Access Atlanta > The Newcomer
You know you’re not a newcomer when…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
People ask questions about Atlanta, and I have answers.
Not always, and rarely definitive. But after months responding with blank stares and good-natured reporterly curiosity, progress was evident. I noticed it when exhausted tourists stopped me in the street, or when friends camped on my couch. I can generally point them in the right direction, or find a decent place for dinner. Even while I’ve been swept away from this blog and busy with other work-ish things, I’ve been filing away handy tidbits of Atlanta-centric knowledge. I’ll need it sometime.
Last week, I flipped through a copy of the 2009 Not for Touristsguide for Atlanta, and found that I agreed often, learned a bit, and sometimes disagreed, because I could. After nearly 10 months here, I’ve got a favorite burrito and biscuits, a familiar route to work, and a just-in-case alternate. The weather “patterns” make as much sense as they possibly can, and I’ve got a doctor, dentist and veterinarian, a preferred coffee shop and yoga studio. When old friends say they’re considering a move to Atlanta — aren’t they all? — I can talk authoritatively about neighborhoods other than my own. I’ve ridden roller coasters, swum with whale sharks and wandered the zoo. I regularly order grits with breakfast.*
None of which makes me any more Southern, or any less Midwestern; I was called out yesterday for sounding like Marge Gunderson, for heaven’s sake. What makes me not-so-much a newcomer anymore is the determination to stay. If this newspaper stopped printing tomorrow, I’d wake up in Atlanta next week, and a year from now. You can fold yourself in to the fabric of a place, and still stand out. That’s cool. Here, at least, it is. Which is one big reason to stay.
Answer me this, transplants: how did you know you weren’t a newcomer anymore? And newcomers, what needs to happen for you to think of this as home?
*El Myr, Thumbs Up and Gato Bizco, MARTA eastbound, bike along Edgewood, always bring a hat, Emory Healthcare, Dr. Ross, Buckhead Animal Clinic, Dr. Bombay’s, Kashi Atlanta, everything at Six Flags, Georgia Aquarium, of course, and again, Thumbs Up.
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Trick-or-treat! Have some traffic!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sure, everybody place celebrates Halloween with a smidge of local flavor. I’ve seen Halloween parades before, but nothing quite like what I saw during the aftermath of Little Five Point’s.
Another thing that gives our celebration a unique flavor: traffic.
Turns out that Atlanta has pre-trick-or-treat traffic jams that live on in Halloween lore, like in 1996, when drivers were trapped around Perimeter Mall of three hours, or in 2005, when Halloween fell on the first Monday after the end of daylight savings time. Read: mass confusion and darkness an hour earlier. (Who knew? Not me. I guess it makes sense.)
So how bad does it get? Will you take the day off or leave early to ensure Halloween success?
This story by Ariel Hart says it might not be all that bad — you know, for a Friday rush hour in Atlanta.
Alas, I’ll be celebrating as I do every year: with a pre-nightfall battle for the last bag of Snickers at the nearest store. As always, I forgot to buy candy.
For more Halloween coverage, check out today’s to-do list of events and the AJC holiday guide.
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Brrr…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I had this twisted mental vision that I’d moved to a place where its 70 and sunny always, except for a few steamy summer months.
Wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
I know I’m not the only one digging in to the AJC’s supply of hot chocolate. This is cold.
The good news: I just talked to the National Weather Service, and they said all the things I wanted to hear.
This cold? This 30-degree-trudge-to-work-through-bike-blowing-gusts cold?Not normal! At least not for now.
Meteorologist Brian Lynn told me this is much closer to what you experience in a Georgia January, and by the end of the week, we’ll see highs back in the 60s.
And the better news: January is our coldest month, so this is just about as cold as it gets!
Sure, Lynn admits, it’s not impossible to get some of those record-breaking single-digit chills here. He moved to Georgia (from Alaska!) in 1989, and has witnessed it a few times, but it’s not the norm.
I grew up in Michigan — I don’t even know want to know where their thermostats are right now — but I’ve lost the rectitude required for cold temperatures.
But wow, am I glad I didn’t toss all those sweaters.
What are your winter memories in Georgia? How cold does it get?
And if you’re new here and wondering what other weather to expect, well, check out posts on hurricane, drought, smog and — yes, something nice — fall.
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Best neighborhood for a young, single woman?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just getting back to work after a few days out of town and while I was gone, commenter lcurtis asked a good question.
“I will be graduating college and moving to Atlanta for work at the end of this year. It would be great if there could be a discussion about what the safest and most affordable neighborhoods for a single, young girl are. Thanks!”
Ooh, that’s a tough one. Safe and affordable are two on a long list of defining characteristics for a good place to live, and there are always exceptions.
My take: this depends a lot on your definition of safe and affordable. It depends, too, on whether you’re renting or buying. As a renter who loathes the idea of a long commute, I sorted through the wildly expensive and uncomfortably dumpy places around Candler Park/Inman Park/Edgewood/Reynoldstown/Cabbagetown/East Atlanta, and found rental I really love. Could I afford to buy? Yeeeeeaaaaahhhhh…no.
And like any neighborhood, some of those areas have more crime than others - not so much that I wouldn’t live there as a young, single gal, but not so little that I’d go into much detail about it in conversation with my dad. (“Hi dad!…Yeah, I’m great…Weather’s finally cooling down…Nope, everything here is fine…”)
One way to handle this, I think, is to consider what you really want. My list: a short commute; an apartment, not a single-family home, but not a giant complex, either; something close to a grocery store and a few convenient businesses; an outside entrance, not just a door that opened up to my living room; neighbors I can see, meet and talk with.
Adding all that up, I asked around and found the neighborhoods where that seemed possible, and focused my search there almost entirely.
Here’s a post my co-worker wrote about buying a house in Atlanta. And here’s another where some people talked about their favorite neighborhoods and ZIP codes.
So what do you say, readers? Where would you recommend a young, single woman look for something safe and affordable?
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Test your Atlanta speed and smarts.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Teams in this month’s Urban Dare race in Atlanta get ready at Central Park. Teammates Lauryn Bellamy and Caroline Smart and teammates Rustom Maneksha and Michael Beasley call for help.
It’s one thing to run a race through Atlanta and another to offer up a trivia-laden tour of the city. It’s another thing entirely to do both at once.
I wrote about a one-afternoon Urban Dare competition that started at Atlanta’s Central Park a few weeks ago. Fun to write about, fun to learn about, but could I have won? Nooooooo.
Is it a good way to learn the city? Yes, absolutely. Several teams I interviewed had only a casual or outdated knowledge of the city. Most said they wanted to know it better. Read the full story here.
Urban Dare is run a little like a scavenger hunt, and a little like NBC’s “Amazing Race” reality TV show. Teams get a booklet filled with clues, questions and directions: Shoot pictures of Atlanta landmarks, build human pyramids of unsuspecting non-competitors, get a hat and a bite to eat at the world’s largest drive-through.
Urban Dare officials create new questions each time by wandering around, looking for landmarks and reading plaques that are often overlooked. Each team paid a $90 fee to compete for a $300 prize. At the designated day and time, they’re off on a route of their own design. (The next race in Atlanta is on April 9.)
Maps, reference books, laptops and cell phones are welcome. Cameras and comfortable shoes are a must. Bikes and cars aren’t allowed, but competitors can hop on public transportation.
One clue referred to a scene in the first thriller featuring the character Hannibal Lecter, filmed in Atlanta in the 1980s. “Get a picture of the entrance to this building found on Peachtree Street,” it said.
A little hunting online revealed the movie was “Manhunter,” not the more famous “Silence of the Lambs,” and the Peachtree Street building that portrayed Lecter’s mental institution was the High Museum of Art.
Below the cut, check out some of the questions and clues that racers faced. The winners did it all in about 2 hours and 22 minutes. How well would you have done?
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