Atlanta circa 1990

[AlGreen]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Eh, Miss Rosemary, how come the sweetest peach in Georgia hails from Maysville, Kentucky?

Helped you out a little

[testa50]

Originally Posted by DTL3000

I thought the same thing. For as much as it has changed, the city still pretty much looks the same. Oddly enough though, there seemed to be more people out and about in many places than there is now. It's really sort of tough to get a good read on that since the camera provides no peripheral views. It might be a totally different story if so. Another observation; Marta bus service appeared to be more frequent.

Not to be picky but I would like to see some old video of a drive through Buckhead along Peachtree or through some of the areas that used to have huge housing projects. A cruise around the areas where Turner Field and the Dome are now would be cool as well.

One way this is tricky is that the video seems to focus on a lot of the new things that were going up in Atlanta, which are still major landmarks, so that can be a little deceptive. But overall I agree--it's surprising how much of this "new" stuff was actually there 20 years ago. Some areas seem to have been treading water these last two decades.

One thing I think this highlights is that much of the change Atlanta has gone through has been outside the business core. Take West Midtown: back then, it was literally just a warehouse district, and the residential component was basically nil (I'm talking the Howell Mill/10th street area). Nowadays, it's night and day: a significant number of the old buildings have been adapted to retail, office, and residential uses, and a number of large-scale residential projects have gone up.

Also, the business core of Midtown has expanded substantially. Now, there are office buildings on the west side of the connector; Tech Square has gone from nothing to a thriving district; Atlantic Station's office component has been relatively successful, etc.

[SW30303]

waronxmas, the audio on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddkpHuDTPMI
is entertaining. I never knew Frank Sinatra sang a song about Atlanta.

[AcidSnake]

It's hard to believe how much has change, for better and for worse. The MARTA buses were completed naked then...I guess that was before this whole "anger at Atlanta" stuff really set in and money for the transit system was more stable. I still wish a train station was built in South Dekalb, somewheres...

Kessler & Big "B" drug store. I forgotten about those businesses. That video evokes some weird gurgglely feelings in my stomach...A mixture of nostalgia mixed with some disappointment.

I miss the old Buckhead party scene.

Anyways, does anyone remember when Rich's used to have an ice cream counter? I think that aspect of the store went away during the eighties( I was a kid then, but I loved that ice cream!).

I guess I'm all over the place on this post. Good lord, I'm sounding like some old geezer, and I'm only in my early thirties!

Oh well, love those memories. Thanks, arjay.

Originally Posted by arjay57

This is cool.

Decatur Metro » Atlanta circa 1990

[architect77]

Against my family's wishes, I traveled from Louisburg, NC to spend the Summer of 1990 in Atlanta. On the night I arrived I went to Backstreet where I found a place to live and a job at the downtown Macy's in about two hours. It was one of the best summers of my life.

[BringBackCobain]

Nice video. Thanks for sharing.

As for the pedestrians, I think one would be blind if they didn't see a difference in the type of pedestrians between then and now. I think some of it can be explained by the fact that Underground was a destination for suburbanites back then. It didn't really start going downhill until the Rodney King riots took place there. Also, back then all of Atlanta's major law firms had downtown offices. Now, they are all in Midtown. Downtown in general had more white-collar jobs back then.

[reet4587]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

Also, back then all of Atlanta's major law firms had downtown offices. Now, they are all in Midtown. Downtown in general had more white-collar jobs back then.

I think it's true that there are fewer white collar jobs in Five Points area of downtown than there used to be and there's a decrease in pedestrian traffic because of it. A couple of office buildings on Marietta Street near Five Points have been turned into server farms and the old AJC building is now empty, so that's taken some professionals off the streets in that zone.

But the pedestrian traffic has increased elsewhere downtown from the increase in GSU students (and non-student residents like my family) living there, and from developments like the Ivan Allen Boulevard buildings. It's more of a case of there being a shift in points of activity in the larger downtown area than an overall decrease, I think.

I think it's cool to see the shift because it's a product of there being more mixed-use development throughout the city. The Five Points area has more varied usage now -- instead of being only a destination for office workers and shoppers, it's got a quiet residential component it didn't have 20 or 30 years ago. And now places in Midtown and Buckhead that were primarily residential have big business districts. I think it's a positive.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by reet4587

I think it's cool to see the shift because it's a product of there being more mixed-use development throughout the city. The Five Points area has more varied usage now -- instead of being only a destination for office workers and shoppers, it's got a quiet residential component it didn't have 20 or 30 years ago. And now places in Midtown and Buckhead that were primarily residential have big business districts. I think it's a positive.

Thanks, reet, very good observations.

I was thanking about this video the other day and drove the route, but continued on Peachtree up through Brookhaven. It's really quite amazing how the city has filled out all along its core. The development right on Peachtree itself is much greater, of course, but it now spreads deeper along each side as well. There's so much infill. It's hard to realize this sometimes when you're in the city on a regular basis.

Atlanta is really growing up.