20th Street Ensley
20th Street Ensley is a the main street running southeast-northwest through the Ensley business district.
It enters the neighborhood as a continuation of Birmingport Road (Alabama State Highway 269) from Sherman Heights, crossing over U. S. Steel's former Ensley Works on the Don Drennen Overpass.
The divided road proceeds southeast to Avenue I, then bends to the east and intersects Ensley-Five Points West Avenue at what was once a major streetcar stop nicknamed Tuxedo Junction. The junction was a lively entertainment district at the height of the jazz age and its name is preserved in Erskine Hawkins' composition, now a standard of the jazz repertoire.
20th Street continues southeast for another block before its interchange with I-20/59. The surface street continues underneath the interstate as 21st Street Ensley.
Four shorter sections of 20th appear south of the interstate. One runs between 21st Street and Bush Boulevard. Another branches off to the east and ends at Avenue Z. Another section picks up from there and bends around, connecting again to Bush Boulevard at 17th Street. A fourth runs between 20th Place and Border Street a block south of Bush Boulevard.
MAX Transit Route 38 stops at several points along 20th Street in downtown Ensley.
Notable addresses
- street continues north over the Don Drennen Overpass as Birmingport Road
- Avenue C Ensley intersects
- 300: Tax Plus
- 341: Heavenly Hands Construction
- Avenue D Ensley intersects
- Ensley Auto
- Antonio Auto Sales
- 405: former location of Colonial Stores
- 420: offices of Amy K. Jordan
- Avenue E Ensley intersects
- 500: Princeton BMC Women's Center, formerly the Ensley Theatre (1927-) and a pharmacy
- 501: Arctic Ice
- Avenue F Ensley intersects
- Avenue G Ensley intersection
- Avenue H Ensley intersects
- 706: Pearson Brother's Tire Center
- 707: former location of BTNB Ensley branch, SouthTrust Bank (–2004), Wachovia Bank (2004–2008) Wells Fargo (2008–2010), Birmingham Homeownership Center (2011)
- Dollar General
- Food Mart
- Avenue I Ensley intersects
- Avenue J Ensley intersects
- Avenue O Ensley intersects
- Avenue P Ensley intersects
- former location of Councill Elementary School
- 1723: former location of Atlas Lunch Room (1928)
- 1726-1730: Belcher-Nixon building
- Ensley-Five Points West Avenue (Tuxedo Junction)
- Carlock Honda, former location of Serra Honda (built 2008), Freeway Honda
- 1800: KFC
- 1819: America's First Federal Credit Union
- 1827: Music For Kids
- I-20/59 interchange
- continues as 21st Street Ensley