A Summer Day in Mobile By Harmony Gibson

Mobile, Al is a small city on the bay just past Pensacola. It’s a hidden gem of sorts, with history, art and culture to rival its more well-known southern counterparts, especially that of New Orleans. 

Mobile is the actually the birthplace to a lot of NOLA southern charm—from its architecture and gothic steelwork, bayou estuaries and swampy heat, French-creole fusion staple cuisines like the beignets and conecuh sausage, to its origination of the fanciful and flamboyant celebration of Mardis Gras. 

Needless to say, March is the most popular month of tourism for this coastal town. But what about the other seasons of the year? For a steelwork town with most of its history and culture having been reassigned to another city, Mobile still holds much allure and intrigue—one only needs to know where to look.

A perfect summer day in Mobile, Al might look something like this:

Seize the Day with a Coffee at Carpe Diem

A coffee house nestled under the emerald oaks and beautiful pinky flowered myrtle trees of Spring Hill, Carpe Diem is located just across the road from the college campus.

The coffee shop exudes coziness, stuffed with worn leather couches, warm lamps and homemade pastries and handcrafted pottery. They even have their own coffee roaster, with fresh batches roasted and ground daily. 

It’s the perfect place to hunker down with a good book or meet with friends. It’s built around comfort, conversation and familiarity. 

The coffee house feels straight out of a 90’s romcom—and that’s probably because that’s when it emerged. A beloved local spot since it opened in 1995, Carpe Diem hosts seasonal events, promotes local artists and has consistently won the local award for best coffee shop since it first opened. 

The key to its success? It hasn’t lost its heart. In an age where hyper modernization has wiped the color from the walls of chain coffee shops and prioritizes latte art over a good grind, Carpe Diem might feel like it’s stuck in the nineties, but for all the right reasons. It’s not just the warm burgundy walls, the Good Will Hunting poster framed front and center, the hallmark cards still encouraging you to write a sweet letter to a loved one despite the digital age; but the atmosphere, the love poured in every cup, and the lasting effect that community and care has on an establishment that allows it to endure and be one of, if not the best, spot in Mobile. 

Drive Downtown and Grab Your Next Read at The Haunted Bookshop

The Haunted Book Shop - Mobile, Alabama

Themed books, string lights, used and unique reads you can only find secondhand-- a sweet, soft gray bookstore kitty named after an Austen character. 

What more could you want from a trip to a small city than a delightfully whimsical local bookstore? The Haunted Bookstore is the perfect place to stop in and browse for your afternoon literary consumption. 

Tucked away on a corner, it sits as an homage to the original haunted bookstore that stood in downtown Mobile from the 40s to the 90s. In fact, the place is un by the granddaughter of the original’s founders, and their site details that the store [is] “..haunted by the ghosts of all great literature,” (Christopher Morley, The Haunted Book Shop).

So, whether you’re going for a stroll through winding purple walls and towering dark shelves lined with spines new and old or simply hoping for a glimpse of Mr. Bingley’s gray tabby tale disappearing around a corner, be sure to stop by, especially so that you have some entertainment for your next stop. 

Visit Havana Reys for a Smoke Break

A local cigar lounge named after its Cuban owner, Rey Mañas, who sadly passed earlier this year. The lounge came about after Mañas began a partnership with a local package store. Mañas’ love for tobacco was evident, as the packing store began to grow in popularity because of its humidor, premium selection and hand rolled cigars. 

Havana Reys is a cozy shop house lounge with a southern style wraparound porch and a full-service bar inside. You’re immediately greeted by cozy clusters of worn leather seating areas, layered patterned rugs line the floor and small wooden tables hold cigar cutters and branded ceramic ashtrays and little reading lights while the atmosphere of quiet conversation, the low sound of a game playing, and the sweet scent of tobacco mingles in the air. 

It’s the perfect place to relax, spend time with friends and family, watch the game and puff some tobacco. And if you’re not into smoking, you can grab an espresso or an old fashioned at the bar.

Dinner at Wintzell’s Oyster House

Mobile is actually famed for its oysters, even so far as to be deemed ‘The Big Oyster.’ The surrounding mix of fresh river water and salty gulf makes the oysters abundant, and local farmers will even raise them right there in the bay.

Wintzell’s is one of the more well-known local oyster bars, and for good reason. 

It’s not for a lack of options, either—there are plenty of places to quench your shellfish craving in Mo’bay, like the chain of Half Shells littered across the city. But Wentzell’s has been shelling out oysters since ’38, and it shows. Their shellfish is served fresh, fried or stewed, and of course they have that staple of southern creole cooking; the same gumbo recipe since the 80’s is one of their most highlighted dishes. It has none of the stiff formality and fancy host booths of a chain oyster bar.

Outside, the old green colonial is covered in warmly lit string lights and covered benches, and inside is all wood paneling, quirky hand painted quotes and checkerboard lined baskets for your French fries. It’s the perfect mix of southern charm, comfort cooking, timeless atmosphere and good eats with history and culture embedded in every bite. 

A stroll downtown at Lupercalia

Lupercalia is perhaps one of the most interesting hidden spots in the city. The building itself was built in 1852, with French and Spanish architectural influences. It consists of a carriage house and an underground tunnel and has a crazy cool history. 

In 1917 it functioned as a speakeasy during prohibition, and since 2019, it’s been a local art gallery. The 50 ft long tunnel is lined with warm bulbs and small framed art from local artists, which you can purchase. 

It feels more like an arthouse or hidden music venue than a stiff modern art gallery. Instead of sterile overhead lighting, the artwork is framed by the sort of lighting you’d have in your home. There’s some of the local artists and workers hanging around a sofa and conversing about art rather than a salesperson in a stiff suit trying to sell you something. 

The building is warm and lively, a place you feel like you accidentally slipped into to escape the rain, rather than somewhere you need to be to run an errand. In fact, some of the best and most beloved places in Mobile all tend to feel that way. Not the more modern establishments with sales pitching gimmicks, but the ones who embrace the history and culture that’s already there. 

The gallery is a perfect example of the rich art, history and culture that not only built Mobile but continues to thrive and live on in such establishments today. 

But Lupercalia isn’t only a physical gallery! You can purchase works on their site, help support local artists and learn more about its history here: 

Products – Lupercalia Art Gallery

Dessert at Cammie’s

Perhaps the best way to end a night in Mobile, especially a long, balmy summer night, is by stopping in at Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shoppe. 

Opened in 1969 and resold in ’98 to one of its former employees, the shoppe is a classic parlor, with all ice cream made in house and with personal recipes. It’s always filled with people crowded around the corner, eager to get a pint. 

The red vinyl and iron heart-backed chairs and  charming old fashioned signage only add to its character. And, with a waffle cone in hand, you can perch on one of the benches outside, enjoy the warm summer breeze through the oaks.

Why Mobile?

At the end of the day, Mobile might rarely appear on lists of America's must-visit southern cities, but that’s because it doesn't market itself with the same fanfare as New Orleans or Charleston. It’s not easy to pitch as a crazy vacation spot because the only way to truly experience it and understand it is to think like a local.

Because the city's heart isn't found in just one landmark or one famous street. You won’t find it in a travel guide because those ones pitch the fancy battle house restaurant or chain arcades you could find anywhere.

I think what makes Mobile special is when you slow down, look around, and think small. It’s in the places locals have loved for decades: a coffee shop that feels like your childhood home, an independent bookstore built on history and haunted stories, a cigar lounge that celebrates community and old trades, an oyster house that's served generations of families, a gallery breathing new life into an old building, and an ice cream shop with flavors you can only get there. Spend a summer day wandering between them, and you'll discover that Mobile doesn't need to compete with anywhere else, because it isn’t really like those places at all. No matter how much they want to be like Mobile.