Moving to Birmingham (Hoover, Southside, Avon: middle-class, rental, lofts)

[AllPro]

Hello I may be moving to Birmingham soon and I want to know where is a good place for a 31 year old, black male, who is single, with no kids should live. I have lived in big cities all of my life so this will be a change; I have lived in DC, Baltimore, and Chicago where I will be moving from so I guess I want to know best places to live for someone like myself. Also any information about the nightlife would be helpful as well. Thanks for any feedback...

[fishmonger]

Birmingham obviously isn't a big city compared to Chicago, DC, etc., but if you want the closest approximation to that you'd probably want to live in one of the nicer in-town neighborhoods, like Southside (has almost all of the city's nightlife, diverse population), or Avondale, Glen Iris... pretty much the whole area south and southeast of downtown is nice and generally more "city" than "suburbia..." Most of these areas are probably about half and half white people and black people, pretty diverse economically as well.

Birmingham's a very sprawly city, so most of the middle-class and above areas are outside the city limits... a large portion of the actual city is very run-down and crime ridden (sort of like DC or Baltimore, maybe)? Also pretty segregated with white people living in certain areas for the most part and black people living in others, Latinos living in their own little enclaves, etc. There are a lot of exceptions to this, though.

[Twostep]

There must be a Birmingham I have not yet discovered :>(

Welcome to Birmingham! You will enjoy your life in our city. What area of town will you be working in, what expectations do you have as far as housing is concerned, what do you do for fun? It is not a small town and you may want to consider your daily commute.

[AllPro]

Thanks for the feedback thus far. I will be working in the south suburbs near Samford University. My housing expectations are that I know I can get more house in Birmingham then any city I lived in for example in DC normal 3 bedroom 2 bath homes start at 400K which is out of my price range which is why I am looking to move to the south. As far as fun goes I am more into lounges then clubs, but I do ventur to a club from time to time. I also enjoy normal activities like concerts, comedy shows, bowling, movies, church activities, etc. The biggest thing I will miss is the professional teams in the city such as football, basketball, etc. As far as the commute is concern I am not worried. I have lived in two of the worst cities for traffic in DC and Chicago so Birmingham will be a relief.

[HTOWNLUV]

Hello AllPro,

My Husband just moved from Bham to Houston 1 year ago and he has some insight about the City. He suggested that you try the Hoover area of town to live. As far as urban night life you can check out www.Urbanham.com . He says check out a place called the Blue Monkey Lounge and Five Points South which is a place that has different bars , restaurants and shops. There is a website you can check out. Its every thing Alabama www.al.com/birmingham and www.bcvb.org these websites should hel you out as far as getting to know whats going on in the city and some of the activities you can do.
Good Luck,

HTOWNLUV

[AllPro]

HTOWNLUV thanks for the websites and information it is a great help!!!

[Twostep]

http://main.uab.edu/sites/ASC/

ASC Social Club is great for networking.
Ticket pre-sale is going on right now. FYI - you can return/cancel tickets even on the day of the performance. Parking is no issue, minutes from FivePoints.

[GLENNEBRANDONJR]

Originally Posted by AllPro

Hello I may be moving to Birmingham soon and I want to know where is a good place for a 31 year old, black male, who is single, with no kids should live. I have lived in big cities all of my life so this will be a change; I have lived in DC, Baltimore, and Chicago where I will be moving from so I guess I want to know best places to live for someone like myself. Also any information about the nightlife would be helpful as well. Thanks for any feedback...

try forest park neat old houses stay east of 20th st on southside the lofts downtown are very nice thanks
Moderator cut: manual signature/personal contact info

[kristad1973]

HOOVER 4-sure

[etjudge]

Hey,

I am a 33 year old African American, single, female, professional living in Philadelphia, PA (big problems here, lots of crime, high rental rates, hatred, unfriendly people...) However, I am thinking about relocating to Birmingham, AL. Please let me know your thoughts on the culture, rental rates, area malls,ect.