The Best of Huntsville is back

The 140-plus page guide to North Alabama called The Best of Huntsville by Mike Kaylor first appeared in 1984, when 10,000 copies sold out within months. A second edition hit the book stores a year later with updated information. It was never reprinted.

I wrote and published the book in response to the many phone calls from readers of The Huntsville Times wanting advice on nightlife and entertainment. I began writing a weekly column for The Times in 1978 that covered clubs, restaurants, local bands and other activities. People would call to ask where they should go for an anniversary dinner or what was fun for out-of-town visitors. The book was a summary.

Each year since then, I have planned to update The Best of Huntsville, but it never became a priority. Today's technology, though, gives me a chance to bring it up to date and make it an interactive guide book. That's what this blog will do.

Huntsville graphic artist and actor Fred Sayers illustrated the book, and many of his illustrations will appear here. My dear friend Bill Easterling, who died in 2000, wrote the book's Foreward. The Library of Congress number is 85-080556 and the book carries the ISBN: 0-916039-01-3.

My plan is to begin transcribing portions of the book in this blog that have withstood 25 years of change and to add new innovations. When it's updated, we'll release it again in print. Join me in this new venture. I'm excited about it. I hope you are too.

Copies of the original THE BEST OF HUNTSVILLE book are available. Post a comment for more information.