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Multipurpose complex for music concerts and film events.
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This is a place where kids can explore science. Some of the highlights are the World of Water with fish and other aquatic life and the Alabama Collections Center with fossils and pre-Columbian artifacts.
The end of August sees the Historic 4th Avenue Business District, once the most prominent African-American commercial center in the city, swing to the strains of jazz music courtesy of a bevy of acts both locally-based and nationally-known. Bring the youngsters down to the Kids' Zone, learn to swing dance, or tuck in to a meal from one of Birmingham's best food trucks (they don't call it the "Taste" of 4th Avenue for nothing!)
The Sloss Iron and Steel Company was one of the first industrial concerns to set up shop in the then-brand new city of Birmingham. It eventually grew into one of the largest manufacturers of pig iron in the world (it should be said, largely on the backs of African-American convict labor — a form of legal slavery common in the Jim Crow era whereby local blacks would be rounded up and arrested on trumped-up charges and then leased out to private companies like Sloss for use as unpaid workers). Abandoned in 1972, their Furnace No. 1 was deemed an eyesore and slated for demolition, but saved at the last minute by historic preservationists and opened to the public as... well, it's hard to say exactly what this place is nowadays. Strolling around the old ovens, smokestacks, conveyor belts, and other abandoned equipment, you almost get the feeling of being in a giant art exhibit (the modern-day metal sculptures peppered around the site certainly don't do anything to discourage that sentiment). There is also a visitors' center with museum-style exhibits relating Birmingham's industrial history, and a full calendar of concerts and events at this one-of-a-kind venue.
Founded in 1978, the museum part opened in 1993 with exhibits from instruments to dresses on display. Of course you also get to experience the music itself in jazz performances, workshops and courses.