Best Overall Neighborhood

Where trees are hugged and cemeteries are romantic, Grant Park has the potential to be a zoo - well, outside the confines of the zoo, that is - but it’s surprisingly quaint and quiet. Creatives and neighbors collect at the park, some happy to wait on sunny mornings for a seat at Ria’s Bluebird. Plus, the Beacon just opened, one of the few developments in recent years of explosive gentrification to add to a neighborhood’s charm. less...

Pharmacy? Yep. Grocery store? Yes, and an organic one at that. Bars. Lots. A psychologist to talk about your feelings? Yeah, and in the same building as a dentist. Good neighborhoods have life’s daily needs in close proximity and are easy to walk around. LITTLE FIVE POINTS has all that, plus a strong dose of genuine Atlanta grit. Thanks to a grant from ArtPlace America, there’s now performance art in the streets. MARTA’s a 10-minute walk away, bumping it even higher in the rankings for a well-rounded neighborhood. www.littlefivepoints.net. less...

Ah, DECATUR. The apple of an urban planner’s eye. The most family-friendly of locales that doesn’t involve sitting in traffic on I-75. Homeowners there weren’t as hard hit by the recent economic tsunami, the schools are considered top-notch, and a well-staffed police force keeps tabs on goings on in its neighborhoods. City officials’ plans to make a pedestrian-friendly square and downtown area have noticeably paid off, allowing residents and visitors to follow fare at such standout restaurants as Watershed and Cakes and & Ale, with choice drinks nearby at Brick Store Pub and the Grange. Can’t drive home? Take MARTA, which has a stop below the square. Summer brings a seemingly endless array of public events to entertain the city’s estimated 29,000 residents, including the nationally known book festival that’s attracted such talents as Rick Bragg and Salman Rushdie. And while the urban ’burb might catch flak from hardened intowners for its sometimes stroller mentality, it’s still the kind of place you’d secretly like to call home. Decatur, you marvelous son of a bitch, you win again. www.decaturga.com. less...

After the textile boom hit Atlanta in the 1870s, villages started cropping up around the city’s cotton mills. When the mills closed, many of the mill towns disappeared. But not WHITTIER MILL VILLAGE. Located in the northwest corner of the city, about three miles off I-75, Whittier Mill is a 110-home neighborhood boasting homes built in the 19th century. An adjacent park is home to the mill’s original brick tower, where neighbors gather for picnics. And many of the houses — which sell for around $225,000 — include original heart-pine floors, bead-board walls, and an overall feeling of having traveled back in time.
www.atlantaga.gov/government/urbandesign_whittiermill.aspx.

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