KCRag Forum

leaving for atlanta tomorrow.  any recommendations for a couple of afternoons of sight-seeing? 

loose plans:

* high museum
* atlanta contemporary art center (which is now exhibiting KC artist jaime warren btw)
* walk around the "westside arts district" near the contemporary arts center, which appears to be Crossroads-esque.
* little five points - ATL's requisite hippie/weird district (and relevantly for me, where the record stores are)

i've heard to check out the Virginia Highland and East Atlanta neighborhoods.  from the 'hood websites VH seems like brookside and EA doesn't seem to be much of anything.  thoughts?

other recommendations?

thanks.

I like Mellow Mushroom quite a bit. Never been to one in Atlanta, but have been to the one at Five Points in Birmingham.

http://www.mellowmushroom.com

  I've been, but recently had a brief email discussion with a friend there about "where to go" and her new neighborhood in the Decatur area.  I will just paste the 'nabes she mentioned below. 

  Give us a good trip report upon your return, I am really curious about the "interesting" side of some of these sprawling sun-belt cities after some positive experiences in Dallas (where I will be again for 3 days, come Sunday). 

  Recs below -

  "Atlanta is basically made up of a bunch of little pockets of cool areas that are relatively close to each other. I am strictly an East Atlanta Girl, which means that I hang out in all the dive bars and artist communes. Decatur is really interesting, you have your old Hippies who are trying to raise their kids in unconventional ways,the Emory University Crowd and the Artists/Musicians. There is always something great going on, like next weekend is this huge beer festival that is happening in the Square. Some of the other neighborhoods I hang out in is Little 5 points, Poncey Highlands or Virginia Highlands and EAV (East Atlanta Village). Of course, I do get dragged to Buckhead on occasion with my more clubby friends."

Get a hot dog at the Varsity... 61 North Ave NW, Atlanta, GA 30308

It's an Atlanta institution. Its like Gates or Arthur Bryants for BBQ, but for hot dogs. 

One thing to know: the hot dogs really aren't all that special.

KCDowntown

This article shows some good examples of bad designs that were improved when challenged by the city's planning department.

Tim Keane to Atlanta: No more ugly buildings; focus on quality design

Atlanta’s Planning Commissioner Tim Keane wants our developers and architects to step up their game. And he’s willing to hold up their projects if they don’t live up to higher quality design standards.

Already the developers of three high profile projects have revised their plans to accommodate the city by improving the plans for their developments.

For Keane, this is not a job; it’s a mission to create greater awareness of the importance of quality design on our urban environment.
...
“I have started to say: ‘You can’t build that. You can’t build insulting buildings in Atlanta anymore,’” Keane said. “This is not about architecture and architectural awards. It is more how architecture contributes to a better public realm.”

It is his attempt to stop the development of “Mr. Potatohead” buildings – structures where architects add different design features to try to make an ugly building better. Keane would rather architects start out with a simple building design with high quality materials and amenities.
...

https://saportareport.com/tim-keane-to- ... ty-design/

Local news in Atlanta talks about some *big* projects city is trying to get done before 2026 World Cup.

Looks like they're trying to do an *amazing* project around Centennial Yards near their downtown football stadium- similar that we're trying to hustle here with our downtown stadium 2026. Basically trying to get a gazillion surface lots filled around their downtown stadium before visitors come for the games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZfM6_H4W0E

ATL gets a lot of corporate $ sponsorship, KC not so much.

earthling wrote: ↑Thu Jul 07, 2022 7:37 am ATL gets a lot of corporate $ sponsorship, KC not so much.

Coke, Turner, & Delta alone probably equal twice the corporate $ that KC gets

not to mention Home Depot, and UPS, which are both major corporate sponsors to several professional sports leagues already. KC is pretty much on an island when compared to the other host cities. We are going to have to do everything the hard way. By this I mean with the smallest budget, least amount of corporate dollars and the most old fashioned hard work by passionate people. Plus it sucks that I know at some point we will be fighting out own State Legislature for funds and assistance and their incompetence is unnerving.

Super excited to be a host city and show off KC to the world. I just really hope our city leaders, both private & public, are up to the task and will look at the benefits of projects that will benefit the city/region and drop the NIMBY type focus & bullshit that is their decision making in most cases.

This is a private project not a public one so I don’t think sponsors are necessary here