Mobile, Alabama: Historic Charm, The Battle House & A City on the Rise

Randy: Let's talk about Mobile. I made some notes here about its interesting past. It's a great place to be in the present, and you've got a lot of things happening down the road. So let's talk about the past, the fascinating history. Give us the cold notes version. 

Ashley: Oh my goodness. Wow, that's a lot, considering that we're about 325 years old. So we're older than the State of Alabama, and we have an incredible cultural past here. We have a whole dynamic in our culture considering that we were founded by the French, we have been ruled by the British, the Spanish. Obviously, we became a U.S. territory, and indigenous people, of course, were here ahead of us. Our African culture is absolutely incredible. And it's just amazing in the ways that you can see that. Like you were talking about our past, our present and our future. Our culture is really everywhere.

Randy: Well, it is. You see it everywhere. You've done a great job in preserving the past as far as the buildings, the architecture, um, some of the historic uh stories, whether it's good or bad, right? 

Ashley: That's correct. You know, I think that the place that we are going in America is being honest about our past, even if it's not pretty or even if it is traumatic. And so telling the story, specifically of the Clotilda that was the last known ship to bring enslaved people from Africa, and it came into Mobile Bay and was burned later in the river. And the descendants from that ship, once they were freed, created a community so that they could stay together and they could worship the way that they had learned to worship in Africa and speak the way that they had learned to speak. And that community called Africatown is thriving in Mobile today, and it's incredibly interesting to learn their story.

Randy: Exactly. We took a tour of that fascinating story, way too long for us to explain. You just have to come down and visit Mobile.

Randy: And let's talk about Mardi Gras, something you're very proud of.

Ashley: Yes, we are very proud of being the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the United States. It is Mobile, it is not New Orleans. We were founded in 1702, and the next year we decided to have a party. So Mardi Gras started in Mobile in 1703, and if you talk to a Mobilian for long enough, they're going to let you know that we are the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the United States. We are incredibly proud of our tradition.

Randy: It must be something to be here for Mardi Gras. And I've heard Mobile being described as a smaller New Orleans because there you do get that sort of sense because the architecture is very similar, obviously the food is similar.

Ashley: Right, you do, and that's not something that is unfamiliar to anybody from Mobile is to be called a small New Orleans, but we were founded by all the same people and we do have a lot of the same traditions. I would say that Mobile Mardi Gras is a more family-friendly version. It's not what you're used to seeing on TV, or you know, the Bourbon Street kind of vibe in New Orleans. It is very family-friendly. You're gonna see a lot of families together, you're gonna see groups of families together. For instance, my family has been doing Mardi Gras since before I was born. We stand on the same street corner for every single Mardi Girl parade, and we have my whole entire life.

Randy: It's got a mark on the Ashley spot. 

Randy: And if you're a cruiser, Mobile is becoming even more popular for cruising.

Ashley: That's right. We have had the Carnival Spirit here for a six-month cruise season. We're very excited that in April 2027, we're going to be welcoming the Carnival Valor, which is a larger ship, and that is going to be the return of year-round cruising in Mobile. Excellent!

Randy: And for nature lovers too, one of our tours was the "America's Amazon," as it was known. And so do you get to learn more about the wildlife of the Delta and the eco-culture there?

Ashley: Right. So it's incredibly amazing to learn about what is called America's Amazon, and that's our Delta area, and it's one of the most eco-diverse biosystems in the world. It's where five rivers converge into the Delta that leads into Mobile Bay. The flora and fauna that come out of this very unique ecosystem and how they all balance and live together, and how it just creates a vibrant way of sea life. It's everything from crustaceans to alligators and pitcher plants and things that you might not even think of! How algae might exist so that you know these bugs can survive and then the cranes and the eagles can feed on them. And it's just absolutely amazing to be able to live surrounded by something just so incredibly beautiful.

Randy: And if you're a bird watcher, it's another place to mark off your places to visit, right?

Ashley: Right. So birdwatching, especially out on the Delta, is completely amazing because you're talking about everything. I mean, I've seen bald eagles out there, but you know, these hawks and cranes and these tiny birds. Also, Dauphin Island, which is just a little bit south of Mobile, is still in our county. They have the Audubon Bird Trail, and that is part of a migratory trail for birds. The information that you can get from walking this trail down there is simply amazing. 

Randy: So, the downtown area. I didn't know what to expect because I've never been here, but it's really nice. Like it's clean, it's well-organized, it's walkable.

Ashley: Something we absolutely love about our downtown area is that it's our entertainment district and it's completely walkable. It's very much what you think of when you think of those lattice work streets where you have north-south streets, east-west streets, and you know, you have a new adventure depending on where you turn. And one of the amazing aspects about our downtown entertainment district is that it includes anywhere from 55 to 60 restaurants, and most of those are locally owned, some of them are chef-owned.

It also includes a lot of very important attractions. The National Maritime Museum [of the Gulf], the History Museum, the Mobile Carnival Museum. These are all within the walkable downtown entertainment district. There are green spaces and art galleries and art collectives and bars, restaurants, live music. It's just a really incredible place to be. 

Randy: So when you're out at a restaurant, what's your favorite dish? I'm gonna put you in the spot.

Ashley: Oh gosh. Being born and raised right here on the water, I love seafood. I love seafood so much. I love anything, anything that's made with crab and almost every kind of fish. It's very difficult for me to say no to. And hey, it's crawfish season, so you might see me with some crawfish too!

Randy: Let's talk about the future now. Lots of things going on. New airport.

Ashley: That's right. So we're on the precipice of just some very exciting things. We are finishing out brand new builds of an international airport that is going to be opening. It's it will be approximately three to five minutes from downtown. Major carriers are going to move from our current airport. And then we're looking at bringing in some of those smaller carriers.

Opening around the same time, we have a $300 million brand-new arena complex that's being built. This is going to house everything from Mardi Gras balls to major concerts. We're gonna have a minor league hockey team whose name is to be announced. We're very excited about that. Like I said, cruising is getting bigger and better. Amtrak passenger rail service has returned and is just exceeding expectations, and so there's just a lot of excitement in Mobile right now.

Randy: Yeah, the future is very exciting.

Randy: Anything you want to add that I might have missed?

Ashley: To take something that you said earlier, one of our slogans is "Upgrade your expectations." Because a lot of people will say, "Well, I didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't this. It wasn't all of these really cool things I'm seeing to do."

And so, we like to say, well, upgrade your expectations, and that's what Mobile is going to be. Nice, very nice.

Randy: Nice, very nice. Ashley Rains is the senior public relations and communication manager with Visit Mobile. Mobile.org is the website. So, thank you, so nice to chat with you.

Ashley: Thank you so much.

Randy: Let's talk about the name. I was joking a little bit about when you see the word "battle" in a hotel, it's got to have a good story behind it.

Mariluz: The story is that it was the Battle brothers who actually built the building, and so named it after their last name.

Randy: Has nothing to do with the Civil War, has nothing to do with any battle, it's just the name.

Mariluz: It has nothing to do with any battle, but we do have some folks that stayed at our hotel back in the day during the War of 1812, but it has nothing to do with the hotel's name.

Randy: And that's a good introduction to how old this hotel is. When you're going back to 1812, obviously it's got a very storied history.

Mariluz: Yes, it became the Battle House in 1852. Prior to that, two other hotels had been in the same location under different names, but both of those hotels actually burned down. So it was rebuilt in 1852 by the Battle Brothers.

Randy: And so what are we seeing today? When you walk in through the lobby, it's a pretty grand entrance. You can tell the history and some of the work that's been behind it. So what is the what's still original and what's new?

Mariluz: A lot of it is still original because even after 1852, when it was rebuilt, there was yet another fire. So in 1905, it was rebuilt yet again by the Battle Brothers, this time using steel and concrete instead of what was used previously.

So that hotel was then later added onto the tower side of things in 2003 when Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) bought the hotel. But the original hotel shut down in 1974 and was actually boarded up for approximately 30 years. It sat empty, boarded up. Nobody was here, only probably the rats. But in 2003, our parent company, who owns the building, rebuilt it, added the adjacent office tower, which is now the RSA Tower.

Randy: And when you come to the front entrance off the main street out here, it doesn't look like it's a huge hotel. It looks like it's a fair-sized hotel, very nice entrance, walk through the lobby and then you realize how big it really is.

Mariluz: It goes deep, yes, from the front facade. You can see the columns, you can see the balcony, and that is the historic side of the hotel, which is actually eight stories tall. But out of our 238 guest rooms, half are housed on the historic side of the hotel, and half of them are housed on the tower side.

Randy: So are the rooms different? Let's talk a little bit about the rooms. Are the rooms different from the tower side to the historic side?

Mariluz: As far as amenities go, the amenities are exactly the same on both sides. However, on the historic side, we were dealing more with the old hotel, and the size of the rooms vary from one room to the next, from floor to floor. Some of them may be a little bit larger, some of them a little bit smaller. Where, on the tower side, those were built from scratch when that building was developed. So those are more of the same size. But on the historic side, it's when we have the quirky little rooms that are not the exact same size.

Randy: And even on the tower side, the rooms still got that historic sort of feel to them. You managed to maintain that.

Mariluz: Yes, and that was our goal because we are part of the Historic Hotels of America. We wanted to have that feel from the outside, even though it's all a brick facade. When you come in, the lobby causes you to take a breath and look up and admire the glass dome.

Randy: Okay, now talk about some of the amenities here. Being a historic hotel, it's still got all the modern amenities people are looking for.

Mariluz: We do, absolutely. We want to provide those business travelers everything that they're looking for, whether they're traveling to Mobile, whether they're traveling to Atlanta, whatever city in the U.S. that they're traveling to. We want to make sure that we're catering to their needs.

Randy: And the location, you can't beat it. I mean, you walk out the front door and you're right in downtown Mobile.

Mariluz: Yes, we are a very compact city. We mirror ourselves to what New Orleans is, except that our city is more compact. You can get from one end of the downtown area to the other by walking five, ten blocks. You will see off of Dauphin Street, most of the major restaurants and bars and activities to be done and seen are right outside our front doors.

Randy: Any ghost stories? I mean, it's an old hotel. There's sometimes spirits lurking in the hallways.

Mariluz: There's probably stories. I have never experienced any of them myself, but yes, there's stories to be had. I don't think that I would do it justice. There's actually a tour guide in Mobile that brings their folks through the hotel, tells stories, but I don't know that they're all quite factual.

Randy: Well, that's the idea of a story, right? You've got to embellish. 

Randy: What do you like about the hotel? Obviously, you work here, your job is to promote it, sales and marketing thing. But what personally do you like when you walk to work, saying, "Yeah, I like this part."

Mariluz: I've been in hospitality for over 30 years. When I moved to Mobile from New Orleans, I wanted to make sure that I was working for a company that I could be proud of. And I'm very proud of this hotel. Folks from all over the world, not just within the US, but who come because we do a lot of business with folks from Europe. When they come into the Battle House, they don't expect this quality of a hotel to be in a small town like Mobile.

I would say one of the things that most folks are surprised by is that Mobile is the hometown of Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras did not originate in New Orleans, but rather in Mobile. And coming from New Orleans, I did not know that until I moved to Mobile. So the parades actually roll right in front of our hotels on Royal Street.

Randy: It must be a popular spot, then people must be clamoring to get the sort of front row of seats kind of look.

Mariluz: Oh, absolutely. We are sold out. Mardi Gras takes place over three weekends. The last two weekends of Mardi Gras, our hotel does sell out. The Mardi Gras balcony that's above us, that's one of the prime spots to watch the parades, to catch your beads, to really enjoy what the crowds are doing down on the floor level.

Randy: Mariluz Hilbun is the area director of sales and marketing for the Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel and Spa. The website is RenaissanceMobile.com. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this.

Mariluz: My pleasure, and I would say we welcome all of your folks that listen to your podcast. We have wonderful weather year-round for the most part, especially for Canadians. Our winters are very mild, so whether you come in December, January or February, our weather is going to be much better than in Canada!