Mobile has lived under 5 different national flags, and that history infuses your trip with fun
The flags of five nations fly in a downtown Mobile park -- Spain, France, Britain, the Confederacy, and the United States.
Down in Mobile they’re all crazy, because the Gulf Coast is the kingdom of monkeys, the land of clowns, ghosts and musicians, and Mobile is sweet lunacy’s county seat. -- Eugene Walter, “The Untidy Pilgrim,” 1953.
Mobile native and author Eugene Walter captures the spirit of Mobile, Alabama, on America’s Gulf Coast like no other writer has captured it. Indeed, the 2019 motto selected by the city’s tourism board is “Born to Celebrate!” From Mardi Gras to sports, from historic neighborhoods to contemporary attractions, Mobile has much to offer visitors. The largest city on the Gulf Coast between New Orleans and Tampa, Mobile can provide a rich and varied experiences that include top professional music concerts and art performances, superb restaurants, exciting nightlife on downtown’s Dauphin Street, and a wealth of historic exploration, some of it quite unique to the country. Indeed, Mobile, according to city leaders, is the birthplace of Mardi Gras.
Mobile was founded in 1702 by French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, on a bluff overlooking the Mobile River. In 1711, the city was moved to its present location at the head of Mobile Bay and placed under the leadership of Iberville’s brother, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville (both of whom also went on to found New Orleans). During its first decade, the city hosted European French colonists, French Canadians, French Creoles from Haiti, local and refugee groups of native American Indians, enslaved Indians, and enslaved Africans – creating a multi-ethnic community of the northern Gulf Coast. As a port, that multi-ethnicity continued through the years, creating a rather unique city in the Alabama territory even when the United States had control of the area. Indeed, the city of Mobile has been ruled under five flags during its history – those of the French, the Spanish, the British, the Americans, and the Confederacy – and each left its mark on its architecture and culture as well.
Mobile was one of the last hold-outs of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Northern troops, victorious in most of the South, encircled the city during the war’s last days. They laid siege to the city, and Federal ships moved into Mobile Bay for the Battle of Mobile Bay. When Federal troops entered Mobile, city leaders held up the white flag of surrender, and most of the Confederate troops slipped out of town by horse, by train, or by foot. They gathered in Meridian, Mississippi, leading to the last surrender of Confederate troops once word arrived of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender and the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
During the early 19th Century, Mobile was a highly prosperous cotton and lumber port. The men who grew rich from those trades built beautiful mansions on the live-oak lined Government and Dauphin streets. Visitors today can see those mansions as they drive the shaded streets of the city. Indeed, the city has seven historic districts: Church Street, Lower Dauphin, Oakleigh Garden District, Old Dauphin Way, Lienkauf neighborhood with a German influence, Ashland Place, and De Tonti Square just east of Fort Conti. Midtown, Africatown, and the Springhill neighborhood where the wealthy built summer homes in the 19th century and early 20th Century are not historic districts yet but are interesting neighborhoods with historic homes. Tours of the districts and other neighborhoods open up the social and cultural life of the city’s past and present to visitors. The city suffered financial hardship during and for years after the Civil War, but slowly rebounded and thrives today with new industry, one of the larger U.S. ports, and bustling downtown and west Mobile business districts.
Ship building is one of the city’s larger industries on the Mobile River; and the University of South Alabama anchors west Mobile’s neighborhoods and commercial districts. During World War II, one of the country’s larger Air Force bases, Brookley Field, was located just east of Mobile’s downtown on the shore of Mobile Bay and brought tens of thousands of new residents to Mobile, mainly from central and north Alabama, who sought civilian work at the field. Today, the field is home to the city’s thriving aeronautics industry, with a major Airbus assembly plant and related industries. Soon, Mobile will open a second commercial airport at the field and will eventually move its west Mobile regional airport to the site.
Mobile’s Unique Place in Slavery's History
One of Mobile’s more intriguing bits of history is the story of the Clotilda and the development of Africatown in north Mobile. The slave trade having been outlawed in the pre-Civil War 19th century, Mobile ship owner Timothy Meaher remained defiant. To enforce the law, U.S. ships regularly patrolled the Gulf of Mexico to prevent slave-runners from bringing slaves to the Southern states. But Meaher told his friends that he could out-maneuver the blockade. So he had a ship built, naming it the Clotilda, hired a captain, William Foster, and sent him to Dahomey in west Africa to get slaves. It returned to Alabama with 110 African men, women, and children. The journey complete, the Clotilda entered the Mississippi Sound on July 8, 1860, his crew mutinous because Meaher wasn’t there to meet them. Foster calmed them enough to let him go ashore and contract with a tug boat to bring the Clotilda to the Mobile River at the top of Mobile Bay.
The Africans were taken by steamship to shore and walked into the canebrakes. The Clotilda was burned and sank in the bayou to destroy any evidence of the slave run. The slaves were taken to a plantation owned by Burns Meaher and held until they could be sold. For his efforts, Meaher and his brother were arrested for slave-running, under a federal law that carried the ultimate penalty of death. Ultimately, both men got no more than a slap on the wrist from a friendly judge.
Fewer than two dozen of the slaves were sold; the others remained on Burns’ plantation. When the Civil War came and the slaves were freed, the newly arrived Africans walked back to the canebrakes that they remembered, hoping that the ship was still there and could take them back to their homes in Africa. The ship had vanished, though, and the Africans had no choice but to build homes on the shore of the Mobile River. From that grew Africatown, where visitors can see the home of the most well-known of the Clotilda Africans, Cudjo Lewis, who arrived in Alabama on the Clotilda as a boy and who lived in Africatown until his death in 1935.
Temperature: Temperatures range from 91 degrees in July to 40 in January, with average high of 77 and average low of 57.
Precipitation: An average of 66 inches of yearly rainfall. July is the month that gets the most rainfall.
Population: 189,572, the third largest in Alabama.
How to Get There: By car, I-10 flows through the city. Mobile Regional Airport provides passenger service, mostly by Delta Airlines, with commuter jets by American and United. Frontier Airlines serves the Mobile Regional Airport Brookley Complex.
Government Street mansions
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Museums
GulfQuest Gulf Coast National Maritime Museum, 155 South Water Street, Mobile, AL (251) 436-8901. An interactive museum about the Gulf Coast. Great place to take children, with many child-friendly exhibits. Older children and adults will enjoy many exhibits, as well. Café and souvenir shop on site. See this site’s review of the museum here.
Hours: Tuesday Through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday Noon to 5 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $16; children, $13; under 5, free; seniors, college students & active military, $15. Closed some holidays.
USA Archeological Museum, University of South Alabama, 6052 USA Drive South, Mobile, AL (251) 460-6106. Showcases artifacts from the Gulf Coast as old as 12,000 years ago. Life-size scenic representations representing Native Americans (woodlands & Mississippian mound builders), early French settlers, and African-American families after the Civil War.
Hours: Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission: $6
Bellingrath Gardens and Home Museum, 12401 Bellingrath Gardens Road, Theodore, AL (251) 973-2217. This is a world-class gardens attraction built by the first Coca-Cola bottler in Mobile, Walter Bellingrath and his wife, Bessie. The museum is the home, which served as the Bellingraths’ summer home. It is a 15-room, 10,500 square-foot home built in 1935 and designed by prominent Mobile architect George B. Rogers. The exterior is hand-made bricks salvaged from an 1852 Mobile home that was the birthplace of Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont, a notable American socialite and major figure in the women’s suffrage movement. The ironwork was salvaged from the recently demolished Southern Hotel. Rogers called the design “English Renaissance." The home is populated by the Bellingraths' original furnishings. The home was the most modern of its kind when built, but Alabama Power could not supply the remote rural home, leading the Bellingraths to rely on a large Delco generator for electricity. See this site’s article on the gardens and home here.
Hours: Daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: Adults $22 for gardens and home, garden only $14; children $14 for gardens and home, garden only $8; children 4 and younger, free. Special pricing for the Christmas lights packages. Discounts are given for the months of January and February.
Bragg-Mitchell Mansion, 1906 Springhill Avenue, Mobile, AL. (251) 471-6364. The mansion offers a rare glimpse into upper class life in the Old South, having been built in 1855. Designed in the Greek Revival style, the house is 13,000 square feet with several tall white columns that encircle the residence. It was built by a local judge. The family split their time between the Mobile mansion and their cotton plantation in Lowndes County outside Montgomery. Judge Bragg died in 1878 and four additional families have owned the house since his death. The last private owner was the A.S. Mitchell family, who purchased the property in 1931 for $20,000. The home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places after a $3 million renovation. It opened to the public in 1987.
Hours: Guided tours are offered Tuesday through Friday on the hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $10; children 3 to 12, $5; children 3 and under, free; AAA, $9.50; Group tours, $7 for 10 or more.
Condé-Charlotte Museum House outside Fort Condé, 104 Theatre Street, Mobile, Alabama. (251) 432-4722. The highlights are a British Commandant’s room reflecting Mobile under British rule in the early 1760s; an American Federal dining room representing the early 1800s; two Confederate parlors representing the antebellum period in Mobile. An opening in one of the floors lets visitors see a two-foot-thick brick floor dating from the 1820s when the structure was Mobile’s first jail. The second floor presents a French sitting room and bedroom representing the early 1700s, and two American bedrooms from the mid-1800s when Jonathan Kirkbride’s family made the structure its home. A walled Spanish garden from the late 18th century and a kitchen with late 19th and early 20th Century equipment complete the home. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The house was built on the site of the old Fort Condé, which was later named Fort Charlotte. Tours are given. See this site's article about the fort here.
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $10; children $5; under 5, free. Group rates available.
Hank Aaron Childhood Home, 755 Bolling Brothers Boulevard, Mobile, AL. (251) 479-2327. This is the original Aaron family home build by Hank’s father, Herbert, in 1942. In 2008, after Hank’s mother, Estella, died in 2007, the home was moved to the Hank Aaron Stadium and restored. Memorabilia in the home came from Hank Aaron’s collection, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, the Louisville Slugger Museum, and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
Hours: Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $5; children, $4.
Historic Oakleigh Complex, 300 Oakleigh Place, Mobile, AL (251) 432-1281. The Oakleigh house was built in 1833 by Virginian cotton broker and brick mason, James W. Roper, in the Greek Revival style. It was one of the first major residences built outside the city of Mobile. It resides today in the heart of the Oakleigh Historic District and is managed by the Historic Mobile Preservation Society. Among the 1,000 artifacts are a Conning silver collection, a Haviland Limoge china set, and an extensive fine art collection, which includes works by Thomas Sully, Roderick McKenzie, Louise Heustis, and William West. The house is noted for its magnificent circular staircase that greets visitors when they enter the house. On the grounds is a reconstructed Civil War era Union barracks; the Cox-Deasy Cottage (a Creole raised working-class cottage); and the Minnie Mitchell Archives, which are the archives of the Historic Mobile Preservation Society. Roper later became a lumber merchant and moved to New Orleans, and the house was sold in 1852 to Alfred Irwin, treasurer of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. The Irwin sons became prominent Mobile residents after the Civil War, one becoming postmaster and president of Cherokee Cotton Mills and the other started the Mobile Cotton Exchange.
Hours: Tours are given on the hour Friday, Saturday and Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.
Admission: $10 per person, children under 5, free.
History Museum of Mobile, 111 South Royal Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 208-7569. This is the city’s official museum, which does an excellent job of documenting the city's history. Collections include one of the CSS Alabama’s eight cannon and an exhibit on Confederate Naval history. The CSS Alabama was captained by Mobile’s Admiral Raphael Semmes. It sank in 200 feet of water off Cherbourg, France, after a sea battle with the Union’s USS Kearsage in 1864. Another exhibit is the Mary Jane Slaton Inge Gallery, which displays upper class fineries from Old Mobile. Included are Boehm porcelain, Baccarat crystal, Limoges china, and other items. The Friedman Miniature House Gallery are house models built by Mobilian Aaron B. Friedman. Walls and Halls present furniture, antique silver and artwork. Old Ways New Days Part I presents artifacts from Mobile’s first inhabitants, the Native Americans from the Gulf Coast, and takes visitors through Mobile’s 300-year history, including the Colonial period, slavery, WWII, the Civil Rights movement, and more. Old Ways New Days Part II offer interactive exhibits.
Hours: Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $10; seniors, $9; students, $7.50; children, $5; children 5 and under, free. Group tour rates available.
Mobile Carnival Museum, 355 Government Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 432-3324. Mobile prides itself on being the founder of Mardi Gras in the New World, and this museum documents its history from its founding in 1703 (by French settlers at Three-Mile Bluff, the first location of Mobile), through its revival by Joe Cain in 1866 to raise the morale of Mobilians after the loss of the Civil War, to modern artifacts from the city’s many Mardi Gras mystic societies. See old photographs of parades and recreated floats, as well as actual annual king and queen gowns and formals. Rooms are dedicated to specific crews, as well as the music of Mardi Gras. The traditions of Mardi Gras are discussed by the tour guides.
Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday on select days, same times. Docent led tours at 9:30 and 11 a.m. and at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Admission: Adults, $8; children, $3; military, students, AAA, AARP, $6.
Mobile Police Museum, 320 Dauphin St., Mobile, Alabama (251) 208-6304. This museum is located in the downtown precinct office and gives visitors a view of artifacts and documents related to law enforcement in Mobile. Infamous crimes are reviewed, including the Mobile arrest of Patricia Krenwinkel, who participated in the murders for which the Charles Manson family members were imprisoned.
Phoenix Fire Museum, 203 South Claiborne Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 208-7508. This is the restored home of the Phoenix Volunteer Fire Co. No. 6 from the turn-of-the-20th Century. See horse-drawn steam engines and early motorized vehicles. The gallery on the second floor displays exhibits about the history of Mobile’s volunteer fire companies from their founding in 1838.
Hours: Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: Free.
Richards -DAR House, 256 North Joachim Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 208-7320. Opening soon. Built in the Italianate style with an elaborate cast iron veranda, the house was built in 1860 for Charles and Caroline Richards. Operated by the Daughters of the American Revolution. It is noted for its curved staircase, marble mantels, bronze chandeliers, and floor-length windows overlooking the veranda. No website yet.
Hours: Monday, Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. To 3:30 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.
Admission: Not yet posted.
National African American Archives and Multicultural Museum, 564 Dr. Martin L. King Avenue, Mobile, Alabama (251) 433-8511. Includes portraits and biographies of noted African-Americans. Has carvings, slavery artifacts, books, and documents. Provides a history of the African American Mardi Gras that operated separate from the white-only parades. Includes audio and video oral histories. No website yet.
Hours: Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday by appointment.
Mobile Medical Museum, 1664 Springhill Avenue, Mobile, Alabama (251) 415-1109. Permanent exhibits cover 300 years of local and world medical history. Highlights include pre-Civil War era anatomical models, early 20th Century X-ray equipment, a 1969 heart-lung machine, and an Emerson model iron lung from the 1930s. The Robert Thrower Medicinal Garden gives examples of multicultural medicinal traditions that have survived thousands of years; photos and other artifacts are available in other exhibits. Special exhibits are frequent. The museum is located in the Vincent-Doan-Walsh House, the oldest private residence in Mobile, having been built in 1827 as a summer home for sea captain Benjamin Vincent.
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursday open until 6 p.m.; first Saturday of every month, 1 to 3 p.m. Reservations are requested. Call the above number.
Fees: Adults, $6; seniors, $5; children $4.
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Art Galleries/Museums and Artistic Entertainment
Alabama Contemporary Art Center, 301 Conti Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 208-5671. Non-profit art center across from Cathedral Square in downtown Mobile. A launching pad for emerging artists.
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: $5 adults and children over 12; under 12, free.
American Sport Art Museum, One Academy Drive, Daphne, Alabama (251) 626-3303. Over 1,800 paintings, sculptures, prints, and photography depicting sport activity.
Hours: Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: Free.
Gallery 450, 300 St. Michael Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 202-7121. Displays and sells works by local artists.
Hours: Daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: Free
Innova Arts, 1803 Old Shell Road (251) 510-0649. Displays and sells at least 50 local artists. Has a silversmithing studio on site.
Hours: Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Admission: Free.
Mobile Arts Council, 319 Dauphin Street. (251) 432-9796. In its gallery, it displays local, regional, and international exhibits.
Hours: Monday through Friday 9 am to 4 pm
Admission: Free
Mobile Museum of Art, 4850 Museum Drive (251) 208-5200. Largest art museum on Gulf Coast from New Orleans to Tampa, Florida. With 10,000 works of art in its permanent collection. Has American, Asian, and European artworks representing classical to contemporary. Also offers regional exhibitions. Located in Langan Park, a public city park with lake and picnic areas.
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m. through 5 p.m.; Thursday: 10 a.m. through 9 p.m. Admission free for Mobile County residents; closed on city holidays
Admission: Adults, $12; seniors, $10; active military, $8; students, $8; under 6, free
Sophiella Gallery, 111 Dauphin Street, Mobile, Alabama. (251) 287-6040. Downtown contemporary fine art sales with established and emerging artists. Solo shows exhibited.
Hours: Tuesday through Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m. through 2 p.m. Solo artist shows 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on selected nights.
Admission: Free
The Space at Sway Downtown, 10 South Conception Street, Mobile, Alabama. (251) 650-4020. Community art space exhibiting works of local artists. Yoga and dance classes.
Hours: First Friday Art Walks, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Admission: Free
Saenger Theatre, 6 South Joachim Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 208-7778. Built in 1927, this beautiful classic theater seats 2,000 and hosts about 100 events a year with top-billed musicians such as Bob Dylan and the Marshall Tucker Band, as well as comedians and other performers. Check the website for current upcoming shows and how to get tickets. Ticketmaster is one source, but tickets can also be purchased from the Saenger Theatre box office in downtown Mobile.
Mobile Ballet, 4351 Downtowner Loop North, Mobile, Alabama (251) 342-2241. A professional ballet company performing classical and contemporary ballet. Check the website for current shows and to purchase tickets.
Mobile Opera, 257 Dauphin Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 432-6772. Founded in 1945, the Mobile Opera offers full-scale, professional opera productions. Check the website for current productions and call the box office at the above number for ticket information.
Mobile Symphony Orchestra, 257 Dauphin Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 432-2010. With 75 professional musicians, the symphony, with Scott Speck conducting, offers classical to contemporary shows, often with guest conductors of international fame. Go to the pull-down menu under “concerts and tickets” and select “seating chart” to purchase tickets. Check the website for upcoming concerts.
Mobile Mystery Dinner Theater, 355 Government Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 865-7398. Performances are held a Bellingrath Hall, Central Presbyterian Church, at the intersection of Ann Street and Dauphin Street. A ticket gets you a tour of the Mobile Marti Gras Museum, an unlimited wine bar, a catered meal, and a humorous mystery play. Check the website for scheduled performances.
Time: Shows are at 7 p.m. on Saturdays
Tickets: Make reservations by calling the above number. $59 per person.
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Places to Have Fun
Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center and Imax Theater, 65 Government Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 208-6893. If you have kids, you likely know what an Exploreum franchise is like. Lots of interactive exhibits for lots of fun. The Mobile Exploreum has an inside fishing boat for young children. And there’s an awesome interactive science center. ExploreTec STEM Lab, for example, and the iHealthy Science Lab. My BodyWorks lets children explore the systems of the body. Engaging exhibits enable visitors to develop a deeper understanding of how science fiction ideas and concepts might become the science reality of tomorrow.” Check the website for current films in the Imax Theater.
Hours: Open daily except Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday’s hours don’t start until noon.
Admission: General admission is $13 for adults, $11 for youths 7 through 12 and for seniors 65 and older. Children 3 to 6 pay $6. Additional fees for entry to traveling special exhibits. Check the website for those. Imax is another $8.75 though you get a $1 break with combining it with general admission.
USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, 2703 Battleship Parkway, Mobile, Alabama. (800) GANGWAY. Amazing display of U.S. war machines. The venerable USS Alabama battleship from World War II is the centerpiece. The grounds have numerous tanks and airplanes, including a CIA spy plane and a World War II submarine, the Drum. The Aircraft Pavilion has fighter planes, helicopters, and artifacts from the Vietnam and Korean wars. See this site’s feature on the park here.
Hours: April to September, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. October to March, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Parking is $4.
Admission: Adults, $15; children 6 to 11, $6; senior citizens, $13; active military and children 5 and under, free.
Bellingrath Gardens and Home Museum, 12401 Bellingrath Gardens Road, Theodore, Alabama (251) 973-2217. This is a world-class gardens attraction built by the first Coca-Cola bottler in Mobile, Walter Bellingrath and his wife, Bessie. The gardens offer thousands of flowers and bushes for viewing. The azaleas come in the spring. The grounds include an Asian American Garden, the family home that’s now a museum, and a gallery of American artist Edward Marshall Boehm porcelain birds and other wildlife that is inspiring. See a complete review of the gardens and home on this site here.
Hours: Daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: Adults $22 for gardens and home, garden only $14; children $14 for gardens and home, garden only $8; children 4 and younger, free. Special pricing for the Christmas lights packages. Discounts are given for the months of January and February.
Dora Franklin Finley African-American Heritage Trail, 111 South Royal Street, Mobile, Alabama (251) 725-2236. This is a privately developed attraction that focuses on African American people and achievements in the Mobile area. Reservations are required for a tour. Tour maps are available for download from the website. The tour takes participants to Hank Aaron’s Park, Africatown, A.N. Johnson Publishing building, Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the Bettie Hunter House, Big Zion A.M.E. Church, the Satchel Paige home, Civil Rights leader John LeFlore’s office, Dr. H. Roger Williams Drug Store, and other locations.
Hours: By reservation
Admission: Adults, $10, children and seniors, $5.
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Places to Eat
Downtown Mobile offers many outstanding restaurants. The specialties are seafood and Southern fare. Bienville Bites is a food tour company let’s you taste the best Mobile has to offer. Here’s a few of my own favorites:
Breakfast
Serda's Coffee, 3 South Royal Street, is a gem in downtown Mobile. John Serda, a Mobile native, started the Millenium Cyber Cafe in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, with Edwin Acosta in January 2000. There, he served Costa Rica's finest coffees, including the Tarrazu coffee from the San Marcos valley. Tourist interest in getting the coffee once they returned home led Serda to open this coffee house in Mobile and to sell coffees from Costa Rica and around the world by subscription. Check out the coffees by visiting the Royal Street location and order a wonderful breakfast sandwich or pastry. There is a second location in Daphne, Alabama, across Mobile Bay.
Bob’s Downtown Restaurant, 263 St. Francis Street. Small place, sidewalk seating. Great home-cooked breakfast with biscuits instead of toast. Good Bloody Marys, too. Nothing fancy.
Spot of Tea, 26 North Royal Street, is located across from Cathedral Square in the Art District. The food is wonderful and the atmosphere fantastic. Outdoor tables on Dauphin Street enhance the dining experience. Try their omelets, Seafood Eggs Benedict, or Banana’s Foster French Toast and have a Blood Mary. For lunch, they have great sandwiches. And, because of the outside tables, bring along your dog. And you can schedule a Segway Tour of downtown Mobile; they’re all about that.
Cocktails/Wine Bar
Dauphin Street Blues Company, 568 Dauphin Street, specializes in daiquiris. They are part of O’Daly’s Irish Pub, home of the $4 car bomb. The third bar that is part of the group is Draft Picks Taproom. The bars are in Mobile’s night time entertainment district on Dauphin Street, so the bars are loud with people talking and music playing. If that’s your scene, then this is the place to be.
The Haberdasher, 113 Dauphin Street, specializes in craft cocktails and craft beers. It’s in the heart of Mobile’s entertainment district, so it's easy to stop in when you’re out on the town. They serve bar food if you get hungry when you’re imbibing.
Iron Hand Brewing, 206 State Street, is on the fringe of downtown Mobile, but if you’re into craft beer it is worth the hunt. They have five craft beers of their own and you can get some grub to go with your beer, too.
Casual Dining
The Blind Mule, 57 North Claiborne Street, offers an eclectic menu with a regional flair. Sunday brunch, too. Live music often.
Mama’s on Dauphin, 220 Dauphin Street, cooks up some traditional Southern fare for lunch. Red beans and rice, for example, or chicken & dumplings, or fried chicken, and more. Only open for lunch.
El Papi, 615 Dauphin Street, has a full menu of Mexican dishes and a variety of margaritas and tequilas. Signature cocktails, too.
Roosters Latin American Food, 211 Dauphin Street, is a surprise success. Specializes in tacos, burritos, and tortas. Their tacos can contain fish, jerk chicken, yard egg and cheese, carnitas pork, chorizo sausage, or roasted vegetables.
The Royal Scam, 72 South Royal Street, is a working man’s seafood restaurant that serves basic dishes that taste great. Lunch is soups, salads, and sandwiches. Dinner is steaks and seafood. For a specialty, try the Chicken Bienville, a grilled breast with tomatoes, capers, bacon, white wine, and spinach with garlic mashed potatoes.
Fuego Coastal Mexican Eatery, 2066 Old Shell Road. (251-378-8621. If you don't mind driving to West Mobile, you will be delightfully surprised to find one of the best Mexican restaurants on the coast. Fuego offers gourmet Mexican dishes that will Wow! you. Order guacamole and the server will prepare it at your table. Amazing food and margaritas. On Saturdays you can build your own breakfast burritos.
Southern National, 306 Dauphin Street in the restored historic Wilkins-Higgins building in the Arts District. Serves locally sourced seafood and gives a modern approach to traditional Southern dishes. Craft cocktails, too. Serves brunch, lunch, and dinner. Some of what you won’t get at other local restaurants include Pan Roasted Duck Breast, Lamb Ragout over Paparadelle, and Smoked Chicken & Bacon Tagliatelle, and Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup.
Von’s Bistro, 69 St. Michael Street, blends Mobile’s Vietnamese culture with traditional Southern culture. It’s a nice blend. Try their po’boy made with Vietnamese banh mi, for example.
Wintzell’s Oyster House Downtown, 605 Dauphin Street. There are several Wintzell’s in the area, but this is the original. Great seafood from a Mobile landmark. Po’boys, fried fish, baked fish, and other Southern seafood dishes. The specialty, of course, is oysters. Nothing fancy, though. If you want to drive to the Causeway you can eat the Wintzell’s that is on the Mobile Bay estuary. Serves lunch and dinner.
Fine Dining
Chuck’s Fish, 551 Dauphin Street specializes in fresh caught fish from their own wholesale market at Harbor Docks, and their beef is aged, naturally raised and cut in-house. They also have a great sushi bar. Savor their Gulf Fish Parmadine with crab meat, parmesan, roasted almonds, gouda grit cake, and vegetable of the day. The dining room can get crowded on a weekend night.
Dauphins, 107 St. Francis Street, overlooking Bienville Square. Great views of the city from the 34th floor of the RSA Trustmark Bank Building. Classic coastal cuisine and a bit of Caribbean flavor. Serves lunch and dinner. Appetizer is fried green tomatoes topped with Alabama shrimp in remoulade sauce. Crab, alligator, crawfish, and oysters, oh, my! The Pasta Bayou La Batre pays tribute to one of Alabama’s historic fishing villages. It is Gulf shrimp sautéed in a smoked paprika cream with artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes. Other entrees include stuffed flounder, Ono Island Tuna, Mobile Bay Stew, steaks, chops, and chicken.
Dumbwaiter Restaurant, 167 Dauphin Street, specializes in Southern cuisine and seafood. It was featured on the Travel Channel’s show, “Food Paradise,” in 2017 when the team tried the Dumbwaiter Burger and the Causeway Benedict. It also received an Open Table Choice Award in 2018. Try their Pan Seared Crab Cakes.
The Noble South, 203 Dauphin Street, is Mobile’s premier farm to table restaurant that provides innovative dishes with a modern Southern slant. Shepherd’s Pie, fried fish, and other fine dishes. On Monday’s they provide a totally meatless menu.
Noja, 6 North Jackson Street. One of Mobile’s most elegant restaurants. Great service and fantastic food. Ethiopian Chicken with Berbere Sauce, Maple Leaf Duck Breast, Stuffed Pork Chop, Kansas City Strip steak, Salmon, and fresh catch of the day. Some fancy desserts, too, including vanilla crème brule, pot de crème (dark chocolate custard), coconut rum bombe, or a homemade ginger donut with caramel sauce and ice cream.
Mobile has many great restaurants in West Mobile and on the Causeway in addition to downtown. Surf for other dining options at https://www.mobile.org/restaurants/ .
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Places to Stay
For a Mobile stay, I’d recommend a downtown hotel. The accommodations are more interesting, the restaurants are wonderful, the nightlight on Dauphin Street is within walking distance, and there’s easy access to everything downtown and beyond.
Here’s some interesting downtown Mobile accommodations:
Fort Condé Inn, 165 St. Emanuel Street (251) 405-5040. This was built in 1836 – the second oldest house in Mobile -- and beautifully renovated for its opening in 2011. Kitchenettes available. Courtyard and large porches and steps away from downtown. Rooms are $124 and up; suites are $169 and up. Two- and three-bedroom cottages start at $249 a night. Gourmet breakfasts are available.
Malaga Inn, 359 Church Street (251) 438-4701. You might think you’re staying at a bed and breakfast when you check into the Malaga, but you’ll find it has the privacy and elegance of a boutique hotel. The inn offers courtyard rooms, historic rooms, and suites. The courtyard rooms are the newer rooms, added in the 1960s, and overlook the beautiful, lighted courtyard and its gorgeous fountain. The historic rooms are in the part of the building that was constructed in 1862. The suites are in the older part of the building as well and include a living room. All rooms are furnished with antiques and antique reproductions. Free breakfast is included. Rates run from $99 to $169.
The Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel and Spa, 26 North Royal Street. (251) 338-2000. For years in the 19th century, Alabama land barons booked the Battle House Hotel when they had business in Mobile. It was the grandest hotel in the city. Today, its renovated interior offers no less in luxury. Rates start at $224. Gourmet full-service restaurants and a piano bar are on site.
The Admiral Hotel Mobile, Curio Collection by Hilton, 251 Government Street. (251) 432-8000. Another historic hotel, this used to be called the Admiral Semmes Hotel. Hilton renovated its 156 rooms and added two on-site restaurants. A charming and elegant hotel. Rooms start at $109; suites at $319.
Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel, 64 South Water Street. (251) 438-4000. Located across from the Mobile Convention Center, the Riverview Plaza is a modern, perfunctory but quality hotel. Rooms start at $175. Dining is available in The Harbor Room. A lounge is on-site.
Bed and Breakfasts close to downtown include:
Berney Fly Bed and Breakfast, 1118 Government Street. (251) 405-0949. Situated in an 1895 Queen Ann Victorian, this facility has three queen-sized bedrooms with baths, semi-tropical gardens, and a swimming pool with Jacuzzi/hot tub. This is located in the Historic Oakleigh Garden District. Rates start at $90 a night.
Mauvila Mansion Bed and Breakfast, 1306 Dauphin Street. (251) 408-9478. The mansion is an 1871 Italianate house in the Old Dauphin Way neighborhood.
Kate Shepard House, 1552 Monterey Place. (251) 479-7048. This is Mobile’s oldest running bed and breakfast, and it serves its famous Pecan Praline French Toast for breakfast. Located in historic Midtown Mobile. Three rooms with bath and furnished with antiques available. Rates begin at $160 a night.
The Mardi Gras House, 504 Church Street. (251) 333-8615. Remodeled historic home with five bedrooms and 4.5 baths. Continental breakfasts. Also known as the Petrinovich House, the home was constructed in 1899, commissioned by Frank Petrinovich as a boarding house in the historic Church Street neighborhood. It underwent renovation between 2012 and 2015. Rates start at $85 a night.
You can find other accommodations at https://www.mobile.org/places-to-stay/.