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Dear Mayor Franklin:

You can help improve Atlanta and improve a vital part of our history right now.

The Old Atlanta Constitution Building, on Forsyth is facing demolition. This is a valuable piece of architecture which should be restored from its disrepair rather than demolished.

GDOT is endeavoring to build a new rail terminal there and while that is a vital goal, restoration of the constitution building would serve to enhance the terminal, not impede it. This building is an important piece of Atlanta history. It housed Ralph McGill’s Constitution. Celestine Sibley had her office there, and in its day it was beautiful.

Restore the building and you preserve a vision of Atlanta as a city where trains and people matter. Let the building fall and the hopes of the people and another link to our history falls with it.

I hope you will join this fight.

Links:
Docomomo.com
Fact sheet for the Atlanta - Lovejoy Line
Mail your city Councilors!

Georgians interested in architectural preservation need to check out Docomomoga!
Docomomoga is a society dedicated to making sure that the legacy of modernist architecture is not lost.  There is a lot to preserve!  Did you know that I.M Pei’s first commercial structure is right here in Atlanta?  It’s at the corner of Courtland and Ponce. 
Right now Docomomoga is trying to save the old Atlanta Constitution Building. 
Help them out!  Even if you don’t like every modern Atlanta building, a lot of their preservation efforts are well worth it!

Awhile back I had begun pulling together a series of notes called “Atlanta — how we got here” which I intended to post here on Bloglanta as a brief series. I have always had an interest in the history of Atlanta, particularly of Atlanta’s intown neighborhoods. But even though I’d lived through a great deal of Atlanta’s post WWII decades, I had very little real idea of why the city had taken on the form and character it had.

So I decided to think about and read about the major events and initiatives which had created Atlanta as we know it. The Airport, the expressway system, the Civil Rights movement, the shopping malls, convention centers, art complexes and urban renewal were all areas I wanted to cover. I initially got the idea from reading a book by Atlanta’s former police chief Herbert Jenkins, which had a few paragraphs on why onstreet parking had been removed from 10th Street. By the time he wrote the book, there was already criticism of the effects of turning 10th Street into a heavy traffic arterial. The traditional neighborhood businesses along the street were for the most part killed, and the street rapidly transformed into the patchwork of surface parking and mediocre utility buildings of today. But Jenkins’s explanation for why the policy had been implemented seemed plausable given the particular issues of the time in which he was operating. I wish they hadn’t done it, but it wasn’t nearly as idiotic as it seems in hindsight.

So I hit the books, and I was interested in getting a grasp of the broad traits, events, and trends which made Atlanta what we’re left with today. And of all Atlanta’s characteristics none stands out more than Boosterism.
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Happy Birthday to the Fox Theater!  Thank heavens this palace was saved from the wrecking ball!

There are numerous other theaters in Atlanta that could befall the same fate!  It would be much more fun to see these theaters restored and they would greatly help their communities!

In East Atlanta, the old Madison Theater is boarded up and awaits a tenant.  Given East Atlanta’s reputation for music, this would be a great place to put in a mid-sized concert hall.  Yes, parking has to be addressed.  Yes, it would add traffic to the area, but if the facility kept its character, it could draw great people into a great area.

Toco Hills already has the parking yet the Toco Hills Theater remains closed.  This theater could seat 800 and has one of the largest screens in town.  It could be a great second run house or a theater specializing in audience participation movies.  Given its location, it might also do very well as an ethnic movie house.  Can you imagine a single theater that showed latin American, Indian, and Asian films?

The Cinema in East Point has long faced the wrecking ball.  East Point needs a live theater venue.  It would help put the city on the map and help the south side’s continued development.  It’s a community that is working hard to turn the corner, and a working theater with a resident company would continue to make East Point attractive to new families.

The old Rhodes Theaters were the last revival houses in Atlanta.  The city could use them again.  Additionally, it would give the folks who live near the Arts Center a chance to walk to the movies!

All these theaters can still be saved, renovated and operated.  Just as Georgia State saved the Rialto and it had a huge impact on downtown, the benefits could be reaped by these locations.

In perusing the 1943 Gateway, Georgia State’s yearbook before it was called Rampway, I found a picture on the faculty page that was kind of suspicious. Does Atlanta’s own Willie B. have a connection with Georgia State? Is this the same guy? What was he doing at Georgia State? What could he have been teaching?

Manuel Maloof  has died.  He was the CEO of Dekalb County and was essential in helping to build modern Dekalb.  We need more like him.  Manuel was a tough progressive.  He was tough in politics so he could be open to making the changes that needed making.  He sought business for the county, worked to bring in MARTA, reached out to make the government look for like the county, and tried to run a tight ship.  Many people see him as one of the most successful CEOs ever.

Vernon Jones could take a page about Maloof’s book.  Times are tough and needs are great.  Overhaul County government.  Make it run more economically and use the savings to keep the budget in check and address our most needy priorities.  Make the deals you need to make but make them in the open and defend them.  Help the police and fire departments get the equipment they believe they need.  In return, ask of them that they be as responsive to the community as possible.  Keep up the developement of park lands and preservation and make sure no one can say “but his friends are making a killing!”  Spin off non government functions and keep your promises.

Lastly, when Mr. Jones retires, he could do worse than to buy a bar.  Want a Georgia Institution?  It is Manuel’s.

How Our Restaurants Define Us

Which restaurants are necessary for the locals?  Which for the Tourists?  Are there restaurants that are so important that they help draw people to Atlanta?  With the plan to save Paschal’s these questions have come to the for.  Every city has restaurants that help give it identity.  Could you imagine L.A. without Spaggo?  Chicago without Ed Debevic’s?  New York without the Carnegie Deli?

I think there are restaurants which are their own positive externalities.  In other words, even if you never eat there, your experience of Atlanta is enhanced because a given restaurant is there.

Perhaps the clearest example has to be TheVarsity.  Even if you’re vegan and never eat there, you should be glad it’s around.  It’s a cheap place to eat for college students, a place for Coca Cola and Bell South executives to slum, and sits on North Ave., one of Atlanta’s traditional lines of racial demarcation.  As the world’s largest drive in, it’s a tourist destination for aficianados of the 50s and 60s car culture.  It’s also a defining element of Atlanta.  For those who say that there is absolutely nothing Southern in Atlanta, this is at least on piece that makes it clear that Atlanta is the king of southern cities.

Mary Macs may also be such a place.  The Buckhead equivalent may be the The Buckhead Diner.  Each one of these places is part of the local fabric of the community and draws tourists as well.  They are institutions which help support the neighborhood.

So, how do we preserve these institutions and keep them in good shape?  Should there be a preservation arm of the Georgia Restaurant Council?  Does government have a role here or should we let a restaurant that can’t make it just die off, even if it’s a defining part of the community?

The irony is that the ad ran on Turner South.  The Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau is running an ad touting Atlanta as a great travel destination.  Wonderful! Terrific!  Except that many of the people in the group with whom I saw the ad noticed that the ad features imagery almost entirely evocative of northern cities.  There was nothing distinctly ‘Southern’ about it.

What did they show?  Bloomingdales, the High Museum (by New York architect Richard Meyer), the subway, Ice Hockey, and a spot of a Bop trumpeter.  None of these images seem representative of the Deep South.

This raises an interesting question that my Southern friends have long debated:  Is Atlanta the south?  As someone who has lived in other parts of the country, I find Atlanta very Southern.   Yet my Southern Brethren tell me that to them, this is a city of people who want to leave the south behind.

Which do we want to be?  How do we reach consensus on which, if any, elements of the southern ontology will be requisite in the Atlanta mindset?

Trends show that more migration now is from people leaving smaller southern towns to come here or from foreign countries than from traditional northern cities.  Perhaps these folks will define this.  Perhaps it is precisely elements of the south they are trying to get away from by coming here.  Perhaps that’s the message in the marketing and it’s not so ironic after all.

People often blame General Sherman for destroying the city of Atlanta, however, Sherman has nothing on Real Estate Developers.  Developers and their allies in the city council over the years have ripped through Atlanta and destroyed great architecture.  They almost destroyed the Fox Theater!  Too many buildings have been lost and too many continue to be threatened.  The Atlanta Preservation Society is doing the best they can, but they are not a high priority among the city’s leading charitable givers!

5 Great Buildings We’ve Already Lost:

o Rio Mall  This was a required cultural landmark for any visitor to Atlanta.  Designed by Arquitectonica, this was the first deconstructionist piece in the city.  It was also a place where the northside and southside could meet.  It has been replaced by Post Apartments

o The Oxford Bookstore, Pharr Rd.  Bruce Goff didn’t build much in the Deep South, but he built this wonderful building.  First it was a car dealership.  Then, Oxford Books bought it and converted the building into a bookstore.  It has been replaced by post Apartments.

o The Original Equitable Building  One of two buildings designed by famed Architect Daniel Burnham, this was a classic example of early modernism.  In the 1970s however, European modernism was all the rage and this graceful
beauty was destroyed to make room for wider sidewalks.

o Peachtree Arcade  Before there was Underground, there was the Peachtree Arcade.  This was Atlanta’s first indoor shopping district and it sat where the First Atlanta Tower now stands.

o Terminal Station  
This Beautiful Spanish style rail station was the hub of Atlanta activity for 100 years, but as trains ceased to be the main mode of transportation and as demands for downtown office space expanded, this venerable station fell.

5 Great Buildings That Face the Wrecking Ball!

o The Winecoff Hotel .. This was once the grandest of all Atlanta Hotels but after a tragic fire, it has never been rebuilt.  Saving this landmark would both boost the north section of downtown but restore a landmark to a true heritage.  The building was designed by William L. Stoddart.

o Women’s Club of Atlanta .. This beautiful mansion in midtown has been a women’s society parlor, a restaurant, and two famous nightclubs.  Now it is occasionally used as a special events facility, but could easily fall away.

o Brookwood Station .. Atlanta’s current Amtrak station is designed by the great Atlanta Architect Philip Shutze.  Mr. Shutze designed this station to serve the Buckhead area and make train travel convenient.  Now, the building
could be lost if a new Atlanta Intermodel Terminal is built.  The Real Estate is highly valuable and developers covet the land more than they covet the beauty of the station.

o Crawford and Company Building ..Losing this building would be a two fold tragedy.  First, it’s one of the best examples of a Bauhaus style building in Atlanta and it is I.M. Pei’s first commercial project.  The scale and purity of this project remain a testament to Pei’s elegance.

o The Peters House This house has a few key values.  First, it’s a great example of the Queen Anne style that was prominent in 19th Century Atlanta.  Second, it has the oldest remaining landscaping plan left in the city.  Lastly, it’s one of the great houses on Ponce and the more we lose, the more of our heritage we forget.  Who owns it?  Marietta’s Mayor. 
What does he want to do?  Build condos!

We still have time to save these and many other buildings.  The first thing you can do it notice and appreciate them.  Then act!

Recently, a comment here spurred me to think about the difference between cities and towns.

I think, at some level, there is a central difference between a city and a town. In a city, there are tons of people all living and working anonymously from one another. In a town, everyone lives and works with far fewer degrees of separation. As the saying goes, ‘everyone knows everyone’.

To illustrate this point and some of its effects, let’s compare two communities of which I am very fond: Atlanta and East Point.

In the city of Atlanta, thousands of people have moved in from all over the world and try to get along in a growing city. Few of them know each other and virtually no one would claim to know everybody. The resources of the city are growing so fast that it’s impossible to see it all. People do not view Atlanta as one community. Rather is has several neighborhoods where people find local association. Even the Mayor does not try to know everyone. Mayor Franklin has done a great job thus far, but she doesn’t even make the attempt to learn the names of all the people at the events she attends. There are just too many. Rather, she emphasizes that she knows the people who can make changes that will improve the city: the movers, shakers, and resource barrons.

The city revels in its cosmopolitan elements: prominent chains, a variety of foods, a hotel population which is about 10% of the city at any given time. It rests on it’s bigness and its impersonal nature to be muscular and get things done.

Contrast this with East Point. At their recent festival, Mayor Hilliard went out of her way to meet every one she could and to try to get their names right. People were pleased and expected the Mayor to know them. In fact, through one or two people, it seemed that everyone knew everyone. East Point is a growing community, but it endeavors to be a small town. It wants to be regional. It wants its local focus. Residents know that their affiliations with each other are what will guarantee a strong community. Rather than seeking cosmopolitan additions such as Starbucks, Crate and Barrell, or Anthropologee, East Point is trying to keep local retailers going that will bring the services residents find attractive. They want these businesses to be locally owned and operated precisely so that everyone will know they and they will have to be responsive to the community.

So, do want to live in a community so large, you can get lost and if you’re a household name, it means you’ve made it? Or do you want everyone to know your name because you know all of theirs and a little something about them? Your answer will help you decide where you should live.