Atlanta in the Spotlight

Lots of great press for Atlanta this week, including a feature article in the New York Times about the Atlanta BeltLine and a widely shared article about Atlanta's burgeoning startup community.

Be sure to checkout the latest release in Michael Tavani and Blake Williams's interview series On Doers, featuring a conversation with Ryal Gravel.




Episode 002 | Ryan Gravel from On Doers on Vimeo.

The Best of 2012

Thanks for Reading View from Inman Park!

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2013

Best New Thing in Atlanta - Swings at Dancing Goats Coffee

Coolest Thing on the Internet - Code Academy

Favorite Old Thing - March 16-20, 1992

Tag Line of the Year - Chef Don't Judge

Atlanta Lunch of the Year - Chongqing Spicy Chicken at Gu's Bistro

Tweet of the Year - Via @timdorr

Favorite Business Book - Revenue Disruption

Favorite Sign the Neighborhood is Still Occupied by Eccentrics - Inman Park Squirrel Census

French Office Product of the Year - Rhodia Meeting Book

Proudest Kid Moment - Lemonade Stand for the Atlanta Community Food Bank

Oneupme.com Player of the Year - Ski Zits

Smoothie of the Year – Sambazon Chocolate + Almond + Coconut Milk

Art Show of the year - Bill Traylor: Drawings from the Collections of the High Museum of Art and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts

Favorite Civil War Sesquicentennial Coverage - To the Sounds of the Guns

YouTube Discovery of the Year - Let's Get Lost

Pinterest Board of the Year - Dave 1980 Letters

Best Secret Place in Atlanta - Frazer Center Leaf Pile

Top Purveyors of Birthday Parties - My Reptile Guys 

Be a Part of Mammalian History!

Anyone who has every attempted to walk a dog in Inman Park has surely speculated that Atlanta's small town downtown must have the highest concentration of squirrels in the universe.  A disparate group of neighbors set out to prove this very point, thus embarking on an adventure that would culminate in the Inman Park Squirrel Census.

The team's Kickstarter page has attracted much deserved media attention, perhaps laying the ground work for more research into the habits of the ATL's favorite rodents. 

Skip the Black Friday sales this year and get everyone on your Christmas list an awesome infographic poster of Grey Squirrel statistics from the 30307. Hurry, supplies are limited!

Halloween Comes Early in Little Five Points

We look forward to seeing you and yours October 20 for the 12th Annual Little Five Points Halloween Parade.  Atlanta's favorite spectacle, slightly tamer and more kid friendly than in years past, kicks off at 4 p.m. Come early to enjoy a perfect fall day in Inman Park and the thrills of the 16th hippest neighborhood in the U.S with its hair down.

Parking in Little 5 will be tough going, so ditch your car in Candler Park or on Sinclair or Lake Avenues in Inman Park and stroll towards the mayhem.

After the parade you can head to the new Cameli's Pizza location on Moreland Avenue for great food and a live outdoor performance by Gringo Star. Even odds I will be there dressed as the Annoying Orange.

T-SPLOST Vote Critical for Atlanta

Tuesday's vote on the Regional Transportation Referendum for North Georgia is critical to the continued prosperity of all residents of the greater Atlanta area and our standing as a Global City.

I think Ted Turner summed it all up this morning in the AJC:

..as Atlanta has grown, traffic congestion and too few transportation options have made Atlanta less appealing. As a result, too many businesses choose to locate in cities where getting around is not such a challenge. Funding a fair mix of road, transit, and other transportation projects will address this challenge, and help us build the city we want for us and for our children.

It is easy to shoot down big ideas. But small ideas aren’t the Atlanta way. They didn’t make us the capital of the South and they won’t lead us into a healthy and prosperous future.

Atlanta has to start somewhere and it doesn’t have time to waste. I’ll be voting “yes” Tuesday. If Atlanta isn’t moving forward, we are being left behind.

Please join me in voting yes for the initiative and investing in the future.

The History Around Us

Photo via Chad Elkins

Every year during the Inman Park Festival I pin one or two visitors to the neighborhood stumbling upon a monument and discovering that the very spot where they are buying their funnel cake was once a battleground.  

I have the opposite affliction.  I am the guy who will drive blindly down a dirt road in pursuit of a historic marker dotting a state map.

Before reconnecting with my college buddy Crain Swain on Facebook, I did not realize that there was a name for my obsession - Marker Hunter.  Craig and his compatriots at the Historic Marker Database have amassed an amazing Wikipedia-style catalog of thousands of historic markers, plaques and memorials all around the world.  

This is a must visit site for history geeks, travelers, and family truckster adventurers of all stripes.

HMdb uses Google Maps for directions and search results, making it a snap to find monuments like the James J. Andrews marker tucked away in an obscure block of Midtown Atlanta.  Andrews (the Jimmy Doolittle of the Civil War) was executed near 3rd Street 150 years ago for his exploits in the The Great Locomotive Chase.

Atlanta is chock full of markers, but the HMdb site is foremost a key to finding hidden treasures in lost or forgotten places.  The hunt is what brings history to life!

Poop Goes Prime Time in Atlanta

If your kids are anything like mine, they will bolt for the car the second they hear the news that the Fernbank Museum in Atlanta has an entire exhibit dedicated to #2.  Running through September 3, The Scoop on Poop answers every question you have ever had about the end game of digestion, and then some.

While there are a few vignettes that creep dangerously close to Bevis and Butt-head territory, the majority of the displays are animal specific and include many fun, interactive components.  The highlight for my crew was the head-to-head dung beetle race.

Some of the video footage is surely having an impact on businesses in the cafeteria, but the appropriately themed selection in the gift shop is surely making up for the loss in revenue.  Be prepared for goodies of all sorts on display in toilets as you make a bee line for the exit. 

Have a great summer everyone! 

Inman Park Festival Time!

The 41st annual Inman Park Festival and Tour of Homes kicks into gear this Friday, April 27.  Please make plans to head to the 'hood for a view of Atlanta's grandest historic homes, two days of great music and the infamous Festival Parade through the heart of the neighborhood (Saturday at 2 p.m.).

Please visit the festival website for details on all of the weekend's festivities.  Please also note that this is the largest neighborhood festival in Atlanta and parking inside the neighborhood is impossible on Saturday and Sunday.  Beat the crowds by enjoying the Tour of Homes on Friday, or take advantage of the many shuttle buses at your disposal on Saturday and Sunday.  See you there!

The Magic of Bill Traylor

While the High Museum's blockbuster MOMA exhibit Picasso to Wharhol is winding down, this spring still offers the chance to enjoy the work of an altogether different master of modern art, Bill Traylor.

Born into slavery in 1854, Traylor settled in Montgomery, Alabama is his later years, eventually supporting himself by selling painting and drawings produced on cardboard he found on the street.  Traylor's work is full of childhood remembrances and plantation life, street scenes around Montgomery and captured moments of observation.

The 60 works on display in the bottom level of the museum (take the stairs behind the main gift shop to avoid the crowds) are culled from the High's own substantial collection and the holdings of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art.   

 

Traylor is venerated as one of the grand masters of the American Folk Art movement, and like the work of  Howard Finster, his images are simultaneously accessible and profound.  This is a show for kids and connoisseurs alike.

Head to the High before the exhibit closes on May 5. This promo for Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts, an upcoming documentary about Taylor's life, is a great preview of many of the works you will enjoy.

Inman Park Restaurant Week is Here!

The oak pollen is all but gone, so head into Inman Park this week for great deals on the best fare from some of Atlanta's top restaurants.

This year's Inman Park Restaurant Week, running now through April 1, features discounted tasting menus from 14 of the neighborhood's best eateries. 

Enjoy!

Col. Bruce Doc Debuts March 30!

Great news this weekend that Basically Frightened: The Musical Madness of Colonel Bruce Hampton will debut March 30 at the Plaza Theater as part of the Atlanta Film Festival. 

Bruce Hampton ate sardines with Frank Zappa.  He fronted the Aquarium Rescue Unit, the greatest band ever.  He told me at age 22 that when I have children, they should only be allowed to stop at Stuckey's to pee during road trips.  I base my life on his teachings.

 Buy your tickets here.  Cheese Frog!

Intown Photorealism

Atlanta artist Christina Bray has a great installation of paintings (through March 23) at the Callanwolde Art Center Gallery featuring her take on some favorite Atlanta street scenes, including the venerable Krog Tunnel.

Pop by the Callanwalde center (closed Sunday) to see these fun paintings, then get out and enjoy on of the city's best gardens.

A Last Taste of Tierra

In the 13 years since Tierra opened on Piedmont Avenue in Midtown Atlanta, I have gone from casual foodie, to corporate entertainer, to a once a quarter escapee from the kids on a weekend night. In all these years Tierra has remained remarkably the same: impeccable food, warm service and, of course, purveyor of the city's most famous desert.

News that my favorite Atlanta restaurant was closing hit the wire right before Christmas.  While I feel I am loosing a great friend, based on our meal last weekend, owners Ticha and Dan Krisksy are going out on a Seinfeld-like high note.  

In Atlanta?  You still have a week before the final dinner service on Friday, February, 17. Not in Atlanta?  We have the world's busiest airport, make the trip.