Where am I?

[Andrea]

Inspired by Eric's question in the Photo of the Day thread:

[teshadoh]

I believe near Peters St on the southwest side of downtown, near Castleberry Hill.

[Andrea]

I believe near Peters St on the southwest side of downtown, near Castleberry Hill.

Ding!! Awesome, Brad, you nailed it!

[Andrea]

Here's another one:

[teshadoh]

9th St @ Peachtree St. They are doing some nasty sidewalk construction there - so watch out if you're walking by there. The architect of that lovely apartment building is I believe Neil Reid.

[Andrea]

Dadgum it, Brad, you are unstumpable!!!

Okay, this one is much harder, at least it would be for me:

[teshadoh]

My only guess would be Briarcliff Rd across from Whole Foods.

[atlla]

Dadgum it, Brad, you are unstumpable!!!

Okay, this one is much harder, at least it would be for me:

Abernathy Rd.... down the street from Turner Field going towards West End.

[Andrea]

Abernathy Rd.... down the street from Turner Field going towards West End.

Wow, that's amazing, atlla! This is in Mechanicsville, at the corner of Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard and McDaniel Street. I would never have guessed it had I not been knocking around there this past summer.

[Andrea]

How about this one:

[Newnan_Eric]

How about this one:

Looks like the Brookwood Amtrak Station in "South Buckhead."

[Andrea]

Looks like the Brookwood Amtrak Station in "South Buckhead."

Don Pardo, tell Eric what he's won!!

[Andrea]

Hint: This is 1953. The first one is looking south, the other one is looking north:

[teshadoh]

Another guess, b/c I'm not sure if the freeway was built yet. But is it the Downtown Connector south of downtown?

[catlike]

That first one is near 14th street on the Downtown Connector. Those buildings on the left might be the ones where Atlanta Brewing is located, but I'm just guessing about that part because it looks a little like them.

[Newnan]

The first one is the downtown connector going south toward downtown

[Andrea]

They're both taken at the Downtown Connector and 14th Street, I believe. If I'm not mistaken, the first one is looking south from the 14th Street bridge toward downtown.

The second one is looking north from 14th Street. I forget what the buildings shown on the right side of Williams Street are now but they're still there.

Here's one more looking across the 14th Street bridge, heading west into Home Park. You can see Gordy Tire at the bottom of the hill on the corner of Techwood. As you can see, things were still pretty suburban in those days.

[ironchapman]

It's amazing to see how much the city has grown since then. Just think about how much it might have grown when we are looking at these pictures (and the ones we take today) when we like at these pictures 25 years from now (if we still are interested in it).

It's hard to believe that the last pic you posted is actually in the city!

[Andrea]

It's amazing to see how much the city has grown since then. Just think about how much it might have grown when we are looking at these pictures (and the ones we take today) when we like at these pictures 25 years from now (if we still are interested in it).

It's hard to believe that the last pic you posted is actually in the city!

Yes, it's staggering. As I mentioned elsewhere, Colony Square was considerably ahead of its time -- it struggled for a number of years and even went into bankruptcy in the late 1970's, I believe. As recently as the mid-80's, many people were aghast when one of Atlanta's major law firms announced that it was moving "as far out" as Midtown. For many years the most prestigious legal, accounting and financial firms were clustered around Five Points, and even Peachtree Center was considered a bit adventurous in the professional world when it first opened.

[Hybrid0NE]

Hint: This is 1953. The first one is looking south, the other one is looking north:

My God. Is that really the "belly of the beast"? I have trouble believing that megahighway was only 6 lanes at anytime in almost-recent history. Were 75 and 85 only 2 lanes north of the hellmouth?

[UrbanAtl]

Here's a fun one.

Does anyone know why the Grady Curve exist? Look at a map and you will notice that the downtown connector on the northside lines up with the southside but instead of being a straight line it takes a large curve eastward (the Grady Curve). There is a reason that they changed its path b/c the original plan was for it to go straight through the city and not curve to the east.

[Hybrid0NE]

Here's a fun one.

Does anyone know why the Grady Curve exist? Look at a map and you will notice that the downtown connector on the northside lines up with the southside but instead of being a straight line it takes a large curve eastward (the Grady Curve). There is a reason that they changed its path b/c the original plan was for it to go straight through the city and not curve to the east.

Wouldn't the connector have plowed right through the CBD if it continued on a straight path? The Capitol, Underground Atlanta, Five Points and Peachtree City would be in that direct line-of-sight. So to preserve the central core of Atlanta would be the answer.

[UrbanAtl]

Peachtree Center wasn't there yet and it would have missed the CBD by a couple of blocks at the time. Good point about the Capitol building. I don't know how they had planned to go around it???

The reason was due to race politics of the time. The Sweet Auburn area would have been cut off and that community protested its path. They wanted the SA district to be included in the CBD. The compromise was to swing the interstates out to incorporate the area.

[teshadoh]

Early city planners did use the freeways to create a 'wall' around downtown, seperating downtown from the adjoining low income neighborhoods. But most of those neighborhoods were torn down anyways, but as was noted - Auburn is still here.

[Andrea]

Hybrid0NE writes:

My God. Is that really the "belly of the beast"? I have trouble believing that megahighway was only 6 lanes at anytime in almost-recent history. Were 75 and 85 only 2 lanes north of the hellmouth?

Yeah. That little two lane access road (maybe it's considered an extension of the Buford Highway now) that runs beside I-85 used to BE I-85 not long ago. One August afternoon in 1979 I had to drive from my office downtown out to meet a big client at Northlake, and I got stuck in one of those giant traffic jams that routinely overwhelmed those little two lane roads. It was about 95 degrees that day, I had no air conditioning in my car, and to top it off a torrential downpour broke loose. One of those storms where it rains so hard you literally cannot see. It took me 2 hours to get there, and it was just an awful experience.

Unfortunately, our department of transportation (like those in many states) has taken the tragically flawed position that the way to fix traffic jams is just to add more lanes to existing roads, or to build new more gigantic roads next to them. I-85 is a classic case study. Now, instead of jamming up two lanes, we can jam up 10 lanes.