A-T-L-A-N-T-A

[trinacriabob]

Just got back from a relocation research trip to Atlanta and Florida (no, not Miami). I lived in Atlanta for 2 years, slightly after college. As a product of LA, I was surprised to find that I loved it. It has a special place in my heart because, fairly soon after college, I was able to buy my first house there because of the huge price differences from Cali....that I drive by it every time I go to the ATL.

Atlanta is NOT the South. Georgia and Atlanta almost don't belong in the same sentence. Atlanta is one of this country's great metropolitan areas and probably the "engine" for that quadrant of the country. I'm considering going back, so help me out.

Pluses:

- big city feel with big city amenities but not unmanageable

- cool rapid transit system

- affordable housing, relatively speaking, anyway

- incredibly lush in terms of trees and rolling hills / winding streets

- not that Southern in that there are a ton of northerners to hang out with (Westerners tend to go with the Northerners, I'm told)

- mild weather, most of the year

Minuses:

- growing, so it will feel more boxed in as the years pass, and I notice the difference

- winding streets and freeways are horrendous at rush hour

- nasty humidity from around July 1 to September 15 - I'm used to low humidity summers

- starting to feel racial strife of additional groups, largely growing Latino population

- people still fly the flags of their schools (Georgia, UNC, Auburn, Florida) on their houses during football season and people seem to talk about this way too much judging from the gym and restaurants....if you're a product of Pac-10 type schools (Univ. of Wash.) who aren't as fanatical, what would you say to them? In some ways, it's still Southern.

The worst years of my life and worst memories are in OR and WA, so I don't want to remain. What do you think of "the ATL"? Would you move there?

[Flybrian]

- people still fly the flags of their schools (Georgia, UNC, Auburn, Florida) on their houses during football season and people seem to talk about this way too much judging from the gym and restaurants....if you're a product of Pac-10 type schools (Univ. of Wash.) who aren't as fanatical, what would you say to them? In some ways, it's still Southern.

lol Who doesn't do that and what's the big deal about it?

[trinacriabob]

lol Who doesn't do that and what's the big deal about it?

Not done AT ALL in Southern California....there's NO groupthink type of mentality there whatsoever.

Done some in Northern California...with Berkeley (Cal) alumni, but definitely not the norm.

Westerners are cut from a different cloth from the rest of the country IMHO.

So, what's your thought on Atlanta, per the question?

[Flybrian]

Not done AT ALL in Southern California....there's NO groupthink type of mentality there whatsoever.

That's a very ironic statement. No groupthink to SoCal?

So, what's your thought on Atlanta, per the question?

Seems nice, too busy for me. Haven't lived there; wouldn't ever want to. I see no appeal in living more than 30min from a large body of water.

[z28luvr01]

Come to New York or Boston during the ALCS. It'll make that Pac-10 stuff seem like nothing.

You all know by now that my heart belongs in the southwest. I don't think I'd ever give Atlanta a first glance when I look to relocate. I think I'd like to go there on a vacation, though.

[regfootball]

as long as your out of the dykish northwest, sure atlanta is alright. i hear.

[trinacriabob]

Come to New York or Boston during the ALCS. It'll make that Pac-10 stuff seem like nothing.

You all know by now that my heart belongs in the southwest.

First comment: The Pac-10 stuff is nothing, actually, as people don't do the flags and only have school bumper stickers/license plate frames. In OR and WA, you will see the UofO/OSU and UofW/WSU cross-state rivalry thing played up, but not like in the South.

The reason I find it bothersome is because, in the past when I lived there, some Southerners (some who didn't even go to those schools, let alone ANY school) will start talking to you passionately about Auburn or 'Bama or the Gators and if you can't keep the conversation going, they turn real cool on you. My attitude: get a f@#king life, you can't expect a transplant from another region to be THAT interested or informed. However, there are many cosmopolitan type people that you can ignore that.

Second comment: Funny that I have a friend from Birmingham AL who is Southern, Italian and Catholic (there is a smattering of Italians and Greeks in select Southern cities, as I learned) and he chooses to live in PHX. Now, he is about 5'9 and 150 lbs, so being that thin, he isn't as bothered by the heat. He's been there about 4 years now. The low-humidity nights in the desert are in fact appealing, but I know them more from the P.S. and L.V. areas.

[Robert Hall]

I've been through the airport and driven through GA driving between Ohio and Fla years ago, so I really know nothing about it. I know a couple of people that live there, seems like a good metro area for business.

I'm wary of the South, not sure I'd want to live anywhere in the Bible Belt, but I do still like S. Florida, since I lived in the Keys as a teenager. I'd probably be happy in the Miami metro area (if I could readjust to the humidity).

[mustang84]

I flew into Atlanta years ago on my way to Orlando and it was at night so I don't remember it too well. I do remember seeing all the dots from the city lights and how they seemed to stretch on forever. So I'm not really qualified to comment but from what I've heard Atlanta is pretty much the business capital of the Southeast. Hartsfield Airport is now the busiest airport in the country and Atlanta has the best skyline in the SE, IMO. The humidity would bother me though...I know I deal with it here, but it gets even stickier down in Georgia. If I had to live in the south, it'd probably be the Southwest around Phoenix, Tucson, or maybe Albuquerque. But Atlanta and Charlotte would probably be my two top picks in the Southeast.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Southern California....there's NO groupthink type of mentality there whatsoever.

No groupthink in SoCal?!?!?! NO... NOT AT ALL.....

I've thoroughly enjoyed ATL each time I've been there. Granted, those were short stays, but it seems like a cool place.

I have family in Athens, which is pretty close to Atlanta and they love it.

Edited September 20, 2007 by FUTURE_OF_GM

[trinacriabob]

No groupthink in SoCal?!?!?! NO... NOT AT ALL.....

By groupthink, I meant "no pressure to conform." I spent the first 24 years of my life in LA (intersection of I-10 and I-405, so the thick of it) and people are very self-styled...it's a real mosaic and nobody I knew "tightly" fit into any particular group. Yes, there are groups, such as surfers, the South Orange County crowd, the WeHo crowd, the wannabee waiters and waitresses in waiting, the kids of entertainers, all of which are identifiable, but there is no pressure to conform to anything unless you want to be accepted by these smaller sub-niches. The majority of people are self-styled.

When I was in Atlanta in the 90s, there were very wordly companies such as Coca-Cola and others where the people are too multifaceted to support a stereotype, but there are also some smaller entities and regional entities (I worked at BellSouth ) where the typical up and coming exec went to a good Southern school, was in a fraternity, is white and reasonably handsome, is married to Sorority Suzie, has a subtle "refined" Southern accent as opposed to a heavy one, dresses a certain way, rabidly follows his college football team and plays golf. It would be described as a "good 'ole boy." My best friend in ATL from work was a Florida grad but raised in central FL and born in Philly, so...a Yankee...and fit no stereotypes. The good ole boy type appears to still be much in evidence whereas you don't see many people like that in LA, SD or the Bay Area (you see the PNW version of that in Seattle and Portland).

In general, I can't stand "checklist packaged people" and they don't like me, so I take note of it.

Edited September 20, 2007 by trinacriabob

[Oracle of Delphi]

Boyyy, they're gonna make you squeal like a pig down there!

[trinacriabob]

Boyyy, they're gonna make you squeal like a pig down there!

Will have to learn archery and keep the bow and arrow nearby....

[Oracle of Delphi]

Think about learning to play the banjo too!

[RichW5]

I spent a lot of time in the Atlanta area between 1980 and 2000. The Western Electric (AT&T) engineering center was in the Sandy Springs/Dunwoody area. I'd go there one week a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. It was a lot less crowded back then. Many of my co-workers relocated to Atlanta and bought houses two or three times bigger than what they could afford back in Chicago. I don't believe that there are many southerners in Atlanta, most people in the area have moved there from the north.

I got to know all the good places for "Happy Hour" and the best places to eat, since Western Electric paid for our out of town meals. Still, when AT&T asked me to move to Atlanta in 1996, I said "no thanks". I started looking for another AT&T job and guess where the boss was located .... Atlanta. So I spent another four years traveling to Atlanta for business meetings and classes.

My biggest problem with Atlanta was the traffic. It was worse than Chicago and when they had an ice storm, the whole city shut down.

If you go there you have to see the "big chicken".

Edited September 20, 2007 by RichW5

[trinacriabob]

The Western Electric (AT&T) engineering center was in the Sandy Springs/Dunwoody area.

My biggest problem with Atlanta was the traffic.

It was worse than Chicago and when they had an ice storm, the whole city shut down.

I used to live right at I-285 and Ashford Dunwoody Road. LOVED that area.

Next comment: Yes, and it has gotten worse...not being laid out in a grid doesn't help

Next comment: Oh, yes, it can't function

[Oracle of Delphi]

Next comment: Yes, and it has gotten worse...not being laid out in a grid doesn't help

I'm going to ask Mrs. PCS about how I can get laid out in a grid.

[trinacriabob]

I'm going to ask Mrs. PCS about how I can get laid out in a grid.

Just move back to the 77077 and hang out with (Ruth) Westheimer.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Just move back to the 77077 and hang out with (Ruth) Westheimer.

WOW, you remembered my old Houston Zip code? I am impressed. My current one is 19707, I seem to like 7's. :AH-HA_wink:

Edited September 22, 2007 by Pontiac Custom-S

[ocnblu]

I think Tom Bodette left the light on for you two.

[ehaase]

I would only move to Atlanta if I could afford to live in Buckhead, Dunwoody, Midtown, North Fulton County, the area around Emory University, or the neighborhoods close to downtown. I would not want to live in Gwinnett, Cobb, or any of the counties south and west of Atlanta.

[Robert Hall]

My biggest problem with Atlanta was the traffic. It was worse than Chicago and when they had an ice storm, the whole city shut down.

Dallas has the same problem with ice storms, or so I've heard (my sister worked 6 months in Dallas and had to deal w/ ice storms a few years ago). Portland is the same way, I got stuck in an awful ice storm there a couple of years ago...it's weird these cities that don't invest in salt trucks, snow plows, etc.

[trinacriabob]

I would only move to Atlanta if I could afford to live in Buckhead, Dunwoody, Midtown, North Fulton County, the area around Emory University, or the neighborhoods close to downtown. I would not want to live in Gwinnett, Cobb, or any of the counties south and west of Atlanta.

Glad you chimed in, as you know it well.

Buckhead: too pretentious...and I've always hated the name, not knowing where it originates....plus it rhymes with "f@#khead"

Dunwoody: ding-ding-ding (I lived a stone's throw from Dunwoody)

Midtown: too alternative

North Fulton: bingo, again

Emory area: like off of LaVista? I'm not Jewish....LOL

I've sort of added Northlake/Tucker immediately outside the perimeter onto the list but it doesn't make my blood boil.

As for the others, I agree. Gwinnett and Cobb are kind of vapid. The southern and western counties are...well...why even bother to move to Atlanta?

Edited September 22, 2007 by trinacriabob

[Robert Hall]

Glad you chimed in, as you know it well.

As for the others, I agree. Gwinnett and Cobb are kind of vapid. The southern and western counties are...well...why even bother to move to Atlanta?

A friend of mine lives in Marietta, says it's pretty nice...but I haven't been there.

[ehaase]

The problem with Marietta is the commute on I-75.

[Oracle of Delphi]

I hear Doraville is nice! :AH-HA_wink:

[trinacriabob]

I hear Doraville is nice! :AH-HA_wink:

Is the GM assembly plant still functional? It should now be called "Conchita-ville" as it is a major Mexican mecca...of the unassimilated variety...my best friend from undergrad is Mexican-American, lives in SD, and doesn't like Mexicans who give the nationality a less than favorable name ...

[Oracle of Delphi]

Is the GM assembly plant still functional? It should now be called "Conchita-ville" as it is a major Mexican mecca...of the unassimilated variety...my best friend from undergrad is Mexican-American, lives in SD, and doesn't like Mexicans who give the nationality a less than favorable name ...

The plant is operational for a little while. As for your friends, you know what they say about birds of a feather! :AH-HA_wink:

[A Horse With No Name]

Used to drive by the Doraville plant every day when I lived in Atlanta.

I moved back to Columbus Ohio mainly because of Traffic, noise and the cost of commuting. The job I had was as an electrical foreman and I was expected to be able to work anywhere in the metro area, from Douglasville to Villa Ricca to Gainsville to Peachtree City to wherever...so commuting wa a huige problem.

If I could live in one part of Atlanta and work there (like live/work Peachtree city area, etc,) I would live in Atlanta in a minute. Georgia is probably the most under-rated state in the country...lived briefly in Augusta and almost moved again to Savannah.

When I die one of the great regrets of my life will be that I never stayed in Georgia.

That being said, Atlanta has its downsides. A huge unasimilated Hispanic population, traffic, the cost of decent housing inside of the outerbelt, public schools as a general rule are not that good (although a few are excellent).

Upsides would be great professional sports, eight million great places to eat out, Chastain park is beautiful, people are friendly, winters are mild...

Just my two cents on the place...

Chris

[trinacriabob]

That being said, Atlanta has its downsides. A huge unasimilated Hispanic population,

Trust me...this is within the last 10 years...I did not notice it at all when I lived there through the early 90s...that it has just mushroomed out of nowhere is mind-boggling and is not good for the social fabric of the city if it keeps burgeoning. Most of the African-Americans I spoke to about "the ATL" in general and without even going toward that subject, who are either native or from the immediate area, have no problem telling you they are not crazy about this demographic phenomenon.... Edited September 22, 2007 by trinacriabob