#i live in georgia other than that we don’t have much in autumnal festivities

[crosswordist]

there was a slightly cool breeze in the air today so i am declaring it time to start the fall festivities.

reading fanfiction

[oliveratlanta]

101 things to love about Atlanta

A love letter to a city of many nicknames—just don’t call it Hotlanta

Unlike other American metropolises, it’s sometimes hard to determine exactly what Atlanta is, especially for outsiders or so many newcomers. Is it a business-friendly, big-hearted, mild-weather region that’s six times more populated than it was 50 years ago? Yes, Atlanta is that. A cradle for some of the most influential music—particularly hip-hop and rap—of the past three decades? Yep, that too. A burgeoning foodie wonderland? A southeastern mecca for the production of television and Hollywood blockbusters? A pastiche of gloriously unique, provincial villages masquerading as official neighborhoods? A cultural frontrunner and cautionary tale? Global magnet of opportunity? Still kind of a mess—but lovably so?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and that’s right, y’all.

So maybe that’s what’s special about Atlanta: It’s not yet finished, and never one-note. Rather, it’s a Brunswick stew of varying allures. It’s amorphous, restless, unwed to the past, intoxicated by its own prospects. Very little is sacred here but change, and instigators are more than welcome. Atlanta doesn’t know what it is yet, or exactly where it’s going, but it’s having a damn good time getting there. Let’s celebrate what’s great here, right now.

1. Inclusivity. The economic and cultural heart of the Deep South isn’t just accustomed to being diverse, it’s proud of it. See virtually any public gathering place intown for proof that humanity can peacefully coexist—and that Atlanta still has better things to do than hate.

2. Sky-high architecture. From the emerald towers of Sandy Springs’s King and Queen to the Georgia Pacific Tower’s illuminated stairsteps, the skyline is among America’s most underappreciated, especially at night. It’s not contiguous yet, with large gaps between poky clusters from most angles, but it’s distinctive and bold. And oh how it glows.

3. Easy-breezy climes. Sure, summer’s hotter’n’ Hades. But there’s Christmas shopping in flip-flops (sometimes), T-shirt weekends in January (occasionally), and bloomy early February (without fail).

4. After Hours at Waffle House: The 20-minute wait at 3:17 a.m. is plenty of time for random singing with other scatterbrained, post-bar strangers in line.

5. The prevalence of nature. Cicadas. And barn owls. Talking. At night. Among the giant urban oaks, in July.

6. Festival-a-palooza. Neighborhoods across the city have unbridled, borderline incomprehensible enthusiasm for getting together. Random gatherings invented on Facebook (looking at you, Lanta Gras) have ballooned into huge annual traditions with street closures and parades.

7. Bezos who? Amazon didn’t choose Atlanta, and Atlanta cared for five minutes.

8. It’s almost never hard to find a seat on public transit.

9. Kid-friendly. Little children growing up in Atlanta tend to think it’s amazing. That’s an impression bolstered by innumerable playgrounds and ubiquitous King of Pops, those delectable, homegrown frozen staples.

10. Random celebrity encounters. Like that time when André 3000 was shopping alone at the DeKalb Farmers Market, sans entourage, near the seafood section, all cool in his army jacket despite the July swelter and crush of onlookers, not too busy or highfalutin to shake everybody’s hand.

11. Yes, $100,000-something condos are prevalent—still—in desirable places across Atlanta. Many aren’t shoeboxes, either. And some count incredible views, particularly of central Midtown or downtown’s oldest streets.

12. Tech hub. Because Georgia Tech is a factory of coveted IT brainpower that’s more essential to the city’s business climate each year.

13. Westside escape. With its bridges, creekside vistas, and smooth, snaking pavement, the Proctor Creek Greenway trail is already otherworldly, in the best, most bucolic way. And it’s just a fraction of what it stands to be in coming years.

14. Long live the Clermont. A few years ago, neighbors were preparing to fight to save a local strip club from its new owners. It was a false alarm—the new owners view the Clermont as an asset. But that’s Atlanta.

15. Where it’s greater. With its transit connectivity, celebrated food scene, walkability, and perennial ranking as Georgia’s best place to live, Decatur gets it.

16. World’s busiest hub. With flights seemingly every minute from early morning until the wee night-time hours, the Atlanta airport is a stressful but handy launchpad of convenience, with a ridiculous wealth of nonstop flights to basically everywhere (hello, Dubai and Johannesburg). We’ll forgive a MARTA train derailment, that famous power outage, and perpetual TSA clogs.

17. Expats welcome. Because almost nobody on your street is actually from Atlanta, and that’s so normal it usually doesn’t even register. A common greeting for new neighbors: “So, where ya from?”

18. Can’t-miss Cascade. Especially in autumn, SW ATL’s Cascade Springs Nature Preserve offers ITP serenity to the fullest. Meander through 120 acres of trails, climb Civil War-era ruins, hop across a waterfall’s rocks. It’ll make even the most overstressed office dweller feel something akin to childhood awe.

19. Walkability. It’s getting vastly… better, in many places, from densifying EAV to the growing shopping avenues of central Buckhead. It’s happening, albeit slowly.

20. But... Atlanta’s still a major city where driving conveniences are largely possible, and lugging groceries on trains and such isn’t always an everyday hassle. Rush hours, however, are always plural, and Saturday traffic is, unfortunately, no joke anymore.

21. Trees of green. Friends flying in for the first time might say, “All I saw were trees—and then we landed.” A high compliment.

Curbed Atlanta

Atlanta’s canopy with the Buckhead business district at left, and Midtown/downtown at right.

22. Playspace. The restored, climbable treasure that is Noguchi Playscapes, the famed landscape architect’s work in Piedmont Park, was the only U.S. playground he completed in his lifetime.

23. Bungalows. The quintessential intown homes. Built to last, forever in vogue, and usually affixed with that most Atlanta of residential features: the generous porch.

24. Bearings Bike Shop. The community-focused nonprofit is teaching kids the value of hard work, the joy of exercise, and the viability of traversing a car-crazed city on two wheels.

25. Late-night stalwart. MJQ is a longstanding and culturally important club that welcomes anybody and everybody down into the rollicking, subterranean bowels of a former blues club. Chicago House in one room, a Whitney Houston singalong in the next.

26. Adios, Bravos. The pro baseball team left town for the monied ’burbs—and might very well have done Atlanta a favor (unless you operated front-yard parking lots). Nearby Georgia Avenue’s rebirth could show how large-scale adaptive reuse, married with new construction, can be a smartly executed replacement for storefront vacancies and so much stadium asphalt. Changes of this magnitude don’t come without gentrification fears, of course. But rows of beautiful, vacant old buildings—which could’ve doubled as a post-apocalyptic Main Street before, but are under renovation now—were doing Atlanta no favors.

27. The mother of all porch parties. Three cheers for the grassroots explosion of Oakhurst Porchfest. Founded in 2015, the autumn musical extravaganza counts 200-plus acts now, performing wherever volunteers offer their porches as stages. It’s community unification through music at its finest.

28. High Museum. The Southeast’s preeminent showcase for contemporary and classical art, housed in buildings designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Meier, is free for locals on the second Sunday of each month. How’s that for accessibility?

29. Viewrific, Part I. The approach from Douglasville on Interstate 20, over that hill, in fading evening light, the Land of Oz.

30. One of television’s best shows needed no other name than our city’s.

31. Georgia Aquarium’s bucket-list essential. For about the price of a car tire, you can swim with whale sharks downtown. And if you’re lucky, they’ll inadvertently bump you, with all the gentle power of a city bus in slow motion.

32. Curated graffiti. Running along the northern borders of Cabbagetown and Reynoldstown, Wylie Street is an ever-changing urban museum of eye-popping street murals, with a dash of biting social commentary.

33. Atlanta is where misfit street characters become local legends. Here’s looking at you, Baton Bob. And where art thou, Bicycle Shorts Man?

34. The Dungeon house in Lakewood Heights. Birthplace of OutKast, it was recently purchased by Big Boi. Hootie Hoo!

35. The Atlanta Beltline. Despite affordability challenges directly caused by the now-famous Beltline, the popular segments are socially magical, unifying things—Atlanta’s boardwalk, the Little Peachtree—and it’s barely reached adolescence at this point. Maybe one day, instead of sprawl and traffic, a mention of Atlanta anywhere in the world will conjure images of this mythical green loop. All dreamed up by a local college kid.

36. Sylvan Hills. The historic nabe between downtown and the airport is the prettiest neighborhood that half of Atlanta’s never heard of.

37. Scooter culture. Having spawned across the city in a year, the vehicles can be annoying, unsightly, and even dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists. But the two-wheel zeitgeist beats all those lawbreaking riders driving alone in 4,000-pound street cloggers, right?

38. Raising the bar. Rooftop restaurants and bars have multiplied tenfold (roughly) in recent years, highlighted by Ponce City Market’s vintage amusement park in the sky and Hotel Clermont’s unpretentious new hang. About time.

39. Our iconic downtown library is by Marcel Breuer, someone cooler than Carnegie.

40. Path Force. The Beltline’s roving, specialized, applaudable police squad is consistently effective. Despite millions of visitors to the trails, the number of annual crime incidents can sometimes be counted on one hand.

41. John Portman. The late architect’s simple idea born in downtown Atlanta—the inner high-rise atrium, designed to cheaply cool low-income buildings—revolutionized hotel design around the world.

42. A growing legacy of rather badass sports statues. There’s Hank Aaron swinging through his record homer, shredded Evander Holyfield (currently MIA), sculptural Olympics remnants, Dominique Wilkins in mid-dunk, and that incredible Falcons sculpture.

43. Viewrific, Part II. The downtown skyline from that stoplight, facing west, where Freedom Parkway meets Boulevard. It’s the famed Jackson Street Bridge vantage point, immortalized in The Walking Dead Season 1 poster, panned out.

44. Park potential. Bellwood Quarry’s green space initiative could finally bring that side of town the Piedmont Park it deserves.

45. Commercial survivors. Poncey-Highland throwback DVD rental spot Videodrome and dive-bar stalwart Righteous Room are here to stay forever! Probably.

46. Road trips galore. From Atlanta, there’s a wealth of geographically and culturally diverse long-weekend options in all directions. Asheville, Savannah, the Gulf Coast, Charleston, Blue Ridge, Jekyll Island, Nashville, Charlotte, and the list goes on. Leave at lunch on Friday and reach them all by happy hour.

47. Church Bar on Edgewood. Before it was a tourist destination, the beloved Edgewood Avenue watering hole was just an unholy alliance of irreverent art, ping-pong, sangria, and a male former church deacon named Sister Louisa.

48. Atlanta United. In just its third year now, the club has scored a Major League Soccer championship and global headlines that declare this city, for once, an exemplar of fandom.

49. They don’t make ’em like Whittier Mill Village anymore. The semi-secret old cotton mill community includes 1800s homes, beautiful ruins, and Buckhead schools.

50. We took Snowpocalypse jokes—and are still taking them—in stride. Two inches of daytime snow paralyzed a major city, but hey, we made the front page of the New York Times! And inspired the creation of an SNL Weekend Update character called Buford Calloway, a “survivor.”

51. Lemony pepper wings. Order dry, with a little tub of hot sauce on the side. Graze the wing across blue cheese, and then dunk in the sauce. Bite big. And behold caloric Eden.

52. Bank of America Plaza. The world’s largest cigarette just happens to be the Southeast’s tallest building—and the ATL’s Eiffel Tower. (Sorry, Big Chicken.)

53. Purposeful art. With poignant murals, impressive permanent pieces, and a civil rights installation series where historical events actually happened, the Beltline’s Westside Trail artwork is stepping up the game. Ditto for the Eastside’s series, and William Massey’s awe-inspiring pieces made of garbage found on streets.

54. Viewrific, Part III. Sure, the ginormous chiseled Confederates are awkward at best, and embarrassing at worst. But evenings and sunrises atop Stone Mountain are religious experiences (literally, every Easter, with church services). Up there, find unparalleled vistas of so much rippling green, cast pink, with the glint of skyscrapers in the middle distance.

55. Adair Park. Blight and disinvestment didn’t diminish the beautiful old bones of this historic place.

56. The Atlanta Tech Village in Buckhead is the real deal. A tech hub that’s spawned big local companies—and a lot of cushy salaries.

57. Car-free lifestyles no longer seem crazy. Alternate transportation commuters are becoming more prevalent by the year—and proving that living without a car (gasp!) is possible in Atlanta. (See: the saddlebags and backpacks accessorizing business attire along the Freedom Park PATH Trail during weekday rush hours.)

58. No shortage of swingin’ highrise pools. It’s like a subculture unto itself, from late April to September.

59. We have the Southeast’s largest burial ground, and it’s beautiful. More than 100,000 people have been laid to eternal rest across Westview Cemetery’s 600 acres, which is centered around a gorgeously ornate mausoleum and chapel.

60. Lest we forget Oakland Cemetery. Atlanta’s oldest public green space is a historical, durable, accessible intown treasure that really knows how to party. For proof, see the long-running, multistage Tunes From the Tombs festival.

61. The National Center for Civil and Human Rights is > the NASCAR Museum that Atlanta “lost” to Charlotte.

62. Pittsburgh Yards. This southside Beltline redevelopment is centered on the creation of jobs in underserved places—instead of $3,000 apartments and $13.50 bespoke kale bowls—and it could be a game changer.

63. Buckhead’s tallest building, the Sovereign tower, still stands out, architecturally. And it could soon have a big blue modernist sibling.

64. Venturing OTP won’t actually kill you. Resurrected and richly historic downtowns are in abundance in the Atlanta suburbs. Like, everywhere. Find a half-dozen worthwhile day-trip destinations in Gwinnett alone.

65. The Atlanta splash pad, a social oasis and absolute godsend. And even better: More splash pads are in the works, from Vine City (definitely) to Chosewood Park (probably) and Kirkwood (maybe). About damn time, say toddlers across Atlanta.

66. Queer culture is thriving. That’s epitomized by Atlanta Pride, which is more massive than ever after almost 50 years (and now family-friendly, for better or worse).

67. English Avenue’s Mattie Freeland Park. Founded and controlled by neighbors, the tiny green space is a shining example of small but vital civic strides in historically troubled places.

68. The Chattahoochee River. A revived and unspoiled (if underused) resource for every season.

69. Insert here: A non-cheesy, non-obvious, pithy ode to the Varsity, that legendary fast-food drive-in—still the world’s largest after 90 years. Don’t mention “What’ll ya have?” Ah, never mind.

70. Music Midtown. For all its faults (overcrowding, lawn damage, neighbor inconvenience, lineups geared toward teens), the reborn multistage extravaganza is a dynamic and diverse musical showcase every September. Walk barefoot across lush Bermuda and dance like only 75,000 people are watching.

71. Ted Turner’s legacy. The media maverick and early Atlanta believer has been called an inspiration by people as disparate as Ted Koppel and Killer Mike.

72. The reinvigorated cyclorama. Once bedraggled, the restored cyclorama—one of America’s largest historical artifacts—is now in good hands, presented in a state-of-the-art showcase at the Atlanta History Center. That’s where it’ll be until infants of today are septuagenarians. At least.

73. Almost every Atlantan has some tale about the cast or production of The Hunger Games, The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, Baby Driver, etc. And hundreds of us have rented our homes for movie and TV shoots. Cha-ching.

74. Atlanta Streets Alive. The occasional street-closure sensation (with attendance routinely north of 120,000) illustrates a dream scenario, in terms of biking/pedestrian infrastructure and how cities of the future could yield to people over automobiles.

75. Inspiring architecture—seriously. In a few too-rare cases, large-scale design is getting quite interesting. Find several forthcoming examples on Howell Mill Road alone. And approach the Jenga-d facade of Midtown’s new lilli tower from any angle at twilight.

76. The Beltline’s Northside Trail. It’s a tucked-away, leafy, unsung jewel—with a rail bridge underpass that could stand as a top Beltline highlight forever.

77. Relaxed ganja laws in the City of Atlanta. Anyone caught with a bag of pot in the city can face—worst case—a $75 fine now. But even that’s left to the officer’s discretion. And judging by the pungent wafts from innumerable cars and so many porches, the memo on that was widely read among intowners.

78. The Goat Farm! Westside ruins turned artist hive. Now don’t let redevelopment gut its inimitable soul!

79. Where the expressions “Y’all!” and “Yo!” coexist harmoniously—and sometimes come from the same mouth.

80. Inman Park Festival. A late-April tradition for almost half a century, this fest is Atlanta’s greatest neighborhood showcase. It’s proof that even prestigious places need not take themselves too seriously.

81. These directions make sense in Atlanta-ese: “Head up the Connector, around the Grady Curve, beyond the Brookwood Split, past Spaghetti Junction, barely OTP, and then…”

82. Record shops keep it spinning. From the hippest gritty neighborhoods to the far-flung ’burbs, ATL vinyl is alive and well.

83. The original Lantern Parade. A luminous Atlanta Beltline tradition—now 70,000 strong—unlike any other.

84. Moonlight drives. The city’s nonsensical roadway design actually makes for more interesting (if impractical) drives, once you know where the hell you’re going. For a test run, take Ponce from the Majestic Diner to Decatur, late at night, windows down.

85. Because the Atlanta Hawks stayed put, right in the city’s heart. And now they’re trending like the team of the future.

86. Ansley Park. With its dizzying array of residential masterworks and unique country-club-under-skyscrapers vibe, this is aspirational living done right. Leafy and hilly at every turn, the neighborhood’s bounty of walkable green space options is almost unfair.

87. Those wondrous, weird accumulations of snow. About six times per decade, there’s a legit, if short-lived, snowfall. Added bonus: The city’s streets and parks are perfectly angled for sledding, for those rare Atlantans who actually own sleds or don’t mind embarrassing themselves on greased cookie sheets.

88. Midtown’s unyielding boom. Crane-watching (and counting) has become a pastime in Midtown. It’s the epicenter of intown’s metamorphosis, where soul-sucking surface parking lots go to die.

Curbed Atlanta

Midtown in summertime, as seen over Piedmont Park.

89. The “Atlanta’s Population Now” sign on Peachtree Road. Long a source of pride and bewilderment for this once modestly sized Southern town, the electronic metro population counter in front of the Darlington Apartments is climbing ever closer to 7 million. Fun fact: It was installed by a young billboard mogul named Ted Turner in the 1960s, when the metro’s population was about 1.1 million.

90. The potential of South Downtown. For far too long, Atlanta’s oldest, most captivatingly vintage streets have been forsaken by most investors, residents, visitors, and anyone else not headed to Magic City, a Falcons game, or the Gold Dome. Whether the trifecta of ambitious plans for the Gulch, Underground Atlanta, and Newport’s extensive portfolio can spring the district to greatness remains to be seen.

91. Castleberry Hill. Atlanta’s epicenter of authentic loft living and bohemian art galleries is also cool enough for a 2 Chainz restaurant.

92. The food. It ain’t all pulled pork, buttermilk chicken, and Frosty Oranges ’round here anymore. From Buford Highway’s international fare to Decatur’s award-winning menus and classic eateries like Busy Bee Cafe, you could live in Atlanta a decade and not sample all its eclectic deliciousness. “This year cemented the Capital City of the South’s status as a culinary force,” wrote Zagat in 2017, declaring the ATL the nation’s ninth “most exciting” food city.

93. Pre-dogwood hoopla. A sunny March weekend in Piedmont Park is like a city festival organized by the citizenry, with plenty of flying frisbees and open-container good vibes.

94. Palm trees. So what if they’re not native to Atlanta? Neither are you (probably). Some varieties really thrive here, punctuating front yards and restaurant landscapes in these subtropical climes.

95. The Fabulous Fox. It’s the site of Prince’s final concert and, when the wrecking ball loomed, legendary 1970s preservation efforts led by bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd. The glittering Fox Theatre is an Atlanta showplace like no other.

96. Viewrific, Finale. Southbound on Peachtree Road, just past Jesus Junction, that downhill vantage point captures something like a scene from the movie Metropolis, only framed by towering pines.

97. Pollen preparedness. A real downside of Atlanta’s otherwise glorious, floral springs are the swirling particles so thick they turn black cars yellow. Or streets into yellow-tinged rivers when it rains. Luckily, ATLiens aren’t fazed, popping non-drowsy Claritin, minding pollen counts on the news, or—in some cases—strapping on SARS-style masks.

98. Local beer. Suddenly, it’s everywhere! A hundred varieties not named SweetWater.

99. That being said… a frosty glass, a SweetWater 420 on draft, a Saturday afternoon in May, counting passersby from a lively patio bar, and somebody, somewhere, just started strumming an acoustic guitar.

100. We’re not “Marthasville,” thank God. (One of this settlement’s original names.)

101. Still welcoming after all these damn carpetbaggers.

source https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/5/29/18629884/reasons-to-love-atlanta