Archive | June, 2010

Back to our regularly-scheduled poppycock

30 Jun

Atlanta Constitution, October 1, 1939

Did you know that Decatur was home to the original NIMBYs? Were it not for Decaturites’ resistance to change and progress, Atlanta would not have existed, because the railroad would have just located in Decatur’s backyard, instead of an arbitrary spot a few miles west that the General Assembly and the Western & Atlanta Railroad could agree to.

Decatur feared the unsavory flim-flam artists and grit and noise that accompany a rail hub, and they were 100% justified in their uneasiness because the area around Terminus became home to all kinds of criminals and immorality, and general filth – the reason Atlanta eventually decided to just elevate the city a couple of stories, creating our now-crumbling viaduct system/Underground Atlanta and raising Downtown above all the smoke and noise of the train traffic.

And to this day, the edgiest evening a Decatur resident can ask for is a night of racy improv comedy at Push Push Theater followed by a couple of imported high-gravity beers at Brick Store Pub. Maybe if things get really crazy you and your crowd of Presbyterian seminarians will get into a heated discussion over reform movements in the postmodern church, who knows! And this is exactly how Decatur likes it!

The point is, in the 1830s, Decatur was like, “No way, no sleazy railroad in our educated, cultured town!” Actually, they were more like:

Black and dusty;
Going to Augusty.
Black and dusty;
Going to Augusty -
And on and on to Augusty.

That was their battle cry! (“Augusty” = Augusta.) Decatur even got really serious later about building a wall between themselves and Atlanta (or whatever it was called then) to keep the pioneers and other riff-raff out, and to be sure the rapid expansion of Atlanta didn’t creep too close to Decatur. Atlanta’s sprawl has been threatening Georgia since the very beginning…

And yet this Atlanta Constitution article (click it above to enlarge) compares early Decatur residents’ wall proposition to – Nazis? The Ming Dynasty? In 1939 – really?

Previously: Breaking news! Atlanta’s seedy past!

There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so

29 Jun

One person (me) has called the Congress for New Urbanism conference being in Atlanta “the Olympics of urban design,” because it brought a lot of attention on the city that we weren’t quite ready for. James Howard Kunstler – who I like because he is SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN – wrote about Atlanta in deeply unloving terms twice. David Byrne seemed confused by Downtown because he is a carpetbagger and interprets everything as racist in the South. Like he thought John Portman was creating some antebellum plantation experience by having black men work outside of the Marriott Marquis, to whisk you inside an all-white lobby? MAYBE THE ALL-WHITE LOBBY OF THE MARQUIS WAS A REFLECTION OF NEW URBANIST DEMOGRAPHICS, NOT ATLANTA, hmmm? This is the South; there are sooooo many things that are legitimately explicitly racist. So let’s not call what Maynard Jackson, Andy Young, and Bill Campbell did to give away the city to developers with grand plans as racist, David. There are so many other unflattering and more accurate words!

In addition, “The Urbanophile” (gag) tried to speculate that Atlanta’s days of prosperity are over. (Although Edward Glaeser – not a New Urbanist but an economist, and who I usually like because he is so reasonable – has written nice things about Atlanta but I kind of wonder how much is based on analysis or just his impressions.) And all you smug Decaturans, don’t think your little ‘burb was ignored by the critics!

I was expecting to see someone in Atlanta write some “You’re all wrong, and here’s why!” post or column, or at least “You’re all right, and here’s why!” but there wasn’t a word until everyone got their feelings hurt over Kunstler’s photo tour of Downtown and its accompanying commentary. Whatever! That was the one thing out of all these “what of Atlanta?” articles that was actually wholly accurate – those parts of Downtown are ridiculous.

Will someone who actually LIVES in Atlanta say anything to respond to America’s Greatest Urban Minds? Is it because until Richard Florida really talks about you, you’re not really on the map, even if you have already been declared the gayest city in America?

I hope at this point we’re all past knee-jerk defenses of Atlanta AND/OR past feeling totally demoralized when anyone says the city sucks. If you get really down when people say Atlanta totally blows, it is because you probably really believe that. First of all, at this point in time every city and state is totally battered and riddled with hollowed vacant buildings and broke governments and states that hate the urban parts and mass unemployment in whatever types of jobs bring value and whatever else the Great Recession hath wrought.

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The more things change…

25 Jun

Atlanta Constitution, April 18, 1893

This little editorial ran in the Atlanta Constitution the day after the city council adopted a resolution to change Wheat Street’s name to the “more pretentious” and “stylish” Auburn Avenue, at the request of the residents on the uptown end of the street.

Some council members also discussed changing the name of Peters Street on “a certain portion of the street” as “no respectable lady living on the street would give it as her address to a stranger” due to its infamy for housing a “disreputable class of people.”

Now, think about if Peachtree Street had been changed to Calhoun that long ago, as was proposed in this street-renaming frenzy of 1893! It would have altered the face of HISTORY.

See more street name changes here.

Picnic season and the original staycation

24 Jun

by Edwards & Sons, ca. 1890. via Atlanta History Center.

1882 really had the summer of picnics in Atlanta. The practice was popular before and after, of course, but never again as lovingly reported in the Atlanta Constitution as in ’82. Atlanta was surrounded on all sides by wilderness, except a little ways to the east where Decatur stood – but beyond that was Stone Mountain and other woodsy pleasures. The Ponce de Leon springs’ grand man-made amusements hadn’t been constructed yet, and I don’t even think that area was annexed to the city until a bit later. All the young people daytripped out to the countryside and river banks of the undeveloped northwest of the city, often to what was then called Iceville (named such because of its proximity to the Atlanta Brewing and Ice Company).

Unfortunately, food journalism wasn’t as popular as society gossip back in those days, so maybe we’ll never know what “nicnacks” they feasted on at the O.B. club or Turn Verein picnic parties. Perhaps oppossum in sweet potatoes?

Atlanta Constitution, May 7, 1882.

May 10, 1882

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Dress for success

19 Jun

PonyUp! Vintage‘s first-ever trunk sale is today at MINT Gallery from 2-8 pm! (Although they did have a sneak peak of a few pieces at Artlantis a couple weekends back.)

Marji and Jacqueline always know how to dress in jealousy-inducing getups, and now they are finally taking their finds to the streets. In addition to awesome (and even INTERNATIONAL never-before-seen-in-the-U.S.) clothes, the girls made sangria and ice cream cupcakes to get you flushed with excitement and loose with your money. Get on that – and if you mention BurnAway they will give you 10% off!

Here’s the Facebook invitation if you can’t do anything until you’ve RSVPed for it on the internet.

684 John Wesley Dobbs Avenue, NE, Unit B
(at Sampson Street NE)

From part of a screenplay found on Moreland Avenue

17 Jun


Dairius
Aye e

Isaiah
My name’s Isaiah

Darius
Shut up abay

Isaiah
Man stop! MOMMY!

Mom
I’m going to whip your buttox if you dont shut up.

More parking deck history

16 Jun

Geez, you guys are so unpredictable. I never would have imagined that a post about Atlanta’s first parking garage would have swept the local internet for like four hours as it did, but if that’s going to be the case then I will give the people more of what they want. At the end of the day, don’t we all just want approval from faceless strangers?

I know I said I would talk about metered parking because it is more germane, but it is actually really boring and predictable how it came to be in Atlanta. The downtown businesspeople and the Atlanta Motor Club didn’t want patrons and drivers to have to pay for on-street parking; the city wanted more order on the streets and every other city’s central business district was getting parking meters; &c., &c., &c.

Here are two more elegant garages that opened in 1928, each one better than the last. This was behind Rich’s department store at Forsyth Street and what is now MLK Drive.

Atlanta Constitution, April 15, 1928

This one opened behind the Glenn Building (now the Glenn Hotel) at Marietta and Spring streets. (Click to read the larger ad.) Check out the alert parking attendant’s jodhpurs.

Atlanta Constitution ad, November 1, 1928

In a May 6 article about the Glenn garage, T. L. B. Lyster, vice president and consulting engineer of the National Garages, Inc., Detroit, Mich., discusses the latest trends in downtown traffic solutions as he breezed into town to sign his company up to run the new garage:

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The inefficient manners and brilliant social life of the Atlanta gentleman

15 Jun

From the Atlanta Constitution‘s Real Estate Review, July 12, 1925:

ATLANTA MEN ARE INVOLUNTARILY COURTEOUS
Signs in elevators of the Hurt building request men to refrain from taking hats off in the elevators when women are in the car. This request is said to be in the interest of comfort and better service. Practically every man entering the cars reads the signs, but the writer has not seen one man observe the request. Men in Atlanta seem to be involuntarily courteous to women despite the statement that they are losing some of their chivalry since women began to work side by side with them down town. When a woman enters the elevator men reach for their hats just as naturally as they do when a woman bows to them on the street. After all, however, it seems to be an inconsistent situation. Men do not pull off their hats on street cars or in other public places simply because of the presence of a woman, and there seems to be no real reason why they should doff their hats in the elevators. There would be no more discourtesy in a man retaining the hat upon his head in an elevator than in a railway coach, a closed automobile or theater lobby. On the other hand, it is not only superfluous as a mark of chivalry, but is causes many hats to be crushed and takes up room in the car often times that could be put to better service.

This was actually printed in the newspaper!

But that’s not all Atlanta men were up to in 1925. Only the fanciest of these hat-tipping dandies were members of the Nine O’Clock German Club, or just “the Nine O’Clocks,” ” a social organization composed originally of young eligible bachelors.” (A german in this context is “an elaborate social dance resembling a cotillion.”)

Prior 1896, there were two bachelor camps – the the Nine O’Clocks and the ’94 German Club – but they merged to create a united front in wooing ladies at elaborate dances. This exclusive organization pre-dated the Capital City Club and the Piedmont Driving Club – the oldest social club in Atlanta, they hosted “the brightest gatherings of the season.”

At the Piedmont Driving Club, 1925. via Atlanta History Center.

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Run of the mill

14 Jun

Things Miss Darrow’s award-winning vanity side project BurnAway is too classy/brief to tell you about this event:

  1. Bring lots of dollar bills to buy dinner from Farm Cart (a close and mobile relative of Farm Burger) and the King of Pops.
  2. One of the works of art mentioned above won’t be there; it was eaten by squirrels. You can preview some of those that weren’t eaten on Culture Surfing.
  3. This will be the launch of the first-ever Thomas Wheatley Charity Bake Sale; cookie cakes decorated by Thomas Wheatley with “signature scenes of Atlanta” will be available for purchase. Makes a great Father’s Day gift!
  4. The Goat Farm is the former E. Van Winkle Gin and Machine Works. It is awesome!
  5. If you buy something fancy at the PonyUp! Vintage trunk show (Saturday, 2-8 pm, MINT Gallery) and mention BurnAway, they will give you a 10% discount. A TEN PERCENT DISCOUNT!

This week in history: Atlanta’s first parking deck

12 Jun

On June 3, 1925, the Ivy Street Garage – Atlanta’s first parking garage – opened! Called a “mammoth automobile hotel” by the Constitution, it was six stories, held 600 cars, and offered white-glove valet, car wash, and basic maintenance and repair services. The Ivy Street Garage was said to be “one of the largest and perhaps the most modern structures of its kind in the world.”

“It is in a central location and was erected, it was declared, to fill a growing need for downtown parking space in order that businessmen might have a place to leave their cars without the danger of being stolen or their owners being served with a summons to court for parking too long on the central business streets.” – The Atlanta Constitution, May 24, 1924

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Actual employment AND free parking

10 Jun

Don’t have a job? Pissed that the Park Atlanta’s moratorium ends in one hour? Do you have “Art Gallery” looks or a “Midwest feel”? READ ON.

MEAN GIRLS 2 Casting Call ; CASTING DIRECTOR SEEKING HIGH SCHOOL ‘LOOKING’ TALENT FOR PAID EXTRA WORK; DOWNTOWN ATLANTA with free parking across the street

ATLANTA, June 9 /PRNewswire/ — Casting Director Bill Marinella, a 17-year industry veteran, announced today that he is in search of background talent for MEAN GIRLS 2, a Paramount Famous Productions release, shooting entirely in the Atlanta-area over the summer during July 2010.

The open call will be held, Saturday, June 26, 2010 from 9 am to 12 pm and Sunday, June 27, 2010 from 11 am to 2pm at

__ The Ernst and Young Building__

__ Lower Level vacancy__

__ at 55 Allen Plaza__

__ Atlanta, Georgia 30308__

Anyone with cool/ funky hairstyle, eyeglasses, or “Art Gallery” looks

High school sports fans, Mom and Dad types, with a Midwest feel

Casting ages 16 and up and “ALL LOOKS”

Mall rats, skater looks and preppies!

Real Cheerleaders and High School Jocks! Come in high school attire.

Looking for Asian-American and Latin-American actors for very featured bit roles.

Wardrobe notes:

NO LOGOS of any kind please!

ABSOLUTELY NO RED, NO WHITE, NO BRIGHT COLORED CLOTHING

NO BUSY PRINTS/PATTERNS

Come in high school attire, jeans, ringer t-shirts, hoodies, skirts, etc.

Backpacks, bookbags, beanies, kangols, eclectic outfits and accessories

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Let’s do it again!

8 Jun


Still on a kick to see scenes of Atlanta caught on film a couple of decades ago, I watched Let’s Do It Again, one of Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby’s three blaxploitation/caper films of the mid-70s directed by Poitier. Released in 1975 (Maynard’s first year as mayor), Let’s Do It Again was set in Atlanta and New Orleans, so I didn’t really pay attention during the majority of the action set in the latter city, but the plot isn’t too complicated – Clyde (Poitier) and Billy (Cosby) want to get the money to pay for a new building for their secret society, so they hypnotize a shrimpy boxer into thinking he is really good and they bet on him, but then the bad guys figure out the scam! I can say that it is a cute movie with fantastic ’70s clothing, a star-studded cast, inventive character names (Bubbletop, Fish ‘n’ Chips), a Curtis Mayfield/Staple Singers soundtrack, and Bill Cosby’s body hair.

The first 15 minutes or so are set in Atlanta. Halfway through and six months later, the story returns to Atlanta but only very briefly (right before they go back to New Orleans to “do it again”).

Let’s find out about Clyde and Billy! Clyde is a milk man for old Atlanta Dairies.
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Industrial design, y’all!

3 Jun

Oh, I meant to post this earlier this week and then, you know – three day weekend and all – time just slipped away.

Do you know what an “industrial designer” is? Are they just people who design factories? No…and yes. I still don’t really understand what industrial design is, even after guest speaking in an actual industrial design class.

Well, does this poster explain it for you?

Of course not! You know how these “artistic types” can be. So obtuse.

Here’s what I know: Tomorrow, Saturday, June 5, Atlanta’s hottest ID darlings People of Resource (these guys) are hosting YALL & US [sic] – a bunch of designers are showing stuff in the People of Resource studio in the Telephone Factory lofts, in conjunction with Modern Atlanta. Get a sneak peak at some of the product designs here, or just go on Saturday!

Also – free Blenheim and bourbon, Pimm’s cups, and PBR, and a chance to spot some of the cool new styles of eyewear. Isn’t that all you really wanted to know?

7:30 – 11:30 p.m.
828 Ralph McGill Boulevard, N.E.

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