Am I the last person to discover this new-for-2012 blog, entitled Return to Atlanta??
What the gist of it? Well here’s the two-sentence summary…
From 1989 to 1995 I roamed Atlanta taking photos of scenes that were sure to vanish. Two decades later I’m revisiting the same spots to see how things have changed.
Curbed Atlanta [who gets my hat-tip] describes the site as a “more intimate version of Atlanta Time Machine”. I think that’s a pretty accurate description. So all you ATM lovers out there, you may want to add Return to Atlanta to your regular rotation. I know I will!
1995 and 2012 photos of view from N. Highland bridge courtesy of Return to Atlanta
New to me too. And after 30 minutes of perusal, the entire site summed up in a phrase: “Why’d all you damn people have show up and ruin my beautiful urban blight?”
Discovered that blog a few weeks ago and enjoyed going through it perhaps a little too much!
The photo shows a part of the Beltline route and illustrates its fantastic potential to remake the core of Atlanta.
Don’t understand all the hoopla over the Beltline but hope its promise comes true especially if transit is included in the future.
But yuck do they stamp out these ugly condos out of a giant cookie cutter?
Interesting seeing the before and after photos but it made me sad.
Oh, wow– I’d all but forgotten how truly cool Urban Nirvana was. Losing places like that one is what keeps me uncomfortably on the fence with regard to gentrification…
I attended many events there and knew the artist well. Are you sure this is a photo of Urban Nirvana?I miss her and her time so much! I think this spot pictured is about 1/2 mile away.
The photos shown comport with my (admittedly imperfect) memory of the late, great Ms. Sibley’s amazing little spot of color & life amidst the concrete, AR, but I can’t swear to their accuracy…I used to pass Urban Nirvana every day on my way to my downtown summer internship, and would wish I could just drop out of law school & hang out there all day!
for reference, the buildings along the right of the beltway sit on N. Highland as you’re heading east toward downtown, just beyond Fritti/Sotto Sotto. Parish restaurant is just beyond the grey and red loft condos.
not far out of frame to the left of the beltway sits 800 East studios that some partners and i bought about 11 years ago, before the steel yards on N. Highland were sold and redeveloped.
no debate in my mind about which was a preferable state. now is way better. it’s now one of the more vibrant live/work, creative niches in the city, with lots of good food, drink, and boutique shops, whereas before gentrification, i’d drive up to the studio to find prostitutes tricking in front of our building, we were broken into over 10 times . . . ain’t no romance in any of that.
viva la progress!
That description of the “before” makes me miss Baltimore. 🙁
Mr. Boh,
As a fellow recent Baltimore transplant… let me know if you want to grab a beer at the Brick Store and reminisce about heroin addicts, gunshots, and prostitutes.
erm, make that heading *west* toward downtown …