17 reasons to revisit a trip to Birmingham

birmingham, ala.» On my first trip to Birmingham, I spent the entire visit pursuing Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks, the local songbirds who won “American Idol” in 2002 and 2006, respectively. On my second trip, nearly a dozen years later, I was too busy following the rising star of the Magic City to obsess over fallen reality stars.

Since Jefferson County crawled out of bankruptcy, Alabama’s largest city has revitalized several derelict neighborhoods, earned more recognition from the James Beard Foundation for its chefs and earned a national-monument designation for its Birmingham Civil Rights District — one of President Barack Obama’s last acts in office.

“I have seen more movement and excitement in the last five years than I have in my entire 20 years here,” Ford Wiles, chief creative officer of Big Communications, told me outside a downtown bar one recent weekday morning. Of course, I had to ask Wiles whatever happened to Birmingham’s Idols. Hicks, I learned, co-owns a barbecue joint and Studdard frequents Cheesecake Factory. Maybe

The front of Regions Field in Birmingham, Ala., home of the Birmingham Barons Minor League Baseball Team.

O’Neal Shelton, left, who once played in Birmingham’s Industrial League, visits the Negro Southern League Museum.