Meet the team behind the JCC’s witty sign
Director of Special Projects Zoe Weil (left) and Administrative Assistant Kat Culp maintain the Levite Jewish Community Center’s roadside marquee.
Drive down Montclair Road on Birmingham’s east side and you’ll encounter a neighborhood icon: the roadside marquee at the Levite Jewish Community Center. The sign hosts puns, Judaic references, and pop culture riffs. While the sign is well-known and appreciated among the community, its authors have remained anonymous, until now.
The witty signage was initiated in 2022 by David Gonnerman, the JCC’s director of communications, a couple of years after he began working at the JCC.
Gonnerman felt that there could be a better way to engage with the sign.
“ I saw that there might be a more interesting way to do this,” Gonnerman recounted his thought process to start posting jokes on the sign.
Some of his signs read, “PARTY LIKE A LOX STAR” and “IF RUNNING LATE IS YOUR PRIMARY CARDIO, MAYBE IT’S TIME TO JOIN THE J.”
This January marked the end of Gonnerman’s time as the JCC’s signkeeper.
“I was getting tired of my own material, and it seemed like a fresh set of eyes would be appropriate,” said Gonnerman who then assigned the JCC’s Zoe Weil and Kat Culp, the director of special projects and an administrative assistant respectively, to the task.
While the pair was initially nervous, they soon found their groove. Using Gonnerman’s same process and timeline, Weil and Culp update the sign weekly with two phrases, one by each of them for both sides of the sign.
Some of their signs have read, “MY CAT’S FAVORITE HOLIDAY IS PURRRRRRRRIM,” and “I TOLD A MATZAH JOKE. IT FELL FLAT.”
The process of choosing the phrases isn’t organized. Instead they’re products of Weil and Culp bouncing ideas back and forth until they giggle hard enough at an idea.
“There is a giggle threshold we try to reach,” Weil said.
Weil said one giggle isn’t enough for the team. Instead, success often comes with a snort or a slap on the knee. While the sign is a “labor of love” for Weil and Culp, it’s had a real impact.
A couple of months ago, the duo received a voicemail from a Birmingham community member.
“I pass by every day,” the voicemail said. “Whoever is in charge of the signs out front, they make me laugh. They start my day off so good. I just love them.”
The sign made a particular impact on Paige Klein, who is now the director of finance at the JCC. Before working at the JCC, Klein would pass the sign regularly and laugh at the phrases displayed. When it came time for her to apply for a job at the community center, she started her cover letter with appreciation for the sign’s hilarity.
The appreciation expressed by members of the JCC and the greater Birmingham community are valued by the team at the Levite Jewish Community Center.
“People drive by on the worst days and the best days. And I think if we can make them laugh and smile on their best days, then we’ve done our job,” Culp said.
While choosing the phrase isn’t a strict process, revealing it certainly is.
“You gotta go out there and look at it yourself. That’s part of the beauty and it’s a strict rule and there are no exceptions,” Culp said.
This week’s sign is on display and certainly passes the giggle test.
You can find an archive of the Levite Jewish Community Center’s signs on Instagram, @jcc_marquee.
Vahini Shori is a Report for America corps member reporting on faith and culture for WBHM.
This reporting is supported by WBHM’s Local Journalism Innovation Fund. Find out more about the fund and how to donate here.
How Alabama Power kept bills up and opposition out to become one of the most powerful utilities in the country
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS
The board that oversees Alabama Public Television is considering disaffiliating from PBS, ending a 55-year relationship.
Nonprofit erases millions in medical debt across Gulf South, says it’s ‘Band-Aid’ for real issue
Undue Medical Debt has paid off more than $299 million in medical debts in Alabama. Now, the nonprofit warns that the issue could soon get worse.
Roy Wood Jr. on his father, his son and his new book
Actor, comedian and writer Roy Wood Jr. is out with a new book -- "The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir." He writes about his experience growing up in Birmingham, losing his dad as a teenager and all the lessons he learned from various father figures throughout his career.
Auburn fires coach Hugh Freeze following 12th loss in his last 15 SEC games
The 56-year-old Freeze failed to fix Auburn’s offensive issues in three years on the Plains, scoring 24 or fewer points in 17 of his 22 league games. He also ended up on the wrong end of too many close matchups, including twice this season thanks partly to questionable calls.
In a ‘disheartening’ era, the nation’s former top mining regulator speaks out
Joe Pizarchik, who led the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement from 2009 to 2017, says Alabama’s move in the wake of a fatal 2024 home explosion increases risks to residents living atop “gassy” coal mines.
