What do Martin Luther King Jr., the Georgia Dome, and Atlanta’s only open air heroin market have in common?
Directly to the west of the Georgia Dome is one of Atlanta’s oldest historically African American neighborhoods. Vine City became popular after the 1917 Atlanta fire, which destroyed parts of another black community in Atlanta, Sweet Auburn. Adjacent to Atlanta University and Morris Brown College, Vine City hit its peak as the center of Atlanta’s black community in the 1940’s and 50’s. As job and housing opportunities for blacks improved in the late 50’s, the wealthier residents moved out of the Vine City area, causing a severe economic decline. The 60’s brought demonstrations, Martin Luther King Jr., and increased attention, but the neighborhood continued its slide into poverty. From the mid-60’s forward, talk of revitalizing the neighborhood was common, but no actions were ever taken. In the late 80’s, the neighborhood civic association fought against the impending Georgia Dome to no avail. The dome is not quite the eyesore residents had feared, but neither did it bring a promised economic upturn. The Vine City Civic Association commissioned a lengthy revitalization plan, published 2004, but nationwide recession has prevented any further movement forward. Read the rest of this entry »
I am currently in my 8th year of living in Atlanta, and I thought I knew the city pretty well. I went to college at Emory, lived in Druid Hills, read Creative Loafing, attended openings at Beep Beep, bought all my presents at Young Blood and never, ever drank Pepsi. Yes, I knew all there was to know about Atlanta. Then my boyfriend decided he might buy a house, and I decided to help him look.
I had no idea. For example, did you know that there are things on the west side of 75/85? Other than Georgia Tech? And to the south – there’s like a whole other city down there! A laundry list of neighborhoods I had never heard of, let alone been to. In theory, I understood that there were things outside the snug comfort of my lower northeast enclave, but I never really considered it. Now I have begun to wonder – what are people up to over there? How can I have no clue what 3/4ths of Atlanta is like and still be a good Atlanta citizen, let alone a good Atlanta architect?
This will be a regularly occurring column where I take the opportunity to educate myself and anyone else who might be interested on Atlanta neighborhoods that I don’t already know about. Which is apparently a lot. Every other week I will investigate and profile a different Atlanta neighborhood. Midtown will not be one of them. Or will it?
Directly to the west of the Georgia Dome is one of Atlanta’s oldest historically African American neighborhoods. Vine City became popular after the 1917 Atlanta fire, which destroyed parts of another black community in Atlanta, Sweet Auburn. Adjacent to Atlanta University and Morris Brown College, Vine City hit its peak as the center of Atlanta’s black community in the 1940’s and 50’s. As job and housing opportunities for blacks improved in the late 50’s, the wealthier residents moved out of the Vine City area, causing a severe economic decline. The 60’s brought demonstrations, Martin Luther King Jr., and increased attention, but the neighborhood continued its slide into poverty. From the mid-60’s forward, talk of revitalizing the neighborhood was common, but no actions were ever taken. In the late 80’s, the neighborhood civic association fought against the impending Georgia Dome to no avail. The dome is not quite the eyesore residents had feared, but neither did it bring a promised economic upturn. The Vine City Civic Association commissioned a lengthy revitalization plan, published 2004, but nationwide recession has prevented any further movement forward. Read the rest of this entry »