Over the weekend we hosted a very *sweet* birthday celebration for Sweet Pea. At least a dozen preschoolers swarmed about one very *sweet* shop, a place that has become a family-favorite since it opened last year. For months I’d been listening to many friends and neighbors say they didn’t know about it, which is why I {softly} convinced my child that this downtown Birmingham “urban gathering place” would be the perfect place to throw a party.
The perfect Birmingham backdrop for the sweetest little birthday party.
Paramount, located along Birmingham Green on the corner of 2nd Avenue North and 20th Street South and just one block from McWane Center, is both modern and historic. The structure itself is one of the oldest in the Magic City, built in 1887 and originally named the Roden Building after the man who built it. In its infancy, the Roden Building housed a grocery store on the first floor (among other things), later becoming the Birmingham National Bank. In the city’s heyday, though, the corner street-level space was Paramount Cigar & Candy Company, hence its current name.
Five years ago, the Ingrams (a Birmingham-based pair of lawyers), bought the building with the intention of bringing it back to life. They hired Erdreich Architecture and quickly got to work. Ingram Law Offices soon moved in on the second floor, and Paramount, in its new iteration, opened on the ground floor in July, 2011.
We’ve been big fans ever since.
Sweet Pea approves this message. As does his Mama.
Paramount serves all kinds of sweets: yogurt, cookies, cupcakes, and other confections, and it has just recently pulled out a full lunch menu to satisfy the weekday professional crowd.The decor is vibrant and modern, with a nod to the building’s history - a floor-to-ceiling mural depicts a photo taken from outside the original sweet shop in 1942. It’s a whisper of the past, when the streets of downtown Birmingham were busy and bustling.
Frequent visitor tip: If you happen to be in the area on a Tuesday, be sure to stop in for a cup (or house made waffle bowl) of refreshing yogurt. They offer “Two-Punch Tuesdays”, which means you get credit for indulging your sweet tooth, to be used on a future visit. We tend to drop in on Saturday afternoons after a jaunt at Railroad Park, and it has become customary for us to end our McWane visits with a walk down to this *sweet* corner.
I can’t help myself when it comes to sweets, and I also have little restraint when it comes to supporting local business. Add the history and renovation of Birmingham’s oldest facade, and well, good luck keeping me away.
Paramount, An Urban Gathering Place, is just the kind of retreat our family (and city) needs. A place to gather, to celebrate, to relax, to satisfy a sweet tooth – it’s a Magic City staple.
…Hope to see you there soon!
2 Comments
We love Paramount, and our kids love for us to take them down there. (I work on 20th, so I go without them often.) *GASP*
I think on Sundays they donate 10% of their sales to Railroad Park, if I remember correctly.
Oh, that’s wonderful, Katherine! I love to hear about small businesses giving back, especially to such a worthy cause.
Perhaps I’ll run in to you there soon
Hope so!