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Want to support this podcast? Visit here

Email: [email protected]

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This week we’re talking about two pieces of Atlanta history - one, a neighborhood wiped out by urban renewal and the other, the showpiece Atlanta Civic Center that was built in its place. 

By the turn of the 20th century, the name “Buttermilk Bottom” was used to describe the area bordered by Piedmont Avenue on the West, North Avenue on the North, Boulevard along the East and Forrest (today Ralph McGill) on the South. This African American community dealt with constant flooding issues, as well as racial terror.

The City of Atlanta established an Urban Renewal Department in 1957 and by 1959, created the Housing and Slum Clearance Code. This new department identified five urban renewal areas, one being the 160 acre Buttermilk Bottoms tract, with 1,543 houses targeted for demolition.

By December of 1963, the City of Atlanta formed the Citizens Auditorium Advisory Committee, who’s stated purpose was to advise on architect, engineer and design and recommend a “proper” site of the new municipal auditorium. They chose the 70-acre tract on the fringe of the Buttermilk Bottom site and Robert & Co as architects.

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Way, way back in Episode 3 I talked about two downtown hotels. And looking back, I think it was a mistake to bury the story of the Heart of Atlanta Motel, because it is so important and historic and shows Atlanta’s impact on the nation, but it also has one of the best divine retribution endings of any history I have researched in my 5 years of podcasting. So this week, we’re talking about the Heart of Atlanta Motel, who opened it, what it was, how it factored into America’s legal history and what became of its infamous owner.

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This week’s interview episode with Will Edmonds, who produces Anecdotal ATL is all about with moonshine history of the pre-Civil War era, through the illegal liquor trade, how and why it centers in Dawsonville, GA and then we get into the colorful characters of Raymond Parks, Walter Day, Carl Lloyd Seay, Roy Hall, and Red Vogt.

Many people know the basic history of NASCAR and how it came from moonshiners of the Prohibition Era, but what will shock you is that Atlanta could have been the home of NASCAR and the two men that prevented that from happening were two of Atlanta biggest names from history - a mayor and a journalist.

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Adaptive reuse is defined as the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. This week, I am diving into eight (8) of Atlanta’s former school buildings that have been adaptively-reused into residential units, from the oldest to the newest school building. 

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For Halloween, Liz Clappin (Tomb With A View) and I are talking about the history of cremation and why Atlanta did not get its first crematorium until the 1980s, which is  a century behind the rest of the United States. It’s a story of race, religion, class and tradition and you don’t want to miss it.

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In 1934, W.A. Scott was a hugely successful entrepreneur, with a publishing empire and a brand-new 4th marriage. As he pulled his car into his garage one late night, he is shot by an unknown assailant. One week later he'd be dead. We may never know who killed W.A. Scott, but this week we're talking about his life, why someone would want him dead and who was charged with the crime. 

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This week, I have collected the stories of Emily Battey, Isma Dooly and Mildred Seydell into Part II of my Women of Atlanta series. The three women we’re talking about today are all white, all upper class but they all share the same profession - albeit decades apart - and were writers and journalists and way ahead of their time.

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The Atlanta Newspaper scene today is dominated by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, but even before their existence as two separate papers, there are several forgotten publications from Atlanta’s founding. Today we are going to cover those early papers, who ran them, what you could find in them and how long they lasted.

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