Mobile Bay THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE FOR MOBILE AND BALDWIN COUNTIES
May 2018
THE COASTAL ISSUE
1968 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WERE THEY RIGHT ABOUT MOBILE?
JACK EDWARDS
AND RONALD REAGAN STOP FOR MCDONALD’S BLESSINGS OF
BAYOU LA BATRE
POKER RUN WATT KEY’S DELTA FUN
EL PAPI
THE BEST NEW PATIO IN TOWN
Dinner on the
BEACH INSPIRED COASTAL MENU FROM THE CHEF OF THE NOBLE SOUTH
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FEATURES MAY 2018
33
VOLUME XXXIV / ISSUE 5
33
When the Dealin’s Done The High Flying Chickasaw Poker Run, deep in the Delta, is the most unusual party you’ll ever attend.
40 YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOU’LL MEET AT A STOP ON THE HIGH FLYING CHICKASAW POKER RUN. PHOTO BY MATTHEW COUGHLIN
Down in the Bayou Bayou La Batre is a less-traveled hub of industry and family charm, with miles of history and tradition to discover.
48
National Geographic Revisited A half century after Mobile was featured in the national magazine, MB looks at what’s changed in the Azalea City.
ON OUR COVER
Lesley Rainosek sips a beachy cocktail while the sun goes down on the supper club gathering. Lesley’s top, earrings and bracelets by Sway in Fairhope. PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU
Fifty years mark a golden anniversary in the stages of life. Mobile has passed many milestones since its feature in National Geographic 50 years ago, revisited on page 48.
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DEPARTMENTS MAY 2018
VOLUME XXXIV / ISSUE 5
20 23
20 23
LEFT The patio of El Papi is a welcome refuge from the streets of downtown, where margaritas and Mexican food await. PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU RIGHT Courtney Murphy and Sarah Luce enjoy a meal in the sand prepared by chef Chris Rainosek of The Noble South. PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU
9 EDITOR’S NOTE 10 REACTION 13 ODDS & ENDS 14 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD You Deserve a Break Today Representative Jack Edwards recalls a tasty detour with President Reagan.
20 TASTINGS El Papi Mexican eats and drinks are no farther than a drive downtown.
82 ARCHIVES Funny Mobile Customs Frances Beverly reveals the quirky practices of historic Mobile natives.
23 BAY TABLES A Foodie Escape Chef Chris Rainosek creates the perfect beachside supper club menu.
84 ASK MCGEHEE When was Mobile’s airport downtown? Legion Field and Bates Field gave Mobile flyers a landing point well before the Municipal Airport.
16 GUMBO 74 LITERATURE What’s Your Coastal Character? A Dream Deferred Find your next coastal vacation Mobile native Lauren Denton shares destination with this summer satire. an excerpt from “Hurricane Season.” 76 MAY CALENDAR
19 THE DISH
86 IN LIVING COLOR Ambulance at Bienville, 1906 Horses once pulled Mobile’s emergency vehicles.
Landing on the USA Today Bestseller list is no small task, yet Mobilian Lauren Denton has already scored it once. Her latest novel “Hurricane Season,” featured on page 74, proves her skill with the quill yet again.
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Mobile Bay VOLUME XXXIV
No5
MAY 2018
PUBLISHER T. J. Potts
ASSISTANT PUBLISHER
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
EXECUTIVE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR/WEB
SENIOR WRITER EDITORIAL ASSISTANT PRODUCTION DIRECTOR ART DIRECTOR EDITORIAL INTERN
Stephen Potts Judy Culbreth Maggie Lacey Abby Parrott Breck Pappas Hallie King Gin Mathers Laurie Kilpatrick John Robertson
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Joseph A. Hyland Adelaide McAleer Anna Pavao
ADMINISTRATION CIRCULATION Anita Miller ACCOUNTING Keith Crabtree
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Frances Beverly, Mallory Boykin, Emmett Burnett, Lauren K. Denton, Representative Jack Edwards, Watt Key, Tom McGehee CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Tomas Castelazo, Colleen Comer, Matthew Coughlin, Elizabeth Gelineau, Chad Riley, Michelle Stancil, Michael Thomas ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES
3729 Cottage Hill Road, Suite H Mobile, AL 36609-6500 251-473-6269 Subscription rate is $21.95 per year. Subscription inquiries and all remittances should be sent to: Mobile Bay P.O. Box 923773 Norcross, GA 30010-3773 1-855-357-3137 MOVING? Please note: U.S. Postal Service will not forward magazines mailed through their bulk mail unit. Please send old label along with your new address four to six weeks prior to moving. Mobile Bay is published 12 times per year for the Gulf Coast area. All contents © 2018 by PMT Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of the contents without written permission is prohibited. Comments written in this magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the ownership or the management of Mobile Bay. This magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. All submissions will be edited for length, clarity and style. PUBLISHED BY PMT PUBLISHING INC .
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EXTRAS | EDITOR’S NOTE
Beachy Keen
PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU
Y
ou might wonder why Mobile Bay has a “coastal” issue when clearly every issue in some way involves Mobile Bay and the nearby Gulf of Mexico. There is no avoiding it, water is a part of life around here. It certainly had a major impact on my upbringing and spurred my sense of adventure. As a young child I vacationed with my family on Dauphin Island, and we relished the cold wintry days by a beach bonfire as much as the steamy nights floundering in the Mississippi Sound. Back then — and maybe still today — Dauphin Island was a sleepy place where folks had to make their own excitement. Us kids spent hours digging big pits in the sand, topping them with beach umbrellas to make underground playhouses. We rode bikes to None in Hell, which sold the best shaved ice and promised that in hell, there would be none! And I am sure they were right. We ate mounds of fried seafood at the Seafood Shanty and dipped our toes in the super-mod pool at the Isle Dauphine. It was paradise. For every person who relishes the solitude of Dauphin Island, there is another who seeks out the hubbub of the Mullet Toss or the camaraderie of Robinson’s Island on a holiday weekend. There is waterfront fun to be had of every sort around Mobile, and this issue celebrates all of it. Beachfront dinner parties, trips to the Bayou and island personality tests pepper the pages that follow. Don’t miss the latest tale from local author Watt Key, who recounts annual shenanigans in the Mobile River Delta. When a flotilla of boats descend upon the camps that dot the riverbanks, food, fun and mischief are sure to happen. Here’s hoping you can find plenty of good-natured mischief of your own on the water really soon!
Maggie Lacey EXECUTIVE EDITOR
maggie@pmtpublishing.com
PROTECT! LOVED GETTING TO KNOW THE FRESH FACES BEHIND A NEW HEALTHY SKINCARE MOVEMENT IN LAST MONTH’S ARTICLE, “ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE.” NOW I’M HOOKED ON THIS BEAUTYCOUNTER SUNSCREEN STICK, AND BONUS — IT’S ALL NON-TOXIC!
[ESSENTIALS] NOW THAT WARM WEATHER IS HERE AND THE COAST IS ON MY MIND, WE PULLED TOGETHER A FEW MUST-HAVES FOR SUN AND SHORE.
THAT’S A WRAP LOVE THESE TURKISH BEACH TOWELS FROM SCENTS AND FEEL AT LIVING WELL IN FAIRHOPE. CAN I GET ONE IN EVERY COLOR?
CAN IT WINE ENTHUSIASTS ARE COMING AROUND TO WINE IN A CAN — PERFECT TO PACK FOR THE BEACH, POOL OR AN OUTDOOR PARTY! THIS EASY-DRINKING WINE WILL BE SOLD AT ALL THREE LOCATIONS OF RED OR WHITE.
IN THE BAG THESE RUBBER BEACH BAGS FROM BIG CITY TOYS ARE PERFECT FOR SAND AND HIGH ADVENTURE!
The High Flying Chickasaw is a boater’s go-to salute
when passing others in the Mobile River Delta, according to Watt Key. No goofy waves, just a casual two finger salute gets the job done. Read more on page 33.
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EXTRAS | REACTION
THE DEESE FAMILY HOME IN MONTROSE. PHOTO BY TED MILES
Tell us how you really feel...
[MORE ONLINE]
Find additional local stories on mobilebaymag.com. Here’s what’s new on the website! Mother’s Day Sale! From May 1 - 13, purchase a 1-year Mobile Bay gift subscription for just $10! Use code “THANKSMOM” at checkout to receive your discount.
Summer To-Do List
A HOME LIKE NO OTHER
PULL UP A CHAIR
On March’s “Moonshine Manor” on the Deese family’s Montrose home
On March’s “Demystifying the Crawfish Boil” at Old 27 Grill
I can feel the life and love you’ve poured into your home. It’s wonderful!
That place is amazing. Shrimp tacos with comeback sauce ... yes, please!
- Suzanne Hicks
- Debbie Still Morgan
Beautiful article! Beautiful home! - Diana Munoz Will
One of our spring / summer go-to restaurants! We love to sit outside when there’s live music.
I KNOW HIM!
- Lori Hall Demouy
On March’s “In Living Color” That super-cute young fisherman is Basil T. McNeely (son of S. Blake McNeely, who took the photo). He would have been 92 now. He retained a lifelong love of fishing up until his death in 1987, though most of his later fishing was at Dauphin Island. Beautiful color work on the photo!
If you’ve never been to Old 27 Grill, you are missing a treat. Food is great, but add that bacon to anything or eat it by itself and you’ll really enjoy it. Take some home, too. They sell it by the pound. Also, if you like a great venue for friends and family, Old 27 Grill is the place to go. Save room for dessert. You’ll be amazed.
- Harriet McNeely (Basil’s widow)
- David Watson
CAN YOU SAY CHEESE? On March’s Ask McGehee about the history of the Cheese Cottage building Just went there today for the first time and heard about its history. What a cool place! - Karen Smith Walton
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PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU
Summer is almost here! Time to kick back, relax and enjoy all the cool things the Bay area has to offer. Print our list and go exploring!
Bottoms Up We’re serving up a compilation of some of our favorite fruity cocktail recipes, perfect for outdoor entertaining with friends or family.
Join Our List Get the latest in fashion, food, art and events delivered right to your inbox. Visit mobilebaymag.com to sign up for our email list.
Party Pics GETTING TO KNOW YOU Do you have an idea for a story or want to share your thoughts and reactions to this issue with us? EMAIL maggie@pmtpublishing.com
Share your event! Just fill out the Party Pics registration form on the MB website and submit your event photos to be featured in a gallery on the Web.
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EXTRAS | ODDS & ENDS
The Coast is Clear text by HALLIE KING
150
[ MAY 7th ]
NATIONAL
TOURISM DAY The Gulf Coast is a tourist destination for travelers from around the world, and our home turf has plenty to offer! Welcome a visitor and show them all of the developments that Mobile has made, as evident in National Geographic, page 48.
“
In a vision I had yesterday/ It rained so hard that I drowned/ While I waited for a hurricane to die down/ The raging water rolling over me was wild as a heart/ That love cannot tie down
”
“Savannah, Fare You Well” by Jimmy Buffett. Get a taste of prose by another Mobile native in “Hurricane Season” by Lauren Denton, page 74.
$23.6 BILLION
spent on Mother’s Day in 2017. Celebrate all of the wonderful Mobile moms on Sunday, May 13.
ONE OF A KIND May is the only month in 2018 that begins on a Tuesday!
The first nationwide celebration of Memorial Day took place 150 years ago, when Union General John A. Logan coined “Decoration Day” in 1868. It is now observed on the last Monday of May, which was officially declared a national holiday in 1971. Don’t forget about the National Moment of Remembrance, an act that requests every citizen to take a moment of silence at 3 p.m. local time.
SHAKE THE SAND FROM YOUR SHOES The beautiful white sand beaches along the Alabama coast are made up of quartz that was washed from the Appalachian Mountain chain and deposited into the Gulf of Mexico thousands of years ago. Other minerals were once in the mix as well, but because quartz is so durable, it remained behind while others disintegrated.
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HISTORY | CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
You Deserve a Break Today Jack Edwards, representative for Alabama’s First Congressional District from 1965 to 1985, reminisces about President Ronald Reagan and the motorcade detour heard ‘round Huntsville. as told to BRECK PAPPAS
I
had the privilege of working alongside six presidents during my 20 years in Congress. This included Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush (although he was vice president at the time). Back in those days, the president met with the leaders of Congress — House and Senate, Democrat and Republican — at the White House almost every Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. for an hour or so in the Cabinet Room. I was always involved in those weekly meetings beginning with President Nixon because I was the elected vice chairman of the House republicans. Of the presidents I worked under, I had special relationships with Presidents Ford and Reagan. President Reagan was a very personable and available president. He called me in so many unexpected places to speak seriously about bills we were working on. I remember one instance, sometime in the early ’80s, when I was trying to get the Defense Appropriations Bill through the House of Representatives. It took longer than we hoped it was going to take, and by the time we got through with the bill, it was about 11 “Of the presidents I p.m. My wife Jolane had been sitting up in the gallery in her evening dress worked under, I had because we were supposed to go to the special relationships French Embassy for a reception. She finally just had to go home because the with Presidents reception had ended long before the Ford and Reagan. bill passed. Early the next morning, I had to catch President Reagan was a plane to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a very personable and give a talk to the leaders of the defense industry. I had just finished my speech available president. and we were having a Q&A session when He called me in so a staffer put a note in front of me saying that President Reagan wanted to speak many unexpected with me. Well, I thought I’d have a little places to speak fun, so I said, “I know y’all are looking seriously about bills to see what this note is they just put in front of me, and I’ll read it to you. It says we were working on.” ‘President Reagan wants to talk to you.’” I paused for a moment to let that
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ABOVE Jack Edwards shakes hands with President Reagan at an Alabama airport.
sink in, then I said, “Who’s got the next question? I’ll call him later.” They all sat there for a minute, totally silent. Then the room broke up laughing, and they were saying, “Go call the president!” So I went into the next room and called him. He said, “Jack, I want to thank you so much for staying late and getting that bill through. It was very important. And I also want you to tell Jolane that I understand she was sitting up in the gallery in her evening dress waiting to go to a reception and never did get to go. I want you to tell her how sorry I am.” That’s just the kind of guy he was. Some staffer told him that, and he felt the need to apologize. Another time, in the summer of 1984, President Reagan came down to Alabama to speak in Decatur. Air Force One flew to Huntsville, then the motorcade traveled to Decatur.
After the event, the motorcade was returning to Huntsville. Highway patrol led the way, followed by the president’s limousine, then the Secret Service, then the car I was riding in with Sen. Jeremiah Denton. There was a media pool in there as well. Well, our motorcade flew right by the turn to the Huntsville airport. I said to Sen. Denton, “Jerry, that’s our turn right there!” He said, “Oh no, they know where they’re going.” I said again, “That is the road to the airport!” We went another quarter of a mile, and the whole motorcade turned into a McDonald’s parking lot. It looped all the way around the back of the restaurant, came back around the other side, and the president’s car stopped right at the door. The president got out with Jim Baker, his chief of staff in those days, and they walked into McDonald’s. The media was going crazy at this point. Nobody knew this was going to happen. They were jumping out of their car trying to get inside the restaurant. Sen. Denton and I got out of our car, went inside, and by the time we got in, the president had a hamburger, an order of french fries and a Coke. There were two guys sitting at a table, talking about whatever, and the president of the United States walked up and said, “Can I join y’all?” These guys’ jaws hit the table, but he sat down with them and finished his hamburger and Coke. Now this was back in the day when my wife would let me drink strawberry milkshakes, so I got myself one of those. As we left the restaurant, Jim Baker said, “Jack, why don’t you ride the rest of the way to the airport with President Reagan? You’re retiring soon, so it’ll be nice for y’all to have a visit in the car.” So I got in the car with President Reagan, the two of us sitting in the back seat and Jim Baker sitting in the seat facing the backseat, and there we went down the highway again to the airport — the president finishing off his french fries and waving out his window, while I’m sucking on my milkshake and waving at the crowd from the other window. By the time we got to the airport, I could have sworn I was president. MB
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GUMBO | OBSERVATIONS
What’s Your Coastal Character? The beaches along the Gulf Coast are as varied as the personalities of those who frequent them, but some rules seem to apply. text by HALLIE KING
GAILLARD ISLAND
DAUPHIN ISLAND
OUTFIT
Long sleeve Patagonia shirt and quick-dry pants
A Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo t-shirt and swimsuit
BOAT
Pathfinder equipped for inshore fishing
A hand-me-down Boston Whaler. It runs great!
COOLER
An Orca stocked with waters and a light snack
A classic red Igloo
MANTRA
“Have your heard about the coal ash?”
“We went floundering last night in the sound and caught a whopper!”
SEAFOOD
Sheepshead, fresh caught
A shrimp boil
ACCESSORY
A hat that clips to your collar
A cast net
DRINK
The occasional Heinekin
A beer-rita
TAN LINE
Tan found only between your sunglasses and neck gaiter
Tan found mainly on your legs
HAT
Big-brimmed and quick drying
A visor
TATTOO LEVEL
5%, with your favorite animal making a small appearance
50%, a few but nothing too obtrusive
You heard the call of the wild and belong among the birds! You enjoy the comfort of a quiet space and the serenity of quaint surroundings, and you don’t enjoy being disturbed when you’re having time to yourself.
Welcome to “the Island!” You fit right in with the laid-back, welcoming community. You’re familyoriented and view the beach as a home just as much as a destination.
GRAVINE ISLAND
POINT CLEAR
Cut-off jean shorts and little else
Seersucker shorts and loafers without socks
Aftcos and a Columbia PFG shirt
A hot pink muscle shirt and flip flops
Purple glitter bass boat with astroturf deck
A perfectly restored Stauter Cedar Point Special
A Jupiter center console with triple 400 horsepower engines
A pool float, because who needs a motor?
A five-gallon bucket
Soft-sided and pulled in a red wagon
A giant Yeti
White plastic foam with a lid
“Gitt’r done.”
“Did i hear the bell ringing for a jubilee this morning?”
“We’re heading to Pinfish to anchor up to Dad’s Viking!”
“So cool, brah!”
Fried mullet caught by a cousin
Crabmeat-stuffed flounder
Fresh tuna
Whatever the “white fish” is
An e-cig
A few kids in seersucker bathing suits
A Shimano 30 wide
A portable boombox
Natural Light
White wine, perfectly chilled
A Blackberry Farm saison
A margarita in the sand
Tan found in every possible spot
Tan found only in appropriate areas
Tan found on your face and shoulders
Tan found anywhere I can get it
A non-ironic trucker hat
A straw hat
A perfectly bent ball cap
An ironic trucker hat
150%, and ready for more
0%, because you don’t like tattoos
10%, with one or two that are well-hidden
100%, with plenty to show off
The boardwalk called and you answered! You avoid the sand and like to stay clean and tidy. You’re relaxed but sophisticated, and enjoy sunsets on the wharf every evening.
Congratulations on your new home! You enjoy having your own space that reflects your great sense of style, but also value tight-knit community bonds and enjoy sharing your space with friends.
Hang loose and hit the beaches! You’re young, trendy but original and always up for a party. You enjoy following the crowd and flaunting every beach accessory you can find.
Ooo-wee! You’re here for a good time and follow the official island Facebook page for all of the essential updates. You don’t mind a crowd and feed off of the energy of those around you.
ONO ISLAND
GULF SHORES
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FOOD | THE DISH
Bite of the Bay MB’s contributing food fanatics share the local dishes that made them hungry for more.
MARY STEWART NELSON, Strategic Market Director, Johnson & Johnson
SALAD AND SANDWICH AT 7 SPICE “My son and I had a lunch date at 7 Spice Grill, and for my main course I had the eggplant Parmesan sandwich with a Greek side salad and grilled vegetables. The eggplant was well-seasoned and covered in tasty toppings, and Mediterranean spices perfectly complemented the grilled vegetables. The citrus salad dressing, light and refreshing, had a perfect punch of citrus and oil. 7 Spice was a wonderful surprise in an Airport Boulevard strip mall.” 7 SPICE MEDITERRANEAN GRILL • 3762 AIRPORT BLVD. • 725-1177 • FACEBOOK. COM/7SPICEMEDITERRANEANGRILL/
TAYLOR HOUSER, Advancement Director, Bayside Academy
GRILLED CHEESE AT SOUTHWOOD KITCHEN “A recent escape for lunch took me to Southwood Kitchen. I started with a cup of tomato basil soup and enjoyed a grown up grilled cheese as my main dish. It was divine with smoked Gouda, roasted turkey, tomato and bacon served on nice white toast. A sophisticated twist on an old staple.” SOUTHWOOD KITCHEN • 1203 U.S. HWY 98 SUITE 3D, DAPHNE • 626-6676 SOUTHWOODKITCHEN.COM
SCOTT SPECK, Music Director, Mobile Symphony Orchestra
GROUPER AT FELIX’S “There’s a lot to love about Felix’s on the Causeway, but the grouper (which seems to be the fish of the day more often than any other) is the best I’ve had anywhere. Grilled, blackened or cooked Greekstyle, it’s reliably tender and tasty. And of course, if you’re eating with others, you know you’ll all be served simultaneously. As a musician, I get a kick out of the synchronized rhythm.” FELIX’S FISH CAMP • 1530 BATTLESHIP
PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU
WILLIAM W. OPPENHEIMER, President, Enveloc, Inc.
BARBECUE AT MEAT BOSS “Benny Chinnis is The Meat Boss. He marries house-smoked ribs, beef brisket, Boston butt, chicken, turkey, ham and pork loin with his own sauces from traditional sweet to Carolina spicy. Add fresh sides prepared on-site and you have, in a brown paper bag, a remarkable lunch to enjoy inside, alfresco or carryout. If you can, dine in — the walls are taking on a Wintzell’s-esque look of paraphernalia and occasional quotes, and you’ll likely run into an old friend or two.”
PARKWAY, SPANISH FORT • 626-6710
MEAT BOSS • 5401 COTTAGE HILL ROAD
FELIXSFISHCAMP.COM
591-4842 • MEATBOSS.COM
What dishes made you drool and left you hungry for more? Share them on our Facebook page! may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 19
FOOD | TASTINGS
El Papi text by MAGGIE LACEY • photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU
RAUL DURAN DEVELOPED THE EL PAPI MENU
I
t’s easy to fall in love with Mobile — the architecture, the history, the coastline and the welcoming residents all lure you in and make you feel at home. When Charles Morgan, of Destin’s Harbor Docks fame, and his business partner Cris Eddings rolled into town two years ago to open Five Bar, Mobilians gave them a warm welcome. The duo expanded not long afterward with their second restaurant, Chuck’s Fish. Now the dining impresarios have done it again with El Papi: a downtown cafe, with delicious Mexican dishes and vibrant cocktails, that has been a hit since opening night. Eddings co-owns nine of Morgan’s 14 restaurants that spread out across Florida, Alabama and Tennessee. “Downtown [Mobile] is truly unique and is full of so many wonderful restaurants. We love being a part of that community,” says Eddings, who now calls the Port City his home. When the space next to Five Bar became available, Eddings and Morgan couldn’t resist the chance to remake the space. “The courtyard was so fabulous, and so we jumped.” The team hired local architect Robert Maurin to reimagine the outdoor dining area with a more modern vibe and welcoming approach. Birmingham artist and
fabricator Sonya Emanuel created metal signs and wall dividers for the patio area that are a standout. Meanwhile, Raul Duran began work on the menu. Born and raised in the state of Michoacan, Mexico, Raul revived some old family recipes and crafted a menu that is recognizable but fresh and delicious. Nothing too crazy going here — just solidly good burritos, tacos, fajitas and other Mexican staples. With much prodding, Raul admits that his personal favorite is the Chile Verde Pork, with slow-braised meat in a green sauce that hits with just the right amount of kick. “It’s not the prettiest dish on the menu, but its one you can’t put down.” Sop up the delicious sauce with a warm tortilla. The cocktails are exciting, with plenty of mezcal, tequila and rum to go around. If you’re feeling bold, try the Mexican Ashtray, a Tecate beer with hot sauce, lime and a Tajín-seasoned rim. ¡Ay, caramba! If you haven’t darkened their doorway yet, Cinco de Mayo will be the perfect time, as El Papi is planning a massive Mexican fiesta. Of course, you realize that Cinco de Mayo does not actually celebrate Mexican independence, as many think, but who needs a history lesson when there are margaritas to be consumed? MB
El Papi • 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Tu - Su, Bar open until 12 a.m. F - Sa 615 Dauphin St. • 308-2655 • el-papi.com • Average entree price: $14 20 mobilebaymag.com | may 2018
FOOD | TASTINGS
[ ON THE MENU ]
CARNE ASADA BOWL Choose from nine different proteins including chorizo, braised beef cheek, Gulf fish and more to top these hearty lunch bowls,. A base of Mexican rice gets topped with street corn, avocado and sliced radish, with a dash of crema and queso.
MEZCAL STALK A slightly smoky, not-toosweet mezcal margarita that is frothy with a hint of pineapple and goes down a little too easy. It’s made with Ilegal Joven mezcal, triple sec, agave, pineapple and lemon, served with a tradtional salted rim.
CHICKEN BURRITO ESPECIAL
CARNE ASADA LUNCH BOWL
A massive tortilla is stuffed with arroz rojo, esquites (Mexican street corn), lettuce, purple cabbage, avocado, pico de gallo and pickled serrano peppers. It’s grilled and topped with chile con queso and a splatter of crema.
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FOOD | BAY TABLES
A Foodie Escape Anyone can throw a burger on the grill at the beach, but what does a well-respected chef prepare on vacation? Chris Rainosek of The Noble South let MB tag along as he entertained a few close friends for one unforgettable meal on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. text by MAGGIE LACEY • photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU
S
ometimes we find lifelong friends in unexpected places. Dauphin Way United Methodist Church’s Four Course Fellowship should have been only a blip on the social calendars of the participants. For four months, four couples were to convene once a month, each bringing a course to share, so they could get to know one another and build, well, fellowship. For this particular group, however, the connections stuck and the supper club ate on and on. The group of four couples — Lesley and Chris Rainosek, Sarah and Christopher Watkins, Courtney and Brian Murphy, and Stephanie and Austin Bradford — began meeting as a non-church-sanctioned supper club every month for several years after that first meeting. They all giggle remembering that they were nervous to bring alcohol to the first gathering. “Everyone had wine hidden in their purses,” remembers Brian. “The dinner was at our house, and so they all asked me if it was ok to pour a glass, with it being a church event. I told them my wife and I were already several in!” Fast-forward a few years, and three out of four couples had newborns. Monthly supper club gatherings dwindled to just quarterly while each family was in the trenches of young parenthood. “It just got complicated for a while,” says Lesley. But these days, the kids are growing and the fellowship is back and better than ever. On this day, the crew (minus the Bradfords) gathered for a summer sunset dinner at the tail end of West Beach Boulevard in Gulf Shores,
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where the beach is quiet and the views are unbeatable. Chris Rainosek, who also happens to be the chef of The Noble South in downtown Mobile and The Wash House in Point Clear, agreed to cook for the crew and allowed MB to tag along. His guests sipped cold wine and snacked on “East Indies” salad while bocce was tossed in the sand and waves crashed on the shore. Courtney reminded the group of the time Chris and Lesley shipped an entire bushel of Hatch green chiles fresh from New Mexico for one supper club menu. Having a chef in the club has certainly upped the menu expectations. “I guess I’m a good guy to have around in your supper club,” Chris jokes. “I’m not good for much else.” For this gathering he designed a menu that was fresh and light, with no heavy starches or sauces. “Just the kind of thing I want to eat in the summer at the beach when it’s hot,” he explains. “It’s got to be easy, include some local seafood and make great leftovers for the group. Throwing something on the grill is always a good idea.” While his tips may seem obvious, his flavor combinations are anything but and pack just the right punch to be surprising and impressive. We definitely came away with some new ideas for summer dinner parties, and a reminder to look for friends in unexpected places. MB TOP LEFT Chef Chris Rainosek pauses in the doorway of Sunswept (more info, page 28) to enjoy the lingering twilight. TOP RIGHT A green papaya is peeled and split, exposing the seeds that have not yet turned black, ready to be marinated for a green curry crab salad. OPPOSITE Lesley Rainosek brings a tray of supplies down to the beach in preparation for dinner.
GRILLED EGGPLANT WITH CITRUS YOGURT, CRISPY QUINOA AND HERBS recipe page 30
OPPOSITE TOP RIGHT Chef Rainosek offers lamb ribs to his wife Lesley and supper club member Courtney Murphy. BOTTOM LEFT Christopher Watkins and Brian Murphy throw a few bocce balls in the sand while the chef prepares dinner.
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OVEN-BAKED LAMB RIBS WITH CHIPOTLE SAUCE AND QUICK PICKLES recipe page 30
may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 27
CURRY CRAB SALAD WITH GREEN PAPAYA SLAW recipe page 30
BLUEBERRY CORNBREAD PUDDING WITH SWEET CORN ICE CREAM recipe page 31
Sunswept The kitchen that produced this feast was a chef’s dream — two full-sized refrigerators, a six-burner Kitchenaid range, two ice machines and two dishwashers to make light work of cleanup! Miles and miles of beautiful gray marble countertops made for easy prep while guests gathered around the kitchen island to watch and sample the treats chef Rainosek prepared. This Gulf-front beach palace was built in 2018 with six bedrooms and six-and-a-half baths, sleeping 20 of your nearest and dearest. It sits at the end of West Beach Boulevard in Gulf Shores, where the crowds disappear and the sand seems to go on for miles. Sunswept was generously provided by Meyer Realty. Book direct with Meyer Vacation Rentals by calling 866-382-9635.
ABOVE Chef Chris Rainosek and wife Lesley enjoy a quiet moment after dinner along the shores of West Beach in Gulf Shores.
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GREEN BEAN & FIELD PEA SALAD WITH WARM BACON VINAIGRETTE recipe page 30
FOOD | BAY TABLES
GREEN BEAN & FIELD PEA SALAD WITH WARM BACON VINAIGRETTE
GRILLED EGGPLANT WITH CITRUS YOGURT, CRISPY QUINOA AND HERBS
SERVES 8
SERVES 8
1 cup green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces 3 cups mixed field peas (pink eye, crowder, creamer) 2 strips bacon, plus 1 cup chopped bacon 1 large yellow onion, diced 6 cloves garlic, diced 10 cherry tomatoes, halved 1/2 cup white sugar 1 cup apple cider vinegar 2 cups olive oil salt and pepper, to taste 1 cup fresh chopped watercress, for garnish
1. Blanch green beans in salted boiling water for 10 seconds. Remove to ice bath until cool. 2. Cook all field peas in a pot with the 2 strips of bacon and a pinch of salt, until tender. Strain out peas and combine with green beans in a large bowl. 3. In a saute pan over medium-high heat, cook the cut bacon until crispy. Add onion and cook until soft, 2 - 3 minutes. Add garlic, stirring constantly so as not to burn. Add tomatoes and cook until they begin to swell and burst. Stir in sugar, then add vinegar. When mixture reaches a boil, add olive oil. Bring back to a quick boil, then add a pinch of salt and black pepper. 4. Combine green beans, field peas and bacon-tomato mixture in a large mixing bowl. Allow to cool until just warm. Serve topped with fresh chopped watercress. * To make ahead, cool completely and refrigerate. Then gently warm before serving.
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1 1 1 1
cup Greek yogurt lemon lime orange (blood orange if possible) 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste 4 Japanese eggplants, halved lengthwise salt and pepper, to taste 1 cup quinoa, cooked according to package directions 2 cups canola oil 1/4 cup each of mint, basil and flat-leaf parsley leaves
1. Place the yogurt in a small mixing bowl. Using a microplane, zest the lemon, lime and orange into the yogurt. 2. Juice the lemon and lime, being careful to remove any seeds, and add to yogurt. Remove the pith and the remaining skin of the orange with a knife and carefully remove the segments, reserving the juice and segments for serving. Squeeze the remaining juice out of the orange into the yogurt. 3. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and the salt. Place in refrigerator until ready to use. 4. Brush eggplant with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place cut-side down on hot grill or grill pan, cooking until almost tender on that side. Gently flip and finish cooking on the skin side until tender but not mushy. Set aside. 5. Pat cooked quinoa dry in paper towels to remove any excess water. Heat canola oil in a large pan. Gently add quinoa, a little at a time, and fry until crispy. Remove from pan onto a plate lined with a paper towel and season with salt to taste. 6. On a large platter, smear the citrus yogurt. Top with grilled eggplant. Add reserved blood orange segments and juice. 7. Drizzle eggplant with 2 tablespoons olive oil and top with crispy quinoa. Scatter the herb leaves over the entire dish and serve immediately.
CURRY CRAB SALAD WITH GREEN PAPAYA SLAW SERVES 8 1/4 cup green curry paste 2 cups canola oil 1 large yellow onion, diced 2 pounds jumbo lump crab, picked for shells 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon fish sauce juice of 2 limes 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups ice water Green Papaya Slaw (see below)
1. In a blender, combine the green curry paste and canola oil. Blend until smooth, approximately 1 minute. Let sit for 10 minutes before using. 2. Place half the diced yellow onion in a large bowl. Top with the crab meat, followed by the last of the diced onion. Pour the curry oil through a strainer directly onto the crab and onions, pressing to make sure all the oil gets through. Add the vinegar, followed by the fish sauce, lime juice and salt. Top with the ice water. Do not stir. 3. Place in fridge and allow to sit overnight. Stir only right before serving. Place in serving bowls and top with Green Papaya Slaw. GREEN PAPAYA SLAW 1 green papaya 2 green chilies (jalapeĂąo or serrano), deseeded and cut into thin strips 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons fish sauce 1/4 cup canola oil 1/4 cup lime juice 1/4 cup mint leaves 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1. Using a vegetable peeler, remove skin from the green papaya. Use peeler to remove long, thin strips of flesh. Cut these strips into thin matchsticks. Continue until you have 4 cups of cut green papaya. 2. In a bowl, add green papaya, chilies, sugar, fish sauce, oil and lime juice. Let sit for at least 1 hour. 3. Toss with picked herbs immediately before serving.
FOOD | BAY TABLES
OVEN-BAKED LAMB RIBS WITH CHIPOTLE SAUCE & QUICK PICKLES SERVES 8 4 tablespoons beer 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 4 racks Denver-cut lamb ribs 4 tablespoons salt 4 tablespoons black pepper Chipotle Sauce and Quick Pickles, for serving (see below)
1. In a small bowl, combine beer, vinegar and Worcestershire. 2. Lay each rack of ribs on its own sheet of aluminum foil large enough to fully enclose it, and season with 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of black pepper each. Add 1/4 of the marinade to each foil packet and seal tightly. Bake at 275 degrees for 2 hours or until tender. 3. While ribs are cooking, prepare chipotle sauce and quick pickles (below). 4. Remove from oven. Unwrap and reserve all juices. 5. Set oven broiler on high. Brush lamb ribs with chipotle sauce and broil until starting to brown and caramelize. Remove from oven and cut into individual ribs. Place on a platter surrounded by piles of the pickles. Drizzle with the sauce and serve extra sauce on the side. CHIPOTLE SAUCE reserved juice from lamb ribs (approx. 1 cup) 2 chipotle peppers 1 cup ketchup 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar pinch of salt & pepper
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. QUICK CUCUMBER PICKLES 2 seedless cucumbers, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds 1 tablespoon salt 4 tablespoons white sugar 1/2 cup white vinegar 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1. Toss sliced cucumbers with salt and sugar until completely coated. Set aside for 30 minutes, during which time the cucumbers will release some liquid and the salt and sugar will have dissolved. 2. Strain off all but a couple tablespoons of the cucumber liquid. Add remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use.
BLUEBERRY CORNBREAD PUDDING WITH SWEET CORN ICE CREAM SERVES 12 2 pints blueberries 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 tablespoon water 1 recipe prepared cornbread, cooled 10 eggs 1 quart half-and-half 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon butter Sweet Corn Ice Cream, for serving (see right)
1. Cook blueberries, sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and water in a pan until blueberries begin to burst and form a sauce-like consistency. 2. In a large bowl, mash up cooked cornbread until there are no longer any large chunks. Crack eggs on top of cornbread, then add half-and-half, sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla and cooked blueberries. Mix until thoroughly combined. 3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place cast- iron pan in oven with 1 tablespoon of butter. Add blueberry batter to hot cast iron and bake for 40 - 45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cut blueberry cornbread pudding into wedges and serve warm topped with sweet corn ice cream or ice cream of your choice.
1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place butter in a large cast-iron pan and warm in oven. 2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth. Remove warm cast-iron pan and pour in batter. Bake 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cornbread from pan, and let cool. SWEET CORN ICE CREAM MAKES 6 CUPS 2 2 1 4 1 1
cups heavy cream cups half-and-half 1/2 cups sugar egg yolks tablespoon vanilla extract cup sweet corn kernels
1. Add cream and half-and-half to a medium saucepan. Heat slowly. 2. Whish together sugar, egg yolks and vanilla until creamy. Add warm cream, a little at a time, while whisking until well combined. Add sweet corn and let mixture cool for 20 minutes. 3. Pulse mixture in a blender 10 times, then strain and cool completely. 4. Finish preparing according to directions of ice cream maker.
CORNBREAD 1 tablespoon butter 2 cups all-purpose flour or glutenfree flour mix 2 cups yellow cornmeal 1/3 cup sugar 6 eggs 1 tablespoon baking powder
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WHEN THE DEALIN’S DONE text by WATT KEY photos by MATTHEW COUGHLIN
One Saturday in May, a traffic jam of boats converges upon a handful of river camps up in the Mobile Delta for the Poker Run. march 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 33
A
t some point, you may have noticed someone in passing wearing a ball cap displaying a hand over a triangle. The hand is closed except for the thumb and pointer finger, which are extended straight out. On one day a year, the Saturday just before Mother’s Day, you can also find several swamp camps, miles deep into the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, flying a flag with the same sign. This hand signal is called the “High Flying Chickasaw,” and the triangle represents the “Delta.” It’s the logo for the annual High Flying Chickasaw Poker Run, perhaps the most unusual party you’ll ever attend. Kendall Dexter started the Poker Run in 2010, and it’s been going strong ever since. The event results in the busiest day of the year for the most remote area of Alabama, luring 50 or more boats into the swamps of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta for a day of adventure and socializing with a crowd that is about as diverse as they come. Kendall is one of the owners of Runamuck, a swamp camp four miles north of the Causeway. The Poker Run is his way of showing off an area that’s been special to him since he was a boy. “How did you come up with the logo?” I ask him. “I came in from the camp one evening and hung out at Liz’s to have a drink with some guys. Somebody mentioned they’d seen Spud earlier that day and he’d ‘hit them with a Chickasaw.’” I know about Liz’s Tavern on the Causeway. The establishment burned several years ago, but in its day it was the place where many swamp-campers launched their boats and set out into the Delta. When they returned in the evenings, they socialized in Liz’s smoky barroom next door. And I know Spud. He has a camp not far from my own on Chuckfee Bay. “I didn’t want to ask what a Chickasaw was,” Kendall continues. “The guy
LEFT These boaters embody the laid back appeal of the Poker Run, with a casual salute to passing watercraft. ABOVE The fishing camps that host the Poker Run are overrun with visitors on the Saturday before Mother’s Day. This particular camp flies the event’s logo, with a High Flying Chickasaw on a banner right under the American flag for all party-goers to see.
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“
WIVES AND KIDS WERE DRESSED MORE LIKE THEY WERE GOING FOR AN AFTERNOON AT PIRATES COVE THAN DEEP INTO THE JUNGLE DEPTHS OF THE DELTA. IT SEEMED TO ME THAT THESE PEOPLE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE GETTING INTO UNTIL THEY WERE IN IT AND DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO TURN BACK.
”
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mentioned it like it was something we should all know … Fortunately, somebody else asked him. And the guy held up his fist with his thumb and pointer finger out and twitched it, and I knew I’d seen it a thousand times before. A kind of wave somebody gives you when you pass by in your boat.” “Why Chickasaw?” “I don’t know. I guess maybe because people from Chickasaw come out here … I don’t know. But it sort of sums up the friendliness of the place. And the height of the Chickasaw is always in direct proportion to a person’s level of enthusiasm for seeing you. You might fly a low one at somebody you don’t really know or recognize. A high flyer means you’re pretty excited to see the guy.” Typically, there are about eight swamp camps involved in the Poker Run. They range from houseboats parked at the Causeway to camps like Kendall’s, deep into the marsh, accessible only by boat. The objective is to spend most of Saturday visiting all the camps and collecting one playing card at each location. Then, late in the afternoon, everyone meets at Runamuck to play their best hand and win prizes. The camps have their own forms of food and entertainment. Some have barbecue, some crawfish, some fried fish and frog legs. All have beer. “Everybody’s proud of their camp,” Kendall says. “It’s the one time a year they get to show it off.” I’ve personally hosted guests at my own swamp camp since the party began. And I agree that all of us get a lot of satisfaction out of showing what we’ve done with the lumber we’ve hauled out there over the years. The best way I can describe the Chickasaw Poker Run is an open house for swamp camps. “For some, it’s the first time they’ve ever been in the Delta. You get all kinds of people — kids and wives.” The Poker Run is open to the public and costs $25 per person. This money is used to buy prizes and fund the pot. Along with the entry form is an attachment called “Bewares of the BELOW All are welcome at the Poker Run, four-legged friends included! This one clearly takes Delta life seriously. OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Cypress Knee, one of the host camps for the Poker Run, has both covered and open spaces for guests to mingle. Meticulous bookkeeping is the key to ensuring that the game stays fair, stop after stop. No player goes hungry, as grills are lit along the way to feed the crowds.
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Delta.” Included in this list are warnings, such as: Beware of marine police: Have a designated driver. Beware of shallow water: If this is your first time boating in the Delta, find someone to follow. Beware of widow-makers: When driving your boat, pay attention for dead heads and river logs. Beware of your wake: This isn’t a bass tournament, so ease past fishermen. Beware of Gravine Island: The allure of Gravine Island impairs visitors’ ability to judge time. Beware of camp manners: Let the ladies have the camp bathrooms and don’t sit on the railings. That first year, like most of the camp owners, I spent weeks getting the camp in order. I cleaned the inside, fixed rotten deck boards and shored up the foundation. The Friday evening before the big day, everyone was as prepared as they were going to be and ready to relax. That night, the otherwise dark and cheeping swamp was alive with boat lights, spotlights and all manner of howling, carrying on and visiting between the camps. The next morning, all was quiet. As I puttered about, making last-minute arrangements, I wasn’t the only person wondering if anyone was actually coming. Then, at about 10 o’clock, the boats started pouring in like D-Day. Many of them weren’t the types of boats or people you would normally see in these waters. Regulators and Jupiters and other high-end sportfishing boats eased tentatively across the shallows. Wives and kids were dressed more like they were going for an afternoon at Pirates Cove than deep into the jungle depths of the Delta. It seemed to me that these people didn’t know what they were getting into until they were in it and didn’t know how to turn back. I wondered if it was really going to work. The Poker Run is as popular now as it ever was. Just this past year I attended the seventh annual. This was the first time I decided to be a participant instead of a host,
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“
MUSIC IS PLAYING AND
PEOPLE ARE SUNBURNED AND EVERYBODY’S IN A
GOOD MOOD. EVEN AFTER AN ENTIRE DAY OF PARTY-
ING, IT SEEMS THINGS ARE JUST GETTING STARTED. THEN, AS THE SUN DROPS LOWER OVER THE CYPRESS TREES, IT’S TIME TO PLAY YOUR HAND.
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”
leaving my swamp camp in the hands of one of my friends. I found one man leaning against the wall of Camp Smith, sipping a beer and looking like he couldn’t be more content. He told me he was from Bayou La Batre and had come up with a friend. “I heard about this from somebody,” he told me. “We’ve never been up here, so we decided to buy a ticket.” “You having a good time?” “Hell yeah. Everybody’s been real nice. We’re gonna do it every year now.” “You going to play your hand later?” “Yeah, man. If we can get enough cards. Every time we stop at a camp we end up hanging around for too long.” Most people end up making a mad dash late in the afternoon to round up the last of
their cards. Then the entire mass of boats ends up rafted together before Runamuck. Music is playing and people are sunburned and everybody’s in a good mood. Even after an entire day of partying, it seems things are just getting started. Then, as the sun drops lower over the cypress trees, it’s time to play your hand. “You ever have problems with cheating?” I ask Kendall. “No, we’re pretty careful to track who gets what cards at each camp. Closest I ever had to a problem was last year when we were drawing for some door prizes and the big prize was $1,000. My wife and daughter were there, so I didn’t want to pull the card out of the hat myself. If they won, I didn’t want anybody to think I had anything to do with it. So I asked
this girl to come up and do the pull for me. She ends up getting her own name.” “Did you let her keep it?” “Yeah,” Kendall nods. “It wasn’t a problem. Everybody could tell she was pretty surprised.” Even though I’m sort of looking for something devilish to write about, I know there really isn’t anything but good fun to be found at the Poker Run. Kendall and all the swamp camp hosts are hospitable to friends and strangers alike. And as the sun sets, High Flying Chickasaws are exchanged all the way back to the Causeway. MB Watt Key’s newest novel, “Deep Water,” is available for purchase at wattkey.com. ABOVE Leaving is always the least exciting part of a stop on the Poker Run.
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BAYO DOWN IN THE
text by EMMETT BURNETT • photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU
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OU
“FEW AMONG THE THOUSANDS WHO PASS ANNUALLY ALONG THE PRINCIPAL HIGHWAYS OF THE SOUTHERNMOST PART OF ALABAMA TURN ASIDE FROM MAIN-TRAVELED ROADS TO VISIT OR STOP IN BAYOU LA BATRE. THESE FEW ARE FORTUNATE, FOR THEY DISCOVER A
REGION OUTSTANDING IN THE CHARM OF PINES AND MOSS-FILLED OAKS SCATTERED ALONG BAY SHORES AND BAYOU WATERS.” – Mobile Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb
M
obile Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb wrote that 52 years ago. It was true then. It is true now. Fast-forward to May 2018, when another archbishop visits Bayou La Batre for the 69th-annual Blessing of the Fleet. He tosses a memorial wreath into the bayou, sprinkles holy water and blesses participating watercraft. Five thousand people witness a spectacle with no match in a town like no other. On the south side of the J.A. Wintzell Memorial Bridge lies a city of boats. About 2,500 people live and work there, with an emphasis on work. But theirs is a labor of love where water is held in reverence. At the head of the bridge, on the right, St. Margaret’s Catholic Church and a statue of Christ with outstretched arms face the bayou. “He is a reminder for fishing crews,” says parish pastor Rev. Bieu Nguyen. “They pass the statue when leaving Bayou La Batre and returning.” The bayou is a blessing for the town known as “The Seafood Capital of Alabama.” The name is well-earned. In 2016, over 22 million pounds of Gulf and Bay bounty were brought into the town, netting $45 million. “We are a working community,” Mayor Terry Downey says about the residential roll-up-your-sleeves and let’s-get-at-it work ethic. “We build boats, catch fish, process seafood, freeze it, sell it and just about everything else associated with it.” At a right turn just past St. Margaret’s Church is the Shell Belt. Rows of shrimp processing centers, crab distributors, oyster shops and crustacean shells piled rooftop-high line the street. Tied to docks are nomay 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 41
“ONCE YOU GET THE MUD BETWEEN YOUR TOES, YOU NEVER GET IT OUT. IT IS HARD TO GET BAYOU LA BATRE OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM, AND THAT’S A GOOD THING. THIS IS WHERE OUR ROOTS ARE.” – Sam Schjott, former president of the local Chamber of Commerce
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nonsense working boats of all kinds, from small vessels that could be towed by car to 90-foot, $2 million crafts your car could park on. An inner community is here, too, with commercial fishermen who cast their nets at the crack of dawn, all night and most hours in between. As Ernie Anderson, owner of Graham Shrimp Company and president of the Organized Seafood Association of Alabama, says, “Not all commercial fishermen are young, but all of them are tough.” Don’t try this at home, Ernie cautions. “This is not something where you come in off the street, buy a shrimp boat and proclaim yourself a shrimper. Bayou families have passed down their businesses, skills and techniques for generations. You don’t learn this overnight. It takes years.” Take Ray Foster for example, a shrimper for — and this is not a typo — 71 years. “I started at about age six working with dad,” he recalls. Foster is still at it, dragging nets by night and selling his catch by day. Avery Bates is a retired commercial fisherman of bayou waters and beyond. “Bayou La Batre was founded and grew because of an abundant seafood supply,” he says. “But folks should re-
alize when you see our shrimp boats or oyster skiffs, it is not a fleet. Each boat is usually a single local family business, owned by a local person, making a living for his family.” Commercial fisherman Darryl Wescovich adds, “There are ever-increasing regulations and soaring fuel costs and repairs, but I wouldn’t do anything else. It is in my blood, handed down from my dad. Many of us learned to walk on a shrimp boat.” Bayou La Batre’s Greg Ladnier has officially and unofficially worked in the shrimping business for about half a century. The president of Sea Pearl Seafood notes, “My dad started the company in 1966. I became president about 15 years ago.” He is the second generation phasing in the third. Just as Ladnier worked with his dad, his daughter Megan and son Shawn work with him as well. Wife Janice is here, too. Together, with about 50 other employees, the company processed and shipped about 5 million pounds of shrimp last year. “Bayou La Batre’s seafood industry has few major corporations,” he says. “Most are like us, family-run, handed down through generations.” But, Greg adds, “Our livelihood is threatened.”
Bayou La Batre has strong competition from foreign imports. “It’s hard to compete,” the Sea Pearl’s president notes. “Their product is farm-raised — you don’t really know what you’re eating. Local shrimpers also pay ever-skyrocketing insurance prices and other expenses. We are losing our boats.” But in the town that defied hurricanes, the BP Oil Spill and wavering market prices, most Bayou La Batre seafood businesses have no intention of stopping. They have invested time, money and families in their livelihood. There is no turning back, because as Ladnier emphasizes, “I’ve done this my whole life.” And they all know each other. Ernie Anderson laughs, “We have to. That’s how we stay out of each other’s way.” Actually, in Bayou La Batre, everybody knows everybody. Visit for over three hours and everybody knows you. Visit for over three days and you are one of them.
BAYOU FACTS
30°24'11''N 88°14'53''W Elevation: 13 ft. Population: 2,558
FOUNDED
In 1786 when Joseph Bouzage (Bosarge) [1733-1795] was awarded a 1,259-acre Spanish land grant on the west bank of the Bayou.
1955
The city of Bayou La Batre was incorporated.
CLAIM TO FAME
Seafood Capital of Alabama.
A community within the community populates Mobile County’s seafood capital. They are the “Boat People,” or descedants thereof, Bayou La Batre’s Vietnamese. “They arrived in the 1980s as immigrants,” says Tuan “Dave” Do, program coordinator of Boat People SOS-Bayou La Batre, a Vietnamese advocacy group. “Today we have second and third ABOVE Mounds of discarded oyster shells pile up as high as houses down Shell Belt Road, a waterfont way dominated by the local seafood processors. Mayor Terry Downey shows MB around the library-turned-museum. OPPOSITE The view over the quiet marshland just off the main drag.
THE NAME
Means “bayou of the battery”, after the French artillery placed there.
13 FEET
Katrina storm surge in Bayou La Batre. After Katrina, the town was adopted by the city of Santa Monica, California for cleanup efforts.
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generations. Many were born here.” For the most part, the Vietnamese community works the seafood industry in almost every job. “Many start work around 2 a.m., in the processing plants,” Dave says. “Generally, they will get off work in the afternoon, pick up kids from school, and then it’s dinner and family time.” They also staff shrimp boats, net crabs and work in local shipyards. Dave, who left Vietnam in 1993, estimates about a thousand of his countrymen live in the area.
Visitors often question: Is Bayou La Batre French? The answer is, “oui.” The town was named in the 1700s for a French-maintained defense artillery battery — during the same time another nearby area was making a name for itself, called “Mobile.” Bayou La Batre incorporated in 1955. Among historical lighter notes, it is the setting for Winston Groom’s book, “Forrest Gump.” And, in 2005, Disney Studios commissioned a local shipyard to secretly build a floating movie prop: “Pirates of the Caribbean’s” . That’s right, Captain Jack Sparrow’s pride and joy first set sail in Bayou La Batre waters. But their specialty here is nonfiction vessels. “We started with wooden shrimp and work boats,” notes Rena Landry, second-generation owner of 70-year-old Landry Boat Works. “Now it’s mostly steel and fiberglass. But we still repair wooden boats, too. Take these, for example,” he adds, pointing at full-size replicas of Christopher Columbus’ , and , in town for an overhaul.
TOP Ernie Anderson, owner of Graham Shrimp Company and president of the Organized Seafood Association of Alabama, walks the docks and surveys his boats. BOTTOM A customer picks up a few crab traps at Marshall Marine Supply on Shell Belt Road, a locally-owned hardware store that sells just about anything a shrimper could want or need.
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Coden Belt is a road transforming commercial and industrial into recreational: bayside vistas, sports and adventure, with hopes for more. “We want to broaden our horizons with more eco-tourism,” notes Mayor Downey. There is a push for increased children’s activities, sporting events and festivals. The annual Bayou La Batre Kayak Classic Fishing Tournament on August 4th is a good start — a weekend when the bayou is lined with a festival of fishing, prizes, live music and great food. Speaking of food, in a town of fishermen one assumes local restaurants serve really fresh seafood. One assumes correctly. “We get it right off the boats and into our kitchen,” says Jennifer Stork, co-owner and manager of Lighthouse Restaurant, a 47-year local fixture. “On a good Friday evening, we go through about 100 pounds of crab claws.” Other local favorites include the Catalina Restaurant, with everchanging blue plate specials; Capt. Frank’s Smoke Shack, the little building with smokin’ fine barbecue; and the Sugar Rush Donut Company, because nothing satisfies that little sweet craving like a homemade apple fritter the size of a flounder. Or, get a taste of everything at the Blessing of the Fleet. “Try the seafood-fish platter,” notes Sylvia Sellers, the event’s director. It is a plate loaded with a composite sampling of seafood from all
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT The crew works hard at Sea Pearl’s shrimp prcoessing facility, making sure these fresh-caught jumbos make it to your plate as fresh as they came off the boat. White rubber boots are a must-have in the Bayou, perfect for keeping your socks dry and your feet cool when working on the deck of a shrimp boat. Modern machinery makes efficient work of peeling and deveining shrimp. Workers make a final inspection of each shrimp before they are individually quick frozen, known as IQF.
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boats blessed. Across the street from Capt. Frank’s is the Bayou La Batre Visitors Center and Museum, a small log cabin built in 1933 because townspeople took it upon themselves to build a city library. But the same Hurricane Katrina that left St. Margaret’s pews floating in the sanctuary flooded the library, with a 5-foot water level over the fireplace mantle. The library moved, but the building reopened as a visitor’s center, museum and testament to perseverance. “We have always been a community that helps one another,” says Debbie Downey, Mayor Downey’s wife and spokesperson for the visitor’s center and museum. “People donated everything we have on display here because it’s what we do. We are here for each other.” Mayor Downey adds, “Storms are a way of life. But the next day, we get up, repair what’s needed and go back to work. At times we are down but we don’t stay down.” “The people are very genuine and warm,” says former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin, founder and CEO of Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic. “Through my 30 years here, they have taken care of me as much as I have taken care of them. They are more like family than patients.” She speaks from experience. In three separate incidences, Dr. Benjamin’s clinic was destroyed by two hurricanes and a fire. “But in Bayou La Batre, we go through tragedy and recovery together,” she notes. In October 2009, Dr. Benjamin was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as America’s 18th surgeon general. In considering the presidential post, she consulted medical colleagues and ABOVE The fleet docks along the Bayou, an ever-present reminder of the industry that dominates the town. OPPOSITE Several shrimpers inspect the riggings of their boat and discuss how to get things repaired and back on the seas as soon as possible. Time at the dock can mean money lost.
others — including patients and friends in Bayou La Batre. “They were very supportive and encouraged me to take the opportunity,” “America’s doctor” recalls. The New York Times reported that in a July 13, 2009 Rose Garden ceremony, President Obama introduced his newly-appointed surgeon general. During his remarks, she twice assisted the president with his pronunciation of “Bayou La Batre.” Sam Schjott, former president of the local Chamber of Commerce, sums the feelings of many about their town: “Once you get the mud between your toes, you never get it out,” he says. “It is hard to get Bayou La Batre out of your system, and that’s a good thing. This is where our roots are.” Roots were planted on the bayou centuries back with prayers for continued prosperity, bountiful harvests and blessings of the fleet. MB
DONT’ MISS IT! 2018 BLESSING OF THE FLEET
The best way to get to know the Bayou is by attending the Blessing of the Fleet! Mingle with locals and tourists alike while checking out the gumbo cook-off, arts and crafts show, decorated boat contest, children’s activities, Bayou boat tours, a land parade and a boat parade. Hit the certified four-mile fun run down State Highway 188, then cool your heels with some fried local seafood and live music. May 5 – 6 • 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. St. Margaret’s Catholic Church • fleetblessing.org
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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
REVISITED MB LOOKS BACK AT A 50-YEAR-OLD FEATURE STORY ABOUT OUR FAIR CITY. “MOBILE, ALABAMA’S CITY IN MOTION”
PHOTO BY MICHAEL THOMAS
text by BRECK PAPPAS
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I
n 1968, exactly 50 years ago, National Geographic Magazine devoted 30 pages of its March issue to a feature story about Mobile. The article, which dubbed our bayside metropolis “Alabama’s city
in motion,” is a comprehensive snapshot of Mobile, im-
pressive both in its scope and its earnest desire to understand our city. Familiar scenes abound — the USS Alabama is secure in her moorings, countless flags flutter at Bayou La Batre’s Blessing of the Fleet and a thriving port welcomes cargo from the farthest corners of the globe. With one foot in the past and an optimistic eye on the future, Mobile is presented as a city on the upswing, but the following decades would test the resolve of the Azalea City. And so, with the benefit of hindsight, MB looks back to compare the Mobile of 1968 with the Mobile of 2018.
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Industry and City Planning The opening page of the 1968 article features a photograph of stevedores lifting a ship’s hatches in order to unload its grain at the Alabama State Docks. The port, the story notes, is the 15th-busiest in America, handling 22 million tons of cargo annually. As the article’s writer William Graves observes, the city “is a vital go-between for world markets and exploding southern industry.” The photograph tells much of the port’s story — although Mobile handles much less grain today than it did in 1968, other goods and industries have taken the place of those that have largely disappeared. Today, the Port of Mobile moves roughly 58 million tons of cargo per year, ranking it America’s 10th largest seaport. “One of the stories here is that Mobile’s economy had to evolve or die,” says Win Hallett, Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce president from 1991 to 2013. Graves mentions that Mobile is a large producer of pulp and paper, as well as aluminum ore — industries that would eventually falter with the closure of the International Paper Company and Aluminum Company of America’s Mobile plant. In the place of such industries, however, stepped shipbuilding, aerospace engineering and coal shipment, among others.
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HOW A ROTATING MAYORALTY WORKED Mobile hasn’t always elected its leaders the way we do today. Let’s break it down. • From 1911 – 1985, a three-member city commission governed Mobile, and the mayoralty rotated between members. • The mayor of Mobile also operated under the title “president of the commission.” • Commission members served one-year terms as mayor. • At the time of Graves’ visit to Mobile, the city commission was made up of Joseph Langan, Lambert Mims and Mayor Arthur Outlaw. • Following a handful of corruption indictments against commission members, Mobile returned to direct mayoral elections in 1985. • In that year, Arthur Outlaw became Mobile’s first directly elected mayor since 1911.
ABOUT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SENIOR WRITER WILLIAM GRAVES William Graves, author of National Geographic’s 1968 feature about Mobile, was born in Washington D.C. on December 27, 1926. Upon his death in 2004, Graves was described in his Washington Post obituary as “an energetic, blunt-spoken man who was often at his desk before dawn.” Graves led a life of adventure from the start. At the age of 15, he and his family were forced to evacuate the Philippines, where his diplomat stepfather was stationed, as Japanese shells rained down on the island in the early days of World War II. After escaping to the headquarters of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and spending two months under siege, the family escaped by submarine to Australia. Graves would retrace that journey decades later in an article for National Geographic. During his 38-year career with National Geographic as a writer, adventures editor and eventually editor-inchief, Graves swam with whales in Hawaii, visited the bottom of an artesian well in Iran (suspended by a rope) and went deep-sea diving in most of the world’s oceans, among countless other adventures. Graves was known for his insistence on hearing from “the little people,” the everyday folk whose lives told the story of the locales he visited. He is also credited with elevating the literary quality of National Geographic to match the publication’s strong photography. By all indications, Mobile gave this rising star of journalism plenty to write about.
TOP “Mayor Stimpson (left) is bound and determined to help Mobile see its potential,” Hallett says. “Under his leadership, I think we’ve achieved some of that potential.” PHOTO COURTESY CITY OF MOBILE
OPPOSITE LEFT In 1968, containerized shipping was in its infancy in Mobile, as demonstrated by this photograph of the port’s single container crane. LEFT Today, ASPA container operations take place at Choctaw Point. The 2,000-foot, two-berth container terminal is served by two Post-Panamax gantry cranes. PHOTOS COURTESY ALABAMA STATE PORT AUTHORITY
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BUILDING I-10 AND THE WALLACE TUNNEL • Nothing more than an “unpaved swath” of road in 1968, the Mobile leg of Interstate 10 would not be completed until the mid-1970s. • The sharp curve at the western entrance of the tunnel is often cited as a cause of traffic congestion. PHOTO BY ©1974 THIGPEN PHOTOGRAPHY, INC.
• The Wallace Tunnel was constructed in pieces at the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company between 1969 – 1973. • Completed tunnel sections were floated into position, sunk and pumped free of water.
“In 1968, we were just starting to export coal, mostly to Japan,” says Jimmy Lyons, director and CEO for the Alabama State Port Authority. “Construction for the McDuffie Coal Terminal started in the early ’70s, and it’s now the single biggest facility in the port, as far as tonnage goes.” Perhaps the boldest prediction Graves lays out for the city is its potential to be a “future megalopolis.” Fifty years later, as Mobile sits in the shadows of Birmingham and Atlanta, it’s easy to ask, “What happened?” “In the middle of the 1970s, there was a very strong recession across the United States, and Mobile was not unscathed by that,” Hallett says. “I think Mobile was really trying to find its way during that time. Also, some public officials were doing some pretty naughty things, and it was about that time when a number of private citizens came together and said, ‘We’re not putting up with this. We’re not going to lose our city. We’ve got to get some good people elected.’ And by and large, they did.” Graves briefly touches on another change in Mobile industry — the deactivation of Brookley Air Force Base. Though he notes that the facilities will likely be leased to private industries, there is little indication of the negative effects the closure would bring in the following years. “It was a huge bomb to the economy of Mobile when Brookley closed down,” says Chris McFadyen, editorial director of Business Alabama Magazine. “It was a huge employer in Mobile, and when
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they shut it down, that caused a great recession and a loss of population. A couple years after this article was published, the profound effect of its closure would have been obvious.” According to Graves, there was considerable optimism about the prospect of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, the proposed 253-mile canal that could potentially direct more water traffic from the nation’s midsection through Mobile. If the canal is allowed to come to fruition, Graves says, “Mobile’s volume of traffic may one day swell to giant proportions.” Just four years later, construction commenced on the project, and the canal was completed in 1984. Unfortunately for Mobile, the results failed to live up to the grand expectations of Graves and many Mobilians. “It was one of the most highly inflated prospects that Mobilians kind of pinned their hopes on,” McFadyen says. “They thought it was going to save the city from the downturn it was experiencing following the closing of Brookley, but it just wasn’t the gold rush they thought it would be. It’s a lot cheaper to transport much of those same goods by train.” Of course, in more recent years, Brookley has taken on a second life as an assembly site for Airbus, the company’s first U.S.-based production facility. As for city planning, the 1968 article covers several notable developments: the recently completed First National Bank Building dominates the skyline, the new domed Municipal Auditorium is
“DOMINATING MOBILE’S SKYLINE, THE NEW 33-STORY FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING LENDS A METROPOLITAN LOOK.” – WILLIAM GRAVES, 1968
Arts and Education
described as the “pride of Mobile” and construction for what will be the Wallace Tunnel is soon to begin. The First National Bank Building, now the RSA-BankTrust Building, would be the tallest building in Alabama until the completion of Birmingham’s Wachovia Tower in 1986. It could be argued that the development of Mobile’s skyline stalled after Graves’ visit to the city; the First National Bank Building remained Mobile’s tallest structure until the completion of RSA Battle House Tower in 2007. The Civic Center has been the focus of much recent debate as city officials search for a way to better utilize the aging building. Potential ideas for the structure, which costs millions of dollars a year to maintain, include giving it a modern facelift or converting the area into a baseball stadium or retail space. In 1968, the pending construction of Interstate 10 and the Wallace Tunnel is especially interesting, considering today’s push for the proposed I-10 Bridge. It’s hoped that the project, which would include a six-lane cable-stayed bridge over the Mobile River and an overhaul of the Bayway, will help ease what’s considered some of the worst traffic congestion in the region (some of which is blamed on the original design of I-10). It was announced in February that three groups are in the process of creating project proposals.
It’s abundantly clear that Graves is impressed with the “finer things” Mobile has to offer on his extended visit, particularly in regards to the opera and the city’s horticultural heritage. While backstage at the Municipal Theater during a performance of Puccini’s opera “Turandot,” the writer finds himself deep in conversation with Jeannine Crader, a Missouri-born singer who has just performed the opera’s lead role. Crader, he notes, is a recognized star in Europe and the United States, but the singer praises the Mobile Opera Guild (as it was called then) for having the “resources of a much bigger city.” Fifty years later, the Mobile Opera, now one of the oldest performing arts organizations in Alabama, continues under the leadership of General Director Scott Wright. Two years after Graves’ visit to Mobile, Symphony Concerts of Mobile was founded as a way to present touring orchestras in the city. It wasn’t until 1996 that a local, professional orchestra, the Mobile Symphony, was established. On a stroll through Bellingrath Gardens, Graves seems to find a place that matches his vision of the picturesque Old South. He writes of the Spanish moss, the magnolias and the hoop skirts of the visiting Azalea Trail Maids. The article includes photographs of the Asian garden, complete with pink flamingos floating in a “languid lagoon.” “Bellingrath looks much as it did in 1968,” says Tom McGehee, Museum Director of the Bellingrath Home. “That is, now that the trees planted post-Hurricane Frederic have reached maturity. The
TOP The First National Bank Building (now the RSA-BankTrust Building) was once the tallest building in Alabama. Today, it is the third-tallest in Mobile. PHOTO FROM THE ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY
BOTTOM Stokes Hall, a $17 million, 330-bed residence hall, demonstrates how much the University of South Alabama has grown since 1968. PHOTO COURTESY THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA
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Asian garden is still here and looks very similar to the photos — except the flamingoes are long gone.” As for the scenery? “The Spanish moss, azaleas, camellias and magnolias are all still here, of course,” McGehee assures, “and the Azalea Trail Maids still make regular visits, especially in the springtime.” The article also mentions Mobile’s Azalea Trail, the 35-mile path of azalea bushes that drew thousands of tourists to the city for many years. Today’s Azalea Trail Run follows the remnants of that flower-lined path. For insight into Mobile’s higher education, Graves turns to the “impressive new institution,” the University of South Alabama. Chartered by the state just five years prior to Graves’ visit, the university had already reached an enrollment of 3,500 in 1968 (up from its initial 1963 enrollment of 276). The writer admires the university for how it “combines academic atmosphere with distinctive modern architecture,” and for its policy of racial integration in classes and dormitories. Needless to say, the university’s growth since 1968 has been tremendous. Today, USA boasts an annual enrollment of 16,000 and has awarded more than 80,000 degrees to date.
ABOVE While at Bellingrath Gardens, Graves admires azalea bushes that “tower 20 feet in the air.” Just 11 years later, Hurricane Frederic would cause significant damage to those aged azaleas. PHOTO COURTESY BELLINGRATH GARDENS
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Coastal On his first morning in Mobile, Graves takes to the sky in a light plane flown by Bill Sturgeon, a World War II veteran and publisher of an engineering magazine. As they glide above the Mobile Delta, Graves observes the labyrinth of rivers below. Traveling south down the Tensaw River, Graves describes how “25 years suddenly vanished in an instant.” Sturgeon has taken him to observe the “ghost fleet,” a convoy of Victory and Liberty ships left over from World War II and stored in the fresh waters of the Tensaw. Within a matter of years, this sight would disappear entirely. “The U.S. Maritime Administration ordered the phasing out of Mobile’s Reserve Fleet in 1970 when the ships in the Tensaw numbered 101,” wrote MB contributor Tom McGehee. “The majority of the ships were then moved to Beaumont, Texas, where those deemed capable of being modernized were renovated. In April of 1973, the last 15 ships in the Tensaw were dismantled and towed out into the Gulf where they were sunk to create artificial reefs off the coasts of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.” Another relic of naval warfare, the ill-fated USS Tecumseh, occupies two days of Graves’ visit to Mobile. Setting out from Fort Morgan, the writer joins a team from the Smithsonian Institution in an effort to locate the ironclad casualty of the Battle of Mobile
“SOON THE FOG BURNED OFF, AND MOBILE BAY BEGAN TO SIMMER IN THE SUN LIKE SOME VAST TUREEN OF SEAFOOD GUMBO.” –WILLIAM GRAVES, 1968 “I was busy on that day,” 92-year-old John Nelson remembers about the time National Geographic came calling. Nelson, thenpresident of Bon Secour Fisheries, did his best to accommodate the magazine. “Of course, I recognized the name National Geographic, and I didn’t want to run them off. So I introduced the writer to my uncle Lawrence, and they agreed to go out oystering the next morning. I think they stayed out most of the day.” The pair worked Bayou Coura Reef in Bon Secour Bay, a reef which John says is no longer active but once produced a very fine oyster for serving on the half shell. The change, he explains, is the cumulative effect of many projects: the dredging of the ship
Bay. However, after two days of dragging the Bay floor off Fort Morgan, the search is suspended. Several weeks later, Graves reports, the team returned with metal-detecting equipment and discovered the location of the ship’s watery grave. Despite Graves’ hope to see the Tecumseh salvaged and put on display in Washington D.C., it was never to be. The primary donor for the Smithsonian project eventually rescinded its funding, and, in 1974, Mobile naval historian Jack Friend estimated it would cost $10 million to raise the Tecumseh. Today, according to historian John Sledge, the ship “rests upside down in about 40 feet of water, covered by a layer of mud.” Back on the water, Graves finds himself in a boat with oyster tonger Lawrence Nelson of Bon Secour Fisheries. Founded in 1896, the family business was already a mainstay by 1968. Fifty years later, the company and the Nelson name remain.
TOP The “ghost fleet,” shown here circa 1950, was kept in a channel dredged between the Mobile and Tensaw Rivers, where the freshwater was determined to be much less corrosive on the ships’ hulls than salt water. PHOTO RESTORED BY JOHN LEWIS BOTTOM John Nelson, left, was president of Bon Secour Fisheries when National Geographic came calling. Today, his son, Chris Nelson, serves as vice president of the 122-year-old family business. PHOTO BY CHAD RILEY
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channel, as well as the construction of the Causeway and the Cochrane Bridge. Over the years, as we’ve changed the way fresh water enters and exits the Bay, we’ve changed the dynamics of the Bay itself. “Even by then [in 1968] we were getting 90 percent of our oysters out of Texas and Louisiana,” John says.
Celebrations and Traditions As interesting as it is to note what’s changed in Mobile in the past 50 years, it’s also worth noting what’s remained the same. Mardi Gras, Graves writes, “turns downtown Mobile into a great caldron of light, bubbling over with glittering street parades, side-show carnivals and costume balls.” Sound familiar? Included in the article is a photograph from the 1967 Order of Myths ball in the Municipal Auditorium, a notable occasion as it marked the society’s 100th anniversary. If that rings a bell, it’s because the same society celebrated its 150th anniversary last year. A touching story from the 1967 Carnival celebration is the eventual marriage between the two monarchs — Queen Laura Lee Peebles and King Felix III, John Schley Rutherford. Graves includes this interesting footnote, but years later, the fairytale continued when their own daughter, Laura Lee Rutherford, met her husband Sumner Greer
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“THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF CHANGE IN MOBILE SINCE THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN IN 1968, BUT THERE ARE STILL SOME VERY REAL CONSTANTS. I THINK THIS IS TRULY A SPECIAL PLACE TO LIVE.” – WIN HALLETT, FORMER MOBILE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PRESIDENT
Adams when the two ruled over the Carnival Court in 1991. The Azalea Trail Maids make three appearances in Graves’ article. In one photograph, an Azalea Trail Maid stands in the circular drive of the Oakleigh House — a scene which remains largely unchanged after five decades. As for azalea bushes, Tom McGehee thinks it’s time for the city to rediscover its rich history with the plant. Upon reading the article, which includes the quote, “Azaleas are almost a religion in Mobile,” McGehee comments that, in 2018, “Mobilians seem to have become atheistic in recent years about planting or keeping the azaleas that were so beloved by their predecessors.” MB OPPOSITE TOP The passage of time has little effect on some certain Mobile scenes, as evidenced by this mid-century photo of the Oakleigh House. PHOTO FROM THE ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY
OPPOSITE BOTTOM The Azalea Trail Maids continue to serve as ambassadors and representatives for the city at local and national events. PHOTO FROM MOBILE AZALEA TRAIL MAIDS
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ABOVE & BEYOND THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS IN NUMEROUS LOCAL FIELDS
DEMONSTRATE HOW THEIR SERVICES AND SKILLS STAND OUT AMONG THE REST TO PROVIDE CUSTOMERS WITH THE BEST IN MB’S SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION. photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU
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SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
What is your mission? The mission of Atchison Home has always been to have a happy customer. We make sure our customers get the best results by being as involved as they need us to be on their design project. We are happy to help a customer that just needs a little guidance in selecting fabric for their custom sofa, all the way to helping those that need full interior design services. We do space-planning, finish and furniture selections, design installations, art placement and more.
What sets you apart? Atchison Home is a sanctuary for home design. Sylvia, Jennifer and Sue Ellen are designers by trade and they take great pride in decorating our 20,000+ square feet of showroom to inspire our customers. We purchase everything you see in the store, from the antique case goods to the upholstery, bedding and lamps. Each item is hand-selected by one of our owners or designers. We also offer detailed customer service to all of our clients and take pride in helping with custom orders. Atchison Home has two design workspaces. One space is surrounded by the fabric and finish choices we offer, and the other is in a more private area where all details of your current job can be discussed.
Atchison Home ATCHISON HOME HAS BEEN MOBILE’S PREMIER ANTIQUES AND HOME FURNISHINGS STORE FOR OVER 30 YEARS. OWNERS TONY AND SYLVIA STEADILY SCOUR MARKETS AND WAREHOUSES IN EUROPE AND THE U.S. TO CONTINUE OFFERING CUSTOMERS A LOOK FOR THEIR HOMES BASED ON TIMELESS QUALITY, CASUAL ELEGANCE AND COMFORT THAT TRULY MAKES A HOUSE A PLACE YOU WANT TO COME HOME TO. WE INVITE YOU TO BE A PART OF THE ATCHISON HOME EXPERIENCE
How do you make sure your customers get the best results? We do our best to maintain good communication with our clients and keep them informed on the status of their orders, deliveries and timelines of their design projects. Clear communication is one of the best ways we strive to keep our customers happy, along with delivering superior furnishings and accessories.
921 Dauphin St. • Mobile, AL • 251.438.4800 • atchisonhome.com 60 mobilebaymag.com | may 2018
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
text by TOM MCGEHEE
Espalier Landscape Architecture ESPALIER IS A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FIRM BASED IN FAIRHOPE, WITH A DIVERSE PORTFOLIO OF RESIDENTIAL GARDENS, COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENTS, PARK DESIGNS, SPORTS FIELDS AND INSTITUTIONAL PROJECTS. PICTURED: JOE COMER, ASLA, PRINCIPAL LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT AT ESPALIER
We not only create an overall planting plan, but we conceptualize the entire outdoor space and how people experience that space. Our comprehensive design services include drives, walks, pergolas, water features, pools, patios, lighting and planting design. No matter the size of the project, we blend functionality with bold design aesthetic. With a diverse background in landscape architecture and landscape construction on various project types, we are poised to create buildable spaces tailored to our clients’ styles and budgets. The term “espalier” (i-spal-ya), a French word, derives from the Italian “spalliera”
which describes a support mechanism used in training plants flat against a wall. As the name Espalier implies, our mission is to support our clients in creating a living environment that reflects and enhances their lifestyle.
“Joe Comer of Espalier, who created a beautiful landscape and hardscape designs for our new Fairhope home, was more than
By staying involved throughout the entire design and construction process, we are able to ensure that our clients’ goals are exceeded and our vision comes to life.
just an exceptional landscape architect. His attentiveness and caring attitude made the whole process easy and fun.”
302 Magnoila Ave. • Fairhope, AL • 251.454.3500 • espalierdesign.com may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 61
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
Chapel Farm Collection WE ARE HONORED TO BE PART OF LIFE’S CELEBRATIONS, SO WE OFFER BOTH BRIDAL AND BABY REGISTRIES. OF COURSE, IT IS NOT ALL ABOUT GIFTS. HELPING A CUSTOMER FIND JUST THE PIECE OF JEWELRY OR HOME DECOR THEY ARE LOOKING FOR (OR DID NOT EVEN KNOW THEY COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT!) IS A HIGHLIGHT FOR US AS WELL.
What Sets Your Business Apart? Our style is a mix of both classic and unique gifts that are one-of-a-kind. We carry estate goods and feature artists who have been with us from the beginning, and we are also always introducing new lines to keep our look and inventory fresh. This season we are proud to welcome 20 new artists and vendors to our collection, just in time for Mother’s Day and graduation!
How do your services exceed your customers’ expectations? We love helping our customers find the perfect gift and being part of the process from start to finish. For us, it is more than just finding the item you know the mother, graduate, or bride and groom in your life will love. Whether you come into our shop, visit us online or call, we want to help you put items together, wrap your gift, mail it out and include a handwritten note. We believe the little things make all the difference!
”We love all our treasures from Chapel Farm! From the cup I found the day after we learned we were having a girl (with her name on it!) to watching our daughter run through the store and pick out a teddy bear she loves so much! Thank you to all of the ladies that make us feel so special and blessed to shop at a place that always feels like I am not only shopping but also visiting with family!” Christie, loyal customer 19130 Scenic Highway 98 • Fairhope, AL • 251.929.1630 • chapelfarm.com 62 mobilebaymag.com | may 2018
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
text by TOM MCGEHEE
The Bo Nichols Team for BHHS Nichols Real Estate Why did you choose this field? Originally, it was a natural and easy job opportunity when I came home from college. Because my family owns the business, real estate sort of chose me. But why you choose to work in a field isn’t always why you stay in a field. I genuinely love what I do! I love helping people find deals that will make great investments. I love helping families find the place that fits their needs and hearing how happy their children are. I love helping the single guy or girl find their perfect home for entertaining, or the newlyweds their starter home. I love helping people sell a home that has been loved and lived in, and showcasing it in just the right way. It is all special because it is all personal!
BO NICHOLS HAS BEEN A REALTOR ON THE EASTERN SHORE FOR 15 YEARS, RECENTLY RECEIVING THE CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE GOLD AWARD FOR BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES, PLACING HIM IN THE TOP 2% NATIONALLY.
To what do you attribute your success? There has been a lot of change in real estate in the last 15 years. We have seen a boom and a bust, and now we are on the upswing. Being involved in ups and downs, in development and in residential sales, has made me a more well-rounded professional. Without experiencing the good and the bad sides of the market, you can’t possibly know how to head off problems at the pass for your client. I also have a secret weapon in my wife and teammate, Leila. It is nice to have a person who practically shares my brain, share my office and business tasks.
What sets you apart? Not just community involvement, but
community immersion is the secret to achieving the best outcomes in real estate for each of my clients. You can’t just trust that the media and pundits have a finger on the pulse of our community. Living in it everyday, knowing the people and neighborhoods and what drives our neighbors to sell or buy, is vital to being an asset to my clients. I will go to parties and hear friends quoting the news about the real estate market, but I know our market is special and doesn’t necessarily follow national trends, per se. I also know what makes each little nook and cranny of Baldwin County unique, which translates to sellable. That’s the kind of knowledge you have only when you sell where you have lived for 40 years.
6351 Monroe St. • Daphne, AL • 251.604.9705 • bhhsnichols.com may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 63
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
text by TOM MCGEHEE
Mobile Appliance What sets you apart? Everyone on our sales staff has a minimum of 20 years’ experience in the industry. We are a locally owned and operated business. Mobile Appliance has served the Gulf Coast for over 28 years.
Why did you choose this field of business? Mobile Appliance was established in 1990 and has been a family owned and operated business since it was established.
What is your mission? Mission Statement: We will be known for performing quality service in an efficient
OFFERING A BROAD SPECTRUM OF APPLIANCES WITH THE ABILITY TO COMPLETE ANYTHING FROM A DREAM KITCHEN TO AN OUTDOOR OASIS.
and timely manner. We will strive to attract customers and exceed all expectations on a daily basis. We value long-term relationships with individuals, builders, suppliers and vendors. We want to provide an enriching and rewarding environment for our employees, while serving and supporting the community in which we live.
To what do you attribute your success?
How do your services exceed your customer’s expectations?
How do you make sure your customers get the best results?
Our goal is to help guide and educate our customers in making the best appliance selection to fit their needs. We want to help them make their dream kitchen a reality.
Hard work and honesty. Our main goal is to have 100% satisfaction from all of our customers. We would not be successful without our loyal customer base. We strive for all of our customers to become repeat customers or to give us a good a referral.
We handle all of our customers appliance needs from the planning stages, to purchasing, to final installation. We are involved in the process from start to finish.
7738 McKinley Ave. • Mobile, AL • 251.633.3188 • mobileappliance.net 64 mobilebaymag.com | may 2018
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
Bellator Real Estate & Development BELLATOR REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT IS A LOCALLY-OWNED AND OPERATED REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE BASED OUT OF SPANISH FORT, SPECIALIZING IN RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE.
What sets you apart? Bellator stands out from the crowd because we are a company that’s full of life and heart. We’re independent and local. We’re independent, local and always growing. We set the standard high for our REALTORS® to be skilled professionals, but we are also engaged members of your neighborhood—moms, dads, athletes, musicians, adventurers—out there championing for our clients and making a difference in our communities.
What is your mission? Our mission is simple: To see all we can do with all that we have been given. For us, this means having a spirt of gratitude for the opportunities we have been afforded and a daily commitment to our greater purpose. We do what we do because we believe real estate is our platform for improving ourselves and our world. We fundraise for missions such as the Prodisee Pantry, Under His Wings and Wilmer Hall. We champion for our school systems through our support of the FUSE Project and participation campaigns for school funding. We support our military through the Military on the Move program and Operation Reconnect. Best of all, our agents are constantly connected with one another, sharing support opportunities for individuals and families they know who are struggling in our community.
How do you make sure your customers get the best results? We ensure a positive outcome for every buyer and seller by making sure we have the best real estate team in the business. Our agents are set apart in three distinct areas: their strength of character, their deep understanding of the local real estate markets, and their ever-evolving sales and marketing skills. Bellator has adopted best-in-class education systems like Ninja Selling, a program that trains our team in negotiating contracts, educating buyers and sellers, and analyzing market trends to help our clients make smart decisions. Our REALTORS® are also backed by a full-time local staff in every office that provides additional support along the way. We expect the best from our agents and give them the tools they need to provide superior service. Pictured: Jared Giddens (Mobile), Cindy Kusnierz (Gulf Shores), Steve Henry (Orange Beach), Jennifer Shirley (Eastern Shore) and Ruth Rye (Mobile). 891 Hillcrest Road • Mobile, AL • 251.343.7777 • bellatoral.com may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 65
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
Curtin & Assoc. Real Estate CURTIN & ASSOCIATES IS A FULL SERVICE REAL ESTATE COMPANY LOCATED IN SOUTH ALABAMA. WE PROVIDE RESIDENTIAL/COMMERCIAL LEASING, MANAGEMENT, SALES AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES.
What sets you apart? We see the big picture. We like to work with families from their first home to their “forever” home, and onto building a great investment portfolio acquiring both residential and commercial assets. Being a full service real estate agency with equal focus on residential and commercial sales, leasing and management. We have the means to manage these assets and turn them into the foundation for generations of wealth.
To what do you attribute your success? My team has had the unique opportunity of being able to work and build our business around our family and friends. Without their support our business would not be possible. We currently have six members in our office and will shortly have two additional members. Curtin & Associates is a family owned and operated business. Owned by Phillip & Erica Curtin along with a fantastic support staff with over 40 years of experience. We’ve been blessed to have fantastic mentors and friends leading and guiding along the way. For every success in our business and life, we are fortunate to have a group of friends and family standing behind us in support of our vision and goals. We proudly serve all areas of Southern Alabama.
“Curtin and Associates is a local company that pays attention to detail and provides professional service along with focusing on what you want. Since they are not driven by corporate numbers, they can take the time to help you without the pressure.” - Mark Fesperman
3280 Dauphin St. B118 • Mobile, AL • 251.408.3857 • curtin-associates.com 66 mobilebaymag.com | may 2018
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
text by TOM MCGEHEE
Coastal Stone & Cabinetry COASTAL STONE & CABINETRY HAS SERVED HOMEOWNERS, BUILDERS AND BUSINESSES IN THE GULF COAST AREA FOR 14 YEARS, PROVIDING HIGH-QUALITY NATURAL STONE PRODUCTS, FLOORING, CABINETRY, TILE AND CUSTOM SHOWERS.
What sets you apart? We are a one-stop shop for the major design elements in both new construction and remodels. Customers can select cabinetry, tile, flooring, custom showers and countertops with one visit to our showroom.
To what do you attribute your success? Our professional and dedicated staff, of course! Our design consultants listen to our customers’ goals and preferences and develop
a coordinated design plan that matches those needs within budget. Then, our skilled team of fabricators and installers completes their project.
“Coastal Stone and Cabinetry consistently pro-
How do you make sure your customers get the best results?
pleted well over hundred custom homes for our
Coastal strives to ensure that every customer has the best possible experience during the entire process, from the initial visit to the final installation. A happy customer is our primary goal.
vides the highest level of customer service and expert installation in the tile, countertop, wood flooring and cabinet business. They have comcompany with superior results. We feel they are the best in the business in Baldwin County and we our proud to offer their services to our custom home buyers.” Jennifer Mitchell Stuart Contracting Company, Inc.
16020 Greeno Road • Fairhope, AL • 251.929.3475 • gwww.coastalstonefairhope.com may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 67
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
text by TOM MCGEHEE
Willis Towers Watson What is your mission? Our mission is “to relentlessly serve the people we work for, the people we work with and the community that we live in — and to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those involved.” Risk management and employee benefits consulting is just the conduit that helps connect our profession to our mission of serving.
What sets you apart? In his bestselling book “The Lost Art of Listening,” Dr. Michael Nichols describes the differences between listening in order to respond and listening for understanding. What sets our team apart is our ability to ask the right questions, and then listen carefully and patiently until we truly understand the current client’s conditions. We are able to combine that understanding with the tools and resources of a
WILLIS TOWERS WATSON IS A LEADING GLOBAL ADVISORY, BROKING AND SOLUTIONS COMPANY THAT HELPS CLIENTS AROUND THE WORLD TURN RISK INTO A PATH FOR GROWTH.
world-class organization and create an unrivaled customer experience. In a nutshell, we listen, we understand and we solve problems in a best-inclass fashion.
How do you make sure customers get the best results? Our organization has an unwavering commitment to placing our customers’ interests above our own. You hear this at all levels. From the C-Suite to the first-year associate, everyone understands that we only succeed long-term when our clients are served in a way that maximizes their outcomes. Only then can we be successful. Our national client list includes a vast majority (over 80 percent) of the Fortune 500. We serve the likes of Coca-Cola, Nike and UPS, just to name a few. The resources used to exceed the expectations of global companies such as these are available to all of our clients.
“It has been a pleasure working with the team at Willis Towers Watson. They do a terrific job of securing a broad range of coverages, along with favorable terms and conditions. They are incredibly responsive to our needs and demonstrate a tremendous depth of knowledge.” Terry Pefanis, Chief Financial Officer, The SSI Group
11 North Water St. Suite 19290 • Mobile, AL • 251.433.0441 • willistowerswatson.com 68 mobilebaymag.com | may 2018
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
text by TOM MCGEHEE
Synergy HomeCare
SYNERGY HOMECARE IS LOCALLY OWNED BY BROOKE HARTNER AND ANDY LUEDECKE. LOCATED IN DAPHNE, SYNERGY SERVES THOSE NEEDING ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE IN THEIR OWN HOMES.
What sets you apart? “Synergy is an outstanding organization that provides excellent, on-time, personalized home care to those that need it. The staff is
We hope a lot of things, but if I have to pick one it will be our Quality Assurance Program. We have invested greatly in this program to ensure our standards are being met in the field on a daily basis. We have won Provider of Choice every quarter for the last four years in a row.
we have a ‘skills room’ on site for additional hands-on training and continued education opportunities for our caregivers so that they are always improving their craft.
To what do you attribute your success?
professional and compe-
What is your mission?
tent. If you need home
Our goal and mission (statement) is to provide unparalleled homecare to our clients, professional development to our caregivers, and actively serve our community.
Our culture. Our team is really one big, tight-knit family and when you love your co-workers and the company you work for, you take pride in your work. It allows us to keep resetting the bar to improve in every aspect of our business.
How do your services exceed your customers’ expectations?
How do you make sure your customers get the best results?
care, Synergy will definitely meet your needs, so look no further.“ - Terry, loyal customer
It starts with the comprehensive training program and personality profiles we have our caregivers go through. After they are on board,
Attention to detail and constant communication with those involved in our clients’ lives allow us to always have our finger on the pulse, so to speak.
1048 Stanton Road, Suite D • Daphne, AL • 251.621.1900 • synergyhomecare.com may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 69
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
text by TOM MCGEHEE
Lad Drago State Farm Insurance LAD DRAGO HAS OWNED HIS STATE FARM AGENCY SINCE OCTOBER, 2006. HE HAS 10 TEAM MEMBERS. HIS AWARD-WINNING AGENCY ENJOYS AN EXCELLENT REPUTATION FOR BUSINESS PRACTICES AND ETHICS.
What sets you apart? My agency is different from most other Insurance and Financial Services agencies because we focus on the customer. Our primary goal is to provide our families with a holistic plan to protect them from a financial disaster due to a property, liability or income loss. We focus on coverage/protection and make sure that our customers understand exactly what they are buying — a pretty novel concept in today’s insurance world. I offer all of our customers a personal meeting to discuss their policies, see what has changed in their lives and make adjustments to their coverages if necessary. I also am available for walk-in or spur-of-the-moment appointments. Our
excellent customer service is also a huge contributor to our success. I do not control rates or underwriting but I do control the experiences our customers have when we interact with them. Our customers expect more from us and my team and I strive to meet this expectation with every customer touch. Insurance is about more than saving 15% or getting the cheapest price — more often than not that cheapest price comes with significantly reduced coverage or a financially questionable company. At my office it is all about the customers, not about just selling policies. We offer quality solutions backed by one of the most respected and financially strong insurance
companies in the country.
What do you attribute your success to? Plain and simple we treat customers and prospects with respect and we focus entirely on their needs. We have actual conversations with our customer so we can get to know them and better understand what is important to them. I constantly preach to my team about the huge moral responsibility we have to our customers’ families to properly protect their property, liability and income. My team believes this and our customers know it. We also give back to the community through financial and volunteer support for numerous charities. We truly are a good
7623 Spanish Fort Blvd. • Spanish Fort, AL • 251.626.1237 • laddragoinsurance.com 70 mobilebaymag.com | may 2018
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
text by TOM MCGEHEE
The Park Clinic for Cosmetic and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery DR. CHRISTOPHER A. PARK IS A MOBILE-GROWN, BOARD CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEON WHO APPLIES HIS INTELLIGENCE, ARTISTIC SKILLS, COMPASSION AND WORK ETHIC TO FULFILL THE GOALS OF HIS PATIENTS.
What sets you apart? My practice uses all of its resources to support the care and goals of my patients, and to provide a comprehensive approach to physical health and beauty — surgically through the Park Clinic for Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery, non-surgically through Medspa at the Park, and in a synergistic physician group through Mobile Plastic Reconstructive Surgery and Dermatology. I am constantly adding techniques and technology to the practice so that we can expertly guide our patients down the safest and most effective route to achieve the desired outcome.
Why did you choose this field of business? I chose plastic surgery for many reasons. The tremendous breadth of plastic surgery, which is applied head to toe, infancy to elderly, skin to bone, and the expanse of technique and equipment options keeps me excited, stimulated and challenged to wake up and help each day. Two, the visual nature of my business appeals to my hands-on, concrete perspective. Three, the tremendous satisfaction that is achieved by a job well done, a happy patient or a beautiful outcome fulfills my spirit. And fourth, the problem-solving nature of my job, both in
“Counting my blessings from Dr. Park! What a wonderful experience!”
the reconstructive and aesthetic sides of my business, gives me the cognitive appeal that I need.
How do you make sure your customers get the best results? I help my patients achieve their best results by educating them clearly, advising of the risks and rewards, and jumping on board as the captain of their ship, taking them down a complicated road of options and side streets to reach their desired destination as safely, affordably, quickly and painlessly as possible. I can only do this by becoming a teammate and partner.
3153 Dauphin St. • Mobile, AL • 251.445.8888 • mprsd.com may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 71
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
text by TOM MCGEHEE
Ascension Funeral Group LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED FUNERAL GROUP COMPRISED OF ASCENSION FUNERALS & CREMATIONS, FOREST LAWN FUNERAL HOME, FOREST LAWN MEMORIAL GARDENS, SPRING HILL MEMORIAL GARDENS AND MOBILE PET CEMETERY.
What sets you apart? We are a progressive funeral home providing traditional funeral services as well as increasingly popular interests, such as cremation and natural burial. In 2016 we built our on-site crematory, so our families are secure knowing that we personally take care of their loved one from beginning to end. A growing number of people favor natural burial — an environmentally sustainable burial alternative where the body is returned to the earth to be recycled into new life.
What is your mission? We strive to always remember, with humility, the trust placed in us by the families we are honored to serve, and to perform our duties
in a professional manner while keeping in mind the personal challenges through which families are going.
How do your services exceed your customers’ expectations? Our families are treated with the highest respect, and our caring and experienced professional staff goes above and beyond to accommodate personal desires and traditions of each family. We strive to provide the family with a meaningful service to remember and memorialize their loved one, and endeavor to create the perfect plan to reflect that individuality. We honor most pre-need arrangements from other funeral homes, and provide services at all local
cemeteries. Our support does not end once the service has ended. We host a Grief-Share group every Tuesday at Ascension Funerals & Cremations, and are proud supporters of the Widowed Persons Service.
To what do you attribute your success? We recognize that our business will do well only when we serve you well. We have a long-term commitment to this community and, whenever possible, we choose to do business with other family-owned businesses. To us, the funeral industry is a ministry — the family comes first and it is our duty to help them move forward.
1016 Hillcrest Road • Mobile, AL • 251.634.8055 • ascensionfuneralgroup.com 72 mobilebaymag.com | may 2018
SPECIAL SECTION | ABOVE & BEYOND
United Bank SERVING OUR COMMUNITIES THROUGH 21 OFFICES, UNITED BANK IS THE ONLY PUBLICLY-TRADED FINANCIAL SERVICES HOLDING COMPANY HEADQUARTERED IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA.
What is your mission? Founded in 1904, United Bank has a strong mission of tangible results that can be seen in every category of our business from strong financial performance to economic and community development. We take an innovative approach in our business model. This model has fueled our growth as a financial institution and made a transformative difference in our communities. As a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), our mission to creative services helps businesses grow and successful families is ingrained in the way we conduct business every day. Our continued service in the CDFI space sets our organization apart and has contributed to awarded allocations of more $164 MM further stimulating economic development and job creation. The only entity in the Alabama to receive a NMTC allocation, UB Community Development, a community development partner of United Bank manages the oversight and deployment of these funds. These awards validate our team’s expertise and passion to bring community oriented economic development to the State of Alabama and Florida.
What sets you apart? The difference we make goes far beyond financial dividends. Our passion for connecting people and resources to build successful sustainable communities can be explored in deeper evaluation within our websites at www.UnitedBankAnnualReport.com, www.UnitedBank.com and www. UBCommunityDevelopment.com
“If it hadn’t been for the New Market Tax Credit program and United Bank’s familiarity with the program, we wouldn’t have been able to move our project into this area.”
200 East Nashville Ave. • Atmore, AL • 251.446.6100 • www.unitedbank.com may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 73
THE ARTS | LITERATURE
A Dream Deferred A Southern fiction novel details two sisters and the storms they must weather. excerpt from HURRICANE SEASON by LAUREN K. DENTON • interview by JOHN ROBERTSON
J
enna rolled the windows down and inhaled the warm, salty air. When she felt the magnitude of what she was attempting — going fourteen days without seeing her kids, resurrecting a long-dormant passion — she pushed the anxiety back and focused on the road. In her little blue car hurtling east, then south, she smiled as the air through the windows whipped her curls. She rolled the window up and cranked the AC. Freedom, light and elusive, won out over the panic and set her fingers tapping on the steering wheel. The woman Jenna had spoken to on the phone warned her not to use GPS to get to Halcyon. Those instructions would send her to Chopper’s Alligator Farm, the owner of which would not be amused by another misguided artist showing up at his front gate and asking for directions. So, when Jenna saw the first sign for Singer Creek Nature Preserve, she took the woman’s advice and ignored the blue dot, trusting that the signs would point her to her destination. She didn’t know much more about Halcyon than what she saw on the flyer Max had shoved across the varnished coffee shop counter three months ago. She’d been too afraid to read much about it, to hear about artists who’d left there full of new ideas, determination, purpose. The way she saw it, it was better not to get her hopes up. But now it was happening. The space that had opened up for her felt too good to be real. More than she deserved. “All art begins as a passion, an idea set deep inside the soul of a person,” the flyer
74 mobilebaymag.com | may 2018
had read. “Often, all that person needs is space to bring the idea to fruition. Halcyon is this space. It is a refuge to pursue the art that makes you feel alive.” Not until now did Jenna have a spark of memory about “halcyon.” She was probably thirteen or fourteen and had walked into her father’s office on the second floor of their house without knocking. He was hunched over his desk, scratching out music notes and drawing new ones on a score. Treble clefs, bass clefs, 3/4 counts. “What are you working on?” she’d asked. He glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to the sheet music before him. “I’m writing a new piece for my Summer Concert series. It’s called Halcyon Days. It’s going to be beautiful if I can just figure out this coda...” And with that, he retreated again to the space in his mind where no one could reach him. Later, he explained to her the story behind Halcyon Days. The beautiful widow. The kingfisher. The unusual calm. When she pulled off the highway at the sign for Singer Creek, her hurriedly scrawled directions told her to drive ten miles south on a thin two-lane road, then turn off onto another road for a few miles. Her directions didn’t mention that this road was white sand instead of asphalt and just wide enough for her car. Leafy tendrils and vines encroached along the edges and tall tress lined the road, meeting above to form a canopy that blocked out the last of the daylight. This must be wrong, she thought. But as she inched forward, just past a sprawling
oak with Spanish moss drooping down to brush the top of her car, a driveway opened up. Not even a driveway really, just a blip of space carved out between trees. She pulled in. Down the path, her headlights illuminated a sign hung on a tree, suspended from a scrolled arm of iron and squeaking back and forth in the breeze. Welcome to Halcyon. Taken from “Hurricane Season” by Lauren K. Denton Copyright © 2018 by Lauren K. Denton. Used by permission of www.thomasnelson.com
“Hurricane Season” by Lauren K. Denton hit the shelves on April 3rd and is available anywhere books are sold.
About the Author Lauren K. Denton, a Bay-area native, follows up her USA Today best-selling novel, “The Hideaway,” with another Southern fiction soon-to-be hit, “Hurricane Season.” Denton grew up in Mobile, and it’s clear through her writing that she still loves the area. The fictional town of Elinore is based loosely on the Loxley / Robertsdale area. Denton molds the setting to the needs of the story, while still making it clear that it’s from around these parts, as they say. A mother of two herself, Denton drew inspiration for Jenna’s daughters, a main focal point of the story, from her own daughters. “I have to admit, I put a lot of my two girls, Kate and Sela, into Addie and Walsh. They have some of the classic first- and secondborn traits as well, with my oldest Kate being much more reserved and cautious, whereas Sela is wide open and adventurous.” The story is told from three different perspectives: the two adult sisters, Betsy and Jenna, as well as Betsy’s husband, Ty. “Writing from a male point of view was new for me, and I thought of (my husband) Matt a lot while I was writing, mainly trying to remind myself that men talk a lot less than women!” says Denton. “I had to remember that when I use 10 words to say something, he would probably use five.” Denton uses a delicate touch with her writing and intentionally avoids “going overboard into the ‘sweet tea and verandas’ type of Southern fiction,” as she calls it. That’s not to say there isn’t any mention of sweet tea though. Don’t worry — there is. MB
february may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 75
MAY / JUNE 2018 ON STAGE & EXHIBITS PG. 78 • JUNE HIGHLIGHTS PG. 80
GULF COAST HOT AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL. PHOTO BY TOMAS CASTELAZO
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
[ MAY HIGHLIGHTS]
may 4 - 5
may 5 - 6
may 18 - 20
Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival
Blessing of the Fleet
The Hangout Music Festival
2 p.m. - 10 p.m. F. 6 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sa. Pilots from across the U.S. light up the sky in hot air balloons. Other festivities include the world-famous Disc Connected K-9’s Frisbee Dog Show, carnival rides, arts and crafts vendors, and great food and entertainment. Balloon flights and displays are weatherdependent, taking place only at dusk and dawn when conditions permit.
10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Partake in the beloved Bayou La Batre and Coden tradition celebrating life along the working waterfront. The event features a decorated boat parade, fleet blessing at the dock of St. Margaret’s Catholic Church, arts and crafts, a working waterfront exhibit, children’s activities, seafood dishes, Vietnamese cuisine, hamburgers, hot dogs and more.
11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Get ready for a threeday-long party on the beach with over 60 hit-making headliners including The Killers, Zedd, The Chainsmokers, Halsey and Kendrick Lamar. General admission and VIP tickets still available. Must be 18 and over; attendees 17 and under must be accompanied by an adult over 21. Times and lineup subject to change.
FOLEY SPORTS PARK GULFCOASTBALLOONFESTIVAL.COM
ST. MARGARET CATHOLIC CHURCH FLEETBLESSING.ORG
GULF SHORES PUBLIC BEACH HANGOUTMUSICFEST.COM
To have your event included in the online or print edition of Mobile Bay Magazine, email calendar@pmtpublishing.com. 76 mobilebaymag.com | may 2018
THE MULLIGAN BROTHERS PHOTO BY MICHELLE STANCIL
may 12 - 13 Foley Art in the Park 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Arts and crafts in the park for Mother’s Day weekend features more than 110 exhibitors displaying their original works. JOHN B. FOLEY PARK • 943-4381
may 13 Bellingrath Mother’s Day Evening Garden Concert 5:30 p.m. Treat mom to a performance by the Mobile Symphony Youth Orchestra. Reserve a table for four for $22 or six for $27. BELLINGRATH GARDENS AND HOME 973-2217 • BELLINGRATH.ORG
may 18 Live at Five - The Mulligan Brothers 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Bring a picnic and folding chairs to this VIP music event on the green. Tickets: $5. HALSTEAD AMPHITHEATER AT COASTAL ALABAMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, FAIRHOPE CAMPUS THEMULLIGANBROTHERS.COM
may 19 - 20 Thunder on the Bay Honor the part that Fort Gaines played in the Civil War in this living history day. Admission: ages 5 - 12, $4; ages 13 and up, $8. HISTORIC FORT GAINES, DAUPHIN ISLAND DAUPHINISLAND.ORG
may 19 Blue Star Salute Celebration 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. Celebrate Armed Forces Day with a 5K Memorial Run and Walk, music, presentations and a keynote speaker. This year’s event will pay tribute to the 100th anniversary of WWI. USS ALABAMA BATTLESHIP MEMORIAL PARK BLUESTARSALUTE.ORG
may 2018 | mobilebaymag.com 77
[ON STAGE & EXHIBITS]
through june 1 Back to Havana Explore the relationship between Mobile and its sister city Havana, Cuba, in this exhibit featuring multimedia projects from 15 of Cuba’s contemporary artists. ALABAMA CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER ALABAMACONTEMPORARY.ORG
through july 1 do it The Mobile Museum of Art is giving local artists, individuals and community groups the opportunity to participate in the “do it” competition that originated in Paris in 1993. As a part of the competition, participants interpret and complete selected works from more than 250 possible instructions. MOBILE MUSEUM OF ART MOBILEMUSEUMOFART.COM
through july 8 Alabama / Texas Art Exchange This Mobile Museum of Art exhibit features the work of artists from their respective states, presented concurrently at each venue. The event was originally scheduled for October 2017 but was postponed due to the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey in Houston. MOBILE MUSEUM OF ART MOBILEMUSEUMOFART.COM
may 3 Gov't Mule 6:30 p.m. Doors open. 7:30 p.m. Show starts. The rock band plays, along with special guest Black Stone Cherry. Tickets: $34 - $51. MOBILE SAENGER • MOBILESAENGER.COM
may 4 Jerry Seinfeld 6 p.m. Doors open. 7 p.m. Show starts. The legendary stand-up comedian stops in the Port City. Tickets: $68 - $150. MOBILE SAENGER • MOBILESAENGER.COM
may 4 - 6 “Butterflies Are Free” 7:30 p.m. F / Sa. 2:30 p.m. Su. Theatre 98 presents the 1969 comedy about a blind musician who develops a relationship with a free-spirited hippie. Tickets: $18. THEATRE 98 • THEATRE98.ORG
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MARC COHN
may 9 Chicago 7 p.m. Doors open. 8 p.m. Show starts. The Port City welcomes the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famers. Tickets: $60 - $100. MOBILE SAENGER • MOBILESAENGER.COM
may 11 - 13, 18 - 20, 25 - 27 “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” 7:30 p.m. F / Sa, 2 p.m. Su. Sing along to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical interpretation of the favorite story. CHICKASAW CIVIC THEATRE • CCTSHOWS.COM
may 11 Havana Nights 6:30 p.m. Indulge in the sights and sounds of Mobile’s sister city, Havana, as the culminating event of the Alabama Contemporary Arts Center’s “Back to Havana” exhibit. The event, which benefits Ransom Ministries, features Cuban food, specialty cocktails, a cigar bar and festive entertainment. Tickets: $30. ALABAMA CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER HAVANANIGHTSRANSOMMINISTRIES. EVENTBRITE.COM
may 12 Three Dog Night 7 p.m. Doors open. 8 p.m. Show starts. The legendary rock band celebrates five decades of hits. Tickets: $42 - $92. MOBILE SAENGER • MOBILESAENGER.COM
may 15 Marc Cohn 6:30 p.m. Doors open. 7:30 p.m. Show starts. Don’t miss this show, a part of the Michelob Ultra Concert Series, featuring special guests The Blind Boys of Alabama. Tickets: $50 - $60. THE STEEPLE • THESTEEPLEMOBILE.COM
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[JUNE HIGHLIGHTS]
june 2 Publix Grandman Triathlon 7 a.m. Registration for the 14th annual Grandman Triathlon, hosted by Mobile Baykeeper, is open to individual and team racers. Proceeds benefit Baykeeper and MyTeam Triumph: Southern Alabama. FAIRHOPE MUNICIPAL PIER • 433-4229 THEGRANDMAN.COM
june 3 Publix Jubilee Kids Triathlon 7:30 a.m. Open to children ages 7 - 15, the race features four different categories according to age group. FAIRHOPE MUNICIPAL PIER • 433-4229 MOBILEBAYKEEPER.ORG/JUBILEEKIDSTRIATHLON
june 4 Explore Mobile 2 p.m. - 7 p.m. In conjunction with Alabama’s bicentennial, enjoy music, food and activities, as well as free admission to the city’s tourist attractions. DOWNTOWN MOBILE • CONDECHARLOTTE.COM
june 8 Crawfish Bash 5:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. Enjoy all-you-caneat crawfish, locally-brewed beer from Fairhope Brewing Co., live music, kids activities and more. Admission: $20; 10 and under, $5; 2 and under, free. BLACKBURN PARK, BAY MINETTE NORTHBALDWINCHAMBER.COM
june 1 - 3, 8 - 10, 15 - 17 “Ragtime” 7:30 p.m. F / Sa. 2 p.m. Su. Follow three diverse families as they pursue the American dream in turn-of-the-century New York. Tickets: $10, $15, $20. JOE JEFFERSON PLAYERS JOEJEFFERSONPLAYERS.COM
june 6 - july 25 Wonderful Wednesdays 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. On Wednesdays, brush up on various summer gardening and horticultural production techniques at Bellingrath Gardens. BELLINGRATH GARDENS AND HOME 973-2217 • BELLINGRATH.ORG
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DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL
june 9 Dragon Boat Festival 7 a.m. - 2 p.m. Whether as a team member or a spectator, enjoy the awesomeness that is Fuse Project’s Dragon Boat Festival. In addition to the races, don’t miss the food trucks, fashion trucks, petting zoo, trackless train, gyro gym, jumpies, pony rides and all of the wonderful exhibits at The Battleship. Admission: $5. USS ALABAMA BATTLESHIP MEMORIAL PARK FUSEPROJECT.ORG
june 8 - 10, 15 - 17 “Closed Session” 7:30 p.m. F / Sa. 2 p.m. Su. The Mobile Theatre Guild presents their interpretation of Milton L. Brown’s play. Tickets: $15 - $20. MOBILE THEATRE GUILD MOBILETHEATREGUILD.ORG
june 15 The Fab Four 7 p.m. Doors open. 8 p.m. Show starts. The best Beatles cover band ever performs their renditions of “Twist and Shout,” “Here Comes the Sun,” “Can’t Buy Me Love” and more. Tickets: $22 - $52. MOBILE SAENGER • MOBILESAENGER.COM
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HISTORY | ARCHIVES
Funny Mobile Customs Writer Frances Beverly documents some of historic Mobile’s most bizarre practices. text by FR ANCES V. BEVERLY • illustration by COLLEEN COMER Frances Beverly Papers, The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of South Alabama
Born in 1865, Frances V. Beverly toiled away at her home on Government Street throughout the 1930s and ’40s, writing what she hoped would become the almanac of Mobile. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Beverly died in Mobile in 1954, leaving behind piles of manuscripts hidden from the very audience whose lore and customs she so tirelessly documented for posterity — that is, until now. In this series, MB presents the Frances Beverly Papers.
A
mong the many queer and un pleasant customs which were prevalent in Mobile for many, many years, one [in particular] was the cause of much unhappiness and em-
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barrassment to children — the horrible habit which mothers had of using what they called “medication” for protecting the child. At the first rumor of a contagious disease being in the city, all of the mothers stampeded to the drugstores, and you will never guess what they were in a hurry to buy. Every child from newborn infants to 12-year-olds was decorated with little red flannel bags filled to bursting with asafoetida, camphor and an assortment of spices. These bags were worn on a string around the neck, and when the heat of the body began to take effect on the contents of the bag, the unfortunate wearer could find no welcome anywhere. The family openly sniffed and moved away or said, “Get out of here,” and strangers politely, if such a gesture could ever be polite, would take out
a handkerchief and cover their noses, until they could put distance between them. Children lost respect for themselves, and some took on inferiority complexes, and they hated everybody because nobody would sit near them in church or in a streetcar, and they felt that the whole world was against them. No one ever would give them any reasonable reasons for wearing such horrible-smelling bags, except that while they wore them they could never have whooping cough, measles, diphtheria or any other disease. Certainly, no self-respecting disease would go near anybody who smelled as they did. No germ would want to live where asafoetida had its abode. In the early days it was a custom, almost universal, when on a trip a man, accompa-
nied by his wife, to register on steamboats and in hotels as “John Smith and Lady,” with “Lady” capitalized. It was done by all men, a kind of blanket registration, which covered any kind of a lady, from the octogenarian grandmother, to the painted young things of the ballet and chorus. “John Smith and wife” or “Mr. and Mrs. John Smith” was too specific. It was perfectly alright, on occasion, but the majority of men preferred the “Lady” and hence the general registration. Of course, the error in classification could not always be detected, and it was “a sop” to conventions; she was at least a lady on hotel registers, if not otherwise recognized. It is only very rarely seen now-a-days, and then only on country hotel registers. The custom of giving “lagniappe” is strictly a custom of Mobile and New Orleans, which meant that each purchaser of food stuffs, particularly, received a cookie in a baker shop, or an apple in a grocery, or a stick of candy in a drugstore. This was a great joy to children, and there was no trouble in those days to get a child to go on an errand. Grownups, when they paid a bill of any considerable amount, were always given a box of candy or a bag of fruit, with the most profound bow and appreciative thanks. At Christmas, each regular customer was sent a turkey or a bottle of wine. Times have changed; when one pays a bill now, the money is received with a grunt or a snort and an air of disgust at having to wait until the first of the month to get it. Courtesy is not a strong point with merchants anymore. Instead of getting lagniappe, we get short weight: If you make a purchase, when you get home there will be 10 oranges instead of a dozen, and the tested scales on your pantry shelf will show that there is a shortage of one-eighth to one-quarter of a pound of everything in your market basket. Honest inspectors have found that many weights are tampered … 100 years ago, not one man in a million would have thought of plugging weights with lead, but it is quite “au fait” in this generation. MB
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HISTORY | ASK MCGEHEE
When was Mobile’s airport downtown? text by TOM MCGEHEE
Technically, Mobile’s airport was never downtown, but it was a heck of a lot closer than it is now. While many believe that the city’s first municipal airport was located in the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, this is not the case. Around the time of World War I, a young college student named Herndon Smith drove down to the end of Michigan Avenue to check on some family property. The roughly 100-acre site had been purchased as an investment by his father, attorney Harry T. Smith, but, unbeknownst to him, the barren site would soon find a purpose. To his surprise, the young Smith discovered that the flat landscape was occupied by a number of airplanes. As he watched them land and take off, he got an
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idea. He approached one of the pilots and explained that this was private property and that the landing fee was $25. To his surprise, the man handed him the money and other pilots did likewise.
From Legion Field to Bates Field It wasn’t long before the city of Mobile had leased the Smiths’ property to serve as the area’s first airport. The level, treeless expanse was ideal for landing strips. The facility was named Legion Field. Legion Field lasted a decade before a larger parcel was obtained near Mobile’s bayfront on Cedar Point Road. A new airport was dedicated there in November 1929 and named Bates Field in honor of Cecil Bates. A longtime city commissioner,
Bates had served six terms as Mobile’s mayor and would later be appointed a circuit judge. The dedication of Bates Field was a busy two-day event, with entertainment arranged by future congressman Frank Boykin. His predecessor, Rep. John McDuffie, arrived from Washington by air for the festivities. This was the first time in the state’s history that an Alabama congressman traveled in an airplane. The experience left the ABOVE Bates Field, known today as Brookley Field, was Mobile’s second airport and dated to 1929. The Mobile Airport Authority is currently conducting a feasibility study to determine the impact of moving the airport back to this location. ERIK OVERBEY COLLECTION, THE DOY LEALE MCCALL RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA
Monroe County native “an enthusiast for the development of aviation,” according to a newspaper account. Thousands flocked to Bates Field to watch a parade of planes, followed by parachute jumps and a “maneuverability contest” by naval aviators. Next, the appreciative audience observed an air race between commercial planes whose engines could not exceed 90 horsepower. Bates Field lasted less than a decade at its 1929 site. In 1938, the property was chosen for a military air depot, which would become Brookley Army Airfield. That base was originally intended for Tampa, but thanks to the political wrangling of Rep. Frank Boykin in Washington, Mobile was selected instead.
World’s Largest Municipal Airport In March 1941, Mobile’s “Giant MillionDollar Airplane Field” was dedicated on what was then known as Government Street Road. The rural two-lane road would ultimately be renamed Airport Boulevard. The airport may have moved, but it kept the name of Bates Field. According to a newspaper account, Mobile could now boast the “largest municipal airport in the world” thanks to its 791-acre site. Nearly eight decades since its opening, the airport has been enlarged, rebuilt and renamed Mobile Municipal Airport. Airport Boulevard has been widened and traffic continues to draw retailers and car lots. The resulting traffic concerns have certainly assisted in the effort to place the airport back at its second location (Brookley). Supporters cite the accessibility from the interstate as well as a booming downtown Mobile. And the fate of the first airport location? As a development built to house workers from Brookley, its winding streets today pay homage to a different sort of aviator. It’s called Birdville. MB
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END PIECE | IN LIVING COLOR
Ambulance at Bienville, circa 1906 Photo courtesy of J. Eugene Bressingham, The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of South Alabama • colorization by Dynamichrome Limited
A city ambulance from the turn of the last century poses at Bienville Square. Horse-drawn ambulances were a familiar sight on the battlefield during the Civil War and quickly became a part of civilian life. Within a matter of years, this scene would become a relic of the past as the automobile came into widespread use. St. Andrew’s Cross, dedicated to Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville in 1906, is visible in the background, along with Bienville Square’s iconic, if not slightly smaller, oak trees.
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