JasonParis
Moderator
So I took the first business trip of my life the other week to Atlanta for a conference at CNN Center. I've been to Atlanta once before (in the year 2000) and didn't really like it to be honest. This trip, more or less, solidified my year 2000 opinions.
Here's some pics...
World of Coca-Cola
Downtown ATL by night...
Georgia Dome
More downtown ATL by night...
The view from my room in the OMNI Hotel. The area around CNN (including much of the downtown) is still recovering from March's tornado.
Some of the heaviest damage was at the Georgia World Congress Center which is now a 24-hour/day construction site to get the place back open as soon as possible...
Daytime view...
The entire downtown area around Centennial Olympic Park is very strange. While the park is certainly nice (although increasingly dated), there's no neighbourhood anywhere near it. The park is surrounded by pretty much all of Atlanta's tourist attractions (World of Coca-Cola, CNN Center, The Georgia Aquarium) and most of Atlanta's downtown hotels. There's a also a few office workers (primarily from CNN and Ernst & Young) mixed in. It's very contrived and doesn't feel a part of anything. It would sort of be similar to having all of Toronto's hotels, plus the ROM, AGO, CN Tower and Casa Loma placed around Dundas Square and removing any residential and commercial component from anywhere near Yonge & Dundas. Therefore, it basically becomes a playground for the tourists and the homeless trying to get money off the tourists.
CNN Center...
Ironically, one of the world's largest cities not on a body of water is also home to the world's largest aquarium -- The Georgia Aquarium. While the aquarium is very impressive inside and looks decent from the front, here's what the sides and the back look like. No effort whatsoever was made and it makes the Richmond Street side of our Four Seasons Centre look beautiful in comparison.
Another shot of the rear of the aquarium. Yes, Atlanta does have some bike lanes, but in my five days there I only ever saw one cyclist.
Despite the triangular top, I actually don't mind this building. It's Atlanta's tallest, the Bank of America Plaza.
The view from the back of the aquarium. Downtown putters-out pretty darn fast. This would be as "downtown" as Yonge & Wellesley is in Toronto.
Centennial Olympic Park seems well programmed. This evening there was some Flicks in the Park festival.
Pepsi in the land of Coke!
The downtown Marriott also suffered a great deal of damage (as you can see in this shot).
Downtown and Midtown from my hotel window.
Coca Cola's world headquarters.
I only really had one day to myself, so I spent the Saturday exploring downtown Atlanta. The city was eerily quiet and very few stores were open. Any that were, catered exclusively to tourists. In fact, the entire Peachtree Center Mall was closed, save a few shops.
Clock on the Phillips Arena.
Centennial Olympic Park (roughly where the bomb went off)
Various downtown shots...
I know we sometimes like to make fun of certain +15-centric cities, but the hell is this? +15, +16, +17, +21 and +23?
The Peachtree Center...
MARTA's entrances and stations are somewhat Montreal-esque.
Perhaps an idea for Toronto in those areas where the subway runs slightly off the main street (i.e., Bloor-Danforth, parts of Yonge, etc.)?
I can't remember what this was, but I'm thinking it was a library. Brutalist in style, but it looked newer than when most brutalist buildings were built.
Atlanta has a flatiron building too! And a pretty attractive one at that!
Broad Street was easily the nicest and most urban of any downtown street I could find. Sadly, in the entire 10 minutes I spent on it I didn't see a single other person and every shop was closed with the exception of Subway Subs. I imagine it's a bit different during the week, but it's still symptomatic of a city that really doesn't "get it."
CNN from Five Points. This rail line is used by freight trains quite regularly. I saw an Amtrack train too from the I-75, but I'm not sure if it was on the same rail line.
Five Points is considered as downtown as one can get. Sadly, it's filled with vagrants and beggars and a heavy police presence to ensure the few tourists who venture into the area will be "o.k." Still, I was hassled by a few people who were fairly aggressive in their panhandling and demanding money as they were "veterans." It's also the "Yonge & Bloor" of their metro system, so it tends to be a relatively busy area, even on this quiet Saturday afternoon.
Five Points Metro station. Atlanta's system is relatively user-friendly and they now have a smartcard-based system like most of the rest of the world. One of the most apparent things about riding the metro in Atlanta is how 'black' it is. I rarely saw another caucasian person. Needless to say, I never felt threatened and everyone was quite friendly. The level of weekend service leaves a lot to be desire though. I waited about 12 minutes for a train.
I suspect this clock hasn't worked since the 1996 Olympic Games...
Since everything was closed downtown I headed up to Buckhead (sort of a Mississauga on steroids) to the Lennox Square Mall to take advantage of that high Canadian Dollar and those low American prices. You can sort of get to the mall from the metro, but this is what greets you upon leaving the station...
On my cab ride back to the airport, the I-75 was closed so we drove through some pretty poor neighbourhoods where I saw more "bank foreclosure" sings than people. It's hard to see, but this sign actually reads "Jewellery, TV and gun repair."
And that's Hotlanta! I really am struggling to find something nice to say about the place, but I do have to give a bit of credit to the people of Atlanta -- wonderful and extremely friendly. Despite being "the capital of the south," it's also fairly tolerant and Midtown -- in particular -- is quite gay. Nothing is really walkable and I found myself taking cabs everywhere. It's also one of the few American cities where there's an obvious black middle and upper class which is quite refreshing. Still, it's not by any means an urbanists paradise and can be quite assaulting on one's Toronto senses. The downtown is quite empty after 5:00pm, is criss-crossed by highways and isn't exactly safe. Many still drive large SUV's and there's a constant chatter about the price of gas and what has to be done about it. Still, I think that it's fair to say that the fact that it really is so different than Toronto is also what makes it sort of interesting too.
BONUS FEATURE!
Various shots from my landing back in T.O...
T.O. almost in view...
Ahhhh, now there's a city...
Yonge & Bloor.
Yonge & Davisville.
Yonge & Eglinton
North York's Sheppard corridor.
Perhaps one of the last shots ever of the Constellation Hotel's tower.
Looking forward to your comments!
Here's some pics...
World of Coca-Cola
Downtown ATL by night...
Georgia Dome
More downtown ATL by night...
The view from my room in the OMNI Hotel. The area around CNN (including much of the downtown) is still recovering from March's tornado.
Some of the heaviest damage was at the Georgia World Congress Center which is now a 24-hour/day construction site to get the place back open as soon as possible...
Daytime view...
The entire downtown area around Centennial Olympic Park is very strange. While the park is certainly nice (although increasingly dated), there's no neighbourhood anywhere near it. The park is surrounded by pretty much all of Atlanta's tourist attractions (World of Coca-Cola, CNN Center, The Georgia Aquarium) and most of Atlanta's downtown hotels. There's a also a few office workers (primarily from CNN and Ernst & Young) mixed in. It's very contrived and doesn't feel a part of anything. It would sort of be similar to having all of Toronto's hotels, plus the ROM, AGO, CN Tower and Casa Loma placed around Dundas Square and removing any residential and commercial component from anywhere near Yonge & Dundas. Therefore, it basically becomes a playground for the tourists and the homeless trying to get money off the tourists.
CNN Center...
Ironically, one of the world's largest cities not on a body of water is also home to the world's largest aquarium -- The Georgia Aquarium. While the aquarium is very impressive inside and looks decent from the front, here's what the sides and the back look like. No effort whatsoever was made and it makes the Richmond Street side of our Four Seasons Centre look beautiful in comparison.
Another shot of the rear of the aquarium. Yes, Atlanta does have some bike lanes, but in my five days there I only ever saw one cyclist.
Despite the triangular top, I actually don't mind this building. It's Atlanta's tallest, the Bank of America Plaza.
The view from the back of the aquarium. Downtown putters-out pretty darn fast. This would be as "downtown" as Yonge & Wellesley is in Toronto.
Centennial Olympic Park seems well programmed. This evening there was some Flicks in the Park festival.
Pepsi in the land of Coke!
The downtown Marriott also suffered a great deal of damage (as you can see in this shot).
Downtown and Midtown from my hotel window.
Coca Cola's world headquarters.
I only really had one day to myself, so I spent the Saturday exploring downtown Atlanta. The city was eerily quiet and very few stores were open. Any that were, catered exclusively to tourists. In fact, the entire Peachtree Center Mall was closed, save a few shops.
Clock on the Phillips Arena.
Centennial Olympic Park (roughly where the bomb went off)
Various downtown shots...
I know we sometimes like to make fun of certain +15-centric cities, but the hell is this? +15, +16, +17, +21 and +23?
The Peachtree Center...
MARTA's entrances and stations are somewhat Montreal-esque.
Perhaps an idea for Toronto in those areas where the subway runs slightly off the main street (i.e., Bloor-Danforth, parts of Yonge, etc.)?
I can't remember what this was, but I'm thinking it was a library. Brutalist in style, but it looked newer than when most brutalist buildings were built.
Atlanta has a flatiron building too! And a pretty attractive one at that!
Broad Street was easily the nicest and most urban of any downtown street I could find. Sadly, in the entire 10 minutes I spent on it I didn't see a single other person and every shop was closed with the exception of Subway Subs. I imagine it's a bit different during the week, but it's still symptomatic of a city that really doesn't "get it."
CNN from Five Points. This rail line is used by freight trains quite regularly. I saw an Amtrack train too from the I-75, but I'm not sure if it was on the same rail line.
Five Points is considered as downtown as one can get. Sadly, it's filled with vagrants and beggars and a heavy police presence to ensure the few tourists who venture into the area will be "o.k." Still, I was hassled by a few people who were fairly aggressive in their panhandling and demanding money as they were "veterans." It's also the "Yonge & Bloor" of their metro system, so it tends to be a relatively busy area, even on this quiet Saturday afternoon.
Five Points Metro station. Atlanta's system is relatively user-friendly and they now have a smartcard-based system like most of the rest of the world. One of the most apparent things about riding the metro in Atlanta is how 'black' it is. I rarely saw another caucasian person. Needless to say, I never felt threatened and everyone was quite friendly. The level of weekend service leaves a lot to be desire though. I waited about 12 minutes for a train.
I suspect this clock hasn't worked since the 1996 Olympic Games...
Since everything was closed downtown I headed up to Buckhead (sort of a Mississauga on steroids) to the Lennox Square Mall to take advantage of that high Canadian Dollar and those low American prices. You can sort of get to the mall from the metro, but this is what greets you upon leaving the station...
On my cab ride back to the airport, the I-75 was closed so we drove through some pretty poor neighbourhoods where I saw more "bank foreclosure" sings than people. It's hard to see, but this sign actually reads "Jewellery, TV and gun repair."
And that's Hotlanta! I really am struggling to find something nice to say about the place, but I do have to give a bit of credit to the people of Atlanta -- wonderful and extremely friendly. Despite being "the capital of the south," it's also fairly tolerant and Midtown -- in particular -- is quite gay. Nothing is really walkable and I found myself taking cabs everywhere. It's also one of the few American cities where there's an obvious black middle and upper class which is quite refreshing. Still, it's not by any means an urbanists paradise and can be quite assaulting on one's Toronto senses. The downtown is quite empty after 5:00pm, is criss-crossed by highways and isn't exactly safe. Many still drive large SUV's and there's a constant chatter about the price of gas and what has to be done about it. Still, I think that it's fair to say that the fact that it really is so different than Toronto is also what makes it sort of interesting too.
BONUS FEATURE!
Various shots from my landing back in T.O...
T.O. almost in view...
Ahhhh, now there's a city...
Yonge & Bloor.
Yonge & Davisville.
Yonge & Eglinton
North York's Sheppard corridor.
Perhaps one of the last shots ever of the Constellation Hotel's tower.
Looking forward to your comments!
