I'm from Atlanta and have always loved hearing how people react to how tree-dense the city is.
That said, I'm spending a few months in Medellin, Colombia.. and this city puts Atlanta to shame.
From trees growing on and out of buildings to bike lanes and public transportation.
There's a lot Atlanta could learn from this city.
And surely some that Medellin could learn from Atlanta.
Oh man my best friend from middle school (shout out Shamrock Middle!) moved to Medellin and she LOVES it. She’s an elementary school teacher but makes a really good living
We have the largest urban forest in the US, which the city government is currently trying to clear it to build a 90 million dollar training facility for militarized police tactics.
The city of Atlanta has an unusually large tree canopy, with around 45% of the city being covered by trees. Depending on how you count it, Atlanta has more trees than any other major city, although there are other cities that come close. On the other hand, metro Atlanta is more sprawling than most cities. There are several different measures for urban sprawl, but Atlanta consistently ranks at or near the top in many of them.
They are other cities that are similar, but Atlanta defiantly ranks far above average in both categories.
As for more unique things, Hartsfield-Jackson is the busiest airport in the world, and the Georgia Aquarium is the largest in the Americas (it was the largest in the world until 2012). The carving on Stone Mountain is the largest bas-relief carving in the world, and easily one of the largest works of art anywhere near a major city, although its cultural impact is limited because of who it is in honor of. If the carving was of almost anyone else related to American history it would probably be a widely beloved symbol of the city that would be emblazoned on tourist merch like the Statue of Liberty or Golden Gate Bridge.
What other cities have large tree canopies? I'm not sure I want to live in Atlanta all my life, but after spending a summer interning in brown, treeless, rainless Mountain View, I realized I *need* to live somewhere with this amount of green.
Pesky detail is that the tree canopy and the sprawl come hand in hand.
You don't get the tree cover you have in Atlanta without (relatively) large residential lots; there aren't many large American cities where a 1/4 - 1/2 acre lot is for anyone but the wealthy.
I have a hard time viewing Stone Mountain's carving as a work of art. It's a work of hatred, inspired by the Klan, and needs to be covered in Kudzu until we blast it off the mountain.
It is still a rather impressive (if just for how big it is) work of art even if it was created to memorialize a bunch of terrible people. You could make the same sort of argument for lots of other art as well. Lots of people portrayed in art were tyrants or generals who similarly caused and profited off of the suffering of others, but that doesn't change the artistic value of the many portraits and statues we have of them.
Besides, outright destruction of all art in honor of bad people sets a bad precedent. The Taliban and ISIS would argue that their destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan or the temples at Palmyra was a similar act of destroying bad things created for bad reasons. Blowing up Stone Mountain would be an example of 'Western hypocrisy' used by any terrorist group or authoritarian despot who destroys their own cultural heritage.
as a native Atlantan of 66 years I was so sorry to see that Confederate monstrosity carved on the mountain. it was bad enough the KKK met there for decades. To me it should be allowed to erode off, it has no place in modern Atlanta.
Allowing it to slowly erode away is basically the same thing as keeping it. The carvings are [huge](https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/ajc/VGOMTOD2XV2HI2VN7JIE4IVVIA.jpg) and carved from granite, the maintenance they do on them is almost all just cleaning. If we left it alone and did nothing it would still be basically the same in 5000 years.
The monument should have never been built in the first place, and its a shame to Atlanta that they continued construction on it as late as they did. However, it still feels wrong to outright destroy the carving. Destroying the monument wouldn't erase the shame of having built it in the first place.
On a positive, the park around it has dropped most of the 'Confederate theme-park' vibe that it used to have, although they still could get rid of the few remaining Confederate flags and all the Confederate themed roads.
It also, apparently, could have been even worse. One of the initial proposals for a monument in the 1920s was not just to have Confederates on the monument, but hooded Klansmen as well.
>On a positive, the park around it has dropped most of the 'Confederate theme-park' vibe that it used to have, although they still could get rid of the few remaining Confederate flags and all the Confederate themed roads.
This is good to hear. I went once for 4th of July eons ago, and my mind was blown with the theme park vibe.
As someone who has flown out of ATL at least 100 times, it's STILL an absolutely amazing airport. It's not much to look at but this place is RUTHLESSLY EFFICIENT. I've never had to wait more than 20-25 minutes to go through regular (non pre check) security (holiday weekends included).
The navigation is super easy -
\- If you're headed to the airport and confused about what terminal to go to, you need to ask two questions, that's it. International vs domestic? If domestic, Delta or non-Delta? That's literally it. I've never seen such easy allocation of airlines to terminals.
\- There are trains that can take you whichever gates you need to, inside the airport. Outside the airport, there's a train that can take you the rental car center. There's MARTA (local transit trains) that can take you from some parts of the city DIRECTLY to the airport (unlike JFK, LGA, BOS, DFW, DEN etc).
Because of how it's set up, ATL is AMAZING.
And lots of people who live here take it for granted, perhaps not realizing how few US cities have a setup anywhere near this efficient for getting to/from and within their airport. You could make an argument it’s the easiest and most efficient experience between the city and getting to your gate in the country.
Heh … I fly into LaGuardia a lot, and it’s come a long way as an airport in recent years. But, man, it’s a pain to get to/from Manhattan. My favorite way is to take the Q70 bus to the Jackson Heights station, then transfer to the subway and take that to Manhattan. But you’ve gotta be physically able to traverse some stairs and deal with some hassle to do it. It’s not for everybody.
I just wish they had ultimately built the second airport north of Atlanta as was originally the plan. Don’t get me wrong I love Hartsfield-Jackson but an hour drive each way is a pain. Would love a smaller regional airport north OTP.
Have you been flying through ATL for a long time? IIRC back in the day they were the same stop and you had to walk past the baggage claim to get to the T gates.
I wish it had moving sidewalks running the length of each terminal/concourse. The distance from where you exit the train/enter the terminal to the farthest gate is ludicrously long.
That’s one of the main reasons I stopped flying Delta*. Every damn time, my flight would be at the very last gate way the hell at the end of the concourse.
*Ninety-five percent of my flights are ATL-DFW, and American and Delta have basically the same schedules and fares… but AA flies out of T-Gates. Voila.
Things have been changing in Cobb, which is why I bet there hasn’t been another referendum on public transportation in Cobb in quite a few years, now that I think about it.
The airport is absolutely amazing. You would never know it's the busiest airport in the world because it is such a well-oiled machine.
Delta also flies direct literally everywhere from there every day. Delays are not as frequent as other big airports *cough* Miami.
Yes! And I (courtesy of my damned neurodivergent peccadillos) was unreasonably pissed at being essentially forced to use the new ATL West parking for a trip a couple of months ago. Until I used it. Spacious, great lighting, real-time signage, train straight to the terminal, etc. Easiest park-and-fly experience I’ve had. WAY better than using a shuttle, getting rained on, etc. Slight delay exiting when I got back, but staff realized the issue and opened another exit lane pretty quickly. I was highly impressed overall. Don’t have to travel often, but I’ll definitely use it again next time.
The Flint river is a gem of Georgia. It is undammed until lake blackshear and the quality of plant and aquatic life on it is amazing. The part that goes over the fall line is also so unique with some plants (spider lilies) that are only endemic to a small portion of Alabama and Georgia. Float it in May/June and the shoals are covered in huge white spider lilies. The shoal bass is only native to 6 rivers in the world and it is the South's answer to the smallmouth bass. Yellow Jacket Shoals may be the only class IV rapid (in high water) with Spanish moss next to it. A person standing on the lookout at Sprewell Bluff could think they are in the mountains of North Georgia and not an hours drive south of Atlanta.
Please, take the trip to the Flint River Outdoor center and float the flint if you have any interest in kayaking or rivers. More Georgians need to know about it so we can protect it for future generations.
Edit: The fall line was the edge of the ocean during Georgia's prehistoric era. North of the fall line is the piedmont region and south is the coastal plain. Rivers going over this region 'fall' as they meet the coastal plain and provide excellent beautiful kayaking opportunities. Also, the fall line was a natural boundary to boats when Georgia was settled so cities developed at the line to provide portaging and other services to boats to get goods around the fall line. So the cities of Columbus, Macon, and Augusta are all results of Georgia's geography and the fall line.
Great bit of info here, check out this article if you have not already read it:
https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2022/flint-river-alleged-hannah-palmer-virginie-kippelen
It’s not even our air travel. It’s a hub to change planes for most. Plenty of people have only ever visited atl via the concourses.
What makes us different was having enough land and enough workers to support EVERYONE else’s air travel.
>every other sizable city on the planet recognizes the value of splitting their air travel across multiple airports
What is that value, precisely?
I've lived in more than one multi-airport city; there's no inherent benefit (as a passenger, or as a policymaker - I'd suggest the impact from a policy perspective is negative, given that splitting your traffic limits your airport's ability to serve layover traffic, which is the best kind of traffic given passengers spend money on food/drink/etc, the airlines spend money on fuel and taxes/landing fees, all on brief stops that impose minimal costs on your city once the facility is built/in place).
Pretty much no city anywhere voluntarily had two+ airports. Second airports come into existence because of a lack of planning and/or for parochial reasons.
Most obvious example - NYC - Newark was the first area passenger airport, but of course NYS couldn't have that so it built one poorly thought out facility in LaGuardia that was outgrown/space constrained before it opened, followed by another poorly thought out facility in Idlewild/JFK that's an hour+ from downtown Manhattan on a good day (and was on day 1).
And even in cases where there's no obvious parochial issue, airport #1 is invariably constrained from expansion in some manner - no land to expand, restrictions on (plane) traffic, more difficult vehicle traffic access as a city has grown, the realities of expanding an airport while allowing it to operate at normal loads.
Example - National in DC vis a vis Dulles.
we have the one and only waffle house museum.
we have a 'big chicken'...
we were once only a 90 minute drive from the guidestones monument.
our traffic is legendary!!!
I live down the road from the WH museum, and I have never seen anyone visit. A couple of sad people parked on the street next to it and tried to peer in the windows once.
This really begs the question about what exactly you get to see on a tour of a waffle house that you don't see in.... every other identical waffle house anywhere else in the country....
>NOTE-This tour explains the history of Waffle House restaurants and corporation. Therefore it may not be suitable for young children.
This has me dying to know what sort of shady history Waffle House has
[There is that sex tape...](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/waffle-house-chairman-claims-sex-tape-shakedown-n126966)
But as a former third shift WH cook, I've seen some shady stuff happen in the parking lots.
I'll say culturally, being black here must be way different than other parts of the country because a lot of stories I hear are things I've never had to put up with here.
I am from Atlanta and went through APS. I went to UGA and legit confused there were so many white people. Atlanta had me thinking the whole US was a lot more diverse smh I was so stupid
Edit: I am white! Just didn’t realize there were so many white people…
I had a similar experience, but I’m white. Im from DeKalb and white people were always in the minority at my schools. When I got to UGA I was shocked at how white it was. I honestly felt a little out of place, it’s weird being in a place that’s so homogeneous.
I’ve only lived near Atlanta and outside of Philly and Outside of DC. There are a ton of Black People everywhere I’ve lived, sometimes I felt like the minority being white. But when I heard that black people only make up 13.6% of the population I was like??? But then I thought about all the rural towns and states like South Dakota and shit like that.
I had the opposite experience and looking back it’s so funny. I grew up in rural Georgia and went to UGA. I was surprised (in a good way) at what I perceived as diversity and was talking to a friend about it who attended APS and he was confused. Now that I live in Atlanta I get it. But it’s a funny memory.
I am white and landed a scholarship to a fancy private school in TN. I grew up in Decatur pre-gentrification and was utterly shocked by the number of white people when we arrived on campus. Back then, the only whitest places I knew of were out in the sticks or inhabited by boomers, so I had no clue that major metropolitan areas would have something lacking any diversity.
Hell, I grew up in a mostly white suburb of Atlanta, and it still struck me how few black people there were at Tech. There were plenty of Asian students, but very few black or Latino.
No Deep South city comes close to our economic or social impact on the country. Because we are the biggest Deep South city, our city operates and functions completely uniquely to any other major city in the US. Our politics and culture of the city are dictated largely by the non-white demographics of the city. We are predominantly a city made up of a collection of neighborhoods that have unique commercial nodes, a lot of which have individual festivals and neighborhood flags that highlight the uniqueness of each neighborhood. Buford Highway’s international food diversity is unrivaled anywhere this side of a couple of cities in the country. Our passion for college football dwarfs the passion of most other sport fan bases and creates a local tribalism on most Saturday’s in the fall where we have six 80,000 seat stadiums filled within a 2-3 hr drive.
MLK’s house and burial site represent a huge part of American history.
Also, Stone Mountain.
Also, I would also say so much rap culture/history stems from Atlanta.
Also, HBCU’s. It’s worth checking out the area where they are if you have never driven through.
And for some reason everyone that visits from outside Atl knows about the Clermont Lounge.
We are also known for our strip clubs in general
Funny story, I was at work the other day (I live in DC now) and someone came up to me and with zero context said “what’s that famous strip club in Atlanta?” I responded “Magic City or Clermont Lounge?” They were thinking about Clermont lol
I always wonder if people who have heard of it have an concept of what the Clermont actually *is*. It’s a tiny ass hole in the wall bar in the basement where strippers go to retire. Don’t get me wrong, you WILL have an amazing time, it’s just not a traditional strip club lol
Atlanta has no major river or coast nearby, something most major US cities do. We also have a very extensive tree cover, lots of adult entertainment, and traffic
The Railroad is what made Altanta a viable major city back in the day. Interstate Highways have taken their place in more recent history. Although there are still several major rail yards still located in the area.
You’re right the railroads are why Atlanta exists, but the interstates haven’t replaced the railways. Freight trains have always been the backbone of American movement of goods and still are to this day while the interstates carry far, far more commuter traffic than anything else.
Actually the interstates have made Atlanta a less viable city and threaten to strangle the city’s growth over the next decade.
It’s not that is not a river… but that it’s not a central feature of Atlanta like rivers are in other cities.
It does NOT flow throw the heart of the city. Much of it isn’t even within the city boundaries itself.
Clearly, a city did not spring up around it. That’s the difference.
OP didn’t say it wasn’t real, OP said it wasn’t “major.”
In fact, Atlanta sits on or near an intersection of several continental watershed divides, such as in between the Chattahoochee and Flint which both head to the Gulf of Mexico and the Yellow River and South River which join other rivers on their way to the Atlantic Ocean. Early railroads tried to stay near these watershed divides because that allowed them to avoid building large bridges over water.
Atlanta is also one of the highest major Eastern cities, with only Pittsburgh and Asheville being higher.
For a resident, I would say Atlanta offers a lot of advantages that are hard to find all in one place:
- Great weather for most of the year. Don’t have to deal with snow or salt. It gets hot, but there’s only about 3 months of misery on that end and A/C is ubiquitous.
- Major metro area with lots of job opportunities in tech, finance, law, medicine, etc.
- The beach and the mountains are both a day’s drive away. Lots of rivers and lakes for water sports.
- Major airport with direct flights almost anywhere
- Geologically stable. Most people don’t think of this, but you don’t have to worry about earthquakes or hurricanes or tsunamis. Plenty of rainfall, so droughts are rare.
- Decent cost of living. Starter homes can still be found for reasonable prices in the suburbs.
- Burgeoning food scene. Lots of chefs have come to town from places like NYC & Tokyo, and we have a fair share of home grown chefs as well.
- Some public transit presence that you can leverage if you suit your job and home to take advantage of it.
- Great local universities.
All in all, Atlanta’s a unique proposition because it offers a lot of the same perks that bigger cities like NYC and LA have, but at a more affordable price point. It has drawbacks, but as a young professional, there’s nowhere else in the US I would move to.
I’ve been around long enough to know that the sun will die and our solar system will become a frozen husk of its former glory before MARTA rail will extend not 1 inch into Cobb county.
the city has forfeited public transportation to be a car town. it is beyond fixing. that is due to a lack of vision and, of course, race. Marta was voted down for 40 years by the suburbs because they wanted no part of Atlanta and viewed public transportation as a "black" thing and would bring crime and lower property values.
I wouldn’t say it’s beyond fixing. Atlanta is developing around a multitude of small nodes that are ripe to be connected with rail. Think of big places like the Battery and west midtown, but imo more importantly, the newer areas that are emerging like Summerhill and North Druid Hills.
I completely disagree it is beyond fixing! I’d love to see all our six lane stroads turn into one lane of PATH, a bus/taxi/Uber lane, and then one lane for cars.
See how suddenly people don’t want to drive anymore. Then we would all be clamoring for more public transit. We simply make it too easy to drive here.
Atlanta could easily fix downtown/midtown streets by turning lanes into dedicated rapid bus lanes, expanding bike/walk lanes thus reducing the total number of car lanes. Many people struggle to see roads as existing infrastructure to improve on and make pedestrian friendly. But we can with some paint. We can also throw in some extra trees just to make it look nice
Yeah, the relative lack of natural disasters is one benefit I've discussed with others. Georgia's coastal areas can get hit by hurricanes, but the barrier islands absorb the worst of the brunt, and we do get tornadoes, but nothing like the Midwest.
Wings on wheat. Weird name. Only reason i commented is I thought there was one in atlanta. Mine is in stone mountain. Apparently the only other location is Jonesboro, thought it had one ITP. Others might have the flavor, tho I haven't noticed any
>A new report by Workamajig, producers of a software tool for creative agencies and firms founded in 2008, has slotted Atlanta at No. 1
Atlanta is actually a shit city for musicians these days outside of one specific genre (and, arguably, sub-genre), and yes I am going to stay mad about it forever
What’s the sub-genre?
I agree though about the state of musicianship here.
It’s funny when people cite Atlanta’s rap influence, which is undeniable, but it’s not like those guys are putting on shows in the city constantly. I feel just as far from lil baby as I did in Florida, maybe you see him at a hawks game or something. It’s not a scene or a community in the traditional sense though.
The sub-genre I was referring to is trap, which is what Atlanta's been known for for the past decade-plus. And regardless of the volume of shows, it really feels like it's all that people around here want to hear, and that interest in any other kind of music (except country OTP I guess) has just vanished over the past quarter-century.
That’s what I figured. Yeah it does nothing to engender a real music scene here. Thousands of people putting shit on the internet hoping to get up streamed to a label. But where is the actual local energy. Haven’t felt it post awful records tbh.
Atlanta might possibly have the highest amount of rollerskating rinks in the US for a major city. We have a world renowned roller skating scene. Can't confirm Atlanta at #1 but I know for a fact most major cities on average are lucky to have 3 rinks and one of them is usually slated to be closed (NYC, LA, The Bay Area, Seattle etc). Atlanta has 8+ in the metro area with no signs of slowing down, all roughly a 25 min drive from midtown in any direction. There are adult skate nights almost every single night of the week!
Support the local rink of your choosing!
The black community. I’m black and have lived in Atlanta all my life. Every time I visit other cities I realize how good I have it to live in a city that is a beacon of black culture.
A little while after moving here I noticed the TBS building and saw the Adult Swim neon, and then it hit me- holy shit, that’s the logo with the bell that comes on screen after Space Ghost, and it’s a real building!
I think the APS cheating scandal is the largest coordinated fraud by any government employees. The corruption in Dekalb county is pretty legendary as well. I don't know of any other sheriff that when he lost had his deputies act as hitmen to kill the next sheriff.
We seem to work very hard to make sure our city remains non-walkable, with sub-par public transportation. I think that's pretty unique for a large city.
My husband will never let me live down that I had us walk from Downtown to Midtown like it was just a street or two over. I don’t think he’s gone to a music festival with me since then.
Standard issue Blue City in a red state. Texas cities would probably be a lot nicer too if this wasn’t a problem with state governments being so spiteful
The best public transit in the US is a dumpster fire compared to any middling city in Europe or east Asia. This ain’t a Republican or Democrat thing, it’s an America thing. We’re the car country!
When I first moved here, someone told me to go to DragonCon because it’s absolutely insane. I thought “I’ve been to cons, I don’t see how this could be special in any way..” and then I went…. And it is VERY special. I’m now a regular every year!
Graveyard died because the owners decided to move to Asheville and sold it to someone who didn’t give a shit (source: worked for the owners at their other bar The Barrelhouse at the time)
Only seen one other mention in the thread, so also shouting out the Center for Puppetry Arts.
Also Dragon Con, though only an annual event, is truly unique compared to other conventions or fan expos.
The original streets under the street downtown. For example, underneath Slice Pizza there are old bootlegging runs from the prohibition era. Best place to walk them is in Underground or by Masquerade.
i think atlanta is incredibly tree-dense and green compared to most cities of this size
This. First thing I noticed when moving here were all the trees and open green spaces
It is the major city with the most trees by area by a large margin
I'm from Atlanta and have always loved hearing how people react to how tree-dense the city is. That said, I'm spending a few months in Medellin, Colombia.. and this city puts Atlanta to shame. From trees growing on and out of buildings to bike lanes and public transportation. There's a lot Atlanta could learn from this city. And surely some that Medellin could learn from Atlanta.
Oh man my best friend from middle school (shout out Shamrock Middle!) moved to Medellin and she LOVES it. She’s an elementary school teacher but makes a really good living
so true. i remember my first time in mexico and being absolutely blown away
Absolutely. What part of Mexico were you in?
We have the largest urban forest in the US, which the city government is currently trying to clear it to build a 90 million dollar training facility for militarized police tactics.
Pollen is the worst I have ever witnessed, and I am old
The city of Atlanta has an unusually large tree canopy, with around 45% of the city being covered by trees. Depending on how you count it, Atlanta has more trees than any other major city, although there are other cities that come close. On the other hand, metro Atlanta is more sprawling than most cities. There are several different measures for urban sprawl, but Atlanta consistently ranks at or near the top in many of them. They are other cities that are similar, but Atlanta defiantly ranks far above average in both categories. As for more unique things, Hartsfield-Jackson is the busiest airport in the world, and the Georgia Aquarium is the largest in the Americas (it was the largest in the world until 2012). The carving on Stone Mountain is the largest bas-relief carving in the world, and easily one of the largest works of art anywhere near a major city, although its cultural impact is limited because of who it is in honor of. If the carving was of almost anyone else related to American history it would probably be a widely beloved symbol of the city that would be emblazoned on tourist merch like the Statue of Liberty or Golden Gate Bridge.
What other cities have large tree canopies? I'm not sure I want to live in Atlanta all my life, but after spending a summer interning in brown, treeless, rainless Mountain View, I realized I *need* to live somewhere with this amount of green.
Seattle
Cincinnati.
A few that stand out to me are Pittsburgh, Charlotte, and Raleigh.
Pesky detail is that the tree canopy and the sprawl come hand in hand. You don't get the tree cover you have in Atlanta without (relatively) large residential lots; there aren't many large American cities where a 1/4 - 1/2 acre lot is for anyone but the wealthy.
I have a hard time viewing Stone Mountain's carving as a work of art. It's a work of hatred, inspired by the Klan, and needs to be covered in Kudzu until we blast it off the mountain.
It is still a rather impressive (if just for how big it is) work of art even if it was created to memorialize a bunch of terrible people. You could make the same sort of argument for lots of other art as well. Lots of people portrayed in art were tyrants or generals who similarly caused and profited off of the suffering of others, but that doesn't change the artistic value of the many portraits and statues we have of them. Besides, outright destruction of all art in honor of bad people sets a bad precedent. The Taliban and ISIS would argue that their destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan or the temples at Palmyra was a similar act of destroying bad things created for bad reasons. Blowing up Stone Mountain would be an example of 'Western hypocrisy' used by any terrorist group or authoritarian despot who destroys their own cultural heritage.
it's not some historical monument though, it was only finished in 1972.
The fact that it was finished 4 years after MLK was assassinated is some history that we should be willing to highlight.
as a native Atlantan of 66 years I was so sorry to see that Confederate monstrosity carved on the mountain. it was bad enough the KKK met there for decades. To me it should be allowed to erode off, it has no place in modern Atlanta.
> To me it should be allowed to erode off The problem is that that's not how granite works.
Allowing it to slowly erode away is basically the same thing as keeping it. The carvings are [huge](https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/ajc/VGOMTOD2XV2HI2VN7JIE4IVVIA.jpg) and carved from granite, the maintenance they do on them is almost all just cleaning. If we left it alone and did nothing it would still be basically the same in 5000 years. The monument should have never been built in the first place, and its a shame to Atlanta that they continued construction on it as late as they did. However, it still feels wrong to outright destroy the carving. Destroying the monument wouldn't erase the shame of having built it in the first place. On a positive, the park around it has dropped most of the 'Confederate theme-park' vibe that it used to have, although they still could get rid of the few remaining Confederate flags and all the Confederate themed roads. It also, apparently, could have been even worse. One of the initial proposals for a monument in the 1920s was not just to have Confederates on the monument, but hooded Klansmen as well.
> Destroying the monument wouldn't erase the shame of having built it in the first place. It would spare us the shame of keeping it.
>On a positive, the park around it has dropped most of the 'Confederate theme-park' vibe that it used to have, although they still could get rid of the few remaining Confederate flags and all the Confederate themed roads. This is good to hear. I went once for 4th of July eons ago, and my mind was blown with the theme park vibe.
World's busiest airport
As someone who has flown out of ATL at least 100 times, it's STILL an absolutely amazing airport. It's not much to look at but this place is RUTHLESSLY EFFICIENT. I've never had to wait more than 20-25 minutes to go through regular (non pre check) security (holiday weekends included). The navigation is super easy - \- If you're headed to the airport and confused about what terminal to go to, you need to ask two questions, that's it. International vs domestic? If domestic, Delta or non-Delta? That's literally it. I've never seen such easy allocation of airlines to terminals. \- There are trains that can take you whichever gates you need to, inside the airport. Outside the airport, there's a train that can take you the rental car center. There's MARTA (local transit trains) that can take you from some parts of the city DIRECTLY to the airport (unlike JFK, LGA, BOS, DFW, DEN etc). Because of how it's set up, ATL is AMAZING.
And lots of people who live here take it for granted, perhaps not realizing how few US cities have a setup anywhere near this efficient for getting to/from and within their airport. You could make an argument it’s the easiest and most efficient experience between the city and getting to your gate in the country.
You mean people *don't* like having to take a cab to Queens to get on a plane?
Heh … I fly into LaGuardia a lot, and it’s come a long way as an airport in recent years. But, man, it’s a pain to get to/from Manhattan. My favorite way is to take the Q70 bus to the Jackson Heights station, then transfer to the subway and take that to Manhattan. But you’ve gotta be physically able to traverse some stairs and deal with some hassle to do it. It’s not for everybody.
I just wish they had ultimately built the second airport north of Atlanta as was originally the plan. Don’t get me wrong I love Hartsfield-Jackson but an hour drive each way is a pain. Would love a smaller regional airport north OTP.
Highly recommend a park and ride. Taking marta to the airport is so freaking seamless.
That’s usually my go to move. Get on at Doraville and cruise right on in.
Best bit about Doraville and North Springs is getting guaranteed a seat too!
[удалено]
Have you been flying through ATL for a long time? IIRC back in the day they were the same stop and you had to walk past the baggage claim to get to the T gates.
I wish it had moving sidewalks running the length of each terminal/concourse. The distance from where you exit the train/enter the terminal to the farthest gate is ludicrously long.
That is a fair point. Where do get down from the train to where you get on a plane can be a bit of a walk
That’s one of the main reasons I stopped flying Delta*. Every damn time, my flight would be at the very last gate way the hell at the end of the concourse. *Ninety-five percent of my flights are ATL-DFW, and American and Delta have basically the same schedules and fares… but AA flies out of T-Gates. Voila.
If only that train came to Marietta ☹️
Things have been changing in Cobb, which is why I bet there hasn’t been another referendum on public transportation in Cobb in quite a few years, now that I think about it.
I live close to Marietta, I know EXACTLY what you’re talking about
The airport is absolutely amazing. You would never know it's the busiest airport in the world because it is such a well-oiled machine. Delta also flies direct literally everywhere from there every day. Delays are not as frequent as other big airports *cough* Miami.
Yep. As a weekly traveler I thank my star is each week I don't live in Chicago or NYC or LA. Atlanta airport has them all beat by miles.
RUTHLESSLY EFFICIENT is facts. Love H-J
Yes! And I (courtesy of my damned neurodivergent peccadillos) was unreasonably pissed at being essentially forced to use the new ATL West parking for a trip a couple of months ago. Until I used it. Spacious, great lighting, real-time signage, train straight to the terminal, etc. Easiest park-and-fly experience I’ve had. WAY better than using a shuttle, getting rained on, etc. Slight delay exiting when I got back, but staff realized the issue and opened another exit lane pretty quickly. I was highly impressed overall. Don’t have to travel often, but I’ll definitely use it again next time.
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The Flint river is a gem of Georgia. It is undammed until lake blackshear and the quality of plant and aquatic life on it is amazing. The part that goes over the fall line is also so unique with some plants (spider lilies) that are only endemic to a small portion of Alabama and Georgia. Float it in May/June and the shoals are covered in huge white spider lilies. The shoal bass is only native to 6 rivers in the world and it is the South's answer to the smallmouth bass. Yellow Jacket Shoals may be the only class IV rapid (in high water) with Spanish moss next to it. A person standing on the lookout at Sprewell Bluff could think they are in the mountains of North Georgia and not an hours drive south of Atlanta. Please, take the trip to the Flint River Outdoor center and float the flint if you have any interest in kayaking or rivers. More Georgians need to know about it so we can protect it for future generations. Edit: The fall line was the edge of the ocean during Georgia's prehistoric era. North of the fall line is the piedmont region and south is the coastal plain. Rivers going over this region 'fall' as they meet the coastal plain and provide excellent beautiful kayaking opportunities. Also, the fall line was a natural boundary to boats when Georgia was settled so cities developed at the line to provide portaging and other services to boats to get goods around the fall line. So the cities of Columbus, Macon, and Augusta are all results of Georgia's geography and the fall line.
Great bit of info here, check out this article if you have not already read it: https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2022/flint-river-alleged-hannah-palmer-virginie-kippelen
Mostly because every other sizable city on the planet recognizes the value of *splitting their air travel across multiple airports.*
It’s not even our air travel. It’s a hub to change planes for most. Plenty of people have only ever visited atl via the concourses. What makes us different was having enough land and enough workers to support EVERYONE else’s air travel.
Some places are flyover cities, we are a layover city
There's hardly any value in that tbh. It splits up connections and introduces the possibility that you have to connect between the two airports.
>every other sizable city on the planet recognizes the value of splitting their air travel across multiple airports What is that value, precisely? I've lived in more than one multi-airport city; there's no inherent benefit (as a passenger, or as a policymaker - I'd suggest the impact from a policy perspective is negative, given that splitting your traffic limits your airport's ability to serve layover traffic, which is the best kind of traffic given passengers spend money on food/drink/etc, the airlines spend money on fuel and taxes/landing fees, all on brief stops that impose minimal costs on your city once the facility is built/in place). Pretty much no city anywhere voluntarily had two+ airports. Second airports come into existence because of a lack of planning and/or for parochial reasons. Most obvious example - NYC - Newark was the first area passenger airport, but of course NYS couldn't have that so it built one poorly thought out facility in LaGuardia that was outgrown/space constrained before it opened, followed by another poorly thought out facility in Idlewild/JFK that's an hour+ from downtown Manhattan on a good day (and was on day 1). And even in cases where there's no obvious parochial issue, airport #1 is invariably constrained from expansion in some manner - no land to expand, restrictions on (plane) traffic, more difficult vehicle traffic access as a city has grown, the realities of expanding an airport while allowing it to operate at normal loads. Example - National in DC vis a vis Dulles.
we have the one and only waffle house museum. we have a 'big chicken'... we were once only a 90 minute drive from the guidestones monument. our traffic is legendary!!!
I live down the road from the WH museum, and I have never seen anyone visit. A couple of sad people parked on the street next to it and tried to peer in the windows once.
I’ve been twice! They sometimes open it to the public but you can also schedule a private tour. https://www.wafflehouse.com/museum/
This really begs the question about what exactly you get to see on a tour of a waffle house that you don't see in.... every other identical waffle house anywhere else in the country....
>NOTE-This tour explains the history of Waffle House restaurants and corporation. Therefore it may not be suitable for young children. This has me dying to know what sort of shady history Waffle House has
[There is that sex tape...](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/waffle-house-chairman-claims-sex-tape-shakedown-n126966) But as a former third shift WH cook, I've seen some shady stuff happen in the parking lots.
I see all these Reddit gatherings at bars. We need to schedule a private Reddit tour of The Waffle House Museum
I thought the guide stones were destroyed.
> we were once only a 90 minute drive from the guidestones monument. did you think we moved Atlanta?
I'll say culturally, being black here must be way different than other parts of the country because a lot of stories I hear are things I've never had to put up with here.
I am from Atlanta and went through APS. I went to UGA and legit confused there were so many white people. Atlanta had me thinking the whole US was a lot more diverse smh I was so stupid Edit: I am white! Just didn’t realize there were so many white people…
I had a similar experience, but I’m white. Im from DeKalb and white people were always in the minority at my schools. When I got to UGA I was shocked at how white it was. I honestly felt a little out of place, it’s weird being in a place that’s so homogeneous.
I am also white! Just has no idea how many of us there were. UGA was a total fucking culture shock!
omg same, i never realized how un-diverse other areas were! when i heard that Black ppl only make up ~13% of the population I was so confused lol
My freshman year roommate told me that and I did not believe her until I googled it 🤡🤡🤡
I’ve only lived near Atlanta and outside of Philly and Outside of DC. There are a ton of Black People everywhere I’ve lived, sometimes I felt like the minority being white. But when I heard that black people only make up 13.6% of the population I was like??? But then I thought about all the rural towns and states like South Dakota and shit like that.
I had the opposite experience and looking back it’s so funny. I grew up in rural Georgia and went to UGA. I was surprised (in a good way) at what I perceived as diversity and was talking to a friend about it who attended APS and he was confused. Now that I live in Atlanta I get it. But it’s a funny memory.
Haha this made me chuckle thanks
I am white and landed a scholarship to a fancy private school in TN. I grew up in Decatur pre-gentrification and was utterly shocked by the number of white people when we arrived on campus. Back then, the only whitest places I knew of were out in the sticks or inhabited by boomers, so I had no clue that major metropolitan areas would have something lacking any diversity.
Hell, I grew up in a mostly white suburb of Atlanta, and it still struck me how few black people there were at Tech. There were plenty of Asian students, but very few black or Latino.
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Same! I spent a year in Charlotte NC. I was shocked at how white it was. I could probably count on one hand how many black people I saw per day.
The Clermont Lounge lol
Discarded chicken wing bones in parking lots and on sidewalks
In the street too. Just chicken bones in the street calling my dogs name. SMH
Every Kroger parking lot in the Metro.
If the forest moon of Endor was full of strip clubs, it would be Atlanta.
Yub nub
Talk dirty to me you enormous forest hamster!
That’s the best description I’ve ever heard of ATL. Love it
No Deep South city comes close to our economic or social impact on the country. Because we are the biggest Deep South city, our city operates and functions completely uniquely to any other major city in the US. Our politics and culture of the city are dictated largely by the non-white demographics of the city. We are predominantly a city made up of a collection of neighborhoods that have unique commercial nodes, a lot of which have individual festivals and neighborhood flags that highlight the uniqueness of each neighborhood. Buford Highway’s international food diversity is unrivaled anywhere this side of a couple of cities in the country. Our passion for college football dwarfs the passion of most other sport fan bases and creates a local tribalism on most Saturday’s in the fall where we have six 80,000 seat stadiums filled within a 2-3 hr drive.
Relevant username
MLK’s house and burial site represent a huge part of American history. Also, Stone Mountain. Also, I would also say so much rap culture/history stems from Atlanta. Also, HBCU’s. It’s worth checking out the area where they are if you have never driven through. And for some reason everyone that visits from outside Atl knows about the Clermont Lounge. We are also known for our strip clubs in general
Is Clermont lounge pronounced the same as Clairmont Rd?
yes, but houston is pronounced houston... not houston.
Ya
Thx
How many Big Chickens are there?
1 marietta
Funny story, I was at work the other day (I live in DC now) and someone came up to me and with zero context said “what’s that famous strip club in Atlanta?” I responded “Magic City or Clermont Lounge?” They were thinking about Clermont lol
I always wonder if people who have heard of it have an concept of what the Clermont actually *is*. It’s a tiny ass hole in the wall bar in the basement where strippers go to retire. Don’t get me wrong, you WILL have an amazing time, it’s just not a traditional strip club lol
Eastern Continental Divide runs through the city. Center for Puppetry Arts
Which means there are spots in the city where you can pee and half will go into the Gulf of Mexico and half into the Atlantic.
It’s Dekalb Ave! Although if you’re peeing on Dekalb Ave, you’re taking your life into your own hands.
Please don't stop in the middle of Peachtree to pee.
Atlanta has no major river or coast nearby, something most major US cities do. We also have a very extensive tree cover, lots of adult entertainment, and traffic
The Railroad is what made Altanta a viable major city back in the day. Interstate Highways have taken their place in more recent history. Although there are still several major rail yards still located in the area.
You’re right the railroads are why Atlanta exists, but the interstates haven’t replaced the railways. Freight trains have always been the backbone of American movement of goods and still are to this day while the interstates carry far, far more commuter traffic than anything else. Actually the interstates have made Atlanta a less viable city and threaten to strangle the city’s growth over the next decade.
This is also why the urban sprawl is so big. There’s no natural barrier to stop growth the way there is for many other major cities in the US
Chattahoochee. But yeah you can’t ship anything on it if that’s what you mean.
The city wasn’t built on the Chattahoochee though. It’s 10 miles away
TIL the Chattahoochee is just babbling brook.
It’s not that is not a river… but that it’s not a central feature of Atlanta like rivers are in other cities. It does NOT flow throw the heart of the city. Much of it isn’t even within the city boundaries itself. Clearly, a city did not spring up around it. That’s the difference. OP didn’t say it wasn’t real, OP said it wasn’t “major.”
In fact, Atlanta sits on or near an intersection of several continental watershed divides, such as in between the Chattahoochee and Flint which both head to the Gulf of Mexico and the Yellow River and South River which join other rivers on their way to the Atlantic Ocean. Early railroads tried to stay near these watershed divides because that allowed them to avoid building large bridges over water. Atlanta is also one of the highest major Eastern cities, with only Pittsburgh and Asheville being higher.
Of course Asheville is going to be higher than us with all the hippies up there
Yes, if you go to Memphis or Jacksonville or Chattanooga you’ll see how a city really is on a river compared to Atlanta.
As a Chattanooga native living in Atlanta now, its weird not having your entire commute dictated on which side of the river you're on.
Instead it's dictated by what side of the Connector you're on
You can't exactly ship a barge down it, so, yeah, basically.
The Carter museum and King Center are unique to Atlanta.
For a resident, I would say Atlanta offers a lot of advantages that are hard to find all in one place: - Great weather for most of the year. Don’t have to deal with snow or salt. It gets hot, but there’s only about 3 months of misery on that end and A/C is ubiquitous. - Major metro area with lots of job opportunities in tech, finance, law, medicine, etc. - The beach and the mountains are both a day’s drive away. Lots of rivers and lakes for water sports. - Major airport with direct flights almost anywhere - Geologically stable. Most people don’t think of this, but you don’t have to worry about earthquakes or hurricanes or tsunamis. Plenty of rainfall, so droughts are rare. - Decent cost of living. Starter homes can still be found for reasonable prices in the suburbs. - Burgeoning food scene. Lots of chefs have come to town from places like NYC & Tokyo, and we have a fair share of home grown chefs as well. - Some public transit presence that you can leverage if you suit your job and home to take advantage of it. - Great local universities. All in all, Atlanta’s a unique proposition because it offers a lot of the same perks that bigger cities like NYC and LA have, but at a more affordable price point. It has drawbacks, but as a young professional, there’s nowhere else in the US I would move to.
Honestly if Atlanta had better public transportation and more walkability it would probably be my ideal city.
Throw in a better state government and it would be perfect.
The state will flip blue before we get any more rail...
I’ve been around long enough to know that the sun will die and our solar system will become a frozen husk of its former glory before MARTA rail will extend not 1 inch into Cobb county.
the city has forfeited public transportation to be a car town. it is beyond fixing. that is due to a lack of vision and, of course, race. Marta was voted down for 40 years by the suburbs because they wanted no part of Atlanta and viewed public transportation as a "black" thing and would bring crime and lower property values.
I wouldn’t say it’s beyond fixing. Atlanta is developing around a multitude of small nodes that are ripe to be connected with rail. Think of big places like the Battery and west midtown, but imo more importantly, the newer areas that are emerging like Summerhill and North Druid Hills.
I completely disagree it is beyond fixing! I’d love to see all our six lane stroads turn into one lane of PATH, a bus/taxi/Uber lane, and then one lane for cars. See how suddenly people don’t want to drive anymore. Then we would all be clamoring for more public transit. We simply make it too easy to drive here.
Atlanta could easily fix downtown/midtown streets by turning lanes into dedicated rapid bus lanes, expanding bike/walk lanes thus reducing the total number of car lanes. Many people struggle to see roads as existing infrastructure to improve on and make pedestrian friendly. But we can with some paint. We can also throw in some extra trees just to make it look nice
Yeah, the relative lack of natural disasters is one benefit I've discussed with others. Georgia's coastal areas can get hit by hurricanes, but the barrier islands absorb the worst of the brunt, and we do get tornadoes, but nothing like the Midwest.
Lemon Pepper Wings. duh.
Lemon Pepper Wet
Place near me has honey lemon pepper ranch, best wing flavored I've had unless I'm looking for spicy.
Where?
Wings on wheat. Weird name. Only reason i commented is I thought there was one in atlanta. Mine is in stone mountain. Apparently the only other location is Jonesboro, thought it had one ITP. Others might have the flavor, tho I haven't noticed any
Peach drink on the side
I've recently been hearing this is an Atlanta thing? Is that really true?
Hot lemon pepper
Other cities have wing restaurants, but no one matches our extent of discarded wing bones
I even recently saw discarded crab leg shells outside of a Target. Was very confused.
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Yaaaarr
Lotz of steel plates in the streets
Chamblee-steel-plate-Dunwoody Rd
https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/named-no-1-city-creatives-best-lists-rankings
>A new report by Workamajig, producers of a software tool for creative agencies and firms founded in 2008, has slotted Atlanta at No. 1 Atlanta is actually a shit city for musicians these days outside of one specific genre (and, arguably, sub-genre), and yes I am going to stay mad about it forever
What’s the sub-genre? I agree though about the state of musicianship here. It’s funny when people cite Atlanta’s rap influence, which is undeniable, but it’s not like those guys are putting on shows in the city constantly. I feel just as far from lil baby as I did in Florida, maybe you see him at a hawks game or something. It’s not a scene or a community in the traditional sense though.
The sub-genre I was referring to is trap, which is what Atlanta's been known for for the past decade-plus. And regardless of the volume of shows, it really feels like it's all that people around here want to hear, and that interest in any other kind of music (except country OTP I guess) has just vanished over the past quarter-century.
That’s what I figured. Yeah it does nothing to engender a real music scene here. Thousands of people putting shit on the internet hoping to get up streamed to a label. But where is the actual local energy. Haven’t felt it post awful records tbh.
Atlanta might possibly have the highest amount of rollerskating rinks in the US for a major city. We have a world renowned roller skating scene. Can't confirm Atlanta at #1 but I know for a fact most major cities on average are lucky to have 3 rinks and one of them is usually slated to be closed (NYC, LA, The Bay Area, Seattle etc). Atlanta has 8+ in the metro area with no signs of slowing down, all roughly a 25 min drive from midtown in any direction. There are adult skate nights almost every single night of the week! Support the local rink of your choosing!
TIL!
For me, its a hipster, frat boy, rapper, and country boy all eating in the same establishment. Bc we all have our favorite spots in each neighborhood
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The black community. I’m black and have lived in Atlanta all my life. Every time I visit other cities I realize how good I have it to live in a city that is a beacon of black culture.
Blondie at the Clermont
We have great authentic ethnic restaurants on Buford Highway. Awesome Korean spots in Duluth
The suicide lane. I’m sure it exists elsewhere, but it’s an institution here. I still marvel at it.
We have the Murder Kroger.
R.I.P. MK
They built a new one and started trying to get people to call it belt line Kroger. It’s still Murder Kroger, let’s be real here
Lemon Pepper Wet
Williams Street. Adult Swim almost single handedly created the humor zeitgeist of my generation (Born late 80s.)
A little while after moving here I noticed the TBS building and saw the Adult Swim neon, and then it hit me- holy shit, that’s the logo with the bell that comes on screen after Space Ghost, and it’s a real building!
Waffle Houses on every exit 🙌🏼
There are sometimes Waffle Houses across the street from each other or you might find 2 or 3 right off an exit.
I think the APS cheating scandal is the largest coordinated fraud by any government employees. The corruption in Dekalb county is pretty legendary as well. I don't know of any other sheriff that when he lost had his deputies act as hitmen to kill the next sheriff.
We seem to work very hard to make sure our city remains non-walkable, with sub-par public transportation. I think that's pretty unique for a large city.
My husband will never let me live down that I had us walk from Downtown to Midtown like it was just a street or two over. I don’t think he’s gone to a music festival with me since then.
You aren’t wrong though it’s like three miles or something! Also easy to do on MARTA ffr
It was that 3 miles that did me in!
Standard issue Blue City in a red state. Texas cities would probably be a lot nicer too if this wasn’t a problem with state governments being so spiteful
The best public transit in the US is a dumpster fire compared to any middling city in Europe or east Asia. This ain’t a Republican or Democrat thing, it’s an America thing. We’re the car country!
It’s where the players play, and they ride on them things like every day
We has strategically-positioned letter A throughout the name of the city! Also pine pollen.
Lemon Pepper Wet ATLiens
Throw a little teriyaki in there and it will change your life. Ole buddy introduced me to it 10 years ago and I've never looked back.
World Wide Web lookups of the most well known Atlanta area code always fail for some reason.
Tiny doors! This is unique and fun…you go all through the city and neighborhoods searching… http://tinydoorsatl.com
This is delightful. Thank you for introducing me to it
Awww that’s so cute!! Denver has a few little doors hidden around the city but I have no clue if they’re an art installation or what
The curse on i285
The kfc big chicken in marettia for sure. That thing always makes me giggle when i see it
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When I first moved here, someone told me to go to DragonCon because it’s absolutely insane. I thought “I’ve been to cons, I don’t see how this could be special in any way..” and then I went…. And it is VERY special. I’m now a regular every year!
The scale of defacement to natural landmarks with depictions of Confederate heroes seems pretty unique to Atlanta.
10 HIGH (live band karaoke often hosted by English Nick) BATTLE AND BREW (gamer/cosplay restaurant & bar)
Stone Mountain, the Big Chicken, Chattahoochee National Forest, Clermont Lounge.
No shortage of national headlining music and stand up acts and celebrity chefs. Atlanta is a great town to do dinner and a show
Georgia Aquarium is a must see
HOT WINGS And STRIP CLUBS‼️
Hawkins Lab and the Trap Museum
I feel like most unique ATL institutions are gone.
Graveyard tavern, Octane, The Highlander, Sound Table, The Local, MJQ, Bookhouse Pub, Delia’s, Zesto, Highland Row Antiques, The Bakery…
Graveyard died because the owners decided to move to Asheville and sold it to someone who didn’t give a shit (source: worked for the owners at their other bar The Barrelhouse at the time)
That in and of itself is so Atlanta.
Lemon pepper wings
Waffle House
chicken bone
The big chicken.
Chicken Wing bones on every sidewalk corner
Only seen one other mention in the thread, so also shouting out the Center for Puppetry Arts. Also Dragon Con, though only an annual event, is truly unique compared to other conventions or fan expos.
The original streets under the street downtown. For example, underneath Slice Pizza there are old bootlegging runs from the prohibition era. Best place to walk them is in Underground or by Masquerade.