Show us a little social media love

We may have a historic neighborhood, but we are following all the social media trends!  Follow us on Instagram at hollywoodhometour and like us on Facebook- Holly Oak Garden Club. See something you like?  Repost and share the love!

Watch the weather today

As I sit in my front room, I see nothing but a flat gray sky in front of me. Thunderstorm and tornado days always remind me of the April 27, 2011 storms. It was a harrowing afternoon and I distinctly remember the voice of James Spann saying that Homewood was in the direct line of the storms, taking the children to the basement, putting my 10 month old son and 2 year old daughter under our bodies and praying.  When we heard that the storm had take a slight turn and Homewood would be out of the path, there was a huge sigh of relief.

My family had no idea that another family in our neighborhood was not able to relax- as they were experiencing some of the worst. I only remember hearing sirens, and not knowing where they were going.

Shannon Murphy's home, featured in Birmingham Magazine this month, has been rebuilt with fantastic safety features.

We have made reference to this house several times and I know that right now the house is getting a lot of publicity. However, included in the article are important safety tips for your home.  You can see a large gallery of home photos in the article, but it's not the same as standing in the house.

Shannon's home (218 LaPrado Place) as well as other beautiful homes are on the tour this year.  Please purchase your tickets and come see some of the beautiful history that we have to offer in Hollywood.  Tour is April 28!

Windsor gate

Beautiful azaleas blooming in Lee Ann Allen's yard, framed by one of the entrance gates to the Historic Hollywood neighborhood. There's a bench in the middle for seating.  This gate is at the corner of Windsor/Yorkshire Drives.

A bit of white paint on it, but this storm drain cover reminds us of a time gone by... when the whole neighborhood was a city unto itself. Only a few of these remain. This one is close to 218 Poinciana Drive, and another is almost directly across the street. I hear that there is one cover by the flag pole on Bonita.  Anyone know where other "City of Hollywood" remnants are located?

Did you know?

After the editor of Over The Mountain Journal asked for some more information on the history of Hollywood and the home featured on the tour, I’ve been sending messages to Garden Club members and discovering the interesting tidbits of history- about the neighborhood and the homes itself.

Hollywood began in the 1920’s as a city.  Hollywood/Homewood is considered the first community “Over The Mountain”- outside of Birmingham. Hollywood neighborhood and homes were marketed as “Out of the Smoke Zone and into the Ozone”. 

It had one mayor- who resided at 109 Bonita- before the town joined Homewood. The first streets to be developed- Hollywood Boulevard, Bonita, Gran- had homes in the Spanish Mission and Spanish Eclectic style construction. When new homes were finished and put on the market for sale, the neighbors would do a light show and have chorus shows to feature the new home.

The Salie House (11 Bonita, and named for the resident architect of many of the early Hollywood homes), has beam work and elements replicated in the home from the Hollywood Country Club.  The Spanish Mission style home has been beautifully restored and has it’s own blog- check it out at 11bonita.com. And that spectacular turret in the middle of the home?  It's constructed from one tree.

Spanish Mission style homes are constructed to promote airflow through the house. The owners only needed to open the windows to get an east-west or north-south draft and the home cooled itself.  Can you imagine living in the deep south during the oppressive summers and being in a cool home- nearly 100 years ago? 

The Crais House (300 Yorkshire, owned by Charles and Ali Goodrich) was built around 1925 and is positioned at the top of a hill. At the time, you could stand on the front porch and see the Hollywood Country Club.  The current garden at the home contains plants from Mr. Crais’ green house- which is now the porch on the right side of the house.

The Hollywood Country Club was a sight to behold back in the day!  Most of the families in this historic district had live in maids and cooks during the 1920’s. On Thursday, however, it was cook’s night off- so everyone went to the Country Club for dinner.  The club had a sandy beach at the pool and was a wonderful gathering place. It burned down in the mid 1980’s and there is now a hotel on the former property along Shades Creek Parkway.

Have you noticed that Birmingham seems to get a large amount of lightning strikes?  It has to do with the amount of iron ore in Red Mountain- the backbone of the steel industry and Sloss Furnace- which gave rise to The Magic City.

218 LaPrado Place interview today!

This morning I had the pleasure of talking with Shannon Murphy, owner of 218 La Prado Place and Keysha Drexel, Editor of Over The Mountain Journal. Keysha is writing a feature story for OTMJ about Shannon’s home and about the Historic Hollywood Home Tour.  Look for the issue in your front yard on April 18!

The April 2013 issue of Birmingham Magazine has a home feature of this home, but there’s something so special about standing in the house and looking at the restoration, as well as to talk to the home owner. Shannon shared the very personal story of how her home was affected by the April 27, 2011 tornadoes.  The upper floor of the house destroyed after a lightning strike hit the house during the afternoon storms. We were all in tears just listening to stories of how Shannon's family had been in a safe place to protect the children, realizing the house had been struck by lightning, then seeing the home be flooded with fire hoses.  The emotion of the situation is so much more than many people can imagine.

However there were several moments that made me smile- because they are reassurances of why we love this historic neighborhood. Shannon spoke of neighbors helping remove contents of the house to salvage what they could- and how the neighborhood all pitched in to help that evening.  Neighbors were returning to the house to try to save items on the first floor so the family would not lose things like pictures. The smiles of the firemen rescuing her dog after she tearfully told her children that she knew the dog would perish in the flames. She spoke of how they were displaced for many months, but coming back to the restored home and returning to the loving neighborhood that they had been a part of since 2002. Shannon said they did an open house for the neighborhood to thank them for helping the entire family. She also said that she was happy to put the home on the 2013 tour because the tour generates funds for triangle maintenance in the neighborhood, as well as supporting Shades Cahaba School and the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.  It gets at the heart of why many of us love Homewood and Hollywood- it’s about the people and sense of community here that just can’t be found in every single neighborhood.

When you are at 218 LaPrado Place, think of the families who have grown up in this house.  Pay special attention to the upstairs children’s bedrooms. Inside the window benches are mounted fire ladders, so that in the event of a house fire- children will be able to escape.  Also look for the framed child’s drawing of guardian angels.  In the destroyed second floor of the home, one of Shannon’s daughters found this picture she had drawn years before- and it has the footprint of a fireman on the back of it. Through all the destruction, the guardian angels were still in the house and one of the precious memories which was salvaged. Amazing; it gave me chills to hear her describe the story.

Please read the feature in your next issue of Over The Mountain Journal, purchase tour tickets and enjoy our tour this year! Tickets can be found at Hunters Cleaners, Harmony Landing, Arceneaux Gallery and Sweet Peas Garden Center. You may also contact our ticket chair, Jennifer Kramer at dank_7371@yahoo.com or 879-6777 to purchase tickets.

Tour poster

These posters will be popping up in business windows soon. Such beautiful renderings of our featured homes.