Modern Vespa

Who here lives in Atlanta? Tell me the things I need to know about Atlanta.

You might get more results in the modern section.....i'm not kiddin.

I was in Atlanta once. I remember I wanted to get back to Savanah.

The CDC is there. I don't think they give tours though.

Get ready to scream from the relentless humidity and heat.

I hear even the dogs are sweating.

I rode through ATL a couple months ago on my scoot. In my entire 5000+ mile journey from CO to GA to CA, Atlanta had the scariest traffic - I shit you not!

What do you want to know?

I lived in Memphis, TN, for a very long time.

I don't really know... Just stuff? What's it like?

My wife was looking at something out there and the wheels in our heads started turning. You know how it goes.

cool. You and Matt can have a Battle Royale over maintenance/restoration work.

I will not be doing this. I am not interested in the suburbs.

My wife is being considered for a position in Atlanta.

From where I live I can throw a ball and hit Atlanta city limits.

My old house was in Grant Park which is Atlanta. If you want a positive opinion of Atlanta you should look to talk to someone else. There is lots of crime, at least two people are shot everyday, the government is corrupt, the utilities companies over charge, the weather has been crazy, the jails and prisons are full so unless they kill someone the same guy who breaks into a house today will break into it again tomorrow, parking is a pain in the ass and the Park Atlanta (the ticket writing company for the city) does whatever they want (including writing tickets to cars that have paid to park legally), They don't fix roads here they put down steal plates that slide around, cut tires, and sometimes slide out from under you, hit and run accidents are part of an everyday experience, everyone thinks they are rap star, rivers and streams are polluted, stealing a scooter is a slap on the wrist, lightening has been causing at least one house fire everytime it rains, the new Georgia bug is the bed bug, people outside the perimeter hate people inside the perimeter and people inside hate people outside (OTP/ITP debate), There are streets where you can buy a house for $8500 while one street over that same house has to pay $8500 in property taxes a year, what you pay for a house today in Atlanta will be less than it is worth tomorrow and you'll never be able to sell it.

Other than that, it's great here.

sounds similar to other very large cities I have been to. I was born there and have been back a few times. I enjoyed every time and thought it was not too much different than Dallas.

There is lots of history nearby, and is a cultural hub naturally. The MARTA was pretty damn badass when I was there and did a good job.

Looking up the population numbers there were a little over 420,000 for the 2010 Census. thats a lot smaller than I would have guessed.

That's because what the actually city limits are way different then the Atlanta metro area.

If you are looking for things to do as a tourist, there are a few unique things that are different from what you will see in other cities. Stone Mountain Park is actually outside the city, but it is the largest mass of exposed granite in the world, with a carving in the face depicting figures from the Civil War. There is a tram going to the top. Near the base of the tram, there is an antebellum plantation with actual buildings from the 1800's that have been relocated there, including slave cabins and a few houses decorated with period furnishings. You can spend a nice day there exploring the park and hiking to the top if you're interested. Another unique place to visit is the Cyclorama, which is adjacent to the zoo in Grant Park. It's a massive circular oil painting dating back to the late 1800's which depicts the Battle of Atlanta of the Civil War. You sit in a section inside and rotate around the painting while a guide points out various aspects of the painting which blends with a foreground of the battlefield as a diorama. For something more quirky, there is the World of Coke. It's sort of a museum downtown on Centennial Park, near the Aquarium, which tells the story of CocaCola. The CNN tour is not bad, too.

Traffic Sucks. Taxes outside I-285 are low, the opposite if you live inside 285. The schools are bad, unless you go private or live in East Cobb county.

Weathers Damp, really green & humid here, and the people are generally very nice. Small town feel with ok sports teams. College football rules (you have to live in the south to understand).

Motorcycle/Scooter riding in North Georgia mountains is superb. Easy access to the carolinas, blue ridge parkway, tail of the dragon, yada yada.

Access to Atlantic and gulf beaches is quick and easy. Nascar tracks abound (no make fun, I'm a fan).

Restaurants are good. Can't help you with nightlife, I'm over 50.

Housing and insurance (home/auto/bike) are dirt cheap.

Inside 285- Liberal
Outside 285- Conservative
Gun carry permits are cheap and easy to get (got my wife hers last Friday)

Yes, I live outside 285...

Atlanta is three places in one.

City of Atlanta is core of 'Downtown'. The population that lives in the City of Atlanta is just not that large in number, and for the most part, not that, shall we simply say 'affluent'. When you add in corrupt government, and gross mismanagement, you end up with a downtown area with a pretty veneer on top of a borderline rotting cesspool of problems.

Intown Atlanta is generally everything inside of 285, and includes some very very nice areas, but also some truly horrifying areas. You get Vinings with it's million dollar plus condo's and 3 million dollar houses, you get Decatur which is a good mix of all of the above, and of course you get areas in which things are much much less appealing.

Then there is the Atlanta Metro Area. This is a truly massive area of ground that defines the term 'urban sprawl'. I love, living in the metro Atlanta basin, but I probably don't go into the City of Atlanta itself more than 5-10 times a year. I don't need to.

The truth is, if you have a preference of style of living, you can find in Metro Atlanta, and to a certain degree, you also get to pick and choose the things you are willing to deal with.

You want intown living, in a lower crime area? look around Chastain Park. Willing to be a little further out but still easily accessible, Decatur, Vinings are nice compromises. Want suburban 4 and a door? Dunwoody isn't a bad option. Looking for equestrian McMansions? Roswell or Milton would be the place to go, though they are about 40 minutes from 'downtown'.

The problem is, when outsiders ask and are answered with 'Atlanta' they assume 'downtown'. The trouble is, 'Atlanta' is used to cover a sprawl area that ranges from about 40 miles north of 285, and as far south as the fringes of Macon (60 miles south of Atlanta), as far west as 20 miles from Alabama line, and northwest to 60 miles southwest of the South Carolina border. Fulton County, one of the 5 'metro' counties is entirely in this basin and it is nearly 100 miles long north to south.

Again, it all depends upon what you are looking for, and where you really need to be before we can give you any real advice about the area.

That's right. The metro area is about 5.5 Million, give or take a few hundred thousand. What can I say about Atlanta? It's humid all the time. It rains about once a day in the summer. Getting around the city is horrible (there is no grid to the streets). I think when it came time to start planning city roads, they took a bowl of spaghetti and threw it down on a map of Atlanta and used that as a guide for building roads.

On the other hand, there is a lot of great food - from all over the world. The scooter community is pretty tight-knit. There are a lot of really great cities in close proximity in case you've had your fill of Atlanta and need to get away for a weekend (Chattanooga is less than 2 hours away). The north Georgia mountains are beautiful. What else can I say? That's probably it.

I was thinking more of hearing what and where is a good place to live. If we were to come I'd be bringing a few Lambrettas, a couple motorcycles and NO CARS. I've lived in the Bronx and Baltimore and Pittsburgh and Memphis and New Orleans and St. Louis and San Diego and San Francisco - and driven motorcycles and scooters the whole time. I expect there to be bad roads and bad traffic everywhere. I don't live my life out of fear or wear high-visability glow in the dark clothing everywhere nor do I cross the street when someone with darker skin color than mine is walking towards me. Guess what? Prisons are full everywhere. San Francisco is corrupt as shit and I had a $9 bowl of soup for lunch. I'm an urbanite and gravitate towards that sort of living.

What is rent generally like? Do most people rent houses or apts?

Sounds like you might look at Little Five Points.

And every other street is named Peachtree.

I like it here, I guess the standard of living is pretty good. Housing is affordable and there are communities that you can know your neighbors and local shop and restaurant owners. To me Traffic is not as bad as people say, but I believe in living by where you work. When I go to other cities I get sad about our downtown not being pedestrian friendly after people go home from work. But I can get away with locking my Vespa to a bike rack most parts of the city which you cant always do in other cities.

Speed limits aren't enforced so the highway speeds are pretty fast and it's not a great place for vintage scooters. Besides that ride your ass off. I ride to work about 4 days a week because I have to drive for work sometimes partly because I have to carry stuff and partly because one of my big clients and the photographer I work with the most is in the Marietta area and I can get there way faster in a car.

As far as living the close in neighborhoods more on the east side are where it's at to me.
Cabbagetown
Candler Park
East Atlanta
East Lake
Edgewood
Grant Park
Inman Park
Kirkwood
Lake Claire
Oakland
Ormewood Park
Poncey-Highland
Reynoldstown
Maybe even Virginia-Highland
I own a home. But you find decent deals renting homes, condos. or apartments. I mean what do you need or want? A yard, garage, off street parking? What do you like a quiet neighborhoods or nightlife in walking distance?

Sounds like you need a garage. The problem with condos and apartments are parking spaces. So you may want to rent a house.

Atlanta sounds like a city that may have some industrial space that can be converted to living.

Find the old garmet district and look into some loft/work spaces. Usually when its not cool to live downtown there are low priced square footage buildings available.

Just a thought.

Price,

Is there a vintage hang-out? My wife and I may fly in for a few days. We'll go visit my family in Savannah, TN, and maybe drive to Pennsylvania for a few.

We hang out Wednesday nights, Sunday for coffee, and on occasion a cafe run on a Friday or Saturday.

I guess that's kind of the west side.

BTW I'm no expert my I just have experiences and opinions. I was surprised how gloomy Matt and Neil made it sound here.

In addition to the older traditional neighborhoods listed above, you might look at Atlantic Station. It's a newer urban development north of the Georgia Tech campus, with shopping, office space, and condos built over a huge underground parking garage. It's across the "connector" (I-75/I-85) from midtown.

That's because, generally speaking, when people give a negative attitude it's based on fear.

Usually fear of the un-known.

The Westside sounds good. I know that's where I would go. But that's me. I like weird, off-beat, industrial spaces, in run down areas of a city.

Um, unfortunately Atlantic Station bans motorcycles from all retail areas. One of my big gripes with the place. Also, there are so many foreclosed properties you have to be careful you aren't stuck paying the entire building's HOA fees. I like Atlantic Station, because Ikea and West Elm are there, just not thrilled with their attitude towards bikes.

I actually like living here but I figured you should here the very bad first. If the bad doesn't scare you off you'll love the good things. Atlantic Station isn't going to work for you, they have a no scooter/motorcycle attitude. As far as loft spaces that are live work they are around but getting few and far now. Developers have started snatching them up and making them nice and doing away with any sort of right to store scooters inside, I have several friends/customers that are being forced out of their lofts now. Renting a house with a garage is your best bet.

My comments from earlier has nothing to do with fear just truth. I have lived in this town awhile and plan on being here a lot longer. I just knew tons of positive info is available about Atlanta but the negative is often looked passed so I didn't want you to be surprised after you move here.

Jimmy-
In Atlanta, caution is not based on fear of the un-known. I've lived here over 30 years, both in Atlanta proper and just outside the city. Crime is rampant here. Georgia Tech is on the west side and has been plagued with students getting attacked because they are not permitted to carry firearms. The thugs, however, do. We are traditionally in the top 5 crime areas in the country. People are afraid to ride Marta due to crime. Sad but true.

The westside is my favorite spot too, it's got great restaurants and nice loft areas along with one of the great blues dives in town.

I love Georgia. I'm just not in love with Atlanta anymore after watching it decline from being one of the most popular destinations for familiy moves and conventions in the US to one that is tarnished, crumbling, and struggling to find it's identity. I'm not stuck in past, I just recognize like most others here that the goodness that was inside the perimeter has shifted further outside the city.

Fair assesment.

As for the loft/work space, that happened here in LA as well. Near the beginining of the 90's spaces downtown became rediculous.

Wow. I did not know that about Atlantic Station. Seems silly to make the development into a European-style urban living community, and then ban scooters.

Atlanta city proper is definitely in decline from a macro economic level. Others have written about it. It is the most corrupt city and county government I have seen, and the deferred infrastructure repairs are coming home to roost (sewer, roads, water, poor public transit outside the city). I see even more massive tax increases coming. I think Marietta is a diamond in the rough, but it is still rough, but a great rental area for homes and is in the best run county around here.

As a motorcyclist, there is some of the best riding in the country outside the metro area and you can almost ride year round except for some very infrequent snow/ice storms. Drivers texting is an absolute horror show around here. Worse than other cities IMO. The scooter scene I think is going to grow here, but it is not as advanced as other places, but it is coming.

The diversity here is terrific, and you can dine on almost any type of cuisine for very reasonable money. That's all i have to add to the above at this point.

As you can tell from the range of posts here, Atlantans don't have a sense of civic pride that you'll find in New Yorkers or San Franciscans. As others have pointed out, there's two Atlantas, one inside the perimeter, the other outside. Most intown people loathe suburbanites for their giant SUVs, cookie cutter subdivisions and strip malls. The suburban folk dislike the townies for their liberal politics, their cooler-than-thou attitude and well I don't know a third reason.

A couple of observations, some of which refute statements above:

Comparatively speaking, cost-of-living in Atlanta is very low. You can own/rent a home for far less than other metro areas. (It's a buyer's market at the moment.)
I've ridden Marta, the local mass transit system,, at all times of day and never once felt unsafe. Even when I have my small children with me on the train, I never really have any fears for their safety or mine.
It's hot. Yes, it's true. But there's no blizzards, earthquakes, mud slides or Santa Ana winds.
If you're a water person, Atlanta is landlocked. There is a river, the Hooch, but if you're favorite thing about San Fran is the water, you'll be a bit disappointed.

I'd add Decatur to Joe's list of in-town places, especially if baby-making is on your agenda. Good public schools.