Are there any 'liberal'/conscious/new ager/'hippie' type people living in Birmingham? (Talladega: squatters)

[Terra_lioness]

Hi everyone. I am moving to the Birmingham area from southern California in three weeks with my husband I while I hate using all these 'labels' to describe different types of people and their mindsets, I need to ask this question. How do I put this without it sounding bad??

I am originally from New York City but I lived in the south before (5 years in Nashville) so Birmingham won't be a culture shock for me, but Im wondering if there is some kind of "alternative" culture there, like 'new age'/wiccan/gay/hippies/artists/conscious/musicians/liberals/multi-cultural/etc places?

[Strangejelly]

Bottletree bar and that's it. Maybe the Plaza afterwards.

[cpg35223]

Sure. On Southside, there's a good bit of that. Maybe not on the scale of Southern California, but it exists.

[birminghamster]

Yes, quite a bit, see Southside, Crestwood, or Avondale.

[steveklein]

As others have said, Southside and other neighborhoods which house university students and 20somethings will have a decent bit of it. Not nearly on the scale of California, but there are areas where you wouldn't feel like an outsider.

[bluebeard]

As mentioned: small pockets in southside.

[Miv]

Originally Posted by Terra_lioness

Hi everyone. I am moving to the Birmingham area from southern California in three weeks with my husband I while I hate using all these 'labels' to describe different types of people and their mindsets, I need to ask this question. How do I put this without it sounding bad??

I am originally from New York City but I lived in the south before (5 years in Nashville) so Birmingham won't be a culture shock for me, but Im wondering if there is some kind of "alternative" culture there, like 'new age'/wiccan/gay/hippies/artists/conscious/musicians/liberals/multi-cultural/etc places?

Just hang out here, Alabama's largest Metaphysical and Coffee Shop , and you will make lots of friends.

FYI: Beware of the hippies who are STILL trying to live in Talladega National Forest; the sheriff will haul you off to jail.

[HipLib]

I was going to mention Books, Beans and Candles. Strangejelly is wrong about the Bottle Tree and the Plaza being the only places where alternative people hang out. The largest gay bar in town is The Quest on 24th street and 5th avenue south. There are also Al's on Seventh and Our Place just a few blocks away. Not specifically a gay bar but The Nick is also the hangout of alternative types. Bars aside there are also a few very liberal churches. We have a Unitarian Universalist church on West Valley Avenue. Unity Church on Highland Avenue is Christian but certainly not anything close to traditional Christians. They consider themselves a metaphysical church and have many New Age beliefs. There's also the very diverse, very liberal Beloved Community Church in Avondale.

[Terra_lioness]

YAY!!!! lol Thankyou SOOOO much everyone!!! I really appreciate the feedback because I tried doing a google search and had a hard time narrowing it down. :-D your response means alot to me.

@Miv: The Metaphysical Coffee Shop sounds awesome! We will definitely be visiting! We will avoid the hippie squatters in the Forest. LOL :-) Thanks again

@HipLib: I noticed that Birmingham had gay pride parade but I couldnt find out where the gay bars were :-) We attend a metaphysical church out here in california and I was worried we wouldn't find a similar church out in Birmingham, but thanks to your post I see there is. <3 Thanks again :-)