Alabama
7 old Alabama barbecue restaurants we miss the most
Alabama’s barbecue history goes all the way back to 1891, when the original Golden Rule Bar-B-Q opened east of Birmingham in Irondale.
Later, other iconic barbecue restaurants opened around the state — including Big Bob Gibson Bar B-Q, which began in Decatur in 1925, and Brenda’s Bar-B-Q Pit, which started in Montgomery in 1942 – and have stood the test of time.
But while those have lasted generations, many old Alabama joints that we thought would be here forever are no longer around, either because of a devasting fire or a downturn in the economy or simply because their owners finally decided to hang up their aprons.
We know there are dozens of others, but here are seven of those old Alabama barbecue restaurants that we miss the most.
The Brick Pit operated out of this old house in Mobile, Ala., for more than 20 years until closed in 2017.(AL.com file/Mike Brantley)
The Brick Pit in Mobile
Best known for its pecan-smoked ribs — which longtime pit boss Jerry Edwards cooked “low and slow” for up to 12 hours — The Brick Pit was a beacon to barbecue lovers on Mobile’s Old Shell Road for more than 20 years. Outside, the old white house with the bright red trim has framed by Spanish moss, and inside, the walls and ceiling were covered with graffiti from customers who signed their names and left personal notes commemorating their visits. Founder Bill Armbrecht – whose friends started calling him “Brick” in high school – acknowledged in early 2017 that he was struggled to keep his business afloat and finally closed for good later that same year.
A brief history of The Brick Pit
Gibson’s Bar-B-Q opened in Huntsville in 1956, and following a fire in 2022, the restaurant never reopened. (AL.com file photo/Bob Gathany)
Gibson’s Bar-B-Q in Huntsville
An extension of the legendary “Big Bob” Gibson barbecue family tree, Gibson’s Bar-B-Q started in Huntsville in 1956, when Gibson’s daughter, Velma, and her husband, Paul Hampton, branched out to open a place of their own. In addition to pulled pork, smoked chicken, smoked turkey and ribs, Gibson’s also serves barbecue stuffed potatoes, barbecue salads and Brunswick stew. More recently, Paula Mabry and her cousin Art Sanford — great-grandchildren of “Big Bob” – continued the Gibson’s Bar-B-Q tradition for nearly 20 years until an electrical fire in April 2022 gutted the kitchen and caused smoke and water damage throughout the restaurant. The Memorial Parkway landmark never reopened and was demolished earlier this year.
The history behind Huntsville’s Gibson’s Bar-B-Q
Goal Post Bar-B-Q is long gone, but the iconic sign has been relocated to this location outside Betty’s Bar-B-Q on South Quintard Avenue in Anniston.(Bob Carlton/bcarlton@al.com)
Goal Post Bar-B-Q in Anniston
Along Anniston’s Quintard Avenue, the neon placekicker always put the pigskin through the uprights outside Goal Post Bar-B-Q, a landmark in the Model City for a half-century. The barbecue and smoked hams were dead-on, too. S.A. Pruett opened the Goal Post in the early 1960s, and, according to The Anniston Star, he hired an Anniston sign company to design his iconic sign, which pointed the way to his restaurant. Over the years, a few Alabama football legends dined at the Goal Post, too, including Paul “Bear” Bryant and Joe Namath. The Goal Post closed in 2013 and the building was later demolished, but the neon sign was salvaged and now occupies a prominent spot outside another longtime Anniston barbecue institution, Betty’s Bar-B-Q.
Johnny Ray’s, which began in Birmingham in 1953, at various times had multiple barbecue restaurants in the Birmingham metro area. This was the Pelham location.(Bob Carlton/bcarlton@al.com)
Johnny Ray’s in Birmingham
Johnny Ray opened the original location of his eponymous barbecue restaurant in Birmingham’s Roebuck area in the early 1950s, and at various times, Johnny Ray’s operated multiple locations in the Birmingham metro area, including Homewood, Hueytown, Pelham and Vestavia Hills. Johnny Ray’s was equally beloved for its banana, chocolate, lemon and coconut cream pies – from recipes by Ray’s wife, Honey Ray – as it was its ribs and pulled pork. The last Johnny Rays’s, located in The Shops of the Colonnade off U.S. 280, closed in May 2022.
Ollie McClung Sr. stands underneath the famous Ollie’s “World’s Best” Bar-B-Q sign on University Boulevard in Birmingham.(Birmingham News file/Ed Jones)
Ollie’s Bar-B-Q in Birmingham
While some places boasted of serving “Birmingham’s Best” barbecue or the “Best Barbecue in Alabama,” at Ollie’s Bar-B-Q in Birmingham, they skipped over all that and proudly claimed to serve the “World’s Best” barbecue. It said so on their sign outside the restaurant. Renowned for its slow-cooked Boston butts and vinegary barbecue sauce, Ollie’s began in 1926, and after moving to University Boulevard near the I-65 interchange in 1968, the restaurant served the Birmingham barbecue community for another 30 years at that location. As famous as Ollie’s was for its barbecue, though, the restaurant also made national headlines for another reason when co-owners Ollie McClung Sr. and Ollie McClung Jr. challenged the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited restaurants (and other businesses) from discriminating against customers based on their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, but Ollie’s ultimately lost in a landmark decision. After Ollie’s closed the Southside location in 1998, the McClung family opened an Ollie’s in Hoover, but it closed within a couple of years. While the restaurants are no longer around, Ollie’s World’s Best Bar-B-Q Sauce is available by the bottle in grocery stores and specialty markets.
Price’s Barbecue House was an Auburn institution for nearly 40 years until it closed in 2016.(Photo courtesy of Jeff Price from AL.com files)
Price’s Barbecue House in Auburn
Jeff Price, who worked at Chuck’s Bar-B-Que in neighboring Opelika, convinced his parents, Lorene and Jesse Price, to open Price’s Barbecue House in 1978, back when the younger Price was a student at Auburn University. A fixture on South College Street near the AU campus – where a pig in an Auburn football jersey stood guard out front — Price’s was best known for its finely chopped, mustard-slaw-topped chipped pork sandwiches, a Lee County delicacy that is believed to have originated in nearby Columbus, Ga. Jeff Price later took over the business from his parents and continued to keep the fires burning at Price’s until he sold the site to developers and closed the restaurant in 2016.
Remembering Price’s Barbecue House
Twix ‘n’ Tween Restaurant opened in Centreville in 1952, and the building is now home to El Comal Mexican Restaurant.(Bob Carlton/bcarlton@al.com)
Twix ‘n’ Tween Restaurant in Centreville
Those of us who used to burn up the highway between Tuscaloosa and Montgomery couldn’t pass through Centreville without stopping at Twix ‘n’ Tween Restaurant for a barbecue sandwich – or just “a barbecue,” as we called it – with a side of fries, a cold bottle of Coke and maybe a wedge of icebox pie for dessert. The Twix ‘n’ Tween opened in 1952, and the name was chosen in a contest because the restaurant was between the adjoining Bibb County towns of Brent and Centreville, according to a story by the late, great Montgomery Advertiser reporter Alvin Benn. The Twix ‘n’ Tween had a glorious, 60-something-year run until it closed sometime in the mid-2010s. A Mexican restaurant occupies the space now, but the old Twix ‘n’ Tween sign still sits atop the building, a rusting reminder of the glory days.
Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday set an execution date for death row inmate Jeremy Williams, who was convicted in the 2021 kidnapping, rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in Phenix City.
Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state’s three-drug lethal injection during a 30-hour window beginning at 12 a.m. August 13 and ending at 6 a.m. August 14. The execution date comes after the Alabama Supreme Court granted a request from Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office on June 16, authorizing the state to carry out the sentence.
In a letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace, Ivey said the Supreme Court’s June 16 order serves as the official death warrant for Williams.
“By law, I am required to specify the time frame for carrying out the sentence of death,” Ivey said. “Accordingly, I hereby order that Jeremy Lee Williams’s sentence of death be carried out within a time frame beginning on August 13, 2026, at 12:00 a.m. and ending on August 14, 2026, at 6:00 a.m.”
Ivey noted that she retains the authority to commute the sentence before the execution takes place.
Williams, 34, was convicted in April 2024 on four counts of capital murder stemming from Holland’s death. Prosecutors charged him with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a rape, capital murder during first-degree sodomy and capital murder of a child younger than 14.
Authorities said Holland disappeared from her family’s home in Phenix City on December 13, 2021. Her body was discovered two days later inside an abandoned house less than a mile away. An autopsy determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
In addition to the death sentence, Williams received several other prison terms. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for human trafficking and for knowingly producing recordings depicting the sexual abuse of a child. He also received another life sentence for a separate sexual abuse conviction, along with a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to commit human trafficking and a 10-year sentence for abuse of a corpse.
Unlike most death row inmates, Williams sought to speed up the execution process. During a hearing, he told the court that he accepted responsibility for his actions and wanted the sentence carried out.
In 2025, Williams dismissed his attorneys and informed the court that he wished to waive any remaining appeals and proceed with his execution. Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson determined that Williams was competent to make that decision and allowed him to forgo further legal challenges.
Under Alabama law, capital convictions automatically receive appellate review. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently affirmed Williams’ conviction and death sentence in March.
After that review concluded, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court in May to authorize an execution date. The court granted the request earlier this week, clearing the way for Ivey to schedule the execution.
If carried out as scheduled, Williams’ execution would occur nearly five years after Holland’s death and a little more than two years after he was sentenced to death.
Williams’ execution would be Alabama’s first by lethal injection since April 2025. The state’s three most recent executions were carried out using nitrogen hypoxia, which Alabama began using in 2024.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – You don’t find too many camps where you learn how to slap someone. But this summer, you will in Montgomery. It’s one of many kids camps put on by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
“We have our Camp Shakespeare Junior which is our half day for the littles, kindergarten through 3rd grade,” said Cameron Williams, the ASF director of education. “We have Big Kid Shakespeare camp and everyone is learning all about ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.”
They learn about on stage combat, different acting techniques, and also how to be creative and think on their feet.
“I think theater skills are life skills. So, what makes this camp special is we’re doing more than just boosting literacy and doing theater things. We’re doing life skills, learning what it means to be team players, about discipline, and working with people who may have different personalities than you.”
Different kids have different talents. And even if your child isn’t up for a lead role in the next play, this place can leave a lasting impact.
“If you’re looking for a place where your kid can come out of their shell, to learn how to speak in front of a group, and develop some confidence, this is the place to be.”
It’s a place that’s a real treasure in Montgomery, and its mining some young gems, who one day, could be on the big stage themselves. There are still more ASF camps going on this summer for pre-teens and even adults.
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Huntsville-based defense contractor LOGZONE Inc. has agreed to pay $507,144 to resolve allegations that it failed to comply with cybersecurity requirements in contracts with the U.S. Department of the Navy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The settlement resolves claims brought under the False Claims Act alleging that LOGZONE knowingly submitted claims for payment while not meeting certain cybersecurity standards required under two Navy contracts.
Federal officials alleged that between May 2021 and March 2025, LOGZONE did not implement specific cybersecurity controls outlined in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-171. The standards are designed to protect sensitive defense information handled by government contractors.
According to the Justice Department, the deficiencies were identified during an assessment conducted by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). The evaluation resulted in LOGZONE receiving a score of -170 on a scale ranging from -203 to 110, indicating significant gaps in compliance with required security controls.
The government alleged that the missing cybersecurity measures could have increased the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information or the exploitation of company systems.
The settlement does not include a determination of liability. As part of the agreement, LOGZONE will pay $507,144 to resolve the allegations.
Federal officials said the enforcement action reflects ongoing efforts to ensure government contractors comply with cybersecurity obligations tied to federal contracts, particularly those involving sensitive defense information.
The investigation and settlement involved the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama, the Department of the Navy, the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.
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Additional details regarding corrective actions taken by the company were not immediately available.
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