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Summer 2026—February 2027
2026 SFA Film Residency, with multi-city in-person experiences and monthly virtual workshops ⟶

Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to info@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: Birmingham’s Central Business District

ORAL HISTORY

Michael Pizitz

Pizitz Department Store

There was never a question that Michael Pizitz would follow in the footsteps of his father, Isadore Pizitz, and his grandfather, Louis Pizitz. His grandfather opened Pizitz Department Store on the corner of 19th Street North and 2nd Avenue in downtown Birmingham in 1923. Michael worked in the toy stockroom in the 1940s at the age of twelve. After graduating Harvard in 1955, he came to work full time at the store and eventually served as vice president and general merchandise manager. Though the department store sold to McRae’s in 1986, and the downtown flagship store closed in 1988, Michael and his brothers continue to run Pizitz Management Group. The company manages several retail operations throughout the southeast including Gus Mayer.

Date of interview:
2022-02-03

Interviewer:
Michelle Little

Photographer:
Cary Norton

Download Transcript

“

“And it was just the center of life. That’s where people went to shop, they went to the movies. You had a few suburban movie places but most of them were downtown. . . . But we had the Alabama Theatre, we had the Lyric Theatre, we had the Empire, we had the Strand, the Ritz. There were about six large movie theaters all within about a two-block area downtown.” - Michael Pizitz

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The Southern Foodways Alliance drives a more progressive future by leading conversations that challenge existing constructs, shape perspectives, and foster meaningful discussions. We reconsider the past with research, scrutiny, and documentation.

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