Atlanta

[jonesthecurl]

Anyone live in Atlanta? What do you think of the place, what are the bits to enjoy/avoid?

[tzor]

Oh, for a moment I thought this was about the fact that Atlanta United just rubbed the soccer ball in the faces of NYCFC by wining both legs of the semi-finals. Don't know much about the city, but the association football team is nasty.

[CatchersMitt14]

Anyone live in Atlanta? What do you think of the place, what are the bits to enjoy/avoid?

It’s aeful. Don’t bother with it. Traffic is a freaking nightmare.

[2dimes]

There is a kick ass roller coaster possibly just out of town.

[Neoteny]

Atlanta is cool. Are you visiting or staying?

[Jdsizzleslice]

Anyone live in Atlanta? What do you think of the place, what are the bits to enjoy/avoid?

It’s aeful. Don’t bother with it. Traffic is a freaking nightmare.

A famous saying is as follows: "If you're going to hell, you have to go through Atlanta."

[IcePack]

Avoid the humidity...oh wait

[jonesthecurl]

Considering moving there.
Basically, we have to move in about 6 months when our lease runs out.
California made sense when we moved here, but now Mrs thecurl travels a helluvalot on business - mainly to NYC, London and Africa - so being on this coast (and several hours from the airport) means pretty much an extra day at each end of the journey for her.
So the East is logical - but I'm not returning to NJ/NY winters - I left the snow shovels behind when we moved here, and I'm not going back to that.
Besides, NJ/NY are dear to rent or buy in.
Atlanta airport is a major hub, wherever you're going.
Final factor is I'd like to do more acting, and Atlanta is the place to be for that these days - this month, 29 movies or TV shows are being filmed there - and that's just major players.
Negative is that, the one time I went there, for Dragoncon, I didn't like the place much.

[CatchersMitt14]

Considering moving there.
Basically, we have to move in about 6 months when our lease runs out.
California made sense when we moved here, but now Mrs thecurl travels a helluvalot on business - mainly to NYC, London and Africa - so being on this coast (and several hours from the airport) means pretty much an extra day at each end of the journey for her.
So the East is logical - but I'm not returning to NJ/NY winters - I left the snow shovels behind when we moved here, and I'm not going back to that.
Besides, NJ/NY are dear to rent or buy in.
Atlanta airport is a major hub, wherever you're going.
Final factor is I'd like to do more acting, and Atlanta is the place to be for that these days - this month, 29 movies or TV shows are being filmed there - and that's just major players.
Negative is that, the one time I went there, for Dragoncon, I didn't like the place much.

OMG, Labor Day Weekend (DragonCon), is the worst. So many events happening at the same time with both college and pro football and the gay pride parade at the top of list of event draws next to DragonCon. I think they were predicting about 300k people headed to the ATL that weekend. I actively try to leave the area that weekend while everyone else is coming in town.

My humble opinion, the ATL isn't worth your time. If you want the airport, yeah, that is great but otherwise there is no point to voluntarily coming here. It is really not that interesting of a town, I always struggle with things to do or show people when they visit. We have a couple of major tourist traps but let's be honest, you can go to a zoo or aquarium in pretty much any major city. I actually much prefer the Chattanooga Aquarium and will drive north instead of visiting our own.

#Snowpocalypse2014
took me an hour to drive two miles and that wasn't on the highway. winters here aren't as long as NJ (I've lived there too). issue with winters here is that no one knows how to deal with them so it's really a lack of ability to handle the weather. for example we don't have the equipment to do things like sand all the roads and people never learned how to drive in snow/ice conditions.

[strike wolf]

Atlanta's okay...i mean inside the city...ive heard that Sweetwater and coca cola tours are nice. The aquarium is cool too. Little Five points has some nice music stores and decent food in the area and you can try some unique beers as well as some pretty good sandwiches at the nearby chandler street market. If you're looking for a bit more high end dining, Buckhead is the usual pick. Bistro Nico and Rays on the River are both good. Honestly though, if I was visiting Georgia for fun, I'd either head north on 400 to 17 into the mountains or south 75 to 16 to the coast and/or Okefenokee. Avoid? Parts of the city are a bit rough but like any city you can kinda tell where. Be careful on any country roads. Small towns in South Georgia are pretty much all speed traps.

Yeah don't move here. It's not the worst place but there are better places.

[strike wolf]

Oh, for a moment I thought this was about the fact that Atlanta United just rubbed the soccer ball in the faces of NYCFC by wining both legs of the semi-finals. Don't know much about the city, but the association football team is nasty.

Is nasty a good thing in this context? I don't follow soccer.

Anyone live in Atlanta? What do you think of the place, what are the bits to enjoy/avoid?

It’s aeful. Don’t bother with it. Traffic is a freaking nightmare.

This is pretty true.

Considering moving there.
Basically, we have to move in about 6 months when our lease runs out.
California made sense when we moved here, but now Mrs thecurl travels a helluvalot on business - mainly to NYC, London and Africa - so being on this coast (and several hours from the airport) means pretty much an extra day at each end of the journey for her.
So the East is logical - but I'm not returning to NJ/NY winters - I left the snow shovels behind when we moved here, and I'm not going back to that.
Besides, NJ/NY are dear to rent or buy in.
Atlanta airport is a major hub, wherever you're going.
Final factor is I'd like to do more acting, and Atlanta is the place to be for that these days - this month, 29 movies or TV shows are being filmed there - and that's just major players.
Negative is that, the one time I went there, for Dragoncon, I didn't like the place much.

I guess for practical purposes of air travel and snow avoidal, Atlanta is the place and I did forget about Six Flags but yeah. Most of the city is pretty forgettable. I'm mostly still here by inertia and the fact that I don't know where I would move to otherwise.

[mookiemcgee]

Atlanta has Americas greatest wealth of strip clubs!

[Neoteny]

Yeah, Georgia has pushed hard to incentivize film in the state. And I think the comedy scene is doing ok too. There's a pretty good number of museums and such in the area if you're in to that kind of thing too. We aren't New York, but you can find culture if you want it.

As has been noted, traffic sucks and public transportation is not great. If where you live AND where you work are on the main Marta paths, you're fine, but good luck otherwise. The buses aren't as bad as people will have you believe, but they have to deal with traffic as much as anyone else. Though I hear they're expanding the rails over to the Clifton corridor soon (CDC/Emory University area) which is nice.

As a southern dude, I appreciate Atlanta for being an hour or two drive from some proper wilderness. If you do any hiking or biking, there's a lot to see nearby, especially to the North, but even Stone Mountain has some nice trails. Just ignore the dumb rock and the shit next to it. Sign my petition to put Outkast on it.

I also like that there is a broader ethnic makeup than you'll find anywhere else in the southeast. This is especially helpful for food. You can find decent vegetarian options, which can be hard elsewhere in the south.

[KoolBak]

Nashville? Arent they all artsy?

Gotten some good input here jonzey....

[2dimes]

Looks like you should check out Gunshow.

[MudPuppy]

I moved to ATL ~27 years ago (from NY) after one visit looking for 3 things: big city, low cost of living, & warm weather. Still here and happy.

Tourist-wise, it's somewhat limited... It's definitely got some things but nothing I typically take advantage of on a regular basis. Weak art & natural history museums, strong botanical garden & aquarium, OK zoo. World of Coke is cool. MLK museum & national site and new Civil & Human Rights museum. Stone Mountain is definitely worth a visit. Some great places to hike not too far from the city.

Acting really has taken off here and would be a great fit for pursuing acting jobs.

Overall, downtown has gone downhill since I moved here. A bunch of places have closed down and it seems a bit dirtier, etc. The Braves moved out to the 'burbs and Underground Atlanta shut it's doors. No more New Year's Eve Peach drop and Christmas Tree lightings aren't as good as they've been in years past. But the new Mercedes Benz stadium is pretty cool and will host Super Bowl this year and is drawing massive crowds for ATL United soccer team (I was at the past game with 70k+ people which put attendance for the year over the 1 million mark.) There have been other neighborhoods that have seen some nice revitalization. Housing prices for downtown have got far more expensive than they used to be.

Traffic does suck and public transportation is pretty limited. I live in the burbs now and am a mile from work so it doesn't affect me much.

It's a good city for keeping active... There's a big tennis community (ALTA) and it's home to one of the largest 5k races in the country/world (Peachtree Road Race on July 4th; 60k runners). New BeltLine trails in the city. Some pretty good parks. Some decent bike trails (on & off-road).

Local music scene is strong here and there are a couple of good annual festivals (Music Midtown, Shaky Knees) as well as being a major stop for most other performers you'd be interested in.

ATL certainly has its issues but I'd recommend.

[Neoteny]

As far as natural history museums go, I like Tellus. It's not in the city proper, but it's worth the trip. One of my old profs has one of his dinosaurs in it, so I might be biased.

As far as music goes, if it doesn't come to Atlanta, it will probably go through Athens, which is an hour or so away. That drive does suck though.

[Symmetry]

The TV series is worth a watch. I'm not sure how relevant it will be- Welsh rap being not that famous, which is unfortunate:

[MudPuppy]

#Snowpocalypse2014
took me an hour to drive two miles and that wasn't on the highway. winters here aren't as long as NJ (I've lived there too). issue with winters here is that no one knows how to deal with them so it's really a lack of ability to handle the weather. for example we don't have the equipment to do things like sand all the roads and people never learned how to drive in snow/ice conditions.

Just had to chuckle at NY/NJ's mini-Snowpoacalypse yesterday... snow equipment and all. I just walked home (a mile) during ATL's event... was fun for me... but understand commuters' frustrations. I think ATL is perfect in terms of still getting to experience a nice snow event on occassion without having to deal with it constantly. A blizzard every now and then is usually awesome... just not when it hits unexpectedly at rush hour.

[Neoteny]

Lol I was down in Florida for 2014. It was awesome.

[jonesthecurl]

#Snowpocalypse2014
took me an hour to drive two miles and that wasn't on the highway. winters here aren't as long as NJ (I've lived there too). issue with winters here is that no one knows how to deal with them so it's really a lack of ability to handle the weather. for example we don't have the equipment to do things like sand all the roads and people never learned how to drive in snow/ice conditions.

Just had to chuckle at NY/NJ's mini-Snowpoacalypse yesterday... snow equipment and all. I just walked home (a mile) during ATL's event... was fun for me... but understand commuters' frustrations. I think ATL is perfect in terms of still getting to experience a nice snow event on occassion without having to deal with it constantly. A blizzard every now and then is usually awesome... just not when it hits unexpectedly at rush hour.

Yes, my old home town ground to a complete standstill - the salter trucks were out and the plows on their way when the snow struck earlier than expected and heavier. Lots of people made unexpected trips to pick up kids or commuters (the Jitney buses were cancelled). Lots of people got stuck, school buses included, the plows couldn't get through due to the traffic. Reminded me why I don't want to overwinter there again.
On the other hand, here in CA, I'm about 60-70 miles from the big wildfire and I can smell it. The smoke looks like a light fog even here, and I can't see across the Carquinez Straight when I'm at the waterside, just vague shapes where the scenery is usually quite something. My eyes have been watering constantly for days. And even if huge action on climate change happened tomorrow, this problem will get worse for years yet. I don't think we'll get burned out (not too woody round here, though then again most of the houses are made of wood...) but we might get smoked out at this rate.

[jonesthecurl]

Looks like you should check out Gunshow.

looks interesting. Good place for a group outing, I'd think.

[nietzsche]

ok.

Acuna, he's good but he's latino.. so yeah, we like to see that passion in baseball, just keep it down. No, seriously, you should've secured that ball before celebrating.

I think they got two good young pitchers, Soroka and Fried. Soroka i hear is good but honestly i haven't seen him pitch.


Swanson or something like that? overrated. Freeman.. he's good but.. meh. totally forgettable.

That's all i know about atlanta.


Maybe Quirk could help.

[jusplay4fun]

Where did you end up? Did you move to the Atlanta area?

I JUS saw and read most of this thread for the first time, Jonesy-C

JP4Fun

Considering moving there.
Basically, we have to move in about 6 months when our lease runs out.
California made sense when we moved here, but now Mrs thecurl travels a helluvalot on business - mainly to NYC, London and Africa - so being on this coast (and several hours from the airport) means pretty much an extra day at each end of the journey for her.
So the East is logical - but I'm not returning to NJ/NY winters - I left the snow shovels behind when we moved here, and I'm not going back to that.
Besides, NJ/NY are dear to rent or buy in.
Atlanta airport is a major hub, wherever you're going.
Final factor is I'd like to do more acting, and Atlanta is the place to be for that these days - this month, 29 movies or TV shows are being filmed there - and that's just major players.
Negative is that, the one time I went there, for Dragoncon, I didn't like the place much.

[HitRed]

Btw, I asked my friend that moved from Atlanta to North Carolina 3 years ago. He said Atlanta has the best vibe of any city that he has ever lived in (8yrs). That is offset greatly by the traffic.

HitRed