May 2024
Features
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The mocktail gets its moment
When I first got sober a decade ago, there weren’t many alternatives to liquor, beer, or wine in restaurants and bars. In recent years, however, there’s been a flourishing of “zero-proof” craftsmanship. Here are a few highlights from Atlanta’s burgeoning zero-proof scene, where you can explore this brave and inclusive new world.
Is a craft beer-pocalypse coming for Atlanta?
Craft beer hit its gold rush era in the 2010s, with new taphouses opening around the country faster than you could say Hefeweizen. “The theory used to be: build craft beer, and they will come,” says Sam Kazmer of Elsewhere Brewing. “And it is just not that anymore.”
The Royal Peacock is one of Atlanta’s last remaining third places
The music venue, now a reggae nightclub, is one of Atlanta’s few continuously dedicated places for Black music and social gatherings. The venue has managed to outlive Jim Crow segregation, the highway invasion of Auburn Avenue, and ’90s-era Olympification.
What happened to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame?
What is a hall of fame? Is it the building that contains artifacts, plaques, and statues honoring famous people, or is it the people themselves? Is it a physical place, or a transcendent honor? During its wobbly lifespan from 1996 to 2011, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame was all those things, until it wasn’t anything.
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The Connector
The first Decatur Children’s Book Festival aims to engage readers of all ages
Beloved bookstore Little Shop of Stories will host the Decatur Children’s Book Festival at venues around downtown Decatur from May 3 to 5. Decatur’s bookish reputation enticed more than 40 authors to appear at the children’s festival, including keynote speaker Kate DiCamillo, author of such award-winning books as Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux.
A love letter to WREK
You can learn a lot from local radio. Wherever I travel, I make a point of listening to nearby stations; when I relocated to Atlanta, it was the radio that taught me about my new city. One afternoon, escaping Buckhead in bumper-to-bumper traffic and fed up with Top 40 radio (How many personal-injury lawyers are out there, really? I wondered), I turned the dial and discovered my favorite gem of them all: WREK (91.1), Georgia Tech’s student-run radio station.
Using rap songs as evidence in criminal cases can miss the punchline
Every rapper’s lyrics should be cross-examined with empathy to explore this country’s inequities and examine the real disparities that exist. We live in a country, however, where rap lyrics are used to prosecute individuals, rather than examine the systems of oppression.
Bosley’s Place cares for newborn orphaned puppies
It’s a beautiful Sunday morning in Smyrna, and volunteers at the neonatal puppy rescue Bosley’s Place are prepping for the busiest day of the week. They check off the tasks that keep the puppy park clean and safe: leaf litter cleared away, bowls filled with bottled water, clean toys scattered in the play yards. “They come from a variety of different places,” says founder and director Jennifer Siegel. “County shelters, other rescues, surrenders from all over the Southeast.” Some arrive straight from C-section delivery, and all are too little for the immunizations that protect them from life-threatening disease.
Super Bowl champion and literacy advocate Malcolm Mitchell on the importance of reading
“Everything I learned from football—whether resilience, accountability, change, or overcoming adversity—has crafted my mentality to reading and bringing it to others.”
The Flying Colors Butterfly Festival offers Atlantans a chance to get up close to the beautiful creatures
This month, to encourage Georgians to protect the state’s butterflies, the Chattahoochee Nature Center hosts its annual Flying Colors Butterfly Festival. The festival includes a native plant sale, where gardeners can find butterfly-enticing host and nectar plants. There will also be butterfly-themed entertainment.
Margaret Bush-Ware met Sammy Davis Jr. on a plane. Years later, he hired her as his personal assistant.
Back in the early ’60s, Sammy Davis Jr.’s entourage took up most of the first-class cabin on TWA flights from New York to Los Angeles. As an 18-year-old flight attendant, Margaret Bush-Ware just happened to work that route out of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The Bite
Review: Breaker Breaker turns the BeltLine into a boardwalk
What I especially love about Breaker Breaker—besides the fried-fish platters with thick tartar sauce, the fun sandwiches, and the cocktails—is the location. Unlike most of the places constructed closer to Krog Street, there is nothing conventional about the architecture. It consists of linear-stacked concrete blocks, with a huge metal roof original to Stein Steel floating on top.
The verdict on 3 new Atlanta restaurants: The Little Hippo, Birdcage, and Buttermilk Biscuit
A perfect spot for patio season in Avondale Estates, a new Latin-flavored restaurant on Memorial Drive, and buttery biscuits in College Park.
The art of Atlanta’s omakase cocktails
The drinks at omakase restaurants aren’t as off-menu as the meals—generally, you can select your cocktail from a list. That list, however, is composed of creatively crafted beverages designed to play nicely with the dishes placed before you. Here, three omakase restaurants in Atlanta with notable cocktail programs.
10 Years later: Ryan Hidinger’s legacy
It’s been 10 years. Ten years since Jen Hidinger lost her beloved husband, Kara Hidinger lost her only brother, and chefs Chris Hall, Todd Mussman, Ryan Turner, and Ryan Smith lost a dear friend and fellow chef. It’s been just over 10 years since the Atlanta community rallied around Ryan Hidinger—known for his work at Bacchanalia, Floataway Cafe, and Muss & Turner’s—after he was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer, raising $275,000 for his medical expenses at what has since become an annual charity gala called Team Hidi.
The Goods
The Seed & Feed Marching Abominable band celebrates its 50th anniversary in style
Seed & Feed Marching Abominable, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, has long been a home for Atlanta’s wunderkinds, weirdos, and whimsical musicians.
Believe it or not, malls continue to be the epicenter of Atlanta shopping
It might seem counterintuitive given pandemic and postpandemic shopping habits, but malls are thriving. According to a recent study by Coresight Research, a retail research and advisory firm, top-tier enclosed malls are flourishing, outperforming in occupancy, revenue, and foot traffic. A stroll around Lenox Square or Phipps Plaza validates the data: “Coming Soon” signs dot both.
5 Reasons to love Kennesaw
Since its establishment, Kennesaw has rebounded from being laid to ruins during the Civil War, from a boll weevil infestation that decimated the cotton industry beginning in the 1920s, and even from an infamous train heist, which inspired the 1956 Walt Disney action film The Great Locomotive Chase. Today, this college town about 20 miles northwest of Atlanta is pushing back against assumptions that it’s just another cookie-cutter suburb. In fact, it’s still living up to its fabled past as a city of revival.
Miscellaneous
Editor’s Journal: What happened to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame is shameful
It’s inexcusable that the Georgia Music Hall of Fame hasn’t been reestablished somewhere else, like Atlanta or Athens. All of those glorious and holy artifacts are now hidden away in cardboard boxes in storage at UGA, rather than being on public display with the regal splendor they deserve.
