sneak and eat cookie dough out of the freezer.” The West Mobile native says she loves

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Wilbur DeLashmet

Alexander Collins Jensen

Anne Denham Johnson

getting all four seasons in St. Louis, “but Midwest winters definitely make me miss 70-degree Christmases!” Kat and her fiancé Mike will be getting married this April in Mobile.

Montana Saunders Allen

Architect-in-Training, Revolve Design+Build Lives in Bozeman According to Saunders Allen, the biggest difference between Mobile and Montana is the “14 degrees of latitude, which comes with very different seasons, mountainous surroundings and ample snow.”

Having grown up on Fish River in southern Baldwin County, the Fairhope High School alum says he pines for Danny’s Fried Chicken and warm days at Pirate’s Cove. At Revolve Design+Build, Saunders works on a team of designers and carpenters to build custom homes and small commercial projects.

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Nebraska Wilbur DeLashmet

Assistant Director of Marketing / Social Media, Creighton University Athletics Lives in Omaha “I went from dealing with hurricanes to dealing with snow,” Wilbur DeLashmet says. The McGill alum now promotes Creighton athletics, teams and student-athletes through various social media channels — when he’s not distracted with thoughts of burgers and beers at Callaghan’s.

Nevada Elizabeth Z. Lopez Public Defender, Washoe County Lives in Reno

“In Mobile, you can sneak away to the beach for a few hours,” says UMS alum Elizabeth Lopez. “Here, you can run up to the mountain for a morning ski or hike around the lake; my house is 25 minutes from Lake Tahoe.” Foosackly’s isn’t the

Elizabeth Z. Lopez

only thing the public defender misses about home: “I also miss the azaleas in bloom. We have nice foliage here, but it’s kind of scraggly — it is the desert after all.”

New Hampshire Connie Lawrence Morrissey

Psychiatric Social Worker, New Hampshire Hospital Lives in Francestown “Francestown is a very small town in the country,” says Connie Morrissey. “The nearest grocery store is 20 minutes away — no local fast food or food delivery! Such a difference from growing up in West Mobile.” Connie, who attended Baker, has worked at the state psychiatric hospital for more than 18 years. She and her half German husband, Stephan, live in a 200-plusyear-old home and enjoy sailing on their 31-foot Pearson sailboat the Mein Schatz, German for “my treasure.”

New Jersey Kemp Jernigan

Professional Classical Musician, Oboist Lives in Summit Though he lives in Summit, New Jersey, most of Kemp Jernigan’s work as a musician takes place in nearby New York City, where he frequently plays oboe with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. The Gulf Shores native fondly remembers his four years playing with the Mobile Youth Symphony Orchestra, when he “would get to town early every Sunday before rehearsals to cheer on the Saints at Heroes Sports Bar next door.”

New Mexico Deborah Brunson

Professor of Costume Design, Theatre Department at New Mexico State University Lives in Las Cruces Deborah Brunson, a former Leinkauf, Phillips and Murphy student, describes Mobile and

Olivia Kathleen MacKinnon

New Mexico as total opposites.

“I can love them both equally!

My current home is a mixture of Western, Hispanic and Native cultures with big skies, dramatic mountains, cactus, adobe architecture, fabulous Mexican food and no humidity.” The Gulf Coast, however, is never far from her mind: “I miss being on the water and canopy roads dripping with Spanish moss. My family now lives on Mobile Bay in Fairhope, so when I come, I must have crab claws and bloody mary’s at The Grand Hotel, beignets with fresh lemon at Panini Pete’s, and I love peeling shrimp out on the wharf with my siblings to make our family’s generations-old gumbo recipe.”

New York Olivia Kathleen MacKinnon Professional Ballerina, The New York City Ballet Lives in New York City

Olivia MacKinnon lived on both sides of the Bay before leaving home at age 15 to attend The

Tamu Thomas

School of American Ballet, the feeding school into New York City Ballet. Just two years later, she received her contract to join the NYC Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies in the world. “I still pinch myself before performances thinking how special it is that I’m able to do something I love.”

married, we lived in Daphne, and we always go back over the Bay to see our old house and go for a walk on the Daphne pier.

It will always be our spot.”

North Dakota Anne Denham Johnson

North Carolina Taylor Zarzour

Interim Associate Director of Admission, North Dakota State University Lives in Fargo

“Charlotte is a much bigger, more transient place than Mobile,” St. Paul’s alumnus Taylor Zarzour says. “I haven’t lived in Mobile in 17 years, yet I can make my way around town without directions, running into numerous people I grew up with. I love where I live now for many reasons, but that is something I always look forward to when I am back in Mobile. My mother and four of my five siblings still live there.

When my wife and I first got

“I had never driven in the snow before I moved to North Dakota,” says Anne Johnson. “I now regularly experience blizzards and temperatures below -20! The food is also very different — no Cajun spices or grits here.” Anne, who grew up near Mobile Airport and attended Cottage Hill Christian Academy, has worked at NDSU for the past four years. “When I’m home I make every attempt to eat seafood for nearly every meal since you can’t really get it fresh in North Dakota. I also worked at Foosackly’s throughout high school, so I cannot

Sports broadcaster, ESPN and SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio Lives in Charlotte

leave town without a stop for Foo sauce and a sweet tea.”

Ohio Tamu Thomas

Director of Special Projects & Investigative Unit, 19 News in Cleveland Lives in Shaker Heights Tamu Thomas, a Foley native, is an Emmy award-winning journalist producing content that explores the inequities centered around underrepresented voices. “In my spare time, which is rare, I like to write and direct short films,” she adds.

When she visits home, Tamu most enjoys spending time with her nieces and nephews.

Oklahoma Alexander Collins Jensen Air Defense Enhanced Early Warning Systems Operator / Sensor Manager, U.S. Army Lives in Lawton

“I utilize advanced communications equipment and complex

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Henry Armbrecht

Caroline Seibt Heeren

Vermont

military computers to evaluate and communicate incoming data related to enemy aerial and missile attacks,” says Alexander Collins Jensen. Sounds simple enough. The McGillToolen alum lives right beside the Witchita Mountain Range and a national wildlife refuge, which affords plenty of hiking opportunities and the occasional glimpse of buffalo, longhorn cattle and prairie dogs.

“I’m a percussionist and enjoy sitting in with singer / songwriters playing my cajon [drum].

Oklahoma’s music scene is very similar to Mobile’s.”

Oregon Zachary Sims

Carrier Compliance Analyst, Nike World Headquarters Lives in Portland “There’s not a Callaghan’s, unfortunately,” Zachary Sims bemoans about Oregon, but the St. Paul’s alum seems to make do. At Nike, Zachary and his team oversee the operation of product shipping from origin to destination. He says he was inspired to work at Nike because of his father, Joe Sims, and the positive impact his running

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store (at McCoy Outdoors) has had on the community.

Pennsylvania Heather Hamilton

Assistant Teaching Professor of English / Coordinator of Composition, Penn State Harrisburg Lives in Harrisburg “I teach courses in composition, literature and creative writing — basically, anything to do with writing,” says UMS graduate Heather Hamilton.

Heather notes that many of the poems within her collection, published in 2019 by the Poetry Society of America, are set in or inspired by Mobile.

“No trip home is fully complete without a boat ride in the Delta or a stroll around Point Clear.”

Rhode Island Fern Graves

Coordinator, Forest Stewardship Program for the Rhode Island Dep. of Environmental Management Lives in Wickford Bayside graduate Fern Graves wasn’t so sure about the snows of Rhode Island at first. “Now I get excited about it,” she says.

“It’s beautiful and quiet, and all the historic colonial villages look so picturesque.” In her position, Fern gets to meet with people who own forestland to help them sustainably manage their trees. She also gets to trap and identify the occasional beetle. “That is really fun!” she adds. The biggest difference?

“I can’t get any spicy food here unless I cook it myself. In Rhode Island, a lot of Italian and Portuguese influences define the cuisine, and that is very different from the red beans and rice I grew up with!”

South Carolina Caroline Seibt Heeren Owner, Caroline Heeren Creative Lives in Beaufort

Caroline Heeren recently started her own graphic design company in Beaufort, where she lives with husband Jonathan. “My husband is an F-18 Hornet pilot in the Marine Corps. Therefore, we move every three or so years. We have been here for almost 4 years, so we have slowly been building our home together in South Carolina (which we love). But,

as soon as we get settled, we’ll move to the next city / state.

Therefore, my one constant will always be Fairhope. It’s where I was born. It’s where I spent my summers down at my Pawpaw’s house on the Bay with all of my cousins, aunts and uncles. It’s where I learned to drive and eventually drove my 2008 Ford Escape up and down every street I met. It’s where my parents still live — in the same house I was brought home to from the hospital. It’s where I brought my boyfriend (now husband) to proudly show off my hometown and all that it means to me. It’s where we later got married. Finally, it’s where I always return if I’ve been away for just a little too long.”

South Dakota Kevin Smith

Associate Campus Pastor, Embrace Church Lives in Sioux Falls Kevin Smith, a Murphy graduate, lives with his wife Je’anna (another Mobilian!) and their two children in Sioux Falls. Besides Southern food and the phrase, “Bless your heart,” Kevin says what he misses most is

Kakki Stenger

the melting pot that is Mobile.

“I miss cultural diversity and the friendships that span races and creeds.”

Tennessee Olivia Hanceri

Owner / CEO, OH Creative Lives in Nashville Olivia Hanceri, a graduate of Murphy, now runs a full-service entertainment public relations firm with clients comprised of award-winning songwriters and recording artists. “I’ve built a company that focuses on sharing the story behind the song to shine a light on the songwriters and creators responsible for some of Country’s biggest hits.” When she returns to lower Alabama, Olivia says, “Dauphin Island is always my first stop.”

Texas Bill Miller

Lobbyist, HillCo Partners Lives in Austin Texas and Alabama certainly have their differences. “Mobile is south,” Bill Miller says. “Austin is west.” Nevertheless, Bill is

South Dakota

quick to point out the parallels.

“Both have an abundance of water, although Austin is saltfree. Both are beautiful cities and have a strong culture of music and cuisine. Both have past histories that are recognized and venerated.” Bill, a founding partner of HillCo Partners, spends his time lobbying on state issues in the Lone Star State. The former student of Hollinger’s Island, Woodcock, Augusta Evans and Sidney Phillips schools says Mobile’s streets hold a host of special memories. “I always go to the neighborhoods where I lived and ponder the people of a bygone era for me. Mobile exerts a strong, magnetic pull on my memories.”

Utah Henry Armbrecht Ski Instructor, Deer Valley Resort Lives in Park City

Henry Armbrecht is currently working his seventh season as a ski instructor, a far cry from his upbringing in Spring Hill.

“When there’s not a pandemic,” he says, “I also make music and tour with my band Osla.”

Vermont Katherine (Kakki) Hope Stenger

Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Lake Region Union High School Lives in Brownington “There are so many differences between Vermont and Alabama, I wouldn’t even know where to start,” says St. Paul’s alumnus Kakki Hope Stenger. “I live 18 miles from Canada. Also, the part of Vermont where I live is known as the Northeast Kingdom, which encompasses 3 counties in the northeastern part of the state.” What makes Kakki daydream for home? “I MISS THE WATER!”

Virginia Phaedra McNorton Lecturer, Theatre and Music Departments at William & Mary Lives in Williamsburg

After graduating from Murphy, Phaedra McNorton attended New England Conservatory in Boston and Westminster Choir College in Princeton. Today, at America’s second oldest college, she teaches music theory and solfege and serves

as the musical theatre director. “I have lived in New York, Boston and now Williamsburg, and I can say with confidence that people open up a little sooner in the South. I lived in Italy for three years, and it was the same there. It must be the weather!”

Washington Katie Holbrook

Artist (glassblower and painter) Lives in Tacoma As a glassblower, UMS graduate Katie Holbrook gets hired at different shops to work on a team to make whatever products or commissions that shop needs. During the COVID pandemic, however, she has mostly been painting in her home studio. “The biggest difference between Tacoma and Mobile is really just the weather,” she says. “It has very few sunny days and is a lot colder most of the time. The beaches and rivers here are all icy cold — people look at me like I’m crazy when I go swimming. Also, the mountains here are on another level. I can see Mt. Rainier from my house.”

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Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III

Photo by Kathy Hicks

West Virginia Brian Bennett

Director of Player Personnel, West Virginia University Football Lives in Morgantown McGill-Toolen alumnus Brian Bennett has been on staff for two of the biggest upset victories in major college football since 2000. He was at Louisville when they beat Florida in the 2013 Sugar Bowl, and he was at Troy when they defeated LSU in 2017. Now, at West Virginia, Brian is in charge of recruiting and roster management. “The biggest difference from home is the lack of proximity to the coast. I live in the mountains now. The climate is so much different — I’m not used to the snow and the hills!” One thing is certain; after a visit to the Gulf Coast, Brian never goes home on an empty stomach. “I don’t really eat seafood away from the coast. Every time I go home, my first meal is a huge seafood platter from one of my favorite seafood restaurants.”

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Brian Bennett

Wisconsin Joan DeGuire North

Former Dean, The College of Professional Studies at the University of WisconsinStevens Point Lives in Stevens Point Retired from 25 years of work as a college dean, Joan North is now a silversmith, selling jewelry at galleries across many states. The graduate of Bishop Toolen (C’60) and Spring Hill College (C’64) says her adopted home state has “snow every year for at least 5 months and no bugs for six months of the year.”

Wyoming Carey Hines Clark

Owner, Core Changes Fitness & Performance Lives in Jackson When asked what’s different about growing up in West Mobile and living in Wyoming, Carey Hines Clark says, “A lot. I live in the mountains now, no family around, and I do most

of my exercising outdoors: skiing, biking, hiking, et cetera.”

She and her husband Sean have two children.

“IT’S WHERE MY PARENTS

Washington, D.C. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III

HOUSE I WAS BROUGHT HOME

Retired four-star general / current Secretary of Defense nominee Born in Mobile in 1953, Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III has commanded troops in Panama, in Operation Iraqi Freedom and in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Among many roles, he served as the 12th commander of U.S. Central Command, and he also oversaw the military campaign to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

According to President Barack Obama, “General Austin’s character and competence exemplify what America demands of its military leaders.” If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first African-American to hold the position. MB

STILL LIVE — IN THE SAME TO FROM THE HOSPITAL. IT’S WHERE I BROUGHT MY BOYFRIEND (NOW HUSBAND) TO PROUDLY SHOW OFF MY HOMETOWN AND ALL THAT IT MEANS TO ME ... FINALLY, IT’S WHERE I ALWAYS RETURN IF I’VE BEEN AWAY FOR JUST A LITTLE TOO LONG.” – Caroline Seibt Heeren, Beaufort, South Carolina

text by EMMETT BURNETT

WEEKEND GETAWAYS COVID changed us all. Our social lives moved online, our work is from makeshift living room offices and we grocery shop wearing masks like ninja warriors on the dairy aisle. But in our land of social distancing, there is a need to get away, relax, and travel to a time when Corona meant Mexican beer.

Here are eight such nearby places that fill travel needs: close to home, COVID compliant and offering a great experience in a pandemic world.

IMPECCABLE SERVICE AT THE ST. FRANCISVILLE INN

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DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T MISS IT Jubilee Suites partners with local food blogger Kristin Alpine of Wildflowers and Fresh Seafood for private cooking classes overlooking the Bay. With an emphasis on healthy eating and local ingredients, the classes will leave you perfectly full, yet hungry for more.

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JUBILEE SUITES BOUTIQUE HOTEL FAIRHOPE, AL

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ana Maloney defines “jubilee” as “bountiful, fresh starts and rejuvenation.” Thus, Jubilee Suites, co-owned by Dana and husband Jim Maloney, is well named. In Fairhope, overlooking Mobile Bay, the seven-suites boutique hotel is all things jubilee and more. You should see the sunsets.

Dana describes the view: “Fish jumping and birds singing as the sun sets over Mobile Bay is like looking into the gates of heaven.” You cannot equal nature but Jubilee Suites comes awfully close.

The complex was built in the 1940s as a Brookley military base convalescent center. After World War II, it became Fairhope Apartments and then a bed and breakfast. The Maloneys purchased the potential paradise in 2018, refurbishing, remodeling and rebranding it into a destination 30 minutes from Mobile.

Each family-size suite offers a full kitchen, dining and living areas, bathrooms, linens, toiletries, washer and dryer, smart TV and Wi-Fi. Dana’s treats, “baked according to the seasons,” are served daily.

One can be as social or as isolated as they wish. “Some guests come in with a sack of groceries and we don’t see them for three days,” Dana laughs.

“But when we do see them, they are so relaxed that they look much younger.”

All have access to Mobile Bay beaches and the surrounding area. Kayaking, birdwatching and exploring are popular. Others take another trail, in pursuit of downtown Fairhope. It’s within walking distance.

Spending a few hours or a few days shopping, exploring and experiencing one of Alabama’s prettiest cities and returning to Jubilee Suites could be a Hallmark movie setting, but it’s real.

And it’s real good.

LAKEWOOD PLANTATION

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here are those who find it enjoyable to be pampered in an opulent Southern mansion rivaling antebellum castles of “Gone with the Wind.” Go figure.

One such dwelling of splendor is The Venue at Lakewood in Livingston, Alabama. Built in 1832, the two-anda-half story Greek revival estate speaks of the grandeur, charm and elegance of a bygone era, yet back again. And this time, it is yours.

Guests can rent the entire estate — 6,700 square feet, seven bedrooms, three baths, 14-foot ceilings and a stunning wood-railed staircase brides descend to proclaim, “I do.”

Or you can rent a room that offers access to a bath, kitchen and living space in the house where “Gone with the Wind” meets modern-day conveniences.

“I was raised here,” says Sidney Freeman who, at age 22 with nowhusband Jake, painstakingly restored the home handed down through generations. “I knew its historical significance,” she adds about the house she and Jake were married in.

LIVINGSTON, AL

The property, featured in Southern Living, is a short walk to The University of West Alabama. School President Julia Tutwiler resided here from 1881 to 1910, when UWA was Livingston Normal College.

Guests able to peel themselves away from the house (which isn’t easy) enjoy nature trails abundant with birds, deer, fishing and adventure. Nearby Ft. Tombecbe has been recently excavated and is a popular exploration spot. The Sumter County garrison was constructed in 1736 under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, a founder of Mobile — small world.

Lakewood, and the opportunity for individuals or an entire family to rent a Southern Mansion, is, to say the least, wonderfully unique.

“This is a great getaway place for vacationers, honeymooners, wedding parties or entire families,” Sidney adds. “I think the trend in travel during COVID is small towns with local hospitality venues. That is what we pride ourselves in offering.”

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THE GRAND HOTEL POINT CLEAR, AL

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ST. FRANCISVILLE INN ST. FRANCISVILLE, LA

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ne does not merely check in at the St. Francisville Inn; one absorbs it. One melds with the pre-COVID era of Old Louisiana’s splendor. Laissez les bons temps rouler — let the good times roll, and sign me up.

A cornerstone of the town, the boutique hotel offers five-star dining at its signature eatery, The Saint Restaurant and Bar. Modeled after European pubs and bars of New Orleans, the Saint is as beautiful to look at as it is to eat in. Gourmet meals of Louisiana / New Orleans-style cooking prepared by master chefs is beautiful, too. Poolside service is available as well, or enjoy cocktails in rocking chairs on the porch.

The Inn’s lodging includes 11 rooms, each unique with architectural features and furnishings. Great attention is paid to details, such as custom plush linens, L’Occitane soaps and lotions in bathrooms, and marble showers. If reading this made you mellow, know that the best of Louisiana awaits.

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IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD St. Francisville is the perfect homebase for exploring the breathtaking plantations alongside Louisiana’s River Road.

Grand architecture, historic sights and fascinating museums bring to life the complicated history of the South and its sugar barons.

he problem most people have with the Grand Hotel Golf Resort and Spa Autograph Collection is leaving it. Nobody wants to, and why would they? “The Queen of Southern Resorts” in Point Clear has it all.

Just ask Colin Powell, Margaret Thatcher, George W. Bush, Barbara Bush, Dolly Parton, Fannie Flagg and Patti Labelle. They’ve all stayed here.

Unlike most, The Grand is more than lodging. It is a destination. “As one of Marriott’s ‘Autograph Hotels,’ this is a unique standalone property,” says The Grand’s Marketing and Sales Director, Kevin Hellmich.

Championship golf courses, a 20,000-square-foot spa, 10 tennis courts, stunning pool complex and much more of all things grand await. Hungry? Not for long.

Nine eateries, including restaurants, cafes, and bars offer soup to nuts — and a whole lot of seafood and steaks in between.

Sandy beaches and wonderful views of Mobile Bay from the Eastern Shore accentuate outdoor activities. Or grab a lawn chair and just sit, smile and do absolutely nothing until your heart’s content.

Over the past five years, the Grand has received extensive transformations and upgrades,” Hellmich adds. “We have modernized, but at the same time, kept its historic aspects in place.” The revisions enhance, not change, the resort complex built in 1847 and having once served as a Confederate hospital.

But one change now in effect is the Grand’s COVID policies and practices. Hand sanitizer stations are located throughout the grounds and facilities. Poolside seating is arranged in small family-size clusters. Employees and guests don masks as appropriate. All areas and features of The Grand are continuously monitored for COVID compliance.

In entertainment, lodging, fine dining, sports and recreation, the sprawling bayside resort is just that — grand.

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WEEKEND GETAWAYS

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HIT THE TRAILS Little Point Clear is positioned alongside the Eastern Shore Trail, which runs in either director for a total of 22 miles. Locals’ best-kept secret, though, is the boardwalk — a path that runs in front of the finest bayfront homes — so take advantage of the free bikes!

LITTLE POINT CLEAR SUITES AND SPACE

FAIRHOPE, AL

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airhope’s Scenic Highway 98 is well named. The word “scenic,” like a road running parallel to a seascape painting, certainly comes to mind. Fairhope’s scenic highway does not compete with the beauty of Mobile Bay; it complements it.

Take Little Point Clear Suites and Space, for example.

Each suite is secluded, spacious, and combines Eastern Shore charm with 2021 conveniences and more. How much more? A private chef more. Yes, your own Emeril Lagasse facsimile can be arranged for personal dinning pleasure.

Private cruises and fishing adventures are also available aboard Little Point Clear’s 33-foot and 21-foot charter boats. Voyages are open to families, children of all ages, and private parties for day cruising or to behold the famous Mobile sunsets.

“We also feature complementary bikes, kayaks, paddle boards and a large common area with a fireplace,” notes owner-operator Tricia Niemeyer. “We take extensive sanitation measures for COVID compliance. All suites have private entrances and separate HVAC systems.”

Little Point Clear is known for its service and hospitality. Guest testimonials rave about attentive staff, whether it was a short stay or entire wedding party weekend. Within a few hours of settling in, the experience resembles days on a tropical bayside plantation. Yet gazing across the water with binoculars, you can probably see where you work in Mobile.

Maybe put the binoculars down.

PHOTOS BY JUSTINE AND WAYNE

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FANCY CAMPS FLORIDA PANHANDLE

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WEEKS BAY PLANTATION FAIRHOPE, AL

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he year was pre-COVID 1971. Masks were worn by surgeons, bank robbers, the Lone Ranger and that’s about it. But the Airstream, a silver bullet forerunner of the modern RV, ruled the road and still does.

You cannot drive it, nor would you want to, because offroad nostalgic lodging is perfect right where it is — down on the farm at Weeks Bay Plantation.

Billed as a step above tent camping, the unit features one bed (sleeps one or two people), one couch, a full kitchen, air-conditioning, shower and toilet. A deck is attached for outdoor dining, great conversation and lakeside access. “Everybody loves it,” says Heather Rothstein of Weeks Bay Plantation. “We have people from nearby, around the state, across the country and other countries enjoying the stay.” What’s not to like?

The vintage Airstream has been refurbished to its former glory with added modern conveniences. Weeks Bay Plantation owner Tynes Stringfellow notes, “The Airstream was so well made, most of the lighting, electrical and mechanical devices are original and still work.”

Tynes found the Airstream by the side of the road near Foley. He obtained, restored and repurposed it into the stationary RV about five years ago. In addition to being lakeside, the unit is within walking distance to Weeks Bay’s blueberry picking fields.

“We are about 30 minutes from Mobile,” Heather adds.

“The Airstream is the perfect COVID-friendly place. Everything is spread out in fresh air and clean water.”

In addition to the Airstream, for lodging just as cute but less metallic, Weeks Bay Plantation offers the Bungalow. Features include a twin bed, shower, fridge, microwave and deck overlooking a 10-acre lake. Also on the lake is the Bunkhouse. The two bedroom elevated cabin under massive trees is the perfect start for a quiet walk around the farm for a secluded experience. Fish are jumping and cocktails are stirring as the sun is setting — it’s a good place to be.

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IN SEASON Time your visit just right and your stay can coincide with blueberry harvest on the farm! Savoring the most succulent, organic berries, picked just moments ago, can’t be beat.

hat is more relaxing than pitching a tent in the great outdoors? Having the tent pitched for you by Fancy Camps, an outdoor adventure offering everything except rustic.

Don’t be fooled by the word “tent.”

Think of a canvas palace with a real bed, fresh linens, central heat and cooling and gourmet cupcakes in outdoor luxury. Think of Daniel Boone camping with Martha Stewart.

Based in Florida, Fancy Camps is working with several of the Sunshine State’s recreational spots, including Topsail Hill Preserve State Park near Destin. Basically, visitors book the campsite and move in on the appointed day. Awaiting you is a spacious 16-foot Bell Tent with area rugs, end table and lamps, electrical outlets, fresh wildflower bouquets and other such essentials for “roughing it.”

Fancy Camp tents are also available for weddings, retreats, music festivals, birthday parties, showers and other events that surely helped pioneers settle the Great Frontier.

PHOTOS BY ZA ALEX ANDER

TOTALLY CIVILIZED While Fancy Camps may help you get off the beaten path, their locations are just a stone’s throw from some of the best the Florida Panhandle has to offer.

When you get tired of s’mores and hot dogs, head into Seaside for some upscale fare.

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THE BEATNIK OCEAN SPRINGS, MS

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ississippi’s “Secret Coast” is a secret no more; South Alabama is finding the Magnolia State’s beaches. Leading our neighbor to the west’s staycation destinations is the new kid in town, Ocean Spring’s Beatnik Hotel.

Ted and Roxy Condrey’s hotel experience is like few others. Four modern cabins, featuring wet bars, private gardens and outdoor showers invite guests to — as its website says — “experience a new way to stay.”

“We have only been open for a few months but have been well received,” Roxy says. “Visitors enjoy the amenities and appreciate the COVID compliance. Social distancing is built into the model.”

Each cabin has keyless private entries and porches. Roxy adds, “If you do not want to see anybody the entire time you’re here, you can do that. Visitors enjoy meals by the fire pit, lush gardens and the freedom to do as much or as little as they want.”

The property is steps away from the beach, and Ocean Springs’s vibrant restaurants, arts, museums and shopping district. The spec-

TAKE A PIECE HOME Weave your way down a small dirt road to Shearwater Pottery, where Peter Anderson (brother to famed artist Walter Anderson) and his descendants have been molding clay since 1920.

tacular new Mississippi Aquarium is 19 miles away. “Golf cart rentals, biking and walking are popular modes of transportation here,” Roxy notes. “You can leave your car for the entire stay.”

The name was chosen deliberately.

“Beatnik resonated with us,” Roxy recalls. During the 1950s and ‘60s, beatniks rejected material things and waste. In the Beatnik Hotel, everything is purposeful — functional.

Rooms are clean, relaxing, of simple design and perfect lodging for individuals or families looking to discover Mississippi’s “Secret Coast.” Now revealed to everyone. MB

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THIS IS HOW WE [USED TO] ROLL Former RV City dwellers reminisce about the Mardi Gras of yore.

text by JOSH GIVENS photos by MEGGAN AND JEFF HALLER / KEYHOLE PHOTO

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n the Gulf Coast, there are two things we take almost as seriously as religion. The first is college football. Don’t trash talk our team or even remotely joke about adjusting or cancelling the season. (Some of us still aren’t over 2020.)

The second is Mardi Gras. The annual celebration marked by parades, live music, food tastings, and every sort of glorious excess and indulgence you can imagine is truly a deep Southern tradition. Despite what most Americans think, New Orleans didn’t invent the holiday, just the hoopla. We might all have a little purple and gold coursing through our veins, as longtime Mobilians know this is where it all began, right here in the heart and soul of Mob-Town.

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DONALD DIXON, AND RYLAN BROWNING

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In fact, it started in 1699 when FrenchCanadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville happened upon a littleknown spot along the Mississippi River in Louisiana. Being an explorer, he realized he better give the place a proper name.

(Thankfully it was a name shorter than his own.) And that’s how Pointe Du Mardi Gras was born. Oh, pardon my French.

That’s “Shrove Tuesday Tip” for the rest of you. Bienville would later establish presentday Mobile and New Orleans.

By 1703, the first coordinated Mardi Gras was held in the city of Mobile and voilà: Annual celebrations became more common than a string of Alexander Shunnarah billboards. The rest, as they say, is indeed history. Sadly, there won’t be much in the way of festivities this year due to COVID-19 concerns, forcing former revelers and partakers to remember the glory days of yesteryear. And remember them they shall.

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One group that seems content to do just that are the former citizens of RV City, the aptly named campground once located under Interstate 10 in downtown Mobile.

The iconic site served as an annual home to 200-plus trailers and RVs. For over a decade, campers from across the U.S. would descend upon this singular location during Mardi Gras — having reserved their spots weeks or months in advance.

“My husband Ike and I started and managed RV City for 18 years,” says Peggy Jimenez, 67, now retired. “Ike was considered the unofficial mayor, and he wanted to retire several years ago, but things grew so rapidly and it became very popular. For the first 10 years, we handled everything ourselves since we were in construction. We did all the labor for free and even used our own construction equipment.” Eventually, staffing— and liability— required this grassroots efforts to cease for good.

RV City may be a distant memory now, but it’s a fond one for many who camped out to enjoy all that Mobile Mardi Gras had to offer. This is particularly true for Peggy who recalls the cheerful ambiance and family-friendly atmosphere.

“There were lots of families and friends, parties and cooking, even a lot of folks with elderly parents. The whole thing was very family-oriented every year. Everyone would get into squares, and they would do barbecue pits. There would even be music and DJs.” Homeland Security, however, became concerned with the potential for fire and other hazards under an Interstate, and the good times could no longer roll.

So, with Mardi Gras as absent as ChickFil-A on a Sunday, MB thought it only appropriate to ask a few RV City nomads to pull up a chair, sit a spell and share some of their favorite memories of this unique world-within-a-world.

DEBBI AND TOM KILLEEN •RV or Camper Make & Model: 2014 Salem 26-foot tow-behind; just recently purchased a fifth-wheel camper •Number of states visited: One — Alabama •Originally from: Upstate New York •Total mileage covered: Couple hundred miles, mostly between Dauphin Island and RV City Just because you’re from the North doesn’t mean you can’t let the good times roll during Mardi Gras in the South! Hailing from upstate New York, Tom and Debbi, both 66, have lived in Mobile since 1997.

“We were a part of RV City for about four years,” recalls Debbi. “My husband had a cousin who would come down from Long Island every year for Mardi Gras and now he likes Alabama so much that he wants to live here!”

Debbie says some of her favorite things about the legendary campground were the festivities and how easy it was to get around.

“There was always a party at the beginning. That was great. And we had a golf cart [which were also available for rent] so we were able to attend all the parades and get to our favorite spots. We got invited to several different things while people were grilling, and all of the kids throughout the campground had so much fun. We had one set of friends who got a spot in front of the Civic Center, and we would play cornhole with them and grill out there. We love Mobile and all it has to offer and would love to see RV City return one day. That would just be perfect.”

Left Trenton Masaitis, Sheila Hudson, Ashley Kurth, Debi Gholson, J.D. Hudson, Beth Gossett and Doug Schmitt relax before the parades on Saturday, February 22, 2020.

SAM & CINDY EUBANKS •RV or Camper Make & Model: 2004 Class A Country Coach •Number of states visited: All 50 separately; all but five as a couple •Current location: Outside Loxley •Originally from: South Carolina (Sam); Wisconsin (Cindy) •Total mileage covered: Over 300,000 miles There may be no one who will miss the traditions of RV City during Mardi Gras more than 66-year-old travel enthusiast Sam Eubanks. Along with his wife Cindy, 61, the two have been part of the renowned campground since its earliest inception.

“We were in the original bunch when it first started,” he says, a tinge of sad remembrance in his voice. “We would be in little quads, usually four families each. It was so nice because the circle I was in was all family. I had a spot, my son had a spot, then some friends of ours and their son. It was a month of good food and good friends. We saw a lot of people come and go over the years, so we got to know everyone. We would always look forward to going every year for the camaraderie and getting to see the people from previous years who we knew. It was a lot of good, good times.

It’s a shame the city doesn’t want to take it over because they could actually make some money on it.”

It may have been the best of times, but it could occasionally be the strangest of times.

“One year a semi overturned on I-10 and dumped about 80,000 pounds of avocados all over the campers,” recalls Eubanks with a chuckle. “He was on the overpass and just flipped and spilled his cargo.

That was pretty crazy.”

Here’s to hoping that any future Mardi Gras celebrations don’t involve human guacamole.

LYNN & DENNIS CHANCE •RV or Camper Make & Model: 2017 30-foot fifth-wheel Hemisphere •Number of states visited: Eight •Current location: Grand Bay •Originally from: Mobile •Total mileage covered: Several hundreds of thousands They say experience makes all the difference, and this couldn’t be more true for the Chances, who were camping in the RV City area long before Peggy and Ike ever came along.

“We were there back when it was free,” says Lynn, 77, who’s been camping with her husband Dennis, 62, for over 25 years now. “We would camp out in that area under the interstate on the left-hand side. It was kind of first come, first serve, but there were so many folks. Once Ike and Peggy took over, it was managed so well. They would send out emails and keep everyone well-informed. There was never any question about where you had to be or when you had to be there. It was all coordinated down to the last detail. We’re going to miss Ike and Peggy for sure. They were the keepers of the keys.”

Like many of their fellow campers, the Chances embraced the family camaraderie that made RV City a beloved trademark of Mardi Gras.

“It was almost like a homecoming in a lot of ways,” Lynn says. “People who you wouldn’t see all year long, you would see at RV City and you would spend three weeks together.

We would all visit and enjoy one another’s company and then load up and go to the parades. Everyone looked out for everyone, and I liked that. We never had anything stolen down there. Using the golf carts was a plus because we could ride them to the parades and not have to walk in the freezing cold. I remember making those golf cart trips many a night in the cold with the wind blowing. But it made you more mobile, and it was easier to get to the venues and eat at the restaurants.” february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 79

SARAH JURENKA •RV or Camper Make and Model: Class C Four Winds •Number of States Visited: Three — Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana •Current Location: Hollingers Island •Originally From: Hollingers Island •Total mileage covered: At least 20,000 Let it never be said that students have all the fun! Serving as a professor at Bishop State University for over 20 years, 46-year-old Sarah Jurenka has been a part of RV City for 13 years and passionately describes it as “the camping experience of the year.”

“I think one of the best things about it is that everyone looks out for everyone else and shares with one another. Somebody will say, ‘Hey, I’m bringing some water tomorrow. Do you need some?’ Everyone is looking out for their neighbor. The world could really take a lesson from RV City. One year I had a water leak, and some kind folks let me borrow some tools and just said ‘Put ‘em back under the mat when you’re done.’”

Beyond the friendly fellowship, Sarah recalls some of the pleasant memories associated with her time there.

“One year we put on an RV City parade with all the golf carts,” she says with a smile. “We did it on a Saturday when there were no real parades. We had throws and even decorated our carts and played music. That was a great memory. We would also do a lot of crawfish boils on Saturdays when there weren’t any parades. I always brought masks, crayons and new markers for the kids. I even have a box for this year. I can remember having 10 - 15 kids sitting around picnic tables designing their own masks. We would give them beads and let them all walk around together.”

Speaking of kids, it quickly became apparent that Sarah’s daughter was born with her mother’s natural enthusiasm for Mardi Gras.

“My daughter was in K-4, and I got a call from her teacher once,” she recalls. “She told me that she had been teaching the seasons to the class. She said, ‘Your daughter argued that Mobile only has three seasons: boating season, football season and Mardi Gras.’”

Sarah couldn’t have been more proud.

From an outsider’s perspective, RV City may have appeared to be nothing more than a glorified trailer park that sprang up once a year. But to those with veteran status, deep-rooted citizenship, and a burning love for all things Mardi Gras, it was, and still is, so much more. It was a lifestyle, a community and a tradition all its own. It was a family. And that will forever be the greatest memory of all. MB

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Clockwise, from top left Cousins Ariana Schaffer, 13, left, and Lana Schaffer, 13, hang out. RV City in Mobile, Alabama, during Mardi Gras 2020. Sisters Juliette, 5, and Olivia McLemore, 7, had their faces painted by their mom, Michelle McLemore. Kids play football under I-10

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[MOBILE BAY MAGAZINE PRESENTS]

CEO SPOTLIGHT WHETHER AT THE HELM OF A FORTUNE 500 CORPORATION OR A LOCALLY-OWNED, FAMILY-RUN COMPANY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN THE SUCCESS OF BOTH THEIR BUSINESSES AND THEIR EMPLOYEES. IN THIS SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION, LOCAL CEOs EXPLAIN THEIR LEADERSHIP STYLES, HOPES FOR THE COMMUNITY AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.

february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 83

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION | CEO SPOTLIGHT

Chicken Salad Chick

Misty Hudson Whitehead MISTY HUDSON WHITEHEAD IS THE LOCAL OWNER OF MOBILE AND BALDWIN COUNTY CHICKEN SALAD CHICKS, AND HER FOCUS IS ON GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY.

What separates a good CEO from a great one? Simply put, I have learned that being a good CEO can be done through kindness. I’ve also learned that providing a certain level of autonomy to managers goes a long way in allowing them to flourish.

How do you stay motivated?

My family and God keep me motivated; family is everything to me. My focus is on being the best role model that I can be and to build my businesses with a very simple thought: Help others and give back.

Building lasting relationships in the community is another aspect that drives me. We want to be known for our food, of course, but we also want our customers to feel welcomed, appreciated and loved. One way we show that love is by feeding healthcare workers and front-line employees and by partnering with the Ronald McDonald House of Mobile, all Mobile and Baldwin county schools and the Child Advocacy Center. We also give back to the community through “Quick Chicks for a Cause” and spirit days.

To what do you attribute your success?

I could never be a successful CEO without my team.

My husband, Peter, joined CSC in March 2020 and changed my life for the better in terms of his business prospective. Ali Hughes, our area manager, has been on our team for six years and has recently become a partner with us in our upcoming Saraland location.

We manage all of our staff like family. It’s truly a big, happy family atmosphere. We love coming up with ways to make work fun!

What sets your business apart?

Chicken Salad Chick is the true American dream.

CSC was started in 2007 by Stacy Brown, a single mom looking for a way to provide for her three children. Chicken salad was what she knew best, and she started making it in her home. Her family and friends were her taste testers, and she ultimately named each chicken salad flavor after them.

PHOTO BY CHAD RILEY

“Working for Peter, Misty and Ali has been the best opportunity I have had my entire working life! They truly care for their employees and bring out the best in their managers!”

— Matt Harlen, General manager,

Hillcrest Chicken Salad Chick

2370 S Hillcrest Road • 251-660-0501 • chickensaladchick.com 84 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION | CEO SPOTLIGHT

CK Collection

PHOTO BY CHAD RILEY

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, CK COLLECTION WAS FOUNDED, FOCUSING ON CUSTOMER SERVICE, CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND LEADING BRANDS. WHAT STARTED OUT AS A 600-SQUARE-FOOT WOMEN’S DESIGNER SHOE STORE QUICKLY GREW TO A TOTAL OF 13,000 SQUARE FEET AS A RESULT OF EXPANDING 11 TIMES. OUR LATEST EXPANSION IS OUR NEW 3,000-SQUARE-FOOT MEN’S STORE ATTACHED TO OUR WOMEN’S.

How do you stay motivated?

One of the ways we stay motivated is by looking at how we got here and what we need to do in order to improve so we can have another 25 years. Our customers are the number one motivation factor. How can we give them the best experience? Also, we make it a priority to stay focused on offering the best brands while maintaining the overall CK “It” factor.

What makes the Bay Area attractive for your business?

Fairhope has the perfect mix of fashion, style, tradition and history to captivate the visitor. The overall charm is why we relocated and started our business here. It has provided us with everything we needed to become the destination store that we now are.

What sets your business apart?

Our dedicated salespeople, our knowledgeable buyers and, most importantly, technology. We use top-of-the-line POS systems that provide data and analytics, plus they make our in-store and online store seamless and completely in sync.

CK Collection • 320 Fairhope Ave. • Fairhope • 251-990-9001 • ckcollection.com CK Collection Men • 309 De La Mare Ave. • Fairhope • 251-928-4824 • ckcollectionmen.com february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 85

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION | CEO SPOTLIGHT

Cooper Restaurants David J. Cooper Sr.

How did you get into this business?

I never intended to be in the restaurant business, but in 1997, when Ruth’s Chris was closing their Mobile restaurant, my brother and I stepped in to rescue it for the city of Mobile.

How do you stay motivated?

It is easy to stay motivated when you are passionate about hospitality and lead a team of restaurant professionals who are obsessed with listening to our customers and then pay attention to every detail.

What sets your business apart?

It’s simple. Our restaurants are totally focused on the guests. We have learned that guests want great food, great service and sparking clean restaurants.

We anticipate the wishes and needs of our guests and treat them as we would like to be treated.

What is your mission?

Cooper Restaurants’ mission is to provide our community with three distinctly different restaurant experiences, featuring Mobile cuisine with local, timeless recipes. We have an elegant, white tablecloth restaurant in Ruth’s Chris, a casual family seafood restaurant in Felix’s, and the BLUEGILL is ultra casual outside dining on the Mobile Delta.

What makes the Bay area attractive for your business?

The people of Mobile and Baldwin counties love fresh Gulf seafood and know just how they like it prepared. They have been eating it at home for generations and want that same local approach to its preparation. The traveling guests on their way to the Florida and Alabama beaches know what to expect when stopping on the Causeway for lunch or dinner. Our basic, timeless approach to featuring seafood dishes has attracted hundreds of thousands of happy, hungry guests to our Causeway restaurants for the past 20 years.

PHOTO BY DAN ANDERSON

“The Cooper family has created something very special in their three totally different restaurant settings. I have enjoyed the spectacular view of Mobile Bay and fresh seafood at Felix’s since it opened in 2002. The BLUEGILL is my favorite laid-back outside dining spot, and of course Ruth’s Chris for special occasions and business entertainment. The common thread that runs through all the restaurants is an unparalleled level of service and attention inspired by David Cooper Sr., who is the consummate gentleman of gentlemen.”

— Joe Bullard Jr.

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION | CEO SPOTLIGHT

PHOTO BY CHAD RILEY

Infirmary Health Mark Nix, President & CEO What do you wish someone had told you when you started your career?

You can’t do everything on your own. Surround yourself with knowledgeable people you can trust.

Support and trust your leadership team to make decisions for carrying out the organization’s mission and purpose. It takes a team of dedicated and committed leaders working together for an organization of our size to be successful.

What separates a good CEO from a great one?

The willingness to allow others to freely express themselves without imposing your authority on their thoughts and ideas. When you

MARK NIX, PRESIDENT & CEO INFIRMARY HEALTH, EMBRACES THE HISTORY OF THE 110-YEAR-OLD INSTITUTION WHILE FOCUSING ON EXPANDING SERVICES ACROSS THE REGION AND EMPLOYING THE MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES AND INNOVATIVE SERVICES TO SUPPORT THE ORGANIZATION’S MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS.

recognize good leadership talent, respect their contribution to the success of the organization and give them additional responsibilities and the opportunity to grow their leadership skills.

“Over the past four decades, I have observed Mr. Nix’s progression from the Infirmary real estate division, to chief financial officer, and finally, to

What sets your business apart?

CEO of the largest private employer in

Infirmary Health is Alabama’s largest non-governmental healthcare provider. We receive no governmental tax support or state funding.

Infirmary Health is a communityowned organization and is led by a local volunteer and non-compensated Board of Directors with a mission to make the latest medical advancements and highest quality of health care available to all residents of Southwest Alabama.

southwest Alabama. He has achieved this remarkable accomplishment through hard work, keen intelligence and people skills.

He is positioning Infirmary Health to serve the future healthcare needs of the citizens of Mobile and Baldwin counties.”

— Gerhard A. Boehm, M.D., FACS General Surgeon

5 Mobile Infirmary Circle • 251-435-2400 • infirmaryhealth.org february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 87

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION | CEO SPOTLIGHT

PHOTO BY CHAD RILEY

Malouf Furniture Co. Gardner Malouf

MALOUF FURNITURE & DESIGN IS A FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED COMPANY THAT OPENED ITS DOORS TO GREENWOOD, MS IN 1946.

What do you wish someone had told you when you started your career? My grandfather started Malouf back in the ‘40s and my dad after him, and then of course I followed. Between growing up running around my grandfather’s store and helping my dad around his as a young adult, I can’t imagine there was much I didn’t hear before beginning my own journey with the store.

How do you stay motivated?

I love what I do. My motivation is largely intrinsic. I love being here, I love the employees and the staff — they’re the kind of people you want to work with.

They care about making Malouf the best it can be and making sure every customer has the same great experience.

What makes the Bay Area attractive for your business?

The massive amount of growth from people moving here, within the last 10 year especially, has made the Bay Area a great place to grow a business. We’ve gotten to grow with the community and become a fixture in the area. It’s a great place to build a home, start a family, build a life, build a business, sell furniture, retire – it just checks all the boxes.

a large variation of prices, looks, styles, categories. We’re always looking to stay on top of trends, scouting out unique pieces and getting those to you as soon as possible.

The sheer size of the store allows us to offer so much and make this a place you can come and find everything you want.

“All of the people at Malouf were great in assisting me through the

What sets your business apart?

There are quite a few things that set us apart. We’re heavily focused on design and customer service. We offer unique services like in-home design consultations and window treatment options that you can’t get at every furniture store. We have

process of selecting my furniture.

Malouf has options for every budget, style, and personal taste.”

— Ashley Thames, Google review

774 State Hwy 59 South • Foley • 251-955-5151 • malouffurniture.com 88 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION | CEO SPOTLIGHT

March + May Design MARCH + MAY DESIGN IS THE CREATIVE COLLABORATION OF SISTERS AND INTERIOR DESIGNERS RACHEL ANDERSON AND NATALIE ROE.

What do you wish someone had told you when you started your career? That we could be exactly where we are right now, doing exactly what we are doing. While the experience we gained working in successful architecture/design firms out of college is priceless, we never even knew to dream of owning our own firm and being our own bosses. We would tell young women (and men!) that owning their own small business may be risky and/or trying at times, but it is possible and honestly one of the best decisions we have ever made.

How do you stay motivated?

For the past couple years, so much of our motivation and inspiration has come from the daily design work, humor, honesty, advice and encouragement from a small group of designer friends from around the country we call “Designing Women.” There is nothing like community to keep you motivated to do your best work each day and to know, no matter what, they have your back.

RACHEL ANDERSON AND NATALIE ROE. PHOTO BY CHAD RILEY

What sets your business apart?

Our collaboration and ability to bring two unique yet cohesive voices to every project allows for a special depth of design and an “iron-sharpens-iron” finished product. We challenge each other to better our creative processes, and in turn, give our clients a design that has been thought over, analyzed and meticulously curated.

“We loved working with March + May Design on the interior of our Bay house.

Their expertise on all things design is extensive. Natalie and Rachel provided the perfect balance of creativity and professionalism. They were always mindful about working within our budget and strived to give us the most bang for our buck. I walk through my house each day and feel lucky to live in such a beautiful space!” — Karen Lea Sandifer

3304-A Old Shell Road • 251–423-2010 • marchandmay.com february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 89

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION | CEO SPOTLIGHT

Peters Financial

PHOTO BY CHAD RILEY

Pete Peters, CEO & Chief Financial Advisor PETE PETERS IS CEO AND CHIEF FINANCIAL ADVISOR FOR PETERS FINANCIAL, A WEALTH MANAGEMENT FIRM THAT SPECIALIZES IN INVESTMENTS, RETIREMENT AND INSURANCE PLANNING. PETE AND HIS FIRM HAVE BEEN SERVING THEIR CLIENTS SINCE 1980.

What separates a good CEO from a great one? Surrounding yourself with a great team. Teaching them your values. And giving authority to team members who are willing to accept the responsibility that comes with it. A true leader takes responsibility for failures as well as success. Most people want the authority but not the responsibility.

How do you stay motivated?

I stay motivated because I love what I do. I feel blessed to have a career where I am able to earn a living while also helping people succeed. It is motivating and inspiring to

have the trust and confidence of our clients and to have the privilege to guide them through pivotal events in their lives.

What sets your business apart?

Service. We take the extra time and effort to keep steady communication with our clients. Because of this, we have been able to maintain strong long-term relationships with our clients over the years.

What is your mission?

The mission of Peters Financial is to serve our clients by helping them achieve their

financial goals, and, most importantly, being there to guide them financially through all the important transitions of life. Both the good — birth of a child, saving for college, weddings, and retirement ­­— or the more difficult — sickness, disability, lapse in employment or death of a spouse.

What’s your primary goal for the future? To continue to serve our clients and continually strive to improve the level of service we provide. To grow our team and our business, while honoring God in the work we do.

Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. Kestra IS and Kestra AS are not affiliated with Peters Financial.

Investor Disclosures https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosure

153 West I-65 Service Road North, Mobile • 365 Grand Avenue, Suite E, Fairhope 251-342-4874 • petersfinancial.us 90 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION | CEO SPOTLIGHT

PHOTO BY CHAD RILEY

Springhill Medical Center Jeffery M. St. Clair, President/CEO

JEFFERY M. ST. CLAIR ASSUMED THE TOP LEADERSHIP POSITION AT SPRINGHILL MEDICAL CENTER IN 2009. AS CEO AND PRESIDENT, ST. CLAIR IS LEADER OF THE MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED, PRIVATELY OWNED HOSPITAL COMPLEX IN THE SOUTHEAST.

To what do you attribute your success? I am blessed to

What separates a good CEO from a great one?

be supported by a caring, brilliant and very visionary ownership. I am also surrounded by an extremely talented and caring workforce that honestly and emphatically embraces our mission to take care of our fellow man when they are anxious, upset, scared or hurting.

What makes me successful are the talents and commitment of the wonderful people that surround me at Springhill Medical Center.

Success comes easy in such a supportive environment.

A CEO needs great vision. Great vision is much easier to come by if you stand on the shoulders of giants. A leader should never be hesitant to surround themselves with people who are smarter and more talented than yourself. Then coach them, manage them and trust in their gifts just as you would want to be coached, managed and trusted.

How do you stay motivated?

What has been your biggest challenge in recent years? The COVID-19 pandemic. I am so proud of our staff

When you work for and with the people that I do, staying motivated is the easiest of challenges. The care, concern and love shown to our patients and each other at Springhill has motivated me for over 30 years to do the absolute best I can so that I can make them all proud of what I can bring to the organization.

and how they have pulled together and risen to the unprecedented challenges presented, giving it their all day-in and day-out. Their dedication to our patients is inspiring.

3719 Dauphin Street • 251-344-9630 • springhillmedicalcenter.com february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 91

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION | CEO SPOTLIGHT

PHOTO BY CHAD RILEY

University of Mobile Lonnie Burnett, Ph.D., President

A NATIVE OF MOBILE WITH A LIFETIME OF EDUCATION EXPERIENCE IN LOCAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS, LONNIE BURNETT BECAME THE FIFTH PRESIDENT OF HIS ALMA MATER IN NOVEMBER 2019.

What is your mission?

The University of Mobile offers students more than a college degree — we help them understand their lives have a larger purpose. We call that “Higher Education for a Higher Purpose.” Our mission is to graduate highly qualified leaders who understand the call of God for their lives and are fully prepared to make a difference through their professions and in their communities and families.

What sets UM apart?

While we offer over 75 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs, we have the advantage of being a smaller university.

Faculty and staff embrace their role as mentors and really know

their students. Our size makes it easier to quickly adjust to changing circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. A speedboat can turn around faster than an aircraft carrier, and that was evident when we had to quickly move to online delivery of classes at the start of the pandemic. A survey of our students afterward showed that they felt cared for both academically and personally during that transition and as we continue to move through these challenging times.

What is your primary goal for the future?

Our goal is to be distinctive — to offer the best product possible and make a difference in the community.

5735 College Parkway • 251–442-2222 • umobile.edu 92 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

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EXTRAS | CALENDAR OF EVENTS

SUPER CHILI BOWL COOK-OFF

What’s Happening this Month

EVERY FRIDAY

FEBRUARY 6

FEBRUARY 20

STREETS ALIVE 6 - 10 p.m. Spend the evening dining outdoors or strolling the closed-off, pedestrian friendly streets of Downtown.

SUPER CHILI BOWL COOK-OFF Participate in the competition or simply sample the goods. The event benefits the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life.

DOWNTOWN MOBILE DOWNTOWNMOBILE.ORG

ORANGE BEACH FLORABAMA.COM

21 & UP MOVIE NIGHT: “DIRTY DANCING” 5 - 8 p.m. Date night in the Port City just got spicier. Come enjoy this 21+ viewing of everyone’s favorite romantic dance drama.

FEBRUARY 4 THE ALLMAN BETTS BAND 8 p.m. Catch The Allman Betts Band in a rare, intimate setting, ,up close and personal, featuring songs from their solo projects and classic Allman Brothers.

MOBILE SAENGER THEATRE MOBILESAENGER.COM

FEBRUARY 4 - 7 DINOSAUR ADVENTURE DRIVE-THRU Bring the entire family to Dinosaur Adventure Drive-Thru where you can take a prehistoric tour featuring 80 lifesized dinosaurs. Tickets sold on a per-day/ per-time slot basis.

HANK AARON STADIUM DINOSAURADVENTURE.COM/DRIVE-THRU

FEBRUARY 6 LIVING HISTORY CREW DRILL History comes to life as the living history crew of the USS Alabama and USS Drum board for their winter drill.

USS ALABAMA BATTLESHIP MEMORIAL PARK USSALABAMA.COM

EXPLOREUM SCIENCE CENTER EXPLOREUM.COM

FEBRUARY 26 - 28 VINTAGE MARKET DAYS OF MOBILE Vintage Market Days is an upscale vintageinspired market featuring original art, antiques, clothing and more.

THE GROUNDS VINTAGEMARKETDAYS.COM/MARKET/MOBILE

FEBRUARY 20

FEBRUARY 27

BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY 5K Lace up for this Port City Pacers race on Dauphin Island, benefitting historic Fort Gaines.

A cannon blast starts the race, and prizes will be awarded to top finishers.

ORANGE BEACH SEAFOOD FESTIVAL & CAR SHOW 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. The annual festival will feature food, more than 100 artists and music.

FORT GAINES, DAUPHIN ISLAND PORTCITYPACERS.COM

MAIN STREET AT THE WHARF ORANGEBEACHAL.GOV/EVENTS/ SEAFOOD-FESTIVAL

* Check event websites for most current status.

 To have your event included in the online or print edition of Mobile Bay Magazine, email calendar@pmtpublishing.com.

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MOBILE CARNIVAL MUSEUM

mobilecarnivalmuseum.com

THROUGH MARCH 2021 BRINGING THE ROCKS OUT OF THE BANK BOX: CARNIVAL AND BLING The genres of Mardi Gras art are numerous and diverse. So, too, is the jewelry worn during the Carnival season.

HISTORY MUSEUM OF MOBILE

historymuseumofmobile.com

FEBRUARY 26 - JUNE 2021 EGYPTIAN MUMMIES AND ETERNAL LIFE This exhibition evokes the mysterious landscape of Ancient Egypt.

THROUGH DECEMBER HISTORY OF MOBILE IN 22 OBJECTS The 300-year history of the Port City is represented in 22 objects.

MOBILE MUSEUM OF ART mobilemuseumofart.com

THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2021 GORDON PARKS: SEGREGATION STORY IN MOBILE, 1956 Photographs document the everyday activities and rituals of one extended Black family, the Thorntons, in Mobile during segregation.

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DARCI LYNNE

[MARCH HIGHLIGHTS]

MARCH 5 JERMAINE “FUNNYMAINE” JOHNSON Laugh along with Jermaine “Funnymaine” Johnson, a lifetime class clown and 15-year stand-up comedy veteran.

MOBILE SAENGER THEATRE MOBILESAENGER.COM

MARCH 7 DARCI LYNNE Singer/ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer impresses audiences across the country with her show-stopping talent.

MOBILE SAENGER THEATRE MOBILESAENGER.COM

MARCH 11 THE WOMEN’S RESOURCE CENTER SPRING GALA An evening where donors, partners, and supporters come together to celebrate the overwhelming goodness of God. MOBILE CONVENTION CENTER FACEBOOK.COM/WRCMOBILE/EVENTS

MARCH 14 BRIDES JUST WANNA HAVE FUN 10TH ANNUAL BRIDAL EXPO Bring bridesmaids and friends to meet vendors, win prizes and scout fashion.

BATTLE HOUSE RENAISSANCE HOTEL & SPA FACEBOOK.COM/BRIDES-JUST-WANNAHAVE-FUN-BRIDAL-EXPOS-379768305446497

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ONE CITY WORLD TOUR

[MARCH HIGHLIGHTS]

MARCH 14 2021 MOBILE DIABETES WALK FOR CAMP SEALE HARRIS Join this free event with music, food and fun for the whole family! All donations raised support camp fees and scholarships.

USS ALABAMA BATTLESHIP MEMORIAL PARK CAMPSEALEHARRIS.ORG

MARCH 19 - 21 WHARF BOAT AND YACHT SHOW Over $150 million in boats and marine products will be on display.

THE WHARF, ORANGE BEACH WHARFBOATSHOW.COM

MARCH 26 ONE CITY WORLD TOUR Expect a baseball game unlike anything you’ve ever witnessed — a unique style of the game called BananaBall.

HANK AARON STADIUM THESAVANNAHBANANAS.COM

MARCH 27 CAMP GRACE YELLOW DAY AND CAR SHOW Yellow Day and Camp Grace’s 2nd annual car show includes have a wide variety of free games and activities, including archery, zip line and corn hole.

CAMP GRACE, MOBILE CAMPGRACE.COM/CAR-SHOW

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HISTORY | ARCHIVES

A History of Mobile in 22 Objects As part of our series highlighting the History Museum of Mobile’s exhibit “A History of Mobile in 22 Objects,” take a closer look this month at the story of Mardi Gras, told through Chief Slac’s Joe Cain Day costume from the 1970s.

photos courtesy HISTORY MUSEUM OF MOBILE

CHIEF SLAC’S THREADS

by CARTLEDGE W. BLACKWELL III

C

arnival, or Mardi Gras, is Mobile’s greatest living tradition. An art form, an economic boon, a joyous celebration, and a family affair, the rituals and objects informing Carnival define Mobile. Textiles, such as this costume worn

by Red Foster in the guise of Joe Cain, play a prominent role in the magic that is Mardi Gras in Mobile.

Joseph Stillwell “Joe” Cain (1832 – 1904) is both a historical figure and mythical character.

Cain is best remembered for his special relationship to Carnival. It is in the realm of misrule that

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his actions — be they real or imagined — continue to shape the vision of not only Mardi Gras, but also the city in which it was first introduced to the United States.

Joe Cain was born on October 10, 1832, to Joseph Stillwell Cain Sr., and Julia Ann Turner. As with many Mobilians of the Antebellum era, his parents hailed from the Northeast and came to Mobile on account of its seemingly boundless potential for growth. Early in his career in the “Cotton City,” Joe Cain was employed in the cotton industry.

The second-largest cotton exporting port in the nation, cotton made Mobile an incredibly wealthy city; earnings generated from cotton made for a lively social scene of which Carnival was the high point.

Cain became fascinated with Mobile’s Carnival culture as a child. By the 1830s, Mobile had established the template of mystic society culture in the United States: a parade for all people followed by an invitation-only ball. Joe Cain would have witnessed the spectacles of the Cowbellion de Rakin Society and the Strikers Club / Strikers Independent Society, two early mystic societies. At 14, he became a founding member of the Tea Drinkers Society, the third of Mobile’s mystic societies. In this period, Carnival events clustered around New Year’s Eve. The Civil War curtailed annual Carnival celebrations. Joe Cain served as private in the Army of the Confederate States of America. The defeat of the South resulted in economic turmoil in Mobile, and Cain moved briefly to New Orleans in search of work. While in New Orleans, he observed the Crescent City’s Carnival festivities. They were similar to Mobile’s in most respects, only New Orleanians celebrated Carnival much later in the Carnival season, on the days leading up to and on Fat Tuesday itself.

Upon his return to Mobile, Joe Cain was one among the many restless young men who sought both purpose and fun for themselves and others in what they

found to be the bleak years following the Civil War. On Fat Tuesday of 1868, he was the leader of one of two groups who took to the streets. Dressed in fanciful Native American costume, Cain styled himself as a fictitious Chickasaw chief by the name of Slacabamorinico, and he and his cohorts referred to themselves as the Lost Cause Minstrels. As with all things Carnival, there was a layering of symbolism. The Chickasaw were the only one of Alabama’s principal Native American tribes to surrender to the Americans, and the Lost Cause referred to the defeated Southland.

Cain reprised his role as Chief Slacabamorinico (costume and all) each year until 1874. But Cain should not be seen as operating in a vacuum. The Order of Myths (OOMs), the oldest active parading society in the United States, staged their first parade the very same day as Joe Cain and the Lost Minstrels. The following year, the Infant Mystics (IMs) followed suit. Cain was, therefore, one among a number of individuals who revived and innovated tradition.

Upon his death in 1904, Joe Cain was buried in Bayou La Batre. He fell into relative obscurity. It was the Carnivalattuned interests of another Mobile son named Julian Lee Rayford (1908 1980) that lead to his “rediscovery” and reinvention. A journalist, folklorist, and artist, Rayford published “Chasin’ the Devil Round a Stump” in 1962. A popular and engaging chronicle of Mardi Gras in Mobile, the book is a mixture of fact and fiction. Rayford positioned Cain not as a seminal figure in Postbellum revitalization of Carnival, but as the savior of Mardi Gras itself. He persuaded city leaders to disinter Cain and his wife from their graves in Bayou La Batre and relocate their remains to Church Street Graveyard. Held on the Sunday before Mardi Gras in 1966, the featured procession resulted in such attention that the day was christened Joe Cain Day. Rayford donned a costume

inspired by Cain’s, and the procession has been staged every year since. Red Foster and now Wayne Dean have followed Rayford as official representation of “Chief Slac.” The event is sometimes called the People’s Parade and allows anyone, be they member of mystic society or not, to parade in the streets.

Joe Cain’s impact on Mardi Gras is multifold. A day is named for him.

Three organizations — the Merry Widows of Joe Cain, the Mistresses of Joe Cain, and Lovers of Joe Cain (apparently the guy got around…) — pay tongue-in-cheek homage to him. In life, legacy, mythology, and representation, Cain encompasses the popular appeal of Mardi Gras in Mobile. MB

Cartledge W. Blackwell III is curator of the Mobile Carnival Museum. He earned a BA in art history and historic preservation from the College of Charleston and an MA in architectural history from the University of Virginia. His research interests include 19th- and 20th-century Southern material culture.

“A History of Mobile in 22 Objects” by various authors. Available for purchase at the History Museum of Mobile, $25 Released in conjunction with the History Museum of Mobile exhibit, this photo-heavy compendium delves into the city’s history through the analysis of 22 artifacts by Mobile’s leading researchers.

 Stay tuned each month as we continue to delve into the history of objects from this fascinating exhibit.

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HISTORY | AMAZING LIFE

Telling Her Own Story:

Civil Rights Activist Dorothy P. Williams A recently rescued oral history interview helps illuminate the life of an important and dynamic figure in Mobile history. text by SCOTTY E. KIRKLAND

A

frican-American women were vital to the success of the modern civil rights movement. Yet oftentimes their behind-the-scenes contributions are difficult to dig out of the historical record. As a result, important stories go untold. One example from Mobile’s own civil rights legacy is the life of organizer and activist Dorothy P. Williams, who 102 mobilebaymag.com | february 2021

worked to help marginalized people in south Alabama for more than four decades. The poor, downtrodden and forgotten could always find in her an ally.

When the editors of the Southern Courier, a newspaper dedicated to covering civil rights and social justice issues, dispatched David Underhill to cover Mobile in 1965, they gave him the names and addresses of two people: John LeFlore and Dorothy P.

Williams. Underhill described the Williams home as a nexus for the free exchange of ideas. “There was something papal about it,” he remembered. “If you just sat there at her table…eventually everybody who was doing anything in the area would appear there. Everybody knew that was the place that you went to find out what was happening, to get connected with other folks, to be anointed.” Over the next two

decades, the young reporter and Williams became friends and fellow activists. “Her story will never be told,” Underhill once told me, his voice cracking with regret.

Luckily, it turns out that Williams told her own story. Among the interviews in the Mobile Public Library’s oral history collection are two 1979 sessions with the south Alabama activist. The interview was recently resurrected from deteriorating audio tape through a digitization effort by the Local History and Genealogy Library.

With a voice made small by illness, the activist narrated the early history of her long life. Dorothy Parker was born in Mobile on Washington Avenue in either 1907 or 1908. Her Creole ancestors hailed from various parts of south Alabama, along its rivers and the bountiful Mobile Bay, from which many of them made their living.

Irvin Parker, Dorothy’s father, worked in timber, preparing poles that the power companies used.

The Williams family faced many struggles growing up in a segregated society. She recalled that one of her younger brothers grew so weary of the harsh conditions that he left Alabama never to return. After completing the eighth grade, Williams left school to find work, first as a domestic servant, including a tenure at the home of John B. Waterman, founder of Waterman Steamship Company. She eventually took a job at a local factory as a doffer and spinner, a position she held until marrying Carl Williams in 1926. The couple had 12 children over the course of their long marriage. During World War II, Dorothy P. Williams returned to the workforce as a housekeeper at one of the new dormitories built for war workers and soldiers stationed at Brookley Field.

Her civil rights organizing became Williams’s life’s work. She was an early member of both the Mobile branch of the NAACP and the Non-Partisan Voters’ League. But Williams also carried out her own, independent efforts. In the summer of 1965, she opened her home to four white collegians sent to register voters under the february 2021 | mobilebaymag.com 103

Previous page Civil rights leader Jerry Pogue carries the American flag at the head of the Neighborhood Organized Workers’ parade through the streets of downtown Mobile in memory of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on April 7, 1968. The King March represented a turning point in race relations in Mobile as activists turned to more direct forms of protest in their quest for equality. Dorothy P. Williams is seen in the front row, far right, wearing a white dress and crossing her arms. PHOTO COURTESY WILBUR F. PALMER COLLECTION, DOY LEALE MCCALL RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA

This page Dorothy P. Williams gives a folding cot to a man in Resurrection City, an encampment of tents constructed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., during the Poor People’s Campaign.

PHOTO COURTESY ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY

banner of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Members of the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on her lawn after the students arrived. They recall that Dorothy and Carl Williams kept a silent watch while they slept. More than 50 years later, those activists remember Dorothy P. Williams as a reassuring presence, determined to expand the electorate in south Alabama.

Williams was a champion of the causes of the poor and underrepresented. She frequently went into community housing projects to organize and educate residents.

When few others would, she spoke up for nearly 50 people living along the site of the former Hickory Street dump. She was also present at the creation of a new civil rights group. The idea to form the Neighborhood Organized Workers (NOW) came about during an impromptu meeting at

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her home. Williams and other like-minded activists saw the need for a different kind of organization in south Alabama, one less centered on individual leaders and devoted instead to group action and education for who she called “the nitty gritty people…the people on the street.”

David Jacobs, the first president of NOW, remembers Williams as a dedicated advocate. “She was the Fannie Lou Hamer of Mobile,” he said recently, an apt description, indeed. Longtime Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson, another early member of NOW, called Williams “unrelenting in her many efforts to destroy every impediment” standing between African Americans and full equality.

Leader of March Williams helped David Jacobs and his

wife, Jacqueline, plan NOW’s first largescale event: a memorial march in honor of the slain Martin Luther King Jr. Although Mobile officials denied them a permit, organizers nonetheless proceeded. An estimated 7,000 people participated in the processional. Williams was right in front.

That same day, at a city-sanctioned memorial service inside the municipal auditorium, Williams and others listened as local ministers and officials paid tribute to King.

It was an event which many felt did not adequately meet the moment. The ceremony galled Williams. “I sat there a little while,” she remembered, “but it was burning in me.

So, I said, ‘No, I’m not going to let them take over. I am just not going to do it.’” She moved quickly to the stage, took control of the microphone, and proceeded to denounce the “rotten” local officials who attempted to

honor King’s life but ignore his work. The crowd joined Williams in her protest and the hastily organized memorial came to an abrupt conclusion.

Williams recalled that it was often difficult to make her voice heard. “I just made myself be recognized,” she remembered. “I just stepped out there.” Sister Patricia Caraher, who taught in Mobile for a number of years and worked alongside Williams, remembers her as an independent thinker, someone unafraid to speak out when necessary. Williams did not varnish her opinion.

If that sometimes made her unpopular or kept her from having a seat at the favored table, then that was simply the price her commitment demanded. “You have to hand it to people like her,” Caraher recalls.

“She didn’t mind saying what needed to be said. It seems to me that’s the kind of thing that Jesus did. So, in that sense, she was a good Catholic and a good Christian.”

Dorothy Parker Williams died in September 1985 at the age of 77. At her funeral mass, friends and family remembered her as a dedicated organizer and champion of causes great and small. In his eulogy, Underhill described one of his last visits to her home. He arrived to find her sleeping at her kitchen table, with newspaper clippings about social justice laying on her chest.

In memorializing Williams’s life and work, the editors of two Port City African American newspapers, the Mobile Beacon and the Inner-City News, both included a quote from the longtime activist, which she gave earlier that year at an awards ceremony in her honor: “Tell your children about the struggle. They need to know the price of freedom. The struggle isn’t over yet.

Our children need to know that this is their struggle, too.” MB

Scotty E. Kirkland is author of the forthcoming book, “Jordan’s Stormy Banks: Politics and Race in Twentieth-Century Mobile.”

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THE ARTS | LITERATURE

Orange Juice Writer Audrey McDonald Atkins knows better than most that Valentine’s Day can be a real kick in the shin. excerpt from the book THEY CALL ME OR ANGE JUICE

by AUDREY MCDONALD ATKINS

O

range juice.

Oh, how those two words haunted me.

Orange juice. Orange juice. Orange juice.

Sounds just like Audrey. At least according to Ronnie. Scrawny, freckled, buck-toothed Ronnie — my fourth-grade nemesis.

Once he made this brilliant connection, that’s all he called me. Over and over again in his singsongy, squeaky voice. I hated the nickname. And I hated Ronnie.

All through the fall he doggedly continued to call me by his chosen moniker. In the classroom. At the buses. On the playground: Red rover, red rover, Send Orange Juice right over!

The worst part? You have to run right over. Everyone knows who Orange Juice is, so it’s not like you can stay in the line quizzically looking around.

Who is this “Orange Juice” to whom they refer? Me? Certainly not.

I wanted to run right over and knock Ronnie’s protruding front teeth down his throat, but all I could do was hurl myself through the clasped hands, tumbling past their grins. The faster I got back in line, the faster they would forget. Send somebody else on over.

I hoped that the long Christmas break would cloud Ronnie’s memory. Maybe distracted by toys and candy and Santa Claus, he would forget all about me. I was wrong. On the very first day back, even before the Pledge of Allegiance, I heard “Heeeeyyyy, Orrrr-aaaannngggeee Joooooossssss!”

I shot him my stoniest nine-year-old glare.

Wither, you moron; wither under my icy stare.

Ronnie didn’t wither. In fact, my increasing exasperation only added to his delight. “Whatcha mad about, Orrrraaaannngggeee Joooooossssss?”

January turned to February, and the class Valentine’s Day party was coming up. We were going to have cupcakes and Kool-Aid. The teacher instructed us to bring Valentines to exchange. “Remember, bring one for everyone,” Mrs. Turner said.

Everyone? Even my archenemy? Even … him!?

The night before the party, I sat at the dining table with my box of paper Valentines. I looked at the cute cartoon kids with their cute cartoon animals. “Be mine!” “You’re super!” “I’d be pleased as punch if you were my Valentine!”

Mentally, I went down each row in the class addressing each little envelope. Pamela. Alice. Amanda. David. Darrell. Stanley, Rachel. Mark.

Ronnie.

Would he know if I spit in his envelope?

 Born and raised in Citronelle, Atkins shares stories about growing up and living in the South in her book, “They Call Me Orange Juice,” and at her blog folkwaysnowadays.com.

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The next day, I got to school with my little sack of Valentines. The classroom was decorated with construction paper hearts, and the reading table held the cupcakes and Kool-Aid. Mama came to the school for the party along with some other mothers, and when everyone had assembled, Mrs. Turner said, “All right, children, you may get up to trade your Valentines.”

We began to file around the room, putting a little card on every desk.

“Where’s my Valentine, Orrrraaaannngggeee Joooooossssss?”

Right here! I thought, and I reared back and kicked Ronnie as hard as I could square in the shin.

And here! And here! And here!

I kicked him until he crawled under the table of cupcakes to get away.

I kicked him as the rest of the class stood in stunned silence. I kicked him for every time he had called me that awful name.

I kicked him until Mama dragged me away.

Mrs. Turner made me sit in the corner for the rest of the party. I didn’t get a cupcake. I didn’t get any Kool-Aid. I didn’t care.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Ronnie, I thought with a smile. Love, Orange Juice. MB

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HISTORY | ASK MCGEHEE

What is the history of the state docks? text by TOM MCGEHEE

The now-named Alabama State Port Authority had a rocky start back in 1908 when a group of Mobilians established a committee to investigate needed improvements for the city’s port. That group reported that the wharves were inadequate and that there were not enough warehouses, loading facilities or rail services. A resolution was passed declaring that “shipping is the most important feature of the city’s commercial life.”

That report was the beginning of a 15-year conflict between the port and upstate opponents. In 1915, the committee made an appeal to the state legislature for assistance but received no response.

The following year, the seven-member State Harbors Commission was formed with appointments from the governor. This commission had control over the state’s rivers as well as its deep water harbor in Mobile.

Unfortunately, the organization was given a very small budget and was plagued by political infighting.

The impasse may have continued had it not been for the effects of World War I. The federal government realized the nation’s ports needed vast improvements, and Congress authorized the secretary of war to withhold federal funds from ports unable to handle increased traffic.

Spreading the Word Congressman John McDuffie spent three months traveling the state and urging support for the state’s investment in Mobile’s docks and terminals. Governor Thomas Kilby was convinced of the importance of Mobile’s port facilities to the state’s economy and arranged for a campaign adding an amendment to Alabama’s constitution creating the state docks.

The first effort in 1920 failed in a statewide

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Above Postcard of the Alabama State Docks, ca. 1940

vote but, in 1922, with the backing of Birmingham steel magnate George Crawford, the amendment was approved by voters and ultimately signed into law by the legislature the next year. A $10 million state bond issuance was approved to be used for the facility’s construction (roughly $151 million in 2021).

A Panama Canal Connection Retired General William L. Seibert, a native of Gadsden who had been responsible for building much of the Panama Canal, accepted the monumental task of overseeing the project, which encompassed 540 acres of swampland just north of downtown Mobile.

The new state docks were completed in 1927 and were considered one of the most modern facilities in the country. The three steel and concrete piers could accommodate 18 ships at once, and a railroad connected the docks to five different rail lines. Within just two years, Mobile boasted more than 50 facilities able to load and unload ships, as well as 32 wharves with rail access.

By 1937, the number of wharves was up to 55 with a combined length of 50,200 feet.

In addition to attracting national firms like ALCOA and International Paper to the area, farmers and those in the seafood industry found the quicker shipment of their products a boon.

McDuffie served five terms in Congress and assisted with numerous improvements to the port. As a result of his efforts, McDuffie Island was named in his memory following his 1950 death.

The docks have grown with the times and today include a very successful container terminal and a soon-to-be completed “roll-on, roll-off” terminal to serve automakers. A massive new freezer complex will aid in the exportation of poultry from Alabama.

The Port Authority has recently announced plans to spend $45 million in improvements to the McDuffie Coal Terminal. Surely the congressman would be proud to see how large and successful a port Mobile has become over the last century. MB

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HISTORY | ASK MCGEHEE

Waxing Nostalgic Take a look at some of the more interesting stories historian Tom McGehee has dug up through the years. text by AMANDA HARTIN

M

obile. Port City. The Azalea City. The City of Six Flags. Mob-Town. Whatever you choose to call the centuries-old burg, just don’t call it boring — its history is as varied as its nicknames. As we give pause to celebrate Mobile Bay’s golden anniversary, we look back at all the things that make us, us, both as a publication and a city. After all, it’s easier to get where you’re going when you know where you’ve been. In 2004, MB launched a new column called Ask Crawford, written by and named after Crawford Binion, and by 2005, it had morphed into Ask McGeehee. While MB had certainly covered history before, this column ushered in the era (that lasts to this day) of ongoing and consistent emphasis on local history with stories ranging from crime to pandemics, from headline-making news to lore. The following is a mere sampling of these columns, all condensed and retold, all equally enthralling.

Bring Out Your Dead |

originally appeared in February 2008 For nearly 200 years, yellow fever ransacked Mobile. Despite people relying on homemade prophylactic regimens, such as

sucking on lemons or drinking whiskey-laced coffee, the disease’s quickly rising death toll led to the city’s eventual quarantine. Yellow flags attached to houses signaled sufferers’ homes.

In the streets, masked and gloved undertakers driving blackdraped carts chanted, “Bring out your dead, bring out your dead.” In some unfortunate cases, the dead would already be outside, stacked three-deep, awaiting transport to the cemetery.

In 1897, the cause of yellow fever was finally settled on (mosquitoes), stagnant ponds were drained, and window screens became the norm, thereby ending the pandemic.

Red Light District |

originally appeared in January 2015 The “Tenderloin District,” Mobile’s equivalent of New Orleans’ Storyville (the area designated by municipal ordinance to regulate prostitution), flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. City leaders, aware of the sordid activity, justified the “workspace” by saying it was better to keep the women in one place than have them traipse about the city, which would be bad for tourism and real estate. In 1913, faculty and students of the nearby Medical College of Alabama started complaining about the women, whose ages typically ranged from 15 to 28 years. The city did not abolish the district, however, until 1918, upon finding out the government refused to put its troops in an area with a red-light district.

Island Life | originally appeared in January 2015 In 1882, a quarantine station, designed to protect the United States from the invasion of tropical diseases, was established on Dauphin Island. Ships entering the Bay required inspection of its passengers and crew. Anyone who exhibited signs of cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, plague, typhus or leprosy was removed from the ship and held at the station. If needed, ships were fumigated with smoldering sulfur. In 1927, a new quarantine facility was erected on a 50-acre site near Choctaw

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Left Mary Eilands, circa mid-1920s. PHOTO COURTESY OF JACK F. ROSS III, THE DOY LEALE MCCALL RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA

Point, colloquially known as “Sand Island.” After World War II, and with the advancement of medicine and sanitation, the 10-building facility became obsolete. It was demolished in 1996, and nothing remains on the now-named McDuffie Island.

Above Madam Lillie Carson, born in 1872, lived in Mobile’s Red Light District on North Cedar Street.

PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA ARCHIVES

Previous page Quarantine structures near Choctaw Point. PHOTO COURTESY DOY LEALE MCCALL RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY , UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA

Love Lost | originally appeared in December 2004 As she wandered the streets from home, to mass, along the waterfront and back home again, she appeared to float. Her long, black silk skirts gave the appearance she was gliding along the ground. Perhaps that’s how she garnered the nickname “Floating Island,” either that or her hair that floated about her shoulders. Or maybe it’s because Eilands was Mary’s last name.

As a young woman, she accepted a marriage proposal from a Confederate veteran. They were to wed upon his return from his fortune-finding voyage. But the wedding never came. Until she died in 1937, at the age of 83, Eilands made a daily pilgrimage to the riverfront docks, waiting for the man who was never to return.

Deadly Affair | originally appeared in June 2011 “She shot me for nothing” were the words local defense attorney Foster Kirksey Hale Jr., uttered with his final breath in June

1931. Hale was at his office that day, then-located at 66 1/2 Michael Street, when his mistress, Willie Mae Hancock, burst in with a loaded .38-caliber revolver. The couple’s story began around 1910, however, when a 13-year-old Hancock caught the attention of a much older Hale. The lawyer told Hancock that when she turned 16, he would divorce his wife and marry her.

But he never did. Two decades later and driven mad, the disgruntled lover stormed Hale’s office and unloaded two bullets.

“He wrecked my life and got what he deserved,” Hancock proclaimed. She stood trial in 1932 and was convicted of seconddegree manslaughter. She served a year-long sentence.

Disasters in the Air | originally appeared in February 2017

Mobile has borne witness to two air disasters, both of which happened during Carnival season. On February 28, 1946,

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a Navy training plane hit the south tower of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and then crashed on South Lawrence Street, killing its pilot. Worse, however, was the crash that happened on February 14, 1953, just south of Fort Morgan. Mobile Register’s February 15 headline decried, “Airliner Vanishes with 49 Persons,” only 17 of whom were ever recovered. After a 43-hour search, the Coast Guard cutter Blackthorn returned to port with the passengers’ mangled remains. The vessel docked shortly after King Felix made his official arrival by boat.

Local Textiles |

originally appeared in September 2017 In 1899, Alabama ranked ninth among cotton manufacturing states. Around that time, Mobile had two cotton mills poised to open, which brought the state’s total to 18 mills. The first, Mobile Cotton Mills, was located about a mile north of Spring Hill Avenue on a property once known as Camp Coppinger, which had operated as a training camp for soldiers during the Spanish-American War. The second, Barker Cotton Mill, was located in now-named Prichard. Both locations set up villages, so to speak, that included a general merchandise store, worker housing and a school for workers and their children. Mill Street in Crichton serves as a reminder of our city’s textile history.

Shoppers’ Paradise | originally appeared in

class. Its original location was the first floor of the Pincus Building, on the corner of Conception and Dauphin streets.

Advertised as “Mobile’s Finest Department Store,” the business grew rapidly, soon moving to a four-story building that boasted plate glass show windows and a marble-framed entrance. By the 1950s, the store had moved again, this time to a three-story space that included a beauty parlor and three-dozen ladies’ fitting rooms. In 1960, a second Gayfer’s was opened, this time in Springdale Plaza, considered to be at the western edge of town. The once-Downtown shopping escape closed in the late 1980s, and the Springdale location was sold to Dillard’s in 1998.

August 2015

Heinous Crime |

British-born Charles John Gayfer arrived in Mobile in 1869, and by 1890, the eponymous, C.J. Gayer & Co., was Mobile’s leading department store, appealing to a prosperous middle

In the early morning of January 23, 1909, Richard Roberson was taken by mob from the Mobile County Jail and hanged on

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originally appeared in April 2016

Left Postcard featuring the Mobile County Courthouse that was located on the northwest corner of South Royal and Church streets.

Inside was a jail, a prisoner of whose was lynched in 1909. The structure was demolished in 1957 and is now the site of Mardi Gras Park.

“Mobile’s Finest Department Store,” Gayfers.

PHOTO COURTESY ERIK OVERBEY COLLECTION, THE DOY LEALE MCCALL RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA

Below left Two young workers at the Barker Cotton Mill, 1914. PHOTO COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

the corner of then-intersecting Church and St. Emanuel streets, in front of an Episcopal church. Roberson was being held for the murder of Phillip Fatch, a young deputy sheriff who was sent to arrest Roberson on assault and battery charges. Rumors bubbled of an impending lynching, but despite being allegedly warned of a potential mob, then-Sheriff Frank Cazalas Sr. did not add additional guards. Mobilians were horrified at such an easy breach of their new jail’s security. But that was not the case — the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the jail was appropriately built and able to withstand a mob. They also ruled that the sheriff had been willfully negligent, and he was subsequently removed from office.

Banned Footwear|

originally appeared in May 2019 Tired of being sued over high-heeled wearers’ twisted ankles and broken bones, Mobile enacted a city ordinance in October 1959, prohibiting women from donning shoes with heels higher than an inch and a half and less than an inch in diameter. This unusual move drew national — and international — attention. U.S. servicemen in Korea wrote city officials asking them not to add form-fitting sweaters to the list of banned fashion. In a move to protect itself, the city required anyone who insisted on the sky-high footwear to sign a permit, indemnifying the city of injuries. High-heeled wearers should still avoid sidewalk grates, however, because Mobile is still protected from lawsuit. MB

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END PIECE | BACKSTORY

All Hail MAMGA Photo courtesy Mobile Press-Register Collection, The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of South Alabama Excerpt from a March 4, 1897, Mobile Daily Register article on the Order of Doves’ 4th annual parade

“…from their quarters through Dauphin, Royal and St. Louis streets to the Gilmer Hall, making a very pretty show. Costumes represented no particular cast, they were made up of silk, satin, velvets and represented princes, knights and cavaliers.”

“MARDI GRAS, while it is talked about from a fun perspective, is really about family, values and culture,” said Kenneth Kelly, the 2020 Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA) Grand Marshal, during a local newscast.

For eight decades, the nonprofit Carnival association has held tight to that perspective, which certainly echoes MAMGA cofounder Dr. Wilborne L. Russell’s proclamation for the organization: to promote knowledge in arts and sciences and to encourage member participation in Mardi Gras events, which will lead to “civic and national betterment.” “I am so honored to have been chosen to be part of this elite group,” says MAMGA’s 1975 Queen Winifred Lucy (pictured below). “I will cherish my reign always.” Lucy currently works for the Mobile Public Library.

Sadly, her King Elixis I, Walker “Champ” LeFlore Jr., passed away in the mid-’90s.

1894 - Order of Doves, believed to be the first Black mystic society in Mobile, is formed.

1938 - First Black Mardi

Gras parade. The first King hailed “Mayor of Carnival.”

1939 - “Colored Carnival

Association” formed. It later became Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA).

1940 - MAMGA’s first Royal Court presented, with King Alex Herman and Queen Aliene Necella Jenkins.

MAMGA pioneer Frederica Evans suggests the title, “King Elixis I,” a moniker that’s still used today.

1956 - MAMGA names

Hank Aaron as its mayor for the celebration.

1969 - MAMGA dedicates its first float warehouse; develops revolutionary system of pulling floats in and out of warehouse.

1974 - Alexis Herman, Azalea Trail Maids greet King Elixis I, Walker “Champ” Beck LeFlore Jr., and his Queen, Winifred Lucy, to MAMGA’s 1975 luncheon held at the Quality Inn.

Secretary of Labor under the last administration of Bill Clinton, named Queen of MAMGA.

1990 - MAMGA celebrates Winifred Lucy (pictured above, as Queen) says her unmistakably 1970s handbag was purchased from either Raphael’s, Lillie Rubin or D.H. Holmes, the latter of which was located in the current Dillard’s location at Bel Air Mall. Her dress, which was blue, came from a New Orleans retailer.

its 50th anniversary.

Always held on Fat Tuesday, MAMGA’s Mammoth parade traditionally falls between the Comic Cowboys’ and the Order of Myths’ processions.

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