Atlanta Time Machine has a cute brochure from the 1950s called “Atlanta – Where To Go, What To Do, What To See” with an intro written by Ralph McGill. (We never know who our streets are named after anymore! He was the anti-segregationist Pulitzer prize-winning editor of the Atlanta Constitution back a long time ago.)
McGill starts his love letter to Atlanta, “Why I Like Atlanta: Where Life Is Always Worth Living,” by describing what it smells like. First he talks about how other cities smell like industrial smoke, sulfurous marshes, and pungent roasting coffee. But not Atlanta! No, Atlanta “has a soft, dry smell and tastes like very dry white wine.” Are there any sommeliers or self-made wine experts in the house who can attest to this?
He goes on in quaint ’50s language to admit Atlanta is a Yankee town, but we are still Southern “with a pinch of foreign herbs.”
Look at the entire brochure here.
Tags: atlanta time machine, dry white wine, foreign herbs, ralph mcgill
Does Boone’s Farm or Carlo Rossi put out a “very dry white wine?”
Clearly written to appeal to tourism. No one loves Yankees in Atlanta that much. At least no homegrown boy like McGill. I wonder how he’d feel about Atlanta (and most of the Metro area, to boot) these days…
He also points out that he loves Atlanta because the city government isn’t in debt. Whoops!
Hey! That’s my brochure posted on Atlanta Time Machine. I bought it years ago in a long-gone junk shop in Buckhead. How funny to Google something (Zachry clothing store) and be led here. Ain’t the Internet grand? Now I get to peruse your Blog. It looks like fun.
Best regards to all,
Marcia P.