Rebecca Walden
Rebecca Walden stands in front of the Red Lobster in Vestavia Hills and holds a picture from 1949 showing the drive through movie theater that originally stood on the property. Photo by Katie Turpen.
In writing her first book, Images of America: Vestavia Hills, author Rebecca Cybulsky Walden explores something she’s most familiar with, her hometown of Vestavia Hills.
Well, she thought she knew her hometown.
“Did you know there was a drive-in movie right here on 31?” Walden said. “For years, I’ve driven past the Red Lobster that now stands in its place, and never thought much about what was there before. The Pet Supermarket where I shop regularly was once a Woolworth’s where you could buy a cheeseburger, fries and a Coke for $1.25.”
Her findings don’t stop there.
“There was plenty of unsavory activity going on. Houses of ill-repute, moonshiners. The Vestavia Hills that is familiar to my generation today looks vastly different from the Vestavia Hills of the 1950s,’ 60s, and ’70s. Educating myself on those differences in the process of writing this book was one fascinating education in and of itself.”
Walden, 36, is a Vestavia Hills native and graduate of VHHS Class of 1996. After earning a B.A. in English at The University of Alabama, she got her professional career started as a writer and as a communications, public relations and marketing expert. She and her family – husband Rett and children Ella and Connor – soon settled back home in Vestavia Hills. She’s proud of the city she lives in – where it’s come from and where it is today.
She doesn’t think the seamier side of the relatively ancient history of Vestavia is something to bury away.
“If you don’t know the history of a place, I don’t think you can fully understand it. If this book illuminates to the reader the foundational story of Vestavia Hills, its identity and values in the decades since and fuels the reader with energy about the city’s future, this text will have accomplished its intended goal.”
Walden, who is community editor and columnist for the Vestavia Voice and Hoover Sun, was approached to do the book by Arcadia Publishing as part of its Images of America series.
“I have always wanted to write a book. Eventually I’d like to write novels. Until I dive into that adventure, though, this seemed like a low risk opportunity to learn about the business side of publishing, what the process really involves, and the realities of how much time it takes to do the project right.”
For research, she started with her network of many contacts in Vestavia Hills and then many hours at the Birmingham Public Library. She studied a previous book on the city by Birmingham historian Marvin Whiting.
“I did not want this book to be a recounting of something already there. I thought it would be lazy just to do an update.”
Eventually, she collected nearly 200 vintage images, mostly from private collections of families.
“Without this book project, local residents’ stories, which reveal much about the city’s earliest character and its identity today, might never be shared outside their immediate families,” she said. “So much of the city’s ethos is wrapped up in stories one will never find looking through board meeting, city council and other organizational minutes. It’s in the memories of people who were born and raised here, those who opened and operate family businesses here, those who worship, coach and volunteer here.”
Images of America: Vestavia Hills is available for sale at Alabama Booksmith, Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million.
Book signings for Images of America: Vestavia Hills
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 4-6 p.m., Alabama Booksmith, 2629 19th Place S.
Monday, Nov. 17, 2-4 p.m., Books-A-Million, 5287 U.S. 280
Saturday, Nov. 22, 1-3 p.m., Barnes & Noble, 171 Main St.
Sunday, Nov. 23, 1-3 p.m., Barnes & Noble, 201 Summit Blvd., Suite 100
