IC Goes to Visit the MLK Memorial

[ironchapman]

With it being Black History Month (when I took the pictures), I decided to pay a visit about a week ago to the Martin Luther King Memorial and the Sweet Auburn area. Of course you know I took some pictures while I was there So, here they are.

BTW: Over the next few days keep a look out for some other pictures I took of Fairlie-Poplar in the Atlanta Photo of the Day thread.

So, here it goes...............................

Ebeneezer Baptist Church

The Modern Building

Again With the Skyline In the Background

The Historic Building (Where Martin Luth King, Jr. Was Pastor)

Inside the Sanctuary

--If you ask me, this oe could have come out a little better, but I didn't want to use flash (out of respect) and was, by far, the best of the ones I took of the sanctuary.

Stained Glass Window

Martin Luther King's Tomb

Bet You Couldn't Expect This Pic

The Reflection Pool Around the Tomb

Coretta Scott King's Tomb

--Rumor has it that, sometime soon, they will move her somehow next to, or at least with, Martin on the Island Where his Tomb is

It Was a Fairly Busy Day There.......

Fire Station No. 6

--"What is the significance of this place?" some of you may ask. This was the first integrated fire station in Atlanta. It is now a museum.

The Door

A 1927 Fire Truck

--Placed here because it would have been the type of fire truck Martin would have seen as a boy.

A Fire Telegraph

The Precinct That the Station Covered

--Quite an interesting Map of Atlanta from those days. Here is the full size (1728 x 2304)

Other.........

"Soul Food Row"

Rib Shack

And that is it for now. More to come (hopefully the Georgia Aquarium or the State Capitol).

Any thoughts?

[jaz82]

Awesome Pics. I haven't been to the King Center in years, but from the pics, it looks like they are keeping it up a little.

[krazeeboi]

I always enjoy your pics, IC. It's been a few years since I've been out to the King Center as well. I want to visit the Apex Museum next week when I get back down there.

[teshadoh]

Nice to see my neck of the woods - just north of where I live & just down the street from where I work. So I pretty regularly walk that area...

Thanks for the pics...

You might be surprised to know, that map isn't that old, it is actually on it's side - the right side is north - & was likely a map from the 60's or 70's. Though the original date of the map could be a few decades older, it looks like the kind of hand drawn maps I made when I was a kid, they penned in new streets & 'white outed' abandoned streets. Cool map to look at though - showing the pre-80/90's Downtown Connector redesign.

[Andrea]

Very cool, IC. I especially love your shot of the old fire engine. Also nice to remember the Rib Shack -- back in the day we used to stroll down there for lunch sometimes. Afterwards you needed to go home not only to take a nap but to change your clothes.

It seems to me Auburn Avenue could stand some general cleanup and better policing, especially in the evening. I went down there one night a few months ago to check out the Royal Peacock, and it was very uncomfortable. There were a few winos laying around, and there was a good bit of trash in the area around the bridge. Several people hassled me, a couple of them extremely aggressively. I live here and am mean as a snake so it wasn't that big a deal to me, but I would imagine that unwitting tourists might freak out. Those conditions aren't worthy of an area adjacent to a memorial to America's greatest civil rights leader.

[teshadoh]

Unfortunate isn't it? When I do walk down Auburn & Edgewood I make a point to not look distracted - it's very typical to get hassled if you look like you're 'wandering'. But my wife drives through this area in the morning when she drops me off - there are a handful of regulars we've gotten familiar with...

What happens on the block east of Piedmont, the new Auburn development will be very telling what happens to the rest of the street. Even with a police precinct on the street - a more ambitious prescence will be neccessary. Not that anyone is particularly breaking the law, but I admit - a little bit fascism is sometimes neccessary...

[Andrea]

Unfortunate isn't it? When I do walk down Auburn & Edgewood I make a point to not look distracted - it's very typical to get hassled if you look like you're 'wandering'. But my wife drives through this area in the morning when she drops me off - there are a handful of regulars we've gotten familiar with...

What happens on the block east of Piedmont, the new Auburn development will be very telling what happens to the rest of the street. Even with a police precinct on the street - a more ambitious prescence will be neccessary. Not that anyone is particularly breaking the law, but I admit - a little bit fascism is sometimes neccessary...

Yes, it is unfortunate. Auburn is a wonderful historic street in itself, and it provides an important link between the resurgent 4th Ward neighborhoods, the King Center, Georgia State and an increasingly vibrant downtown.

I do *not* want a scrubbed, theme-park like atmosphere -- that would also do a disservice to Auburn's fascinating history. Street people are part of city life, and as you say, they may turn out to be totally cool. But I do want to be safe. I don't want people putting their hands on me and muttering sexual come-ons. I'm not a huge fan of the "broken-window" school of policing, but that area needs to be cleaned up.

[NCB]

Great pictures, IC!

I especially liked the picture of the old fire truck.

I've never visited the MLK Memorial, though I plan on visiting it while I'm in Atlanta this summer.

[Lady Celeste]

Irony I don't think you intentionally take your photos the way you do.....then again maybe you do but I must tell you that you have quite the eye. If you notice one thing about your pictures, it's not the prespective from which you take the picture but rather the subject. Look at your pictures and they all show life or movement. Your angles are also quite imaginative. You are definitely becoming quite the man with a great eye for photography.

I loved your photos.

[Andrea]

Irony I don't think you intentionally take your photos the way you do.....then again maybe you do but I must tell you that you have quite the eye. If you notice one thing about your pictures, it's not the prespective from which you take the picture but rather the subject. Look at your pictures and they all show life or movement. Your angles are also quite imaginative. You are definitely becoming quite the man with a great eye for photography.

I loved your photos.

Agreed!!