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Atlanta jaunt (and bonus Toronto-by-air shots)

JasonParis

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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
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Downtown ATL by night...
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Georgia Dome
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More downtown ATL by night...
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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.
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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...
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Daytime view...
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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.
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CNN Center...
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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.
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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.
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Despite the triangular top, I actually don't mind this building. It's Atlanta's tallest, the Bank of America Plaza.
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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.
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Centennial Olympic Park seems well programmed. This evening there was some Flicks in the Park festival.
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Pepsi in the land of Coke!
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The downtown Marriott also suffered a great deal of damage (as you can see in this shot).
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Downtown and Midtown from my hotel window.
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Coca Cola's world headquarters.
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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.
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Clock on the Phillips Arena.
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Centennial Olympic Park (roughly where the bomb went off)
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Various downtown shots...
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I know we sometimes like to make fun of certain +15-centric cities, but the hell is this? +15, +16, +17, +21 and +23?
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The Peachtree Center...
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MARTA's entrances and stations are somewhat Montreal-esque.
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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.)?
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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.
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Atlanta has a flatiron building too! And a pretty attractive one at that!
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I suspect this clock hasn't worked since the 1996 Olympic Games...
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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...
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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."
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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...
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Ahhhh, now there's a city...
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Yonge & Bloor.
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Yonge & Davisville.
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Yonge & Eglinton
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North York's Sheppard corridor.
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Perhaps one of the last shots ever of the Constellation Hotel's tower.
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Looking forward to your comments!
 
Detroit is far more worthy of such a description.

Atlanta doesn't look bad in a quick visit, but there are so many PoMo office towers. The amount of sprawl is staggering.
 
These pics sum up my experience over 2 visits too. It's a weird downtown for sure.

When I was there everyone said 'you must go to Buckhead' (a suburb), over and over like a mantra - that being where where the restaurants and nightlife were.

Not.
 
They still say it! If you like parking lots, shopping malls, steakhouses, ESPN bars and over-sized clubs, than Buckhead's where it's at! :p

Basically, imagine Toronto's entire entertainment/restaurant/shopping scene being in Mississauga. Odd, odd place.
 
My very first business trip was in Atlanta too (why else would you go to Atlanta?) and I share a lot of your observations, in particular that there is a very well established class of black professionals which was a very welcome change from a lot of America - particularly the Rust Belt.

Anyway, on the surface Atlanta is a disaster but I can't help but like it. My opinion of the city was changed due to an all-night bender the night before the conference I attended was starting. During that time, my travelmate (the sales guy) and I met Atlantans of every size, shape and colour from 7 foot tall college basketball players to drunken bachelorettes with deep southern accents to second generation Desi kids who had drove in from the exurbs to club. All these people had wanted to get drunk with us and pour their hearts out and I could only conclude that Atlanta was a city of very striking diversity and that the spirit of the people there could animate whatever crap physical surroundings they had built around them.

Also, the city is getting better. The midtown area seemed to be quite a construction zone. The PoMo isn't my taste but a lot of it is urban - and it's a lot harder to start from scratch than to add on to an already existing fabric.
 
Thanks for the tour. I was offered a job at the Georgia Aquarium and this picture thread reminds me of why I turned it down.
 
Thanks for these, Darkstar. Atlanta looks...incredibly soulless!

It's good to do a phototour like this once in a while to remind us of the astonishing amount we take for granted.
 
Thanks for images. Doesn't look like much has changed since I was there - ten years ago.

So I took the first business trip of my life the other week to Atlanta for a conference at CNN Center.

Didn't an evil desire overcome you to keep referring to it as the CN Centre?
 
Thanks for sharing. Kind of like LA, this seems to be another one of America's largest cities that yet doesn't really have an urban vibe, despite being so populous. Like allabootmatt said, it makes T.O. looks pretty much like heaven, in terms of urbanity.
A month from now I'll be living five hours of driving due south of Atlanta, yet this thread somewhat persuaded me that I shouldn't include Atlanta on my list of cities to visit in America's south.
 
Atlanta could really use a TLS - why don't we send it there?

42
 
Thanks for sharing. Kind of like LA, this seems to be another one of America's largest cities that yet doesn't really have an urban vibe, despite being so populous. Like allabootmatt said, it makes T.O. looks pretty much like heaven, in terms of urbanity.

With the caveat that I haven't been to Atlanta: LA absolutely has an urban vibe! It has literally dozens of perfectly functional urban neighbourhoods. (Westwood, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Venice, Marina del Rey, West Hollywood...). Not to mention a degree of vibrancy and diversity which, in my book, puts it in its own league as far as American cities go.

As for ATL: what a disgrace that that place hosted the Olympics. Weren't those games widely seen as a disaster too?
 
Thanks for the pictures! They're great.

I was wondering why you said Buckhead is like Mississauga but on steroids. I'm not entirely familiar with Atlanta, would care to elaborate on what you meant by this statement?
 

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