Atlanta Day 3 - books & more

We spent a bit of a lazy last day in Atlanta: Took the train up to Buckhead, another conglomeration of highrises to the North of Atlanta, inspected the shopping mall Lenox Square (without buying anything) and lacking better ideas decided to go on an excursion to the only known used bookstore, far out of town, in Brookhaven, Atlanta Vintage Books. One bus an hour and even this not very reliably, a run-down strip mall and a busy highway. But,,, the bookstore itself was well worth the trip!

 

 

 

In the late afternoon we visited Decatur, more attractive and a city on its own, only about four stops away from our accommodation. Some nice shops, restaurants, bars and breweries. Went to "Twains Brewpub" and from there back "home" to have dinner in our apartment and to get packed for tomorrow's trip to Fort Lauderdale.

Well, currently sitting at Atlanta's Airport waiting for boarding our plane to Fort Lauderdale. Got up early, took the train (with one change) and the rest went quickly and uneventfully. Now work is awaiting us, tomorrow only registration, but, on Monday the convention (IPW) will start and we'll be hustling and bustling around all day, early morning until late night. Good news: we are nominated for the IPW's Travel Writers Award - one of seven finalists, three of them still being selected to get the prize ($ 1,000). Small hopes,,, though, it would be nice,,,

Atlanta Day 2 - a city re-invented

After breakfast on the porch, we took the train to Midtown and theWoodruff Arts Center, home to three renowned institutions: the Alliance Theatre, the Symphony Orchestra and the fantastic High Museum of Art. The museum's campus was designed by two world-renowned architects: Richard Meier (1983) and Renzo Piano (expansion, 2005). On the L vast grounds artwork is set up, e.g. the famous "House III" by Roy Lichtenstein (left photo).

 

 

On to the Margaret Mitchell House. The famous author lived in the building with her second husband, John Marsh. They occupied a small apartment on the first floor, and nicknamed apartment no. 1 “The Dump.” Shortly after moving into the apartment in 1925, Mitchell quit her job as a reporter at the Atlanta Journal, primarily because of a foot injury, and, home-bound, started writing "Gone With the Wind". As a book and as a movie it became a highly influencial bestseller! 

Midtown - with the Georgia Tech Uni campus (left) -  has definitively picked up and kind of became the new "downtown". Colony Square (also a fan zone during the world championships), new highrises and restaurants and shops are really an upgrade to the formerly not so attractive neighborhood. 

After a quick visit at the Peachtree Plaza "Green Market", a glimpse at the famous historic Fox Theater and a quick lunch at The Varsity (a must and an institution for dogs and burgers!), we took a bus (apparently, not highly popular with white people) out to the East of town, to Le Ponce Market, a real highlight of Atlanta!

 

Oh, almost forgot to mention all the fancy driver-less Waymos - reminded us of San Francisco! – and the strange delivery robots we noticed in the city center!

Named for Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León’s mythical search for the Fountain of Youth, Ponce de Leon Springs attracted Atlantans seeking rest and rejuvenation in the 1860s. The springs and the surrounding gardens were converted into the Ponce de Leon amusement park, which was dubbed “The Coney Island of Atlanta.”The amusement park closed in the early 1920s and Sears, Roebuck & Co of Chicago purchased the land for a retail store and warehouse distribution center for the Southeastern US. The Sears showrooms close in 1989. In 1991, the City of Atlanta purchased the building and transformed it into a center for city offices,  City Hall East. 

 

After nearly two decades the City of Atlanta gave up the historic structure at the crossroads of four neighborhoods and on the future Atlanta BeltLine transit corridor and it became a multi-functional entertainment complex with very creative shops, many of small local producers/artists, restaurants, offices, apartments, a hotel, etc. Huge, and unique in regard to its "industrial atmosphere". Very well preserved, too, and directly adjacent to the BeltLine it opened in 2014.

 

The Atlanta Beltline is a currently 22-mile long loop of trails and parks, connecting 45 neighborhoods and creating a vibrant public space for recreation, art and culture. When complete, the Atlanta BeltLine will comprise of 33-miles of trail network.We walked part of the beltline, admired the "arboretum" along the trail, the artwork, plus some great food/drink offerings. The weather was perfect for this excursion and for some people-watching, too!

Also located on the BeltLine: The 3 Taverns Brewery,,, (one of two!) - for us the grand finale of an interesting sunny day,,,

Atlanta Day 1 - reminiscing

Our first morning in Atlanta we started by walking through our neighborhood over to a more "industrial zone" of Edgewood to buy some groceries at a nice, modern Kroger Supermarket. After breakfast we took MARTA into downtown.

Atlanta was founded in 1837 as a railroad station, a terminus, and that was the name of the city at the beginning: "Terminus". Two years later homes and a store were built and the settlement grew as well as rail lines expanded and arrived from four different directions. This was also one reason, that during the American Civil War Atlanta became a distribution hub for the Confederate troups. 

 In 1864 General Sherman and the Union troups set the city on fire and destroyed it. This was only the first big fire, in 1917 "The Great Atlanta Fire" started in the  Old Fourth Ward and was even more devastating. But, Atlanta, at the end, rose like Phoenix out of the ashes,,,

                                              

 

 

 

 

 

With anti-black Jim Crow laws coming up in the 1910s, a black middle and upper class settled in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood and Auburn Ave became   "the most prosperous Negro street in the nation". Not much left of that image anymore today!  In the 1950s, black people started moving into new suburbs and still today, about half of the population in Atlanta is black.

Atlanta was home to Martin Luther King Jr. and a hub for the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Unfortunately, right now the Visitor Center of the MLK National Park is closed for renovations, same for his birth home. Only Ebenezer Baptist Church, where MLK preached, and the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change with his and his wife Coretta's gravesite (below) were open. 

The MLK Rose garden:

,,, and the historic Municipal Market Hall in Sweet Auburn (1918) below:

In 1996, Atlanta hosted the Summer Olympics with lots of  new facilities and infrastructure being built.  Main addition was the "Centennial Olympic Park" (below), vast grounds, mostly lawns framed by some museums, a ferris wheel, fountains etc. Below a view towards the World of Coca Cola and the College Football Hall of Fame, both attractions we had to revisit!

The World of Coca Cola became much more "inversive" since our last visit, with terminals to play around and interactive exhibitions. A favorite of visitors are still the tasting stations with Coca Cola drinks from all over the world. Nevertheless, the museum gives a great introduction how Coca Cola was "invented" by a pharmacist named John S. Pemberton in 1886. He sold the rights to Asa Griggs Candler, mayor of Atlanta, in 1888.

The Vault, in which the "original recipe" of Coca Cola is kept:

Below, a new part of the museum: A reconstructed village with the original pharmacy and other Coke-connected buildings.

On to the College Football Hall of Fame

Around downtown and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium (used for the upcoming Soccer World Championships) - there are still last-minute renovations going on to get the different fan zones ready:

 

Downtown Atlanta has sort of lost its "heart and soul", which was formerly "The Underground" (below). It's shut down for mayor renovations and not much is going on at the moment. The next day we noticed that Midtown took over ,,, more on that tomorrow!

 

We took one of the rare busses from Sweet Auburn, the historic black neighborhood, which was a bit disappointing, to Little Five Points - an eclectic neighborhood, with eclectic shops and people. Lots of vintage stores, record stores, vape stores, tattoo parlors, etc.

 

 

Back "home" we walked (to get our steps, aka 15 k in, or, rather due to lack of public transport) and enjoyed the rest of the evening on our porch/balcony on the rocking chairs.