ATLANTA: Midtown or Downtown?

[Ant131531]

Honestly, it really depends....

I live on the east side of Downtown more towards the downtown connector and it is a ghost town here and there is like NOTHING around. You have to walk like 10-15 minutes just to get to the core of the downtown area where everything is. After 9, if it's not the weekend, it does turn into a ghost town. There is like NO ONE walking at all. Downtown however, at least in the core area does resemble New York in some ways...gritty and dense with older style buildings and 1st floor retail/restaurants.

Downtown isn't as dangerous as people claim it to be. Maybe south of Five points and underground...but the northern half is very safe, especially in the Hotel district...huge 3 block urban canyon with a lot of floor retail and resturants like Hooters, Peachtree Mall, and Hard Rock cafe.

Midtown is more cosmopolitan. It's got big buildings also...but it isn't very dense and IMHO, it doesn't really have the city feel like Downtown Atlanta does. It has a lot better nightlife and more people are walking at night. It also feels cleaner. It feels like the post-modern age city.

Depends on youre preference....if you want a little taste of New York, head for downtown....if you want cleaner streets and better night life, head for midtown.

[northwinds]

That's an easy one....Midtown by far.....unless you are attending a convention.... unnecessary comment

[ATLTJL]

It could be that downtown is just pretty big....depends what you think downtown is.

I mean, I know someone who lives like a block or two south of North Avenue, so I guess technically that's downtown....and that place was pretty cool.

But when you get down toward like Fairlie-Poplar, that place had tons of potential but is nowhere near what it could and should be. And by 5 points? Well, forget it.

the vast majority of the people are either veterans or mentally ill in some way

I agree with this....but you do realize that mentally ill people can be the most dangerous people on the face of the planet, right?

[ATLTJL]

LOL!

No matter whether you choose midtown or downtown, proper grammar will get your further...or at least taken more seriously.

Although I guess the actual grammar is proper, because both stay and live are both active verbs, so they would be interchangeable in a sentence and allow it to remain grammatically correct. Hmmm, so what would the term for the relative "wrongness" of using stay in place of live be? The mind boggles.

I do, though, enjoy Bryant's retort. It's made me change my mind. Now I recommend downtown for him.

[ATL Urbanist]

Originally Posted by afonega1

I used to live in Midtown because even though I could afford it,it was overpriced what you get.Not to mention WAY to much traffic.

My family made the move from Midtown to Downtown a couple of years ago for this reason. We wanted to find a nice space to live in with good construction (meaning well-insulated from noise) and close to a MARTA station. We couldn't afford anything in Midtown that met that criteria but we could Downtown.

We sometimes miss the amenities and shops in the more established Midtown neighborhoods, but we've been really happy with Downtown and are committed to staying here.

Originally Posted by afonega1

Eating out late is actually better Downtown than anywhere else in the city.

I like the whole late-night, big-city feel here. We live in Fairlie-Poplar and it's nice seeing GSU students, police officers and residents eating late at night at places like Landmark and Mama Mia's. There are always people at Intermezzo late at night too, as well as Sidebar.

There are certainly good late-night places in Midtown, but they're more spread out -- not in a concentrated, super-walkable area like they are Downtown.

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by ATL Urbanist

My family made the move from Midtown to Downtown a couple of years ago for this reason. We wanted to find a nice space to live in with good construction (meaning well-insulated from noise) and close to a MARTA station. We couldn't afford anything in Midtown that met that criteria but we could Downtown.

We sometimes miss the amenities and shops in the more established Midtown neighborhoods, but we've been really happy with Downtown and are committed to staying here.



I like the whole late-night, big-city feel here. We live in Fairlie-Poplar and it's nice seeing GSU students, police officers and residents eating late at night at places like Landmark and Mama Mia's. There are always people at Intermezzo late at night too, as well as Sidebar.

There are certainly good late-night places in Midtown, but they're more spread out -- not in a concentrated, super-walkable area like they are Downtown.

I agree with everything you just stated.Midtown has more everyday amenities but Downtown has more of an edge. Excitement of actually feeling like you are in a big city.

[cqholt]

Downtown has better architecture and is the urban-core of the city. Midtown is newer and has more nightlife, but everything is concentrated along Peachtree Street. Midtown has Piedmont Park ,which is awesome, and Downtown has Centennial Park. It all really depends on what the person likes, but I prefer Downtown because of the urban grittiness and history.

[Febtober]

I went to Georgia State University, which is downtown, and lived at 14th and Piedmont, which is midtown.

I haven't lived there since 2007, so take my opinions with a grain of salt, but if you can afford it, I'd definitely go with Midtown. There was a pretty bad homeless problem in downtown, and while midtown definitely had it as well, it wasn't to the same extent.

The stretch from 10th to 14th along Piedmont is my favorite little corner of the city. You can get a decent 2 bedroom condo in the low 200s and up. You can walk across the street to Piedmont Park or to any number of great little restaurants. If you're into clubbing and nightlife you can walk over to Crescent Ave for that.

Traffic is the big caveat. I'm not sure if midtown or downtown suffers from it more to be honest so it may be a wash. Getting out of my apartment and turning left onto 14th street anytime from 7am to 10am, or from 4pm to 7pm on a weekday was a nightmare that basically involved shutting your eyes and praying.

Overall midtown (specifically along the park) always felt like more of a neighborhood where I would just get up and go for a walk around when I felt bored, as opposed to downtown, where I sort of needed a specific destination to get up and go for a walk. But that's just me