Pinpoint: Atlanta, Georgia

Known as The A, A-Town, The Empire City of the South, Hotlanta— though no locals actually call it this, Atlanta is the city of many names and rich history. “Atlanta on the rise” is a popular phrase coined to describe the growth the city has gone through. It’s hard to find a city with more prideful inhabitants than Atlanta. Ask anyone from Atlanta why they love their city and you’ll be sorry you even asked in the first place.

For one, Atlanta is beautiful. It’s one of the only metropolitans completely surrounded by trees with tall, glossy buildings poking through the canopy, giving it the name, City of Trees. Going up on rooftop parking garages is a common past time of most locals and it makes for the perfect backdrop. Atlanta has the dreamiest mix of old, brick buildings and shiny, metal skyscrapers. We even have our own version of the Flatiron Building, seen pictured. One of my favorites, is The Westin hotel. It’s the tall, shiny, circular one with a spinning observation deck and restaurant at the very top that you can see while driving down the interstate.

From the top you can see all of downtown, including Georgia Tech University, the gold leaf covered dome of the capitol building, the surrounding forests, and even Stone Mountain, a giant granite deposit about thirty minutes from downtown. Also when you’re driving around and stopped on one of the many bridges over the interstate, the views make being stuck in traffic so much better. A popular bridge, the Jackson Street bridge, was made famous from being featured in The Walking Dead. It’s one of the best spots to watch the sunset over the Atlanta skyline where you and thirty other photographers and their tripods are set up to try and capture the best sunset and skyline landscape. Home to festivals of all kinds from food, arts, and music festivals, small businesses, historic food chains, major attractions such as the world’s largest aquarium—The Georgia Aquarium, and to the World of Coca- Cola, it’s hard to be bored in this city. Food is a major part of the city. Atlanta has a range of types of restaurants like small businesses like Hop’s Chicken, at Ponce City Market, and Fred’s at Krog Street Market or fast food chains that have over 75 years of history like The Varsity, which is the world’s largest drive-in restaurant. The Varsity can hold 600 cars and more than 800 people inside the restaurant. On Georgia Tech game days, more than 30,000 people walk through it’s doors.

Also a defining restaurant of Atlanta, is Waffle House. Live here for only a couple of months and I promise you will find yourself ordering hash browns at 2 am at some point. Waffle House is a major part of Atlanta culture as it’s always the move after sporting events or where you walk to during ‘Snowpocalypes’ because it’s the only place open when the city is covered with a white blanket of snow. As a girl with probably one of the biggest sweet-tooths in the world, it’s hard to choose a favorite spot for the perfect dessert to end the day in the city. From Café Intermezzo and their delicious cakes, to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and their organic lavender ice cream. A Sunday night can not be spent wrong at either one their many metro-Atlanta locations.

Art and music are huge parts of the city. Atlanta is the site of a thriving music industry representing all types of genres, such as R&B, gospel, country, and hip-hop. Artist like Usher, Migos, Lil Yachty, Gucci Mane, and Childish Gambino all call Atlanta home. There’s always a concert whether its at a big venue like the new Mercedes Benz Stadium or small and historic venues like The Tabernacle or Eddie’s Attic. Many artists come through the city making it a popular stop on tours. Driving around the city you can see the culture and history through the musician on the street corner to the murals painted on the side of a building in midtown. Tiny Doors ATL is one of Atlanta’s many art projects that help bring some color and fun to the city. They are tiny six inch tall doors placed all throughout the city and are constantly changing. The Living Walls is another art project that paints large scale murals taking advantage of the wall space in Atlanta to help bring thoughts on important topics of our society while bringing color to the neighborhood.

Atlanta, ATL shawty, A-Town, home. Here’s to you, Atlanta and all your special features that make you so colorful, delicious, and beautiful. We still love you even when it takes three hours to drive through downtown on I-75 during rush hour.

COVERAGE BY ALEXIA DE MELLO