A Rich and Diverse History

Welcome to Automotive Alley—home to jazz joints, churches, and black-owned businesses in the early 1900s. This tour includes some of the best-kept secret histories of Mobile. Before it was Martin Luther King Boulevard, it was called Davis Avenue—downtown for Mobile’s African American neighborhoods. The area is home to Masonic lodges, fire halls, mardi gras parades, and a huge auditorium that hosted James Brown, the Ink Spots, and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. It also includes historic churches that were the center of spiritual and social life along “The Avenue.” This 1.25 mile tour covers the northwestern quarter of downtown, including the Cheese Cottage, Old Majestic Brewery, Scottish Rite Temple, the Bettie Hunter House, and the International Longshoreman’s Association Hall. Along the way you’ll find out the hidden history of daily life from preachers to prostitutes, mardi gras balls to piano players. The tour takes 1.5 hours, and begins at the Cheese Cottage.