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May 8, 2002.
The Top 23 Things to Love About Atlanta.
1. Ponce de Leon Avenue. Hands-down, one of the most pleasing roads in Atlanta and in the country. A harrowing, four-lane road, of dubious construction, with no turn lane in the center, lined by stately homes and great trees and hampered with not a few dramatic twists and turns. It is a road that belongs in The Great Gatsby. I drive it whenever I can. Particularly at dusk. With a kerchief tied around my neck, and tortoise-shell sunglasses in place.
2. The Frederick Law Olmstead-designed parks that line two miles of said Ponce de Leon Avenue.
3. John Portman, Atlanta's freakish, fuzzy-haired, gnome-like Willy Wonka of an architect. Do I sound like a fool when I admit that I take raw pride in admiring the skyline he designed for the city? See also the 50-story atrium of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. It is "said to resemble the inside of a massive ribcage." I just think it's dizzyingly grand.
4. Neighborhoods. Not enough is said, I think, about Atlanta's charming residential in-town neighborhoods. There are scores of sweet little bungalows with a uniquely southern charm all their own. With clotheslines, and front porches, and shaggy dogs under the stairs. On particularly handsome streets the trees form a green arch over the quiet pavement. Sometimes I dream about living in one of those neighborhoods.
5. When you go into the DeKalb Farmer's Market, you hear people of every race talking in 15 different languages. And this is before you even get to the citrus aisle.
6. Lois Reitzses, baby! (Some would disagree with my including Lois here. Her particularly rich and creamy voice pouring out of the local NPR affiliate is something you either love or hate.)
7. The Swan House. Don't get me started on this one. Let me just say that I have given serious thought to secretly slipping out of the guided tours of this home and hiding under the chaise lounge in Emily Inman's bedroom until after-hours. Naturally, a very special private tea party in the dining room would follow.
8. Lullwater Park. If you live in this town and have never visited Lullwater Park, you really do owe it to yourself to visit. It is dreamy.
9. Live music at The Tabernacle.
10. Big black ladies that call you sugar.
11. Sitting out front at the Fellinis on said Ponce in the evening in summers. (I eat there even though one time about 6 years ago when I was there with some good friends we had what one would call A Bad Dining Experience. We were all with one very special friend we all admired. His name was Paul but everyone called him Skippy. He was Filipino. Skippy found a fly baked right into the crust of his slice of Fellini's Pizza. We were appropriately aghast and we all apologized to Skippy. We took the smoking crust downstairs and walked up to one of the angry, tattooed cooks. Skippy timidly showed him the fossilized fly on the crust. "So what!?" shouted the cook. Skippy dropped the crust on the counter and we left.)
12. The furnishings in the waiting area of the Atlanta Old Spaghetti Factory. Hate the restaurant; love the chandelier.
13. The Roman Lily Cafe on Highland Avenue. Honey, I stole their name!
14. This one spraypaint artist whose stuff I love. He goes by HENSE. If you live in Atlanta, just open your eyes a little and you will see it. I love spotting his writing. Attention world! Tight white middle-class girl admires fly graffiti writer!
15. The lighting inside Einstein's on Juniper Street.
16. The sarcastic little sign sitting by the roadside outside the eclectic pottery gallery on DeKalb Avenue that says, ENJOY YOUR CAR!
17. Cool transit art inside the Five Points Marta station.
18. Dogwood trees.
19. Well, for that matter, lisianthus, salvia, hydrangea, gardenia, lilac, magnolia and coneflower....
19. The fact that you can pretty much get in your car and start from the middle of downtown Atlanta and drive South or East or West for about thirty minutes and in that time get to the Sticks.
20. The Greek Orthodox Cathedral on Clairmont Road, and the Greek Festival that they throw every September.
21. The homeless guy named Sarge, who comes up to people sitting out by Woodruff Park eating their lunch, and sings for donations.
22. The very old barbershop in the atrium of the Healey Building, where a man with a heavily creased face wears a barber's uniform and painstakingly trims the hair of fellow old-timers. The barbershop has those vintage barber's chairs that are styled like Studebakers, and little medicine cabinets, and chrome trim. I hope it never closes.
23. The secret salons in the Fox Theatre. Okay, this list has included too many venues and mainstream attractions, but I love this place. I slunk around through the Fox's cat-walk passages one time with Alaric, during intermission at a Chieftans show. He knew all the secret passageways and he let me see the enormous kitchen and the darkened Egyptian Ballroom. But even when Alaric is not around, I always try to find my way into the "Ladies' Salon" during intermission. Even if I have no need for it. I feel just like the Gibson Girl, gliding through that dimly-lit parlor, its wood gleaming, its amber lamps glowing.
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There's a smog moon coming I can always feel it. The cartoon trees cannot conceal it. When it's high up in the sky, it almost looks like it is white. — Matthew Sweet
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