Because our airport is a great place to visit Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
I've just downed the last sip of a perfect Manhattan at a restaurant almost too fancy to warrant my presence beyond this barstool. Moments ago, I was face-to-face with a massive installation by one of the 21st-century's most renowned living artists, the vision of his sprawling multimedia collage looming as gloriously in my head as it still is over a moving crowd a few hundred yards behind me....
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Because ... Outkast! Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
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Because the Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway Bounce just doesn't have the same ring to it Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Whether it's due to sentimental attachment or failed memory, Atlantans have happily ignored city government's desperate attempt to tidy up the Dirty South by randomly renaming streets. No offense to the famed civil rights attorney, but Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway is still Bankhead in our collective psyche. Sure, Stewart Avenue's sketchy rep may not be the most desirable, but where's the...
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Because you can ride the longest escalator in the Southeast Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Skip the lines at Six Flags and head to the Peachtree Center MARTA station, where you can ride the 192-foot escalator at the Carnegie Way/Ellis Street southwest entrance.
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Because our cool arts groups don't suck up to the man Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Our grassroots arts groups have integrity. The Goat Farm didn't sell out. WonderRoot hasn't been co-opted. Street artists rep street artists, thanks to Streetela. And Atlanta's arts community is all the better for it.
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Because our hip-hop artists are hit-making machines Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
From ATL's hip-hop princess Ciara to Luda demanding the city's drivers get outta the way, from the suave Usher to Bankhead's T.I., our hometown hip-hop heroes crank out the best radio smashes.
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Because, ok, the 'burbs do have some pretty sweet stuff Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
The suburban wilderness is not entirely a cultural wasteland. Among its many charms: the Hindu Temple in Riverdale, Cobb County's Kennesaw Mountain and Civil War battlefields, Stone Mountain, Sweetwater State Park in Douglas County, the Chattahoochee River Recreation Area, JeJu Sauna in Duluth. And, yes, the Big Chicken.
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Because our drivers suck in an awesome kind of way Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
When I came to Atlanta, I was a terrible driver. Timid, anxious, and scared of highways, I was the type of driver who hated getting behind the wheel for any reason. But just a couple of months on Atlanta's crazy, hectic, anything-goes streets and interstates, and I became the mean driving machine I am today.
There's a beauty in our driving style, a sped-up dance that has its own rhythm and...
| more...Because we fight the powers that be Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Georgia's tradition of bigotry, racism, and lynching — as well as its place as seed crystal for the Civil Rights Movement — has spawned a wondrous community of activists. Just a few examples from this year: Atlanta's southeast regional office of Amnesty International led the international struggle against the execution of Troy Davis; local undocumented students sat in Atlanta streets risking...
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Because we have more trees than cars Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
That's according to our cyphering, and it's one of those stats that's too good to fact-check. It's got to be true, though, right? Atlanta has more than 16 species of oak trees alone. The insane diversity of sizes, shapes, and colors creates a true urban oasis.
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Because Piedmont Park is picture-perfect Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Originally designed by Joseph Forsyth Johnson, the landscape mastermind who sculpted Central Park in NYC, Piedmont Park is a flourishing green oasis nestled between Midtown and Virginia-Highland.
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Because repping our city is a rite of passage Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
To become a cultural ambassador in Atlanta, one only needs a mic and a mixtape. In fact, there'd be no "ATL" without the city's hip-hop scene. Ever since OutKast turned Hartsfield's three-letter airport code into a verbal boast back in 1994, damn near every rapper from the A has followed suit. But the unofficial city anthem has to be Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris' "Welcome to Atlanta."
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Because our bartenders kick ass Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
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The sense of community within our city's bartending community must make them happy. And everyone knows, happy bartenders make better drinks. We appreciate all the passion, creativity, and brotherly (and sisterly) love these booze-slingers bring.
Because of the 4 a.m. Happy Donuts and coffee runs Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
No matter how late (early?) it is, there's always fresh joe and a red velvet or maple-glazed nightcap at Happy Donuts. In fact, Olivia Newton John's "Magic" never sounds quite as good as it does a few hours before sunrise.
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Because our strip club DJs break national acts Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Atlanta's nude entertainers break the records that make the whole world bounce. For more than a decade, getting spins in one of the city's numerous booty-shaking dens (Magic City, Strokers, Blue Flame, Kamal's 21) has been an artist's quickest route to mainstream stardom. Just ask a generation of rappers, from Lil Jon to Travis Porter. If your beats compel strippers to clap that ass, you could...
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Because Oakland Cemetery is dead solid perfect Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
It's not just because Margaret Mitchell and Maynard Jackson are buried there. Oakland Cemetery is more than the sum of the residents and tombs; it's a living monument to Atlanta's past. When Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead. It's not even past," he could've been describing the feeling of standing with a field of Confederate soldiers in Oakland while watching the sun set on the Atlanta...
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Because a former president crashes in one of our coolest neighborhoods Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Next time you swallow a shot at Manuel's Tavern, marvel that a former president is sleeping on a Murphy bed — seriously — or eating Savage Pizza just a few blocks away. When former President Jimmy Carter leaves his hometown of Plains, Ga., to stay in Atlanta one week out of every month, he crashes at the eponymous library in Poncey-Highland on a hilltop overlooking the downtown skyline (which...
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Because we're battling out auto-erotic tendencies Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Thanks to the 'burbs, our mass transit system never made it past Fulton and DeKalb counties, and we've got the sprawl, air quality, and gridlock to show for it. That's not preventing us from investing in new transit and the Atlanta Beltline, which, mind you, began as a Georgia Tech grad student's thesis. Widely considered the country's most ambitious public works and smart-growth project, the...
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Because our sins come cheap Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
In many big cities, you have to sell the internal organs you're trying to destroy when you want to smoke and drink. Here, liquor runs several dollars cheaper a bottle than in most other states, and cigs are still just 3-something a pack. Just like that, our evening is planned.
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Reasons to Love Atlanta Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Top Reasons to Love Atlanta
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Because Atlanta is the [fill in the blank] ... Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
BLACK
?GAY
?BLACK GAY
?CIVIL RIGHTS
?MOVIE
?TELEVISION
?ZOMBIE
?HIP-HOP
?FOODIE
?... capital of the South.
Because gas stations sell mix CDs Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
After an afternoon stuck in Atlanta's car culture of red lights and traffic, one of the few pleasures of stepping into the local gas station is finding a scrappy, cheap, loud bootleg mix sitting next to the register. Don't ask where to find the best ones: Figuring that out on your own is part of the fun.
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Because Buford Highway takes us far east Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
When we want exotic surroundings but only have a quarter-tank of gas, Buford Highway offers a cultural mashup of Vietnamese pho shops, Japanese stationers, Chinese herbalists, Korean bakeries, Mexican taco joints, and a slew of grocery stores selling things you wouldn't know how to cook if you were starving.
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Because second-hand" is a compliment" Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Not only do we have some pretty great thrift stores here, but you can spend an entire day in Sandy Springs, Roswell, Jonesboro, Avondale Estates, and other suburban pockets blissfully jumping from one to the next to paw through other folks' cast-offs. Talk about heaven.
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Because we have many universities, but we're not a college town Why We Love Atlanta
Wednesday November 23, 2011 01:00 pm EST
Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Morehouse, Spelman, Morris Brown, Clark ... we're loaded with inner-city colleges that add to instead of detract from the urban experience. Unlike many college towns, we're not an excuse for a constantly raging kegger. The students here are young adults who make Atlanta smarter and more vibrant.
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