By Lee Davis For 120 years, few family businesses have been more intertwined with the history of the Birmingham community than Rosenberger’s Birmingham Trunk Factory. Founded by J.D. Rosenberger in 1897, the company originally specialized in luggage, leather goods and travel items. Its logo – an elephant placing one foot on top of a trunk – became an iconic symbol. Through … [Read more...]
From the Stove to the Store: Bamawise Helps Alabama Food Vendors Get Retail-Ready
By Donna CorneliusYou’ve got a great salad dressing/pickle/strawberry jam recipe. It’s so good, in fact, that your friends are always saying you need to sell the stuff. There’s just one problem: You’ve got no clue how to get your delicious food from the stove to the store shelves. Enter Bamawise, a Birmingham company that specializes in helping small food vendors make … [Read more...]
Boys Club No Match for Sisterhood: Homewood Runner Reflects on Her Time as First Female President of the Birmingham Track Club
By Sarah Kuper On any given day Over the Mountain, dozens of runners tackle steep hills and brave the heat or cold to stay fit and have fun. But Melinda Underwood, first female president of the Birmingham Track Club, in 1982, said it wasn’t always that way – especially with regard to women. “Back then, women weren’t doing much of anything like that. No one would just go out … [Read more...]
The Gift of Giving: Local Nonprofits Offer Holiday Gifts That Give Back
By Emily Williams The holiday season revives fond memories of pumpkin-spiced beverages, homes dressed in lights and a general cheeriness in the air. Then there are the less fond memories, most notably of shopping. It’s a time of year when you are scrambling to cross off every item on your list and drum up a gift idea for that friend or relative who “has everything.” Local … [Read more...]
Black, White and Fun All Over: Vogtles’ Art-Filled House Is Stylish but Family-Friendly
By Donna Cornelius Saying that a house is filled with its owners’ art collection might conjure mental pictures of a prim and proper place that resembles a museum more than a family home. Laura and Jesse Vogtle do, indeed, have an extensive array of artwork – she’s the owner of Gallery 1930 in English Village and Scene at Pepper Place – but their Mountain Brook house is more … [Read more...]