So Sorry Midtown, Decatur’s #1!
Decatur Metro | March 31, 2011 | 1:01 pmJonathan points out that Decatur ranked as the #1 neighborhood in Atlanta in Creative Loafing’s just-released, unscientific-but-still-totally-accurate “Ultimate Neighborhood Guide”. (Go to page 12 of this PDF of the guide to read the full Decatur description)
What makes Decatur the greatest neighborhood in the Atlanta metro according to Thomas Wheatley and the people he bribed with laundry services to give Decatur the top spot? In summary, great schools, a strong LGBT community, lots of beer, and transit. Glenlake Park and the Decatur Cemetery also get nods, along with blurbs on many of our top restaurants, pubs and stores and cultural scenes. And what guide isn’t complete without a comment from “social media monster” Carl!?
The downsides of Decatur, according to CL?
High liberal yuppie quotient. (If that’s a plus for you, refile under upsides.)
Swarms of beer lovers on weekends can mean long waits at tiny pubs.
Oh, and as for the “Sorry Midtown” of my post title, Midtown ranked #2, while Inman Park was #3. It’s all in the PDF!
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This entire guide should be called into questiion as a result of their obviously wrong median home prices in Candler Park. More expensive than Inman or Va-Hi? Nonsense.
Jeff – I have to imagine that the condo boom in Inman brings those home prices down since condos are traditionally cheaper than single-family houses.
I still don’t buy it. There are loads of condos in Candler Park, too. I’ve been looking at houses in CP for a year, or so. No way is the median price mid-to-high $400s.
Mostly, it’s walkable. And it’s going to get more walkable when the Oakhurst Market opens.
All the restaurants I want, a high class beer store, my doctor, they’re all within walking distance. MARTA is just a few feet away, which means the Airport is 40 minutes away with no parking problems. The people are nice, too. And it’s a beautiful walk. You can get a full walking workout in without crossing any dangerous roads — OK, avoid Scott Blvd.
A family of four can live well in Decatur while putting barely 100 miles a week on their car, or less. A single person doesn’t really need anything more than a ZipCar.
What more do you want?
Just got my oil changed for the first time in 14 months…. mileage in that time? 2000 miles. Thanks MARTA!
I love Brick Store, but it is not a gastro pub.
Thank God.
Amen.
Love them fish ‘n’ chips.
I’d also say that Decatur isn’t as racially diverse as some of the other neighborhoods in the ATL. At least in the neighborhoods within walking distance to downtown (which is where I am). So, it’s more like “high liberal WHITE yuppie quotient.” 😉
Still, this place is wonderful to live in.
CL, I do understand mostly what you mean, but there’s a significant African-American population living in Decatur Housing Authority apartments smack dab in downtown Decatur. Most of the single-family-home neighborhoods ARE predominantly white, though.
As someone who was born in the City of Atlanta (3rd generation), I fully support the well-known campaign to end the term “the ATL” and “A-town,” etc. by newcomers/ yankees, etc.. Please, for the love of all that’s left of our beautiful South, don’t use that term again. Or “heteronormative” for that matter.
And at the same time can we please stop using south with S? Makes it sound and seem way too respectable.
I don’t know anything about this campaign. What’s wrong with The ATL? I kinda like it.
I guess that campaign’s not as well known as you think.
Never heard of it down here in the ATL.
I think the only thing we’re missing is those strong working- and middle-class investments, where our sanitation workers, police and fire members, teachers live and work amongst us instead of just working amongst us. Our cheapest housing keeps getting gentrified–not that I’m against gentrification…just wish we could go to Touch-a-Truck and more of the truck drivers, firefighters etc. that we meet there were also our neighbors.
AGREED!
“…Decatur Cemetery also get nods”
Our drive-thru cemetary wall took us over the top.
I love being called a yuppie because the Y is for Young!!!
Just confirming something we already know! But come on, CL…L5P as the “Best Neighborhood for Transit and Walkability”?! HA!! I beg to differ.
Agreed! It’s a bit of a hike to either Candler Park or Inman Park train stations from Little Five, so where is the transit advantage? The bike path? And as far as walkability, the footprint of Little Five is miniscule compared to Midtown or VA-Highlands. Doesn’t take much to walk from one end to the other.
I’d say it’s equal or better than Decatur in terms of walkability and transit. It’s pretty tough to compete with all the amenities you can walk to if you live in L5P. When you consider the balance of big-box stores and indie shops within a short walk of L5P, there really isn’t any other place in Atlanta that even comes close.
I take back the transit part, as I was only thinking about Decatur Station and not Avondale and East Lake Stations. Still though, for walkability, L5P easily wins.
By that criteria, Buckhead wins, hands down. You’ve got constant bus service up and down Peachtree and Piedmont, train service at least to Lenox (although would be nice to have a stop closer to the triangle) and a crazy diverse mix of big box and smaller retail, restaurants and services. And it is walkable. I’ve done it many times.
You could be right. Is there a Lowes/Home Depot and grocery store within the walkable portion of Buckhead?
I’m not sure if the residential portions of Buckhead, aside from condos, are as close to the amenities as the homes in L5P are, but I could be mistaken.
Well, the MARTA train service IS a little better than Decatur’s. The Inman Park Station is on the Green Line (short train that comes in between the long trains) as well as the Blue Line; so for much of the day, trains arrive twice as often. And I suspect that L5P may get more bus service too. However, I’d rather be walking late at night from anywhere in Downtown Decatur to the MARTA station or be out waiting for a bus than doing the same in L5P. There’s some dicey characters on the walk from L5P to the relatively out of the way and isolated Inmark Park station. A MARTA customer was murdered there back in the 90s sometime.
Decatur is not a neighborhood, it is a suburb. In my opinion, it is the coolest suburb in metro Atlanta. It contains several neighborhoods that would rate highly in the published comparison.
Decatur’s not just a neighborhood, not just a suburb…..it’s an Adventure!
If Roswell is a suburb, and Cumming is an exurb, then Decatur is an inburb.
Rank Decatur Neighborhoods. Now there’s a post to start a war!
Winonna Park, Oaksomething, Clairesomething, Somethingheights, etc..
Typical southsider answer. Oh so expected.
Lenox Place!!!!!!!
At heart, you are a trouble maker.
There’s the MAK, and then there’s all the others.
@an2500, Actually, Decatur is a city, not a suburb, incorporated in 1823. Suburbs are areas outside of cities. I think Decatur is the oldest city in the metropolitan area, 17 years before Atlanta. It is pretty cool.
Yep, That’s where this poll fails. Having access to its own city government gives Decatur a flexibilty and control of some aspects (such as ordinance creation, law enforcement and zoning) that the other Atlanta neighborhoods don’t have. How can they compete fairly?
Ordinance creation, true. Ordinance enforcement, a joke.
Note to self. Someone just informed me that Lawrenceville is older, incorporated in 1821. I stand corrected.
Another thing that sets Decatur apart is that it has its own very well-run local government that both responds to and helps sustain the local vibe. I concur with CSDMom that it would be great if we could reward more of those public servants with the opportunity to obtain affordable housing in the community they help create.
Can’t imagine loving a town more than I love Decatur! Every person here deserves a pat on the back for being a part of and contributing to such a fantastic community. Even those rare times when there’s actually something to complain about, it’s still the most awesome place to be!