RIGHT North Sunset Drive was home to the Buffetts from 1956 to 1973 when they moved to Baldwin County. During this period, Jimmy went from being a student at St. Ignatius to the start of his stellar career in music. Image courtesy Zillow
Jimmy Buffett’s family called Mobile home in 1948, two years after he was born. The 1949 city directory for Mobile placed them as living at 3157 Ralston Road in a new Midtown subdivision south of Emogene Street. That address did not exist before 1946.
South Florida Street was the edge of town at the time and ran from Dauphin Street south to Emogene Street. The area held Megginson’s H & H Drug Store, Glenwood Grocery, the Glenwood Garage and Classic Cleaners at 157 South Florida Street.
The Buffetts moved to Mobile and both got jobs with Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co. a firm which ultimately employed 30,000. In the 1950 federal census, James Buffett gave his occupation as “Industrial Planning Engineer, Shipbuilding” while his wife Lorraine’s was given as “Secretary, Industrial Relations, Shipbuilding.”
The 1953 city directory indicated that the couple had left their home on Ralston Road for a two-bedroom, one-bath apartment at 1800 Hunter Avenue, a block south of Houston Street. There were 16 units in the Stonewall Apartments, and the Buffetts were in 162-C.
In 1956, Joe Langan, who was serving as mayor, expanded the city limits west from Houston Street to Cody Road. The city grew from 33 to 160 square miles, and developers were quick to act. Housing subdivisions, shopping centers and churches popped up, seemingly overnight.
Sunset Hills
The Buffetts moved west to Sunset Hills, a modest new subdivision northeast of today’s Airport and University boulevards. In 1947, this area had received its first designated Catholic parish: St. Ignatius, a fact which undoubtedly appealed to the family.
Another reason for the move may have been space. Jimmy now had two younger sisters: Laurie, born in 1948 and Lucy, born in 1953. The Buffetts chose a parochial rather than public school, and Jimmy started his musical career at St. Ignatius, where he played the trombone.
Buffett would later describe a glimpse of a childhood tradition: “We were usually delivered to the air-conditioned Loop Theater by a rotating carpool of station wagons. We were dumped out and told to behave and left there for the afternoon.”
When the Buffetts moved into Sunset Hills, there was no Airport Boulevard nor University Boulevard since the University of South Alabama did not yet exist. The closest form of entertainment would have indeed been at the Loop.
According to the reverse street index, their closest neighbors included two households headed by men in the U.S. Air Force, an inspector at Brookley Air Force Base and Darrington E. Smith, who was a department manager for the Mobile Coca-Cola Bottling Co.
In 1956, the nearest shopping opportunity was at the intersection of Old Shell Road and McGregor Avenue. Here, in addition to at least four service stations, was a post office, Greer’s, Spring Hill Hardware, Chin’s Laundry and Fuller’s Barber Shop.
From a Tough Town to Stardom
Buffett later described Mobile as “A tough town (which) made me stronger.”
His successful recordings began in 1973, and that was the same year his parents moved out of 4623 North Sunset Drive, after two decades. They had both retired and relocated to Baldwin County where they would spend the rest of their years. It would be in that county where their famous son would visit them, but Mobile will always claim him for his start in life.
