Hello.
I hope you are all well and enjoying summer the best you can under pandemic rules. And hurricanes.
Maple Road Progress
The city announced that the Maple Road reconstruction project is 2/3 complete. New concrete paving will soon be completed. Work on sidewalks, planter boxes, trees and lighting has begun at Woodward, moving west to Old Woodward.
Here are two short videos from the City:
And some of my own pictures:
Too soon to breathe a sigh of relief - the City just announced the closure of the intersection of Southfield Road and Maple Road. They are taking this opportunity to change the angle of the intersection from 45 degrees to 90 degrees, in order to increase safety.
Birmingham Projects
The Children’s Room expansion at the Baldwin Library is complete and open. The landscaping will wait until fall.
The Daxton Hotel is looking very impressive, like something out of New York. I’m eager to see this completed. It would be nice to have a vaccine by then so I won’t have to wear a mask to visit the bar for the first time.
[Here’s a thought... Remember how we all had to go to the schools, for me Derby, to eat a sugar cube treated with polio vaccine? Maybe for Covid they could administer the vaccine in the cocktail of your choice!]
The NE corner of Maple and Old Woodward has been vacant since a Panera restaurant moved out. The snazzy-in-it’s-time travertine facade is looking rather bland and tired. Last week I was walking by and saw a large rendering “for conceptual purposes only” in the window. They are proposing a brick facade with really interesting limestone inserts. I thought it was very nice that a developer or landlord would be so sensitive as to harken back to the feeling of a historical Birmingham much before our time. Imagine my surprise when I turned the corner and found large historical photographs of the antique facade and it’s what they are restoring!
After the previous projects, here’s one that’s looks like a real dog, on the site of The Varsity Shop. I don’t know how this got approved since the 2016 Plan forbade ribbon windows. Perhaps the City has abandoned the 2016 Plan.
Facebook: POSTCARDS and PASTCARDS
I need to apologize. The directions seemed very clear to me about how to assign or “tag” posts by topic. What I didn’t realize is that I could do it as an Administrator but that function is not available to all of you. So new directions: just post your photos and your descriptions will inform Mary and myself as to which tag to apply.
ZOOM
If you have a device with a camera (computer, tablet or phone), you can have a mini-reunion of your high school friends with ZOOM. It’s a free app, and easy to learn, but if you are technically challenged please remember that Karen Roth Slepchuk has offered her services to set up reunions for you.
Contact Karen to discuss: slepchuk@comcast.net
EMAIL DIRECTORY
We have an EMAIL DIRECTORY page available on our website, to help us reach out to one another while we wait for an actual reunion. Don’t forget to notify me if you would like your email address to be included in the directory.
Another year every month.
We are celebrating every year from our birth to graduation with music and photos. Last month: 1952.
Personally, I have always enjoyed the song, Wheel Of Fortune sung by Kay Starr, ever since seeing the movie LA Confidential. Who knew that song was from 1952?
And this wonderful photograph from 1952 appeared on facebook, proving that Jim Hagen was raised on Kodachrome:
This month: 1953
From Stan Wallace: My mother introducing me to our new home in Birmingham in April of 1953. The tree line in the background is the western boundary of the Clover Hill Park Cemetery on 14 Mile Road. (Established in 1918 by Congregation Shaarey Zedek)
Ready to dance?
Billboard Top Hits of 1953: https://youtu.be/22EJGODrlNw
Do all you can to stay well,
Wood
Website: seaholmclassof1970.com
Case-sensitive password: SHS70@50
Facebook: Seaholm Class of 1970
Ask to join.
ZOOM reunions: slepchuk@comcast.net