This corner building opened in 1935 as the Carver Theatre. Once the Carver Theatre, this is a building that opened in 1935 at the corner of Fourth Avenue North and 17th Street North. In its days as a motion picture house it was best known as a place where African-Americans could see first‑run movies, during an era when segregation laws meant only whites were allowed in most theaters.
In 1945 a renovation equipped the Carver with many new features — 1,300 of the latest model theater chairs, air conditioning, and improved sound and projection, as reported by The Birmingham News. Over time the fortunes of the Carver, like many downtown theaters, declined; in later years it showed porn and the facility closed sometime in the early 1980s. Today the Carver is a live performance venue which seats 527 and is also the home of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
You can almost feel the layers of history here: the bustle of a Fourth Avenue business and entertainment hub for the city’s black community and the echoes of the Civil Rights Movement that played out in this neighborhood. That intersection below once marked the heartbeat of Fourth Avenue's business and entertainment life.