Neighborhoods - Chamblee

Chamblee isn’t so much a neighborhood with something for everyone as a neighborhood convenient to the ones that do. It offers affordable housing inside the Perimeter and is practically adjacent to the Buford Highway corridor of ethnic restaurants, and just a few miles south of Buckhead’s shopping districts. Families with kids will be more attracted to spacious, sleepy residential neighborhoods like Huntley Hills and Sexton Woods, which feel insulated from its more industrial areas. Chamblee’s heart lies in the Antiques Row of its historic business district, with so many shops that you can lose hours searching for the perfect vintage knickknack.

Things to do in Chamblee

Shop at Antiques Row

Old curiosity shops like Rust ‘n’ Dust Antiques have been shopping destinations for decades and earned a national reputation. Georgia’s booming film industry frequently looks to Chamblee’s stores to provide props for cinematic period pieces. Don’t overlook Biggar Antiques and its multitude of kitschy signage a few blocks away.

Watch planes at the DeKalb Peachtree Airport

Even if you don’t have a pilot’s license, you can stop by to enjoy recently completed “Doc” Manget Memorial Aviation Park, which features a small playground for the kids as well as benches and viewing platform. Observing the takeoffs and landings of the small aircraft can provide a mesmerizing activity on a sunny day’s lunch.

Eat ice cream at the Frosty Caboose

Speaking of transportation, this old-fashioned ice cream stand serves a variety of scoops, shakes, and sundaes from a refurbished red train car and is located near the Norfolk Southern train repair depot, so you can frequently watch the choo-choos come and go while having a treat. The Caboose gets its desserts from Greenwood Ice Cream, a Chamblee business for half a century.

Watch Georgia Shakespeare

Based on Oglethorpe campus, this theatrical company bounced back from a financial shortfall thanks to an enthusiastic fundraising appeal last fall. Reliably featuring some of Atlanta theater’s best actors and highest production values, the company presents fresh takes on Shakespeare as well as modern classics. Plus, the company revisits Piedmont Park this May for the return of its popular free open-air show, now called “Shakespeare in the Park.”

Visit Oglethorpe University Museum of Art

The university’s modest 7,000-square-foot space nevertheless features pieces from around the world, including modern contemporary artwork from India and Tibet, and drawings from 19th-century French masters and American realists.