Published On: 06.26.23 | 

By: Carrie Kwarcinski

Step into Birmingham, Alabama’s downtown history and food scene with new Geotourist app

Screenshot cafe dupont then and now

Then and now: a historic image of the building in downtown Birmingham that is now the home of Cafe Dupont. Learn about them both in a new walking tour on the Geotourist app. (Current photo by Cary Norton)

Downtown Birmingham’s dining and beverage scene is more alive than ever, and now visitors can taste the history on a walking tour featuring interviews from chefs and owners of 11 restaurants in the central business district.

Southern Foodways Alliance partnered with Michelle Little, oral historian and audio producer, to create the one-mile walking tour, which displays the beauty in the stories behind the buildings but also reflects a new life and culture represented through cuisine and cocktails.

The inspiration behind the project was to learn more about why unique, historic buildings like Birmingham’s First National Bank, and what is now known as Founders Station, remained vacant for many years.

“Particularly, how so many of them sat empty, for so long,” Little explained about her research on the central business district. “Nobody knew if anything would come to life there again.”

The Birmingham’s Central Business District Then & Now tour is accessible through the free Geotourist app, which enables participants to find directions through Google or Apple maps or experience the tour from home.

Each owner and chef take listeners on a journey through the history behind their renovated restaurant and the creative process of linking the food to the atmosphere of the space. While the dishes and drinks are delicious, the connection between the architecture, community and food are what make the experience more special.

While walking along 20th Street North, or enjoying the tour from the comfort of home, visitors can listen to condensed versions of in-depth interviews conducted by Little and archived on the Southern Foodways website. At each stop along the way, listeners learn about the development and inspiration behind local restaurants.

Josh Schaff, co-owner of the restaurant Cayo CoCo, described during his interview how remarkable the process of envisioning and designing a space is in a developing city.

“Birmingham, people are always saying we’re on the cusp of something greater. I love this city because we’re not too packed yet, right? It’s still very easy to travel around and walk around and find these eclectic holes-in-the-wall. People who have envisioned taking a space, an old architectural building, and maybe putting their own spin on it and seeing what was there and what it’s become” Schaff said.

“One of the things that we love is the daily, right? It is the community, it’s the neighborhood. It’s being able to say hello to a lot of the same people,” says Kristen Hall, co-chef of The Essential with Victor King, in her interview on the Geotourist app.

Beginning in the late 1900s, theaters and department stores closed shops downtown and crowds began to spend most of their time in the suburbs. Now, the growth of the restaurant and bar scene is a key factor in what is attracting people to rediscover the central business district.

Andrew Collins, of The Collins Bar, with Michelle Little. (contributed)

“Someone like Chris Dupont (the original owner of Café Dupont on 20th Street) – who bought that building when there was nothing else on that street – so much so that he had to ask the city to turn the lights on at night,” said Little. “It’s amazing to me that these people had this kind of vision and took a chance, and then to see what became of all that.”

Here is the list of 11 restaurants featured on the Geotourist walking tour that are among the many downtown establishments providing new energy and flavors to the city, and the people interviewed at each stop:

“It’s just fun to be a part of the Magic City coming alive again,” said Rob McDaniel, owner and executive chef of Helen, in his interview on the Geotourist app.

To learn more about the tour, download the Geotourist app and search for “Birmingham’s Central Business District Then & Now” or visit the Southern Food Alliance website.

A screenshot of the downtown Birmingham “Then & Now” tour on the Geotourist app. (Geotourist)