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green_amber ([personal profile] green_amber) wrote2007-01-31 09:17 pm

Atlanta

is Atlanta pretty? historical? worth visiting? near pretty stuff??

Or is it just another big southern city with lots of malls and freeways? (Yes I know it has the MLK stuff - but I'm more a scenery than a history buff..) I thought maybe given the Scarlett o'hara stuff it would all be delightfully old fashioned -- but it doesn't look like it on the websites..

[identity profile] alanro.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I think that General Sherman took care of most, if not all, of the delightfully old fashioned stuff...

[identity profile] tavella.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Atlanta got burned down pretty thoroughly in the Civil War, and redeveloped all to hell and back in the 20th century, so it's not much of a place for pretty and picturesque. You want Charleston or Savannah for that.

[identity profile] surliminal.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Aha. And these places would be a car ride away, a plane, train?

[identity profile] vicarage.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Its good for the Civil War with a nicely preserved battlefield to the NW, and a civil war museum. The Jimmy Carter presidential library is interesting. For scenery go to Stone Mountain to the East, its like Ayers Rock.

[identity profile] blue-condition.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
> Scarlett o'hara stuff

Errr... remember the movie? Didn't it all burn down? ;)

My dad was offered a job in Atlanta in the early 80s, didn't accept it because he "didn't want his children growing up American". He has never been more right in his life.

Mind you he was also offered jobs in Grimsby and Southall at about the same time, and fortunately didn't accept them either. ;)

I was going to make a similar post about La Jolla, which looks like California's version of Bournemouth. ;)
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[identity profile] akirlu.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, General Sherman burned Atlanta to the ground in 1864, so most of the historical stuff is outside Atlanta or around the periphery. Antebellum houses are thin on the ground because of what happened during the, um, bellum. There are supposed to be some old historical houses around the periphery of town.

Still, I always liked it, and some bits are pretty. I like Callanwolde (http://www.callanwolde.org/) The Georgia countryside can be enormously pretty, especially in fall when the leaves turn. The High Museum has got a nice mix of stuff, if you're into art museums. And one doesn't need to be a buff of the American Civil War to enjoy a visit to Stone Mountain -- the view from the top of that granite sugarloaf alone is worth the price of admission. But only if you have no fear of heights -- the tram ride up is a bit of a gut wrench. I would avoid the touristy stuff, that's always been pretty cheesy.

But, there are quite a few malls and freeways if you wind up in the wrong spot. If you were looking for pretty and picturesque, I suspect Savannah is more the place to go.

[identity profile] blue-condition.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
...I would've loathed growing up in a town where those mumbling dullards REM were the best local band ;)

(Mind you, Jack Logan's bloody good and he's from that part of the world...)

[identity profile] tavella.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Neither of them are convenient to Atlanta, I'm afraid. If you are already going to be in Atlanta, hmm... I *think* there are a few historical antebellum bits in the region, I'll poke around.
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[identity profile] akirlu.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Long car ride. 226 miles. I'd be surprised if there's passenger train service between them.
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[identity profile] akirlu.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:54 pm (UTC)(link)
REM are from Athens. About 50 miles outside Atlanta, in other words. Hardly the only, or "best local" band. Atlanta itself had a pretty widely varied music scene in the '80s, and seemed particularly good if one liked blues, f'rinstance.
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[identity profile] akirlu.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Athens is quite pretty in its way, and only about an hour away by car.

[identity profile] percyprune.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
My experience of 'Hotlanta' is all malls and convention centres. It's a bit shit.

[identity profile] whumpdotcom.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Sherman didn't burn Atlanta. The Confederates torched it as they retreated from the Grand Army of the Republic.

Of course, if you take a tour of Atlanta, someone from the Daughters of the Confederacy will blame the North. It's a lot like Dinesh D'Souza...

[identity profile] purplecthulhu.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Atlanta is one of the oddest cities I've been to. There are some specatular modern buildings in the centre, especially hotels, but that's about it, and if you don't like modern architecture you're screwed. The centre is dominated by convention hotels and by what seems to be a permanent floating trade show. There is nothing of any interest in the centre. There is a 'sunken historic city' which is mostly an excuse for cutesy shops, but that's slightly interesting. Not much else that can be walked to of any interest.

This is based on being at a conference there about 10 years ago so it may have changed. I was sufficiently bored there on my day off that I watched Supernova at the cinema by CNN centre. Its one of the worst SF films I've ever paid money to see, but it was more interesting than central Atlanta.

[identity profile] easterbunny.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I usually make a swift exit from the airport, but things I like in around Atlanta include the Coke Museum, Rolling Bones BBQ, and watching Braves baseball games. Outside the city, people have alreay mentioned Athens and Stone Mountain. My parents swear by Chateau Elan - this is also a good place for scenery since the Appalachian foothills start around there.

[identity profile] cairmen.livejournal.com 2007-01-31 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
My understanding is that Atlanta is dull. But Savannah is fantastic, in an Old South, Spanish Moss, leafy squares sort of way, and it's about 50 minutes on a plane away.

[identity profile] kateyule.livejournal.com 2007-02-01 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
Mmmm. Atlanta has the Flying Biscuit Cafe. Mmmmmm. (Note: if you are in a strange American city in search of good food, check out the advertisements in the local gay paper. This rule of thumb served me well from Georgia to upstate New York.)

The other cool place I know about in Atlanta is Oakland Cemetery. I spent a happy morning exploring there and taking pictures.

[identity profile] voidampersand.livejournal.com 2007-02-01 07:14 am (UTC)(link)
I went there several years ago for a conference by the airport. I had one day free, so I went in on the metro (which is fantastic), walked around the botanical garden, hung out at a very nice open-air bar across the street (which turned out to be a gay hot-spot), had an excellent Jamaican dinner, and went to the symphony (which was not great but okay).

The first half of Nicola Griffith's novel The Blue Place is in Atlanta. Her Atlanta is vibrant and funky, definitely the kind of Atlanta you'd want to visit. But it could be just her being an excellent writer.