My trip to Atlanta this week

[citykid09]

First off the Airpot, I explained how much better there's is than Houston on here: http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...opic=4858&st=50

Being able to catch the MARTA from the Airport to Downtown was really nice. It stops at a lot of neat communities that you can see while riding it. Once we got closer to downtown and you could see the skyline, the area reminded me of comming into New York on the Long Island Rail Road only samller.

Taking a tour of Clark Atlanta, Moorehouse, and Spealman was really nice, they are close to downtown, MARTA, and many attrations. I was kind of jealous comparing them to TSU and U of H. I think it was Georgia Tech or Georgia State downtown, and they had a really nice layout of buildings compared to UH Downtown.

On all of the tours at the school everbody, (except for 3 people) was from Texas, and most were from the Houston area. The lady at the addmissions desk at Spealman was from Fort Worth, and the tour guides at Clark Atlanta were from Sugar Land/ Mo City. The man at Clark Atlanta that gave a speach was like "why are all of yall trying to get out of Texas?" (while in Atlanta we saw a whole lot of former Texans and Houstonians.)

One weird thing that happened in Atlanta was we saw three diffrent groups of people from Texas that were touring Atlanta like us. That was very weird hering your named called by someone when your that far from Home and in a city with nearlly 5 million people.

Attractions many, many, attrations! and MARTA is of great use and cheap to use.

The Martin Luther King Musem area: There you could see the house he grew up in, him and his wifes graves, and a musem of his life and equal rights.

The Underground, is basically Sharpstown mall put under an old rail station of street???? (I don't know which it was) and also with clubs. But I would rather have the Underground because that helped draw alot of people to downtown Atlanta, and the Coca Cola sign was right by it, but we didn't make it to the musem.

Downtown Atlanta is really great, it reminds me of Bostons downtown, The main MARTA station is there and its called 5 points. Its where the east/west line meets with the north/south lines. I don't see why people underrate there downtown when there are lots of people walikng around and many places to shop. There is so much history in that city and they show that unlike Houston.

I stayed not to far from the Aquarium, CNN, Phillips arena, and many other attractions, I went inside CNN on my secound to the last day there, but did not go on a tour.

Land wise Atlanta is much nicer. The hills are really nice, and not having feeder roads make the freeways look 100% better.

Peachtree/Westhimer: Peachtree in my opinion is a much nicer street, There are trees lining the street, and even once you leave downtown and midtown on into the space between midtown and buckhead its simi urban. There is an urban Krogers center that is all the way up to the street and coffe shops, highend stuff all around, with people walking down the street.

I expected Buckead to not be as great as uptown Houston but I was wrong, It's really nice and has a more urban look that uptown Houston, there are shops lining the streets with paralle parking. The only think that I like better about uptown Houston is that the Galleria looks more urban than Lenox mall. The Cheese Cake Factory in Buckhead isn't in a mall and is in an urban setting though, and there is an ESPN Zone right next to it (which I thought was located downtown). Many celebrities have business in this area like Diddy's resturant called Justins and Emril's Resturant among many others. The first time we went to this area we caught a ride with some people that my friend new from Houston that we just so happened to run into at a bookstore at Moorehouse college. The secound time we went was by taking the MARTA train, this really gives the area an urban feel, I had no idea that the train went that close to the mall, We just had to walk about one block. That was something I really liked and unlike in Houston you would see wealth people also on the MARTA riding with there kids in strollers and rich well dressed friends. It was cool if you think about it how you could leave everything at home, catch the MARTA up the mall or where ever than go back home without having to worry about parking or anything. This MARTA station in Buckhead also added alot of foot traffic, you could see lots of people walikng around. I know some of you will get mad but METRO LightRail is a joke to me now.

The MARTA was my favorite, I tried to act like I was from there and knew was I was doing. I like How its a mix of subways and other stations. The Subways are really nice, as is the above ground stations. I like How they keep the above ground stations away from the street though, unlike Houstons. And there are walls with billboard advertisings on them like other big cities, something I wish Houston had.

From The MARTA stations you could see many cool neghboorhoods. Most had little shooping areas that were without prking lots but had parralle parking, that was shocking to see. Many of the houses were southern looking but nice and neat. There are alot of urban living projects going on there and its really amazing. I took about 100 pictures and will post some of them, I wish I could have taken more, because there was better stuff but my memory card ran out.

Atlanta really can be considered the NYC of the South. It has hustle and bustle and southern richness. What it doesn't have is diversity. You will see mostly African American people, many of which are very well educated (which was nice for me to see considering that I am black).

From seeing Atlanta, all I have to say is Houston has a lot of work to do to catch up, and bringing the Houston Pavillions downtown won't be the cure for it all, thats only the begining.

After seeing Atlanta, I really, really, really want to move there now. I had went on this trip thinking I would finally get to see that Houston was the better city...........I was wrong.

One thing I will say is that many of the people there enjoy the Houston music scene. They even have stores there dedicated to Screwmusic and other Houston stuff. So they recognise Houston.

[editor]

Good review. I've never been to Atlanta, but this makes me want to visit.

[citykid09]

Good review. I've never been to Atlanta, but this makes me want to visit.

Thanks! You you really like it there. I did! There is even a new movie comming out soon that takes place in the city called ATL, its about the struggle of living in Atlanta with all of the bad influncecs. You have probably seen the tralier for it.

[Trae]

The movie looks like crap, but Atlanta is a nice city, but I wouldn't want to live there. Houston, to me, feels more urban than Atlanta. I wish we had hills, though.

I hope METRO's plan goes through. for 2025. A mix of subways and light rail will do Houston good.

Buckhead feels like an oversized business park.

The only think I envy from Atlanta is MARTA. I wish we had a system like that.

Anywhay, your trip sounded nice and I am glad you had fun.

Edit: I wish the rail down the middle of Katy went through, it would be much like the 400 there. That is why I am glad 288 has a frass median down the middle, should be easy to put rail down it.

[Jeebus]

One thing I will say is that many of the people there enjoy the Houston music scene. They even have stores there dedicated to Screwmusic and other Houston stuff. So they recognise Houston.

Of all things to be known for: screwed & chopped rap music. Citykid, I bite my tongue as I type this as I don't want to say anything to hurt your feelings, but why do you continually try to rub it in the face of this board that Atlanta is better than Houston?

No one else on this board continually talks about Chicago, San Fransisco, Boston, Philidelphia, or any other town even a fraction as much as you do about Atlanta. What's your motive? And when you finally do move there, are you going to continue to post about how great it is - from Atlanta??

[citykid09]

Of all things to be known for: screwed & chopped rap music. Citykid, I bite my tongue as I type this as I don't want to say anything to hurt your feelings, but why do you continually try to rub it in the face of this board that Atlanta is better than Houston?

No one else on this board continually talks about Chicago, San Fransisco, Boston, Philidelphia, or any other town even a fraction as much as you do about Atlanta. What's your motive? And when you finally do move there, are you going to continue to post about how great it is - from Atlanta??

The first time I went to Atlanta I had only went to the airport, this time I got to see the city. All I have seen since this is pictures and thats what made me say it was such a great place. Now that I have bben there I have seen it for myself and its better than I thought.

[Jeebus]

You didn't even answer one of my questions.

[citykid09]

You didn't even answer one of my questions.

I guess I always wanted Houston to be what Atlanta is, but now I really don't care. I just wanted one city in Texas to be the king of the south, but if Houston can't be king, Dallas is up there.

[Jeebus]

Alright, that vaguely answers the first two of my three questions, but still the third remains:

When you finally do move there, are you going to continue to post about how great it is - from Atlanta??

[citykid09]

Alright, that vaguely answers the first two of my three questions, but still the third remains:

When you finally do move there, are you going to continue to post about how great it is - from Atlanta??

No, I will go on one of there forums and talk about how great Houston is. Because it is, it just needs to get certin things togeather.

[Jeebus]

That's just confusing.

[nmainguy]

That's just confusing.

[Jeeb's: My guess is citykid is Plastic with nominally better grammatical skills]

[WesternGulf]

I guess I always wanted Houston to be what Atlanta is...

Why Atlanta? Why not Seattle, Portland, Denver, or San Diego? Newer cities that actually have their heads on straight and not impossible for Houston to become.

[Ethanra]

I've been to Atlanta several times and your review was close but not right on. Comparing Buckhead to uptown is true and its wonderful Atlanta has the train from the airport. I would never want Houston to be like Atlanta though. You tend to forget about the Village or Montrose here. Thats just two of our areas that are unique and have street side shopping and eating. Does Atlanta have anything similar? To answer my own question, no? To be very honest, Atlanta outside of a couple areas is a dump. Some of you wish Houston could be like Atlanta or Dallas. Why? Houston is Houston... Just look at the photo threads at SSP. Dallas and Atlanta threads are DT and the Uptown area only. Houston photo threads consist of DT, Uptown, and many other great communities, from montrose to rice to upper kirby etc..... Their are so many more things to do here (live music, art scene, etc....) then Atlanta. That new movie, "ATL" sums up Atlanta perfect.

Western Gulf, Houston does have it head screwed on straight. You always provide us with great pictures, and news updates (thankyou). How does Houston not have their head screwed on straight compared to the cities you have listed outside of mass transportaion lagging along?

[UrbaNerd]

Next time you visit ATL, please buy a one way ticket, and stay there.

[WesternGulf]

Western Gulf, Houston does have it head screwed on straight. You always provide us with great pictures, and news updates (thankyou). How does Houston not have their head screwed on straight compared to the cities you have listed outside of mass transportaion lagging along?

Of the cities I mentioned they know how to develop and keep their urban core. Some of their intown neighborhoods are a lot more vibrant than our own downtown. It is actually a challenge to find strip malls in the shadows of their downtowns. Portland, San Diego and Denver are posterchilds when it comes to incorporating light rail into mixed use neighborhoods. Seattle is the same and denser than those those three cities but they have a problem with light rail but theirs is u/c currently, but we cannot forget that they also have streetcars and monorail. It's not about Houston being Houston. Each of those four cities I mentioned has qualities that are unique but some sort of planning would be nice. As far as Atlanta, no I would not want to become ATL. I basically lived there for three months and it is nice but it would be one of the last cities I would say I want Houston to become. MARTA is extensive, but ask some of those intown residents how convenient is it really. Not a knock on ATL, but seriously. Thanks for the compliment though.

[citykid09]

Why Atlanta? Why not Seattle, Portland, Denver, or San Diego? Newer cities that actually have their heads on straight and not impossible for Houston to become.

Why Atlanta? Because its a city with many successful people of color. It has a great downtown where there are many places to shop, eat, sight see, etc, the areas out side of the major districts may not be as urban as other places but they atleast try to make stuff simi urban.

Also there metro population is about to surpass Houston in a few years if it hasn't already, so they must be doing something right. Take a look at this information: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread...ghlight=houston

[dalparadise]

I guess I always wanted Houston to be what Atlanta is, but now I really don't care. I just wanted one city in Texas to be the king of the south, but if Houston can't be king, Dallas is up there.

To someone in Bryan, it may seem that Texas is, indeed, in The South. Rural Texas looks eastward for many of its influences and lifestyle role models. Urban Texas, however, tends more toward The Southwest to shape its personality. Houston and Dallas are both representative of this in their food, architecture, politics, personalities and logistical ideas.

Atlanta is the capital of The South, in that it is the most powerful and influential city among places like Nashville, Louisville, Charlotte, Birmingham, etc. It's a big, powerful city, but kind of reminds me of Anthony Michael Hall's character in 16 Candles -- it's "king of the dip____s".

Both Florida and Texas have left most of their ties to Southern living long behind in the cities. Part of what makes Atlanta somewhat interesting is that it has retained a lot of its Southern character. It's fun to visit and soak it in, but it's not something I'd want to experience daily.

[Trae]

Their Metro might not, though. They are catching up fast.

[editor]

No one else on this board continually talks about Chicago, San Fransisco, Boston, Philidelphia, or any other town even a fraction as much as you do about Atlanta.

Actually, I have been slapped on this board on occasion for talking too much about Chicago and now I hold back as often as I can. If Atlanta is his frame of reference, that's fine. Most of us are from somewhere else, and it's only human nature to make comparisons. It's nice to hear a rational discussion of the merits of another city without it becoming a flamewar.

[RedScare]

I wouldn't suggest that Atlanta is doing a bad job of things. As you say, the population and economy seem to be heading in the right direction. However, as a resident of perhaps the second most sprawling city in the US, I don't wish for my city to look to the MOST sprawling city in the US for inspiration.

As for some of the things Atlanta is doing right, Houston is also doing many of them, including making the city friendly for doing business, which brings jobs, making the city friendly for minority business, and at least realizing that quality of life issues are important. In the past, both Atlanta and Houston used to turn a blind eye to quality of life. The bad reputation followed, and Houston at least, faces an uphill battle in changing that perception.

But, what is important is what YOU want. If Atlanta does it for you, by all means go. I happen to like it here. I have my reasons, just as you have yours. Hopefully, Atlanta is all you want it to be. Hopefully, Houston becomes all that I want it to be.

Then, we'll both be happy.

[citykid09]

I wouldn't suggest that Atlanta is doing a bad job of things. As you say, the population and economy seem to be heading in the right direction. However, as a resident of perhaps the second most sprawling city in the US, I don't wish for my city to look to the MOST sprawling city in the US for inspiration.

As for some of the things Atlanta is doing right, Houston is also doing many of them, including making the city friendly for doing business, which brings jobs, making the city friendly for minority business, and at least realizing that quality of life issues are important. In the past, both Atlanta and Houston used to turn a blind eye to quality of life. The bad reputation followed, and Houston at least, faces an uphill battle in changing that perception.

But, what is important is what YOU want. If Atlanta does it for you, by all means go. I happen to like it here. I have my reasons, just as you have yours. Hopefully, Atlanta is all you want it to be. Hopefully, Houston becomes all that I want it to be.

Then, we'll both be happy.

I wouldn't want to live there long term, Houston is where I want to be, But Atlanta is somewhere I would like to go for awhile to get a little bit farther away from home. Los Anegeles is also a place I could see living.

[Gary]

I'm probably going to regret chiming in on this, but City Kid is really pushing this Atlanta thing a little hard.

Atlanta is a decent city but not to the degree citykid makes it out.

I was unimpressed with there downtown, it lacked any density and was quite frankly boring. The weekend nightlife didn't hold a candle to Houston's Main Street. They deffinately have more people in there streets than Houston, but there skyline isn't close to H-Town's.

Buckhead had some nice highrises but to say it's comparable to Uptown Houston, is goofy at best. It was a glorified business park to me, with the exception of the regency area which was decent.

The Marta was nice to have while there. Houston could use a page out od ATL's book here.

By the way, to prove one of my points, here is Buckhead.

And Uptown Houston.

So what's up with Buckhead citykid?

ATL comes across as a friendly city like Houston and it's fairly big, but not as city kid makes it out. They have a few decent urban areas as well, but to make it out that any of them are remotely like Boston or any other East coast city is rediculous and inflated.

Houston comes across as much bigger to me, with a more eclectic feel. Our CBD is much bigger and far more dense. Hell, Uptown Houston is as big as Downtown ATL.

I like Atlanta but not to the degree that I like Houston. I'm still blown away by how massive this city is, and it has such great potential in the long run. Houston's still the highrise and population capitol of the South and Southwest until someone knocks us off our pedestal. One things for sure, ATL won't do it anytime soon.

Long live Houston.

[VelvetJ]

Citykid09, I really enjoyed your review. I haven't been to Atlanta in some years now but I do try to keep myself informed on what is going on in that city for a number of reasons. I will openly admit there is part of myself that enjoys city comparison and the bit of competition that goes along with that. I also admit I feels a little threatend by Atlanta because of what it was, what it has become and where it is going. If there are any cities in this country that are similar to Houston, it is Atlanta and Dallas ( WesternGulf, that's why I personally never try to compare Houston to Portland, San Francisco, or San Diego). When it comes to the "new" cities Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta are on the same tier IMO.

Though I'm sure most on this site will disagree with my ranking, a decade ago, I thought it was pretty clear Dallas was at the top, followed by Houston, and then on to Atlanta when it came to the cities. I'm starting to feel Houston and Atlanta will switch places in my ranking very soon.

I agree that we could take some sound advice from Atlanta. Is that city perfect, of course it isn't. But no honest person can say there is nothing we can learn from what Atlanta is doing. That beltline that recently got approval that will take rail around their version of the loop was a great move. The proposal to turn the giant quarry along that rail beltline into the city's largest park was progressive. The light rail that is planned down Peachtree is fantastic. The sheer number of mixed-use developments that have made it past the proposal stage and are actually going up is truly impressive. The agressive ways that it competes is a quality that we seem to have lost our grip on. And last but not least, the way current developers in that city can seem to be able to find so much money to design and build such exciting buildings with a full conciousness of how it will reflect on the skyline as a whole, is a quality Houston was once famous for but no longer.

This all really has nothing to do with leaving Houston or thinking it is the worst place to ever exist, as much as it puts a spotlight on how far we are behind in certain areas and what our future should be. If nothing else, this should make us want to persue improving ourselves even more.

[Gary]

Velvet, Why did I know you would write such a review. You always like to come from the side on your anyplace but Houston comments.

[WesternGulf]

Velvet, Why did I know you would write such a review. You always like to come from the side on your anyplace but Houston comments.

He makes good points though. I am sure he can throw out one sided descriptions of you on your view of Houston. Concealing issues is not healthy.

VelvetJ, I hear you. Just a note though, never mentioned San Francisco. Totally different era of building, but the other cities I mentioned are smart growth cities that Houston really has no problem with becoming or atleast incorporating some practices into our city. Atlanta is doing a great job with its current projects but I really do not understand why they should be a posterchild on this forum for what Houston's future should represent in almost EVERY aspect. I understand the city is "comparable", meaning it is easier to reach these goals, but why stop there? One thing I do envy about Atlanta is definitely Midtown. It IS truly becoming an urban planners wet dream.

I think Houston's main problem is how long it takes for projects to come to fruition. Why not embrace trying to bring back traditional retail to downtown rather than building from scratch developments that serve as a destination and not part of a greater community? Why not embrace that we are not a geographically beautiful city but we are taking steps to take advantage of bringing life to our natural waterways? Why not embrace the center city one day actually becoming the transporation hub for the Houston metro which brings attention to the core of the city? Why not embrace that we are diversifying our economy by continuing to build up on what truly is a world class medical campus, which I really do believe only represents the beginning of that place. Under all this, we still have our problems being the most developer driven city in the nation which is unfortunately something we have to deal with unlike other things. I do believe things are being pursued, just not at a quick pace. Believe me, I am not pulling a Gary here and I understand where you are coming from because you actually do love this city.

It just gets annoying to hear, we need a subway, not because of the problems we have had with our current line, but because it looks more urban and because Atlanta has it we should have no problem getting one. Or how about we should have built retail under some apartmens on a side street that is not even a commercial boulevard because it looks more urban totally misunderstanding some key concepts of urban design but because it looks more pretty and some sister city currently has it. Or bulldozing some historic walkable neighborhoods for townhomes because it does not look big city enough and we should not have neighborhoods like those anymore. Or we should build a university, yes I said it, build a university in downtown to improve foot traffic and it could help the cbd boom more. I am sure all of these qualities are taking from one city which is Atlanta. It gets annoying. I am not saying you are the breeder of these comments but you should get the idea.

[MidtownCoog]

Why not embrace trying to bring back traditional retail to downtown rather than building from scratch developments that serve as a destination and not part of a greater community?

Retail downtown will solve nothing.

We had it, we lost it, and we get by without it.

All it would do is compete with all the other retail. It's about supply and demand.

[WesternGulf]

Retail downtown will solve nothing.

We had it, we lost it, and we get by without it.

All it would do is compete with all the other retail. It's about supply and demand.

Really?

If you are talking about the retail that has been opening up lately: restaurants, restaurants, restaurants, restaurants, then maybe you would have a point. Why can't it be that certain amenities are the reason why people could care less about calling downtown home? It's kind of like the chicken and the egg argument. Most downtowns that have brought in soft goods retail, I am not talking about the stuff that brings out the lunch crowd, in the past few years have actually been a success.

[The Great Hizzy!]

Five Points, Atlanta:

Courtesy, anupriyo.com.

And one more:

[Gary]

He makes good points though. I am sure he can throw out one sided descriptions of you on your view of Houston. Concealing issues is not healthy.

Of course I'm one sided, that's why I live here. I was refering to velvet always pushing another city (mainly Dallas) at the expense of Houston. I for one believe it's on purpose.

As far as concealing issues. Who's concealing issues? I've been to Atlanta many times and simply put, I like Houston a lot better. One thing I've noticed on this forum is the constant bashing of Houston by the select few, and they do it under the guise of wanting to make Houston a better place. My question is... A better place for whom?

I know we don't have the mass transit system everybody want's, and being one that uses light rail on a weekly basis means I'm right there with them. I know everybody want's to be more urban, hell every city not on the East coast want's to be more urban.

Bottom line for me is, Houston is a wonderfull city that offers every amenity you could ever want, well short of an amusement park. Why can't we look to improve (which we're doing) and still love and be proud of our city? My gracious, It can't be to bad here as everybody and there mother is moving in.

I'll say again, I've traveled through just about every major city in this country and Houston is where I chose to live. Speaking of which... Why is it that everybody hates Houston? It's a very odd phenomenon for such a thriving city.