Talk of the Town - East Point November 04 2000

“Black or white, gay or straight, come to East Point and renovate.” This is a common chant among residents of the rapidly renovating East Point. The stand-alone city, just five miles south of downtown Atlanta, has been encouraging all walks of life to buy and renovate property. When Lance Rhodes was ready to move out of his Midtown apartment two years ago, he wanted to find a place accepting of gay and alternative lifestyles. He looked at property all around Atlanta, but he finally settled on a 1930s cottage in East Point. “Many of my friends with alternative lifestyles lived in East Point, and they encouraged me to come down and take a look,” he says.
When Rhodes moved in, the friendliness of the neighborhood amazed him. He said neighbors came by to introduce themselves and helped him unload his boxes, something he never expected.
The diversity and small-town feel also lured Kevin Hudson to his un-renovated bungalow in East Point. “East Point really is a small town,” says Hudson. To prove his point, Hudson recounted the story of going to East Point City Hall to have his utilities turned on. The ease of it all surprised him. “It took all of three minutes,” he says. Plus, while he was there, the clerk called over a passing city council member and introduced Hudson as a new resident in his district. “Imagine that happening at Atlanta’s City Hall,” he laughs.
Not only does East Point have a diversity of residents, it also has a diversity of architectural styles. East Point is about the same age as Atlanta, and many of the houses date to the turn of the century. There are also many bungalows from the 1920s, cottages from the ’30s, ranch houses from the ’50s and recently built subdivisions of new homes.
East Point’s historic downtown commercial area is also an asset. The city recently joined the National Main Street Program, an initiative that encourages commercial investment in historic downtown areas. According to East Point City Council Member Melvin Pittman, the Main Street Program has caught the eye of potential developers that are “extremely enthusiastic” about East Point. Pittman guesses that in “one year at the most” East Point will be a hot destination.