WORDS Brent Rosen
Great cities are great because they have their own themes, feels, moods, tones; an identity locals know without being told and visitors can feel every minute on their trip. Great cities don’t create their identity from whole cloth, or focus-group ideas until they arrive on a theme that resonates. Instead, great cities develop an identity organically, authentically, until the identity becomes obvious. Atlanta acts as capitol of the new South, New Orleans serves as the Northernmost outpost of the morally-casual Caribbean, Nashville inextricably intertwines with country music. When taken to an extreme, these identities result in kitsch, but having a well-defined identity that all can attach to, can identify with, can respond to and want to further, is how a city becomes unique. And that matters. A lot.
Think about your favorite city… go on, I’ll wait (shines shoes, files nails, throws out expired items from fridge). Ok -- what is that makes it your favorite? It could be anything, but I’ll guarantee the reason is unique to that particular city. San Francisco and New Orleans have a lot of similarities -- the food is great, the architecture is different than any other city in the US, both utilize streetcars for public transportation -- but you would never take a ride on the streetcar in New Orleans and say to yourself, “wow, I really love how much New Orleans is like San Francisco.” Despite the many similarities, those cities remain uniquely “New Orleans” and “San Francisco.”
At this point, you might be looking for a concrete example. So here goes. I spent the last weekend in August in Florence, Alabama, and holy shit was it amazing. It was the weekend of Billy Reid’s Shindig, so I expected fashionability. What I didn’t expect was the music. St. Paul and the Broken Bones, The Bear, The Secret Sisters, Tift Merrit, The Pollies, Belle Adair, The Pyles, J.D. McPherson -- over a 36 hour span, I saw them all. The majority of this who’s who of Alabama music live and play regularly in the Shoals, so what seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime to me was “Friday and Saturday “ to the locals.
Over the weekend I learned that the Shoals comes by this naturally -- it is the home of the “Muscle Shoals Sound,” featured in a new documentary called Muscle Shoals. The documentary is about FAME recording studios, and the influence this small, unassuming studio that shares a parking lot with a CVS has had on contemporary musical culture. If you like Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, or Wilson Pickett, you probably like them for the music they recorded in Muscle Shoals. If you like Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Rolling Stones or Paul Simon, ditto. I had no idea “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” “Brown Sugar, “ “Kodachrome,” or “Freebird” were originally recorded in Muscle Shoals. This legacy is carried on, by the local musicians still performing regularly in the Shoals, to those acts who’ve graduated to the national stage, like the Drive-by Truckers, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, and the Alabama Shakes.
Music and fashion come together in Florence, creating a unique identity that everyone in town can understand, appreciate, and celebrate. For instance, some friends are opening “Odette” a restaurant in Florence in the next few months. The restaurant will be located a few blocks from the Billy Reid store, the table settings and decor will be explore the rakish Southern charm that characterizes Florence’s style, and the restaurant’s sound system will only play local music or music recorded locally in the Shoals. Embracing Florence’s identity will make the restaurant stronger, as it situates the restaurant within Florence’s burgeoning music/fashion scene. At the same time, the restaurant makes Florence stronger, serving as another outpost to enjoy Florence’s impressive, authentic culture. This beneficial relationship, when magnified across dozens of businesses sharing a common identity or theme, creates a sense of place. It’s what will make Florence into “Florence.”
So, the question becomes, what is Montgomery’s identity? How can we turn Montgomery into “Montgomery” -- a unique place that people want to live in and visit, and not a place people commute to for work, turning around and heading back to Auburn and Prattville when the clock strikes 5:00?
A few thoughts. Almost no other city has Montgomery’s historical legacy -- from Civil War to Civil Rights -- yet, unless you read those historical plaques around town, you would never know. Montgomery could be the Washington, DC of the South, a capitol city infused with so much history you can’t turn around without bumping into a museum or historical site. I have some ideas about why Montgomery ignores this legacy, but the time for a collective shuffling, whistling, “nothing to see here” attitude has long past.
What if future development encouraged Montgomery to showcase its historic, small-town charm, while also ensuring Montgomery has enough modern amenities that residents don’t have to feel like they live in the past. Something like “Montgomery, the Town that Lives Like a City,” a place where you can know your neighbors, fit into your community, all while remaining free of the hassles, inconveniences and expenses you find in other cities around the region.
These are just ideas to start a conversation, and this conversation is worth having. Montgomery needs to know what it is before it can develop its own unique sense of place. Montgomery must avoid growth for the sake of growth, the kind of development that makes profit in the short-term, but makes no long-term sense. Look no further than Florence to see how much a city’s reputation can change once the city develops and embraces a unique identity. Montgomery has the “Who” and the “What,” but until we give people a unique “Why” to identify with, no matter how much we promote and celebrate our city, it cannot become one of the best mid-size cities in the South.
If you have thoughts, email us at editor@madepaper.com.