Avondale's Most Famous Corner Went Dark. The Rest of the Neighborhood Kept Opening.
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
The building at 3719 Third Ave. South still has its stripes. It is painted in bold red, yellow and blue, with a rainbow across the brick. Joyland served its last Crustburger there after service on Sunday, Aug. 2, almost two years after it opened in Birmingham.
On the same stretch of calendar, a bar opened in the old Parkside on Fifth space across from Avondale Park. A sandwich shop came back as a lunch counter at Elysian Gardens. A Taiwanese kitchen moved into the former Lag's Eatery space near Crestwood Boulevard. A new lounge got its liquor license for the space where Ferus on 41st used to be.
Here's the pattern in Avondale this year. When a smaller room empties, a local owner fills it within months. The neighborhood's biggest and best-known restaurant building is the one address where nothing has been announced.
This building has always had a big name on the sign. As Bham Now recounted in its closure report, it was the longtime home of Bottletree Café, then Rodney Scott's BBQ, and then Joyland. Joyland was a Nashville concept founded by Chef Sean Brock in 2020. The Avondale location came out of a partnership between Brock, Birmingham's Pihakis Restaurant Group and Southall Farm of Franklin, Tennessee.
The Avondale closing followed a bigger pullback. In April 2026, a long list of Pihakis Restaurant Group locations began closing, including several Hero Donut and Rodney Scott's BBQ locations. Bham Now counted 14 closures as of April 29. Joyland was still on that list's "open" side in April. By mid-July both Nashville Joylands had closed, and the Birmingham location followed two weeks later.
When it closed, general manager Jake Blankenship posted a goodbye on social media, which Bham Now quoted:
"We are just as sad to see it goes as you are, and we are eternally grateful that you decided to spend your time here with us and enjoy some delicious food and share some awesome stories and build some great relationships."
As of mid-October, no new tenant, sale or plan had been announced for 3719 Third Ave. South. That's where things stand.
Look at the rest of Avondale's 2026 changes and most of them follow one route. A space closes, and a smaller local operator moves in.
| Address | Previous tenant | What's there now | Who's behind it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4036 5th Ave. S. | Parkside on Fifth, closed March 27 | Lucky Stranger, neighborhood bar | Ali Randall, José de Jesus Medina Camacho, Kelsey Drum, Nan Wagner |
| 4350 3rd Ct. S. | Lag's Eatery | Taiwan Street Food | Stephen Kao, owner of Christopher House Antiques |
| 430 41st St. S., Unit A | Marble Ring, then Ferus on 41st | Retro, a planned lounge and grill | Rex Cole |
| 101 40th St. S. | None, a new spot at Elysian Gardens | The Broken Knife, weekday lunch | Chris Talley, owner and chef |
| 3719 Third Ave. S. | Bottletree, Rodney Scott's, Joyland | No announced tenant | None announced |
The fastest turnaround on the list is the old Parkside space. Bham Now reported in March that Parkside on Fifth would close March 27 because owner Tim Burt was retiring. In April, Bham Now announced a dive bar for the space and expected it to open in late summer or early fall. It arrived ahead of that. By July 20, Bham Now reported that Lucky Stranger was set to start serving that week, after four months of work on the room by its four owners. That's roughly four months from last call at Parkside to a new bar across from Avondale Park.
None of the operators who moved in this year is a regional group bringing in an out-of-town concept. They're people with local businesses or local followings, running one place each.
Lucky Stranger is the most connected of the group. Bham Now reported that it has backing from the people behind Juniper, Salud Taqueria and Adiõs, and described it as a casual, come-as-you-are bar. It opens at 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and stays open until midnight. On Fridays it runs 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., on Saturdays noon to 2 a.m., and on Sundays noon to 8 p.m. It joined the citywide scene quickly. The City of Birmingham's Southbound Food Festival roundup listed a Closers event at Lucky Stranger during the Sept. 18 to 27 festival.
The Broken Knife used to have a storefront in Homewood and is now back in brick-and-mortar form at Elysian Gardens, across from the stage. In early August, Bham Now reported that the shop was serving Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and adding to its menu gradually. Talley told the outlet:
"Everything is made from scratch. We smoke our own meat. Our portions are huge."
Talley also told Bham Now he expected to add lunch and dinner seven days a week once the logistics were worked out. The hours in that report were weekday lunch only, so check the shop's own site before planning a weekend visit.
Taiwan Street Food is the newest. Bham Now's Oct. 12 roundup said the open-kitchen restaurant is just off Crestwood Boulevard, next to Gatos & Beans and near Cahaba Brewery. It serves stir fry, soups, dumplings and potstickers, Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Its operator, Stephen Kao, also owns Christopher House Antiques, which puts it firmly in the local, one-owner category.
Earlier in the year, 205 Wings opened at 4030 1st Ave. North during the week of March 4, according to Bham Now.
Retro hasn't finished its route through the pattern yet. In May, AL.com reported that the Birmingham City Council had granted a retail liquor license to Retro at 430 41st St. S., Unit A. Owner Rex Cole described it to a council committee as a "neighborhood lounge and grill." The space previously housed Marble Ring and Ferus on 41st, which closed earlier in 2026. At the time, Cole wrote on social media that he wasn't ready to announce an opening date: "We have a few more hurdles to clear." No opening date has been announced since.
If Retro opens, four of the five addresses in the table will have changed hands within the same calendar year. The Third Avenue South building would be the only one still dark.
The Joyland building has been part of a night out in Avondale for a long time. This Halloween weekend, the plans center on 41st Street South, where Avondale Brewing at 201 41st St. S. and Saturn both have full calendars.
Lucky Stranger opens at 4 p.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday, and stays open until 2 a.m. both nights. That makes it the new stop that fits around either show.
The calendar keeps going after Halloween:
Venue calendars change, so check each listing before you buy tickets.
The 3719 Third Ave. South building has gone through three well-known tenants. Whoever takes it next will open into an Avondale where Parkside's old room and Lag's old room already have local owners, and where 41st Street can carry a Halloween weekend on its own.
If you live near Avondale and keep an eye on which addresses fill next, I'm keeping the same list, and I'm happy to talk about what it means for the blocks around it. Roxanne Hale would love to hear which corner you're watching. Let's Connect.
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Based in Birmingham, I help clients buy, sell, build, and relocate across the region’s most sought-after communities — from Homewood, Mountain Brook, Vestavia, and Hoover to Cullman, Decatur, Huntsville, and beyond.
