Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on Twitter and/or BlueSky.
I lived in Atlanta from 1992 to 1995 and it was SOOO buttoned down, it’s hard to imagine something like this being allowed to remain. I had moved there from New Orleans where I first learned about good coffee and long lazy Sunday Mornings spent reading papers at a local coffee shop. Wen I moved I started looking for a new hangout but couldn’t find a single one. This was before Starbucks had migrated to the East Coast, but I was still surprised, until I learned that Atlanta had banned coffee shops from the city premises somewhere in the 60’s or 70’s because beatniks and dirty hippies frequented them. Overnight they shut down every single one.
The funny thing was that some lobbying, presumably by Starbucks, got the law repealed and within weeks a bunch of local ones had sprung up around me. But rather than mimic their New Orleans neighbor to the south, they picked up where they left off in the 60’s. Thrown together spaces with Salvation Army sofas and chairs, terrible coffee brewed in urns, and poetry readings, which seemed to consist entirely of modern bohemians in their early twenties reciting really bad work focused on how terrible it was that their parents didn’t understand them. I was glad they had an outlet, but was very happy when the first chain showed up (Pike’s?) and had someplace to go to drink good coffee and read the paper.
somewhere in the 60’s or 70’s because beatniks and dirty hippies
I remember encountering people who might be labeled “hippies” by the overly solicitous media, back in the day. But they were fairly clean if I recall. Basic middle class hygiene. Must have been the long hair that threw everybody.
@Rob1: Well, remember that Atlanta leaders saw Eisenhower’s US Interstate System as primarily a means to crush every African American neighborhood in the city. They ran three major highways right through the center of the city, along with their interchanges, exit and entrance ramps, and feeder roads and in the process completely wrecked any idea of an “Atlanta” community. All that was left was neighborhoods. Ironically, my impression while living there is that it was the (at first surviving and then thriving) African American contingent and also the gay community that seemed to have an actual city-wide Civic identity.
@Steven L. Taylor: I’m complainin’ about Atlanta in the 90’s but at the same time both the city and greater metropolitan area were seeing near explosive growth. So there’s me… and then there’s literally millions of others who felt differently 😉
I started out in Marietta and ended up living just south of Piedmont Park, which was a fantastic, walk-able area. I remember the Atlanta Symphony (?) putting on summer concerts in the park and people streaming by with picnic baskets, coolers, with drinks in hand. A group of my neighbors, flutes of champagne in hand, were taking turns pulling a wagon full of picnic supplies, including a giant silver candelabra strapped to the top.
I had good friends in Little Five Points and in Virginia Highlands, and those were also urban gems.
As popular as Buckhead was back then with people my age, it was most definitely not my thing and I stayed away except when Fat Matt’s Rib Shack had a Blues band on, even though you often had to nod to the bass player so he could move aside and provide passage to the tiny restroom.
If it’s like most cities I’ve lived, people my age living there now would have a whole ‘nother set of neighborhoods they delight in
Light at the end of a tunnel lined with pop culture utterance. Does it beckon?
The words of the prophets…
I lived in Atlanta from 1992 to 1995 and it was SOOO buttoned down, it’s hard to imagine something like this being allowed to remain. I had moved there from New Orleans where I first learned about good coffee and long lazy Sunday Mornings spent reading papers at a local coffee shop. Wen I moved I started looking for a new hangout but couldn’t find a single one. This was before Starbucks had migrated to the East Coast, but I was still surprised, until I learned that Atlanta had banned coffee shops from the city premises somewhere in the 60’s or 70’s because beatniks and dirty hippies frequented them. Overnight they shut down every single one.
The funny thing was that some lobbying, presumably by Starbucks, got the law repealed and within weeks a bunch of local ones had sprung up around me. But rather than mimic their New Orleans neighbor to the south, they picked up where they left off in the 60’s. Thrown together spaces with Salvation Army sofas and chairs, terrible coffee brewed in urns, and poetry readings, which seemed to consist entirely of modern bohemians in their early twenties reciting really bad work focused on how terrible it was that their parents didn’t understand them. I was glad they had an outlet, but was very happy when the first chain showed up (Pike’s?) and had someplace to go to drink good coffee and read the paper.
I remember encountering people who might be labeled “hippies” by the overly solicitous media, back in the day. But they were fairly clean if I recall. Basic middle class hygiene. Must have been the long hair that threw everybody.
@Rob1: Well, remember that Atlanta leaders saw Eisenhower’s US Interstate System as primarily a means to crush every African American neighborhood in the city. They ran three major highways right through the center of the city, along with their interchanges, exit and entrance ramps, and feeder roads and in the process completely wrecked any idea of an “Atlanta” community. All that was left was neighborhoods. Ironically, my impression while living there is that it was the (at first surviving and then thriving) African American contingent and also the gay community that seemed to have an actual city-wide Civic identity.
@MarkedMan: the freeway placement issue is real.
I will say that I think Atlanta has gotten quite a bit cooler since the 90s.
@Steven L. Taylor: I’m complainin’ about Atlanta in the 90’s but at the same time both the city and greater metropolitan area were seeing near explosive growth. So there’s me… and then there’s literally millions of others who felt differently 😉
I started out in Marietta and ended up living just south of Piedmont Park, which was a fantastic, walk-able area. I remember the Atlanta Symphony (?) putting on summer concerts in the park and people streaming by with picnic baskets, coolers, with drinks in hand. A group of my neighbors, flutes of champagne in hand, were taking turns pulling a wagon full of picnic supplies, including a giant silver candelabra strapped to the top.
I had good friends in Little Five Points and in Virginia Highlands, and those were also urban gems.
As popular as Buckhead was back then with people my age, it was most definitely not my thing and I stayed away except when Fat Matt’s Rib Shack had a Blues band on, even though you often had to nod to the bass player so he could move aside and provide passage to the tiny restroom.
If it’s like most cities I’ve lived, people my age living there now would have a whole ‘nother set of neighborhoods they delight in