Definitely. They not letting the bad circumstances around them affect them. I'm sure it does get to them at times, but at least they keep moving forward.
EXACTLY!! I you read my mind. I always say that, in the most shittiest areas the houses are done up or people try their best to take pride in them. Making a good deal out of a bad deal
No matter where life takes me I will never forget my City (205) Birmingham Al. I still call it the city of hope we gone get there one day🙏🏽 RIP Larry Langford🙏🏽
@@SuperTamig You're absolutely right, however it's still home... Not to tell my age, lol... I grew up near the area he was filming.. Inner City Birmingham... Right around the corner from where Region Field now sits... Film or recordings seems to make the area look just that much worse...
Funny thing is, I can take a video of white neighborhoods in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and they look exactly the same. This is not a "black" problem. Poor people all over have this blight problem. No hope, no future, no interest in making it better.
Oh yeah, and poor whites don't run around shooting each other every day over absolutely fucking nothing, while you people trying to say whites do it to,
You'll get there just keep grinding. But yeah I love the Magic City it's still a beautiful place. Just like Chicago its a beautiful city as well but I had to get out also. Now I'm in Central Illinois a lot slower but safer. Stay safe be blessed
I’m about to tell you what happened to Birmingham, Alabama from my own view and some from research. I was born in B’ham in 1981. During the ‘80’s and early 2000’s, those neighborhoods you seen was beautiful and well-kept because the older blacks and some whites who lived in the neighborhood kept their homes and the street clean and tidy. Birmingham is a blue collar city and at that time you had good factory jobs around like, McWayne, US steel Fairfield works, and stockham. My cousin use to work for stockham for over 33 years. My cousin lived an upper middle class life in Pratt City and many of his colleagues lived in Ensley, Fairfield, Powderly and other parts of the area that was filmed. Once the factory closed a lot of them seen their income cut in half and had to live off retirement, pensions, or savings. One of the major employers in the city is UAB. If you had a background in nursing you was good. When the recession hit in early 1990-s those jobs started to slowly phase out, the city of Birmingham was starting to slide,you couldn’t really see it but it was barely becoming noticeable, so a lot of educated black residence left the city and moved to Atlanta, Ga, Houston, Dallas, and other major cities. As you can, a lot of brain drain took place and the elite blacks moved to Shelby County along highway 280. On the west side of town where CharlieBoi shot the scenes, there are no major employers on that side of town, mostly fast-food restaurants, wings joints, etc. During the late 1990’s a lot of the older black residence was starting to die out and left their houses to younger generation and that where the decline came in. There was an increase in single motherhood, drugs and alcohol came into place. A lot of people on social security, those older people who have passed and left their homes to the children, never got the deeds or title updated and by the house still in their parents’ name, the city is missing out on a lot of tax base revenue. Everybody know that you can’t operate with tax, you need some kind of revenue to come in. during the early 2000’s recession - dot com bubble, Birmingham didn’t really hit that hard from what I could see, but it was the beginning to an spiral downfall for the city. The great recession came and finish it out and the city by being a blue collar city began to lose major jobs 64,000 jobs has been loss in 2007 according to Roy L. Williams -- The Birmingham News According to AL.com article 19,000 was lost last year. As you can see the city was not only cripple but laid flat, smashed. What you see is what going on really across America. Shrinkage. A lot of white collar jobs left there was two major call centers, Teletech (use to work there 2004-2008) and SITEL. Both provided good jobs and both moved overseas. Left a lot of young people unemployed. Wells Fargo home mortgage where I used to work- moved to Charlotte, NC. Alabama is one of the poorest states in the USA and Birmingham is known as fast-food capital. So there are not a lot of opportunity to succeed in the city, AT&T building downtown Birmingham is vacant. The city only have 1 major indoor mall, Riverchase Galleria which is starting fade. Western Hills Mall and Brookwood Mall are basically vacant. Century Plaza and Eastwood Mall are distant memories. Those apartment at the end, Central Gardens, when I stayed there the units were 90% occupied, what happened was the owner of the property Hubbard reality, sold the units to the guy from Mississippi, then they went down fast, first he got rid of the trash pickup from 2 times a week to 1 time a week, and then he started to hire the tenants to due to lawn care. Birmingham is in bad shape from what I can see and I wish it the best. Birmingham will always be in my heart. Again this is my personal opinion of the city, please comment with yours. the Birmingham News on February 28, 2010 at 5:30 AM, updated February 28, 2010 at 6:11 AM. According to AL.com article 19,000 was lost last year. As you can see the city was not only cripple but laid flat, smashed. What you see is what going on really across America. Shrinkage. A lot of white collar jobs left there was two major call centers, Teletech (use to work there 2004-2008) and SITEL. Both provided good jobs and both moved overseas. Left a lot of young people unemployed. Wells Fargo home mortgage where I used to work- moved to Charlotte, NC. Alabama is one of the poorest states in the USA and Birmingham is known as fast-food capital. So there are not a lot of opportunity to succeed in the city, AT&T building downtown Birmingham is vacant. The city only have 1 major indoor mall, Riverchase Galleria which is starting fade. Western Hills Mall and Brookwood Mall are basically vacant. Century Plaza and Eastwood Mall are distant memories. Those apartment at the end, Central Gardens, when I stayed there the units were 90% occupied, what happened was the owner of the property Hubbard reality, sold the units to the guy from Mississippi, then they went down fast, first he got rid of the trash pickup from 2 times a week to 1 time a week, and then he started to hire the tenants to due to lawn care. Birmingham is in bad shape from what I can see and I wish it the best. Birmingham will always be in my heart. Again this is my personal opinion of the city, please comment with your
I agree with you. I've lived here all my life and was born in 83. I never lived downtown, but grew up in suburbs like Center Point (which has only gotten worse over time) I've seen a lot of what you mentioned. Where do you stay now?
Good morning everyone, I want to thank everyone who read my comment about the Birmingham decline. I personally think that Birmingham could have been a great place if Larry Langford (RIP) would have been left as the mayor. According to my research, Birmingham is on the same decline as Cleveland, OH; Gary, IN; Detroit, and Trenton, NJ. Any time you get a young black male major in office, the city goes down. Investors come in, pitch an idea, revamp downtown, and leave with all the money, tax incentives, and leave the rest of the residents with empty promises. All that is left is the poor and the hopeless in the city.
They would rather play victim because they weren't born into royalty. They get dressed and walk out the house and stand on a corner with five other victims. Im black and used to do it until I said to myself, this aint working. Marine Corps, Wife, Two Kids, and many American Akitas later, I live the life I want, not the one that was given.
Our communities use to not be so bad. I grew up in most of these areas and it’s so sad how things have changed. I saw Powderly, Titusville, loveman village, westend, and many more ran down communities. Our communities are not going to take care of themselves. The people living in them must do so.
It always amazes me......what ever hardship these neighborhoods have to suffer from....they mostly take great care of their lawns....Your videos are always interesting and educational -thanks a lot !Have a nice weekend!
Then poverty is a relative thing. Many things I see here signify a much higher standard of living than in Moldova, for example. Some nice cars and houses.
A lot of people talk about Birmingham not being the greatest City to live in I like Birmingham because it's so cheap to live hear and they're always willing to help and there are a lot of resources anybody can make it living in Birmingham Alabama I'm representing the 205 city Alabama has a strength like no other .
next you should do Alabamas worst hillbilly towns, Bibb County has gotten real nasty over the last 20 years, if you go down this one road there's nothing but trash lining both sides of the shoulder down the entire road. the sad part is they claim to love their town but yet they can't take care of it. smdh
Strolling the hood Birmingham Alabama They rebuilding those neighborhoods I grew up in Fairfield projects And grew up to move my babies to a beautiful subdivision love the video
@supa doopa this video does this area no justice. I’m from this very hood and surrounding area. This is near Legion Field every project is under major revitalization. This video gives me another prospective of how I look at what is put out and what people buy into. Trust me, people in this area are doing as good as they want to. Too many opportunities out here with the growth of the city. If you want to see what it really is like, let me know and I will point you in the right direction
This is a great example to show how easy it would be for the government to spy on black neighborhoods without any suspicion, just use a black driver in a regular vehicle
Left Tacoma Washington at 17 back in 2005 hit the road ended up in Birmingham. I ended up staying there for over a year I miss all the homies I met out there it’s breed out there fa real. Showed me that loyalty and love is real. Real solid niggas is in Alabama fa real miss everyone I met wish we could get back in touch
I'm from the west and i believe i seen those apartments in the thumbnail on the first 48 ... Birmingham is one of my favorite Cities to watch when it's on the First 48 !
I saw it too on first48. There were those red brick housing projects. One of the cops used to grow up there and said the name of the projects. Somebody know the name?
welcome to my hometown. those apartments at the end, I used to stay in them, central gardens,2008-2011. it was 90% occupied, rent for 1 bedroom 315, 2 bedroom was 335.. new year's and fourth of July, sounded like Iraq.
Hey Charlie, I enjoy your videos. It would be much more interesting for your channel if you mix it up. Show us the hood and the luxurious sides of towns too!
I occasionally do I have an upscale area video of Baltimore and comparing it to a run down area. I have several videos of upscale neighborhoods in Detroit, They are: Sherwood Forest, Palmer Woods, Rosedale Park and several others. This is a niche channel that shows mostly run down inner city areas, and that's mostly by request. Black and white people want to see thanks to the Hip Hop culture because many of these artist talk about and come from and rap about growing up in these areas.
I use to have to go to gate City to get my uncle's medicine at the pharmacy/store. Needless to say, my .44 stayed stuffed inside my waist band every single time. I still live in Alabama. Trussville to be exact. Always will love it for some reason.
I can not believe it is America. The truth is, such places are everywhere. I live in Europe, many places are similar. The only exception is that there are no blacks. Good Job Charlie. Greetings from Poland;)
Ayeee I’m from Anniston but I’m in Bham everyday. It’s definitely a serious place. Other areas to visit are the north side, Woodlawn, Smithfield, Inglenook, Gate City, etc. Other than that, I have much love for the city, it’s people and my state!
When the city builds new projects they condemn the old ones, that's probably what they are, then sells the land & tears them all down. Not sure, but that's what they do where I live in Huntsville.
This appears to been recorded over a year ago...Many of these areas, I've seen and know have been / are being revitalized and updated. Especially with many real estate investors arising....areas have drastically improved here. Some who have moved away are making their way back into the city.
I work in bham, even though only a small part of the city looks like this, a lot of things happen when the sun goes down. The same night a police officer got shot, I heard a shoot out from about 3 blocks down ring out while I was on break. Crazy shit happens down there every night.
Use to live in Birmingham in 2005 after my mother died to live with my auntie right on 1st pl s and 18th street. I went to center street middle school and my aunt use to always tell me don't roam around the neighborhood and I never understood. They had 105 murders that year so I understand now
All I see are homes on the grassy knoll that need a slight weeding and some kind gents hanging out on the corner. I missed where you made the exit for the local country club?
5:56 a small example of people that don't give a shit about what their neighborhood looks like.. a basketball rim laying on its side. Why does nobody stand it up or dismantle it? Just leave it there like who gives a fuck ... Smh
@Brian Murphy the hoods in the Ham just look country af, downtown there’s always something to do. I stay 45 minutes away and when we wana step out, we make that drive 👌🏽
@@brianmurphy7761 I live in Huntsville AL, it's about an hour from Birmingham, 3 hours from Atlanta, 6 hours from New Orleans, hour & a half from Nashville & it's the perfect place to live & be able to enjoy all the events in those cities!! It's clean, cost of living is good, plenty of jobs & safe!! There's plenty of stuff do in Alabama, being centrally located to all the well known cities in the south is the only way to go!!!
smitten kitten Are you? Go watch his videos driving through Camden or Newark, NJ where the buildings are literally crumbling. These are mansions in comparison.
Hi Charlie. Fellow documentarian here...Love your work. Really great stuff! If you're ever in the Dallas/Fort Worth area please let me know. Would love to do some work with you.
Born here, moved to Atlanta when i was 7 , I still make time to come visit since majority of my family is still here. I love Birmingham. My birth city and my second home.
when my grandparents were alive back in the 70s ensley 0:45 18th 19th st was adorable, cute homes nice landscaping with much respect for the elderly, hard working people with good families , sure the people didn't have alot but they had community, stores and were like family, and they took care of what they had, in 2000 my cuz told us they intentionally flooded parts of ensley, (this was pre Katrina) to one day buy up for cheap...maybe one day residents can come to gether to clean up, landscape and help those still there to fix the abandoned and neglected homes, this area is prime real estate now, i hope they don't budge but rebuild the community.
Nothing unusual I can’t tell you how many hoods, ghettos, & section 8 projects I’ve been to and see a good chunk of people driving cars no more than eight years old and anything older than that likely has some customizations of the car that often end up being more pricier than the car itself, yikes!
I live in Birmingham relocated from NY. In the late 90's NY had places that was just as neglected. For the record whoever's filming only showing the most neglected parts. In some of the roughest parts there is nice homes and people keep their yards cut. I rarely see people just hanging on the corners. Not saying its peaches and cream but its not as bad as it looks on this video.
20th Street(Ensley), Goldwire, Avondale(Munchies), The North side were commonplace during my homeless junkie days May 03' Jan 09'. Got Clean 6/5/2010 and met lots of really good hearted people in "The Ham". I Live about an hour away now and visit occasionally. Birmingham will always occupy a special place in my heart and really is a cool city. Hate to see such a lack of restoration to these areas.
Was on Spaulding- ?! Road today and there was barely a house left livable- it’s actually heartbreaking because it’s a beautiful area and I wish it was seen in a different light. I love my home state and all the inner cities that make it up!
I lived in California for a while then moved back home to Huntsville, West coast don't know 💩 about soul food!!! It may be slow pace down here, but it's where I'd rather be all damn day long!!!!
You're going to find neighborhoods like this anywhere near the airport, anything in the city center and west (including Fairfield, Ensley, Midfield, Forestdale), most of Center Point and Roebuck, a good portion of Irondale and Hueytown, parts of Bessemer, etc.
Super sad to see how bad Birmingham has declined. Its true but theres hope. Loveman Village projects and Titusville is shown. There are plans to revitalize this area. Its prime real estate being so close to downtown. I cant wait to see the progress.
This video is the biggest lie!!! I live in Birmingham. You are just riding around showing abandoned neighborhoods on the westside! The hood is considered neighborhoods where people live that are run down. Not one person in sight! Don’t do us like that.....next you decide to do a documentary do your research first. Thank you 🙏🏽
.. nobody even lives on some of these back streets he’s driving on .. lol .. but not being from here it is crazy to me how the city just leaves these abandon houses and apts to rot and cave in to the ground .. it’s an eye sore and it makes the city look 100 times worse than it actually is ..
The state rather spend it on non-important necessities that isnt even important compared to what really needs to be done.and calling it the wirst neighborhoods we can do something about it but its not the people people are going to be the same no matter where u go because the same things happen in both rich and poor neighborhoods so whats really bad in your eyes
