My wife, Cathy and I have called Decatur, GA home since 1996, raising our two kids, Boyd and Anna, just east of Atlanta in a community full of history and charm. The nearby city of Avondale Estates and the CSX rail line that runs along College Avenue have been a constant part of our daily life - we see and hear the trains from our front porch every day. Brown Mfg. Company’s journey began in Newport News, VA, but when my mom bought it in the late ’90s, she moved it to Alpharetta, GA, and that’s when I joined in. Wanting to be closer to home while our kids were young, I moved the business to Decatur, then later to Avondale Estates - just a short ride down College Avenue - where we’ve been since 2011.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the original patent initially used for our iconic bottle openers, I’m releasing six deep-engraved, German-cast STARR “X” openers, each inspired by the people, places, and brands that have helped shaped my life (for better or worse) — nearly all within a three-mile radius, with a few taking me to corners of Atlanta I’d never discovered before.
