NEIGHBORHOODS

ANSLEY PARK

Ansley Park is located just east of Midtown and west of Piedmont Park. When developed in 1905-1908, it was the first Atlanta suburban neighborhood designed for automobiles, featuring wide, winding roads rather than the grid pattern typical of older streetcar suburbs. Streets were planned like parkways with extensive landscaping. The neighborhood was largely completed by 1930 and covers 275 acres. It has been designated a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Edwin P. Ansley developed the neighborhood. It was marketed as an alternative for the city's elite to Inman Park, the most fashionable residential neighborhood in the city at the time. It was more fashionably located, astride Peachtree Street and adjacent to the city's largest public park. 

Diverse in style and scale, the houses in the district represent a full range of eclectic and contemporary suburban architecture. These styles include Colonial, Federal, Neo-Classical, Italian Renaissance, Queen Anne, and Tudor styles, as well as Prairie School and Craftsmen bungalows. As for scale, houses range from one-story cottages to two-story houses to three-story mansions and larger apartment buildings. 

Ansley Golf Club members enjoy two first-rate locations and clubhouses; a premier, historic midtown site in Ansley Park, along with the suburban location that is home to Ansley's nationally recognized championship golf course, Settindown. Ansley Golf Club is considered the most family oriented, friendly, and fun private Country Club in Atlanta, with formal and casual dining, swimming, tennis, fitness, youth programs, and twenty-seven of the most picturesque and demanding holes in the world of southern golf. What started out as an amenity to a real estate venture in the early 1900’s has, over the years, evolved to become one of Atlanta’s premier in-town and suburban clubs.

ATLANTIC STATION

Atlantic Station is a neighborhood on the northwestern edge of Midtown, Atlanta, consisting of a retail district, office space, condominiums, townhomes, and apartment buildings.  First planned in the mid-1990s, it officially opened in 2005.  The neighborhood's 138 acres are on the former brownfield stie of the Atlantic Steel Mill. Given its newness, housing here is less than 20 years old and consists primarily of high-rise condominiums, lofts, and apartment buildings with some single family homes on the perimeter.  Giving that Atlantic Station is a city-within-a-city, residents can easily walk to shops, restaurants, entertainment, a grocery story, and office buildings located in the complex.  Midtown is just to the east across the 75/85 connector.

CABBAGETOWN

Cabbagetown’s narrow streets and crooked lanes aren't suitable for crosstown traffic, but that suits this tiny intown enclave just fine. The rows of shotgun houses and old brick buildings once served the purposes of the massive Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill, but now they make up a charmingly dense district that's just as good for dog walkers as it is for boozehounds. Tucked behind a rail yard and adjacent to the historic Oakland Cemetery, this place feels protected from the sprawling parking lots and busy traffic that dominates so many other Atlanta 'hoods. The Krog Street Tunnel, which connects Cabbagetown and Inman Park, has become the city's center point for street art. Street art, tags and graffiti are present in the Krog Street Tunnel and in adjacent areas of Reynoldstown notably the wall of the CSX Hulsey rail yard along Wylie Street. The art in Cabbagetown is managed by the Wallkeepers Committee of the Cabbagetown Initiative, who in 2012 allowed La Pandilla from Puerto Rico and Trek Matthews from Atlanta to paint two murals at the request of the Living Walls street art organization. The neighborhood's main festival is Chomp and Stomp, a bluegrass and chili festival that takes place in November. Over the past few years, Chomp and Stomp has included a 5k road race and upwards of 16,000 attendees.

CANDLER PARK

Candler Park is a 55-acre city park located at 585 Candler Park Drive NE, in Atlanta, Georgia. It is named after Coca-Cola magnate Asa Griggs Candler, who donated this land to the city in 1922. The park features a 9-hole golf course, a swimming pool, a football/soccer field, a basketball court, tennis courts, and a playground. Candler Park is also the name of the neighborhood surrounding the park. It is on the east side of the city, bordering Little Five Points, Lake Claire, Inman Park, Druid Hills, and Edgewood. The Candler Park Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 8, 1983, with a boundary increase on March 17, 2005. It includes portions of Lake Claire. The neighborhood is home to many talented people, great shops, bars, and everything eclectic. It's a family-friendly neighborhood with a focus on walkability and livability.

DECATUR

Decatur is a city in, and the county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia that is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 20,148 in the 2013 census, the municipality is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple ZIP Codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name. The city is served by three MARTA rail stations. The city is located approximately 5 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta and shares its western border with Atlanta.

Decatur was established at the intersection of two Native American trails:  the Sandtown, which led east from the Chattahoochee River at Utoy Creek, and the Shallowford, which follows today's Clairmont Road, and eventually crossed near Roswell. It was named for United States Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur.

In the last half of the twentieth century the metropolitan area of Atlanta expanded into unincorporated DeKalb County, eventually surrounding two sides of the town of Decatur. Concurrently many well-to-do and middle class white Americans fled the area to more distant suburbs. The 1960s and 1970s witnessed dramatic drops in property values. However, more recently the city has regained economic vigor, partially thanks to several long-term downtown development plans that have come to fruition, making Decatur a trendy small mixed-use district with easy transit to downtown Atlanta. Over the past twenty years, it has gained a local and national reputation as a progressive city with a high level of citizen involvement that retains a small town feel despite its proximity to Atlanta.

Decatur has a thriving art and festival scene. The Decatur Arts Alliance hosts the Decatur Arts Festival each May, in addition to installing public art around the city, providing gallery space for local artists, producing YEA!, which is an event for young emerging artists, and supporting arts and arts education throughout the City. Decatur is home to Eddie's Attic, which is a live music venue hosting shows almost every night.

Decatur is known for its frequent festivals, which include the annual Decatur Arts Festival, Summer In The City, Decatur BBQ, Blues & Bluegrass Festival, the Decatur Book Festival, the Decatur Maker's Faire, The Decatur Craft Beer Festival and the Decatur Wine Festival. Other events throughout the year include parades, Concerts on the Square, wine crawls, art walks, and the beloved Porchfest in October, where hundreds of musicians perform on neighborhood porches on a Saturday afternoon.

DOWNTOWN

Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts, it is the location of many corporate or regional headquarters; city, county, state and federal government facilities; Georgia State University; sporting venues; and most of Atlanta's tourist attractions. It measures approximately four square miles, and had 26,700 residents as of 2010. Similar to other central business districts in the United States, it has recently undergone a transformation that included the construction of new condos and lofts, renovation of historic buildings, and arrival of new residents and businesses.

Downtown is bound by North Avenue to the north, Boulevard to the east, Interstate 20 to the south, and Northside Drive to the west. This definition of Downtown includes central areas like Five Points, the Hotel District and Fairlie-Poplar and outlying inner city neighborhoods such as SoNo and Castleberry Hill.

The Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID) organization, though, defines a much smaller downtown area measuring just one and two tenths square miles. This area is roughly bound by North Avenue to the north, Piedmont Avenue and the Downtown Connector to the east, Martin Luther King Junior Drive, Courtland Street, and Edgewood Avenue to the south, and the railroad tracks to the west. This area only includes the core central business district neighborhoods of Fairlie-Poplar, Five Points, the Hotel District, Centennial Hill, and South Downtown.

The area of Downtown contains among the tallest buildings in Atlanta. The tallest building in Atlanta, the Bank of America Plaza building, is situated between Midtown Atlanta and Downtown. Rising at 1,023 feet. Bank of America Plaza is also the tallest building in any of the U.S. state capitals, and the tallest building in the United States outside of New York City and Chicago.

Downtown is home to most of the city's major sporting venues. Mercedes-Benz Stadium is home to the Atlanta Falcons, the city's NFL team, and Atlanta United FC, the city's MLS team. Mercedes-Benz Stadium also hosts major college football events, including the annual Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, the SEC Championship Game, and the Peach Bowl. In its vicinity is State Farm Arena, the home of the Atlanta Hawks, the city's NBA team, and the Atlanta Dream, the city's WNBA team. It is located directly across Centennial Olympic Park Drive from the CNN Center. Just south of Interstate 20 are the Georgia State University baseball and football stadiums—the latter built from the legacy of the defunct Centennial Olympic Stadium and Turner Field.

Woodruff Park is a 6-acre park in Downtown located a block away from Five Points. Built as a legacy of the 1996 Olympic Games, Centennial Olympic Park, located on 21-acre area of Downtown, is the largest downtown park in the United States developed in the last 25 years. Just north of Centennial Olympic Park is the Georgia Aquarium, the world's second largest aquarium, with more than 8 million US gallons of fresh and marine water. The World of Coca-Cola, situated near the Georgia Aquarium, is a permanent exhibition to the history of Coca-Cola. Downtown is in the process of bringing new attractions to the area, particularly in the area clustered around Centennial Olympic Park. In June 2008, Atlanta was selected for the future home of the National Health Museum. It will be near Centennial Olympic Park where it is estimated to attract between 1.1 and 1.4 million visitors per year.

DRUID HILLS

Druid Hills is a community which includes both a census-designated place in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, as well as a neighborhood of the city of Atlanta. The CDP's population was 14,568 at the 2010 census. The CDP contains the main campus of Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC).

The Atlanta-city section of Druid Hills is one of Atlanta's most affluent neighborhoods with a mean household income in excess of $238,500 (making it the ninth most affluent, per that metric).

The planned community was initially conceived by Joel Hurt, and developed with the effort of Atlanta's leading families, including Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler. It contains some of Atlanta's historic mansions from the late 19th and early 20th century. Druid Hills includes the main campus of Emory University, which relocated to Atlanta in 1914.

Druid Hills was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and was one of his last commissions. A showpiece of the design was the string of parks along Ponce de Leon Avenue, which was designated as Druid Hills Parks and Parkways and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 11, 1975. The remainder of the development was listed on the Register as the Druid Hills Historic District on October 25, 1979.[5][6] Later the Park and Parkways district was consolidated into the Druid Hills Historic District.

The Druid Hills neighborhood of Atlanta is bounded by the Druid Hills CDP (i.e. unincorporated DeKalb County) on the north and east; the Morningside/Lenox Park, Virginia-Highland and Poncey-Highland neighborhoods of Atlanta on the west; and the Candler Park neighborhood of Atlanta on the south.

Emory University, including its hospitals, is the third largest employer in Metro Atlanta as of 2007/8. The CDC is also an employer of note.

Commercial areas include Emory Village, a small node first developed in the 1920s at the terminus of the streetcar line to Emory. A revitalization of the area was completed in 2011 with new sidewalks, street furniture and two new roundabouts.

The other, larger commercial areas fall just outside the community's boundaries, such as the Clairmont Road corridor in North Decatur, the Sage Hill shopping center in Atlanta's Morningside/Lenox Park, and the Ponce de Leon Avenue corridor just west of Druid Hills in Atlanta's Poncey-Highland/Virginia-Highland.

Druid Hills is home to The Atlanta Boy Choir on S. Ponce de Leon Ave. and Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, housed in the Gothic-Tudor style former estate of Charles Howard Candler, president of Coca-Cola and eldest son of Asa Griggs Candler, Coca-Cola's co-founder.

EAST ATLANTA

East Atlanta, once a battleground of the Civil War, has since transformed itself from a bustling industrial area into a quirky, close-knit community. Eclectic boutique clothing shops, hip pubs and restaurants line the pedestrian-friendly streets alongside the time-honored businesses that began this neighborhood. The neighborhood’s epicenter, known as East Atlanta Village, is the place to go to for a truly local experience. Annual festivals such as The East Atlanta Strut – a street fair that benefits local charities – the East Atlanta Beer Festival and the Battle of Atlanta Festival provide great music, family fun and tasty treats. Staging great live bands most nights of the week, major music venues such as The EARL make East Atlanta, Georgia a hotspot for nightlife. On any given night, revelers can stroll from The Earl to 529 to The Basement, enjoying live music all along the way. East Atlanta has a gritty rock n’ roll feel, a spot where canned beer, tattooed wrists, and ripped jeans dominate. It’s Atlanta’s equivalent of New York City’s Greenwich Village.

EAST LAKE

East Lake is one of Atlanta's more historic neighborhoods. East Lake is located 4.5 miles (7.2 km) from downtown Atlanta. With its 1910 to 1940s bungalows and cottages and its convenience to local eateries, shops, and transit (MARTA), East Lake has enjoyed a rebirth in recent years.[citation needed]

East Lake is on part of a 19th-century plantation owned by Lt. Col. Robert Augustus Alston, whose home, known as Meadow Nook, still stands across from the East Lake Golf Course. This antebellum home was built in 1856 for his South Carolina bride, and was occupied during the American Civil War. It is the second-oldest home in the city of Atlanta and was not burned by Union General William T. Sherman and his troops.

In 1892, the East Lake Land Company was chartered and land was acquired and divided up into lots. A.C. Bruce was president of the East Lake Land Company and was instrumental in getting a street car line built down a right of way (now East Lake Drive), which started running cars every 20 minutes in 1893. This helped to increase the demand for the small cottage lots, many of which were bought by Atlantans, around the lake to escape the city during the summer months. By the recession of 1896 it became a failed development. The large covered pavilion and beach served as an amusement park, during the years up to 1900.

In 1899 Asa Candler, who was then building Coca-Cola into a national icon, started using agents to secretly buy up the land around the lake and surrounding area. The Atlanta Athletic Club (AAC) began looking for land to build a country location in 1902, and was stirred by Mr. Atkinson (one of Candlers Agents) to buy 280 acres (1.1 km2). In 1904 the Atlanta Athletic Club opened East Lake Golf Club. A street line from Atlanta through Kirkwood, served the location. The Pavilion was removed in 1907 to make way for the first clubhouse. The first clubhouse and golf course were not completed til 1908. Golf was not the primary recreation at that time. Lawn bowling, tennis, boating and wading were all the craze. East Lake was incorporated as a town in 1908.[1]

In 1912, an auto road was constructed from Ponce de Leon Avenue to the gates of East Lake Country Club, making East Lake even more accessible. By 1916, a $10,000 school building had been erected on Fourth Avenue, making East Lake the perfect suburban neighborhood. According to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article in May, 1916, demand for East Lake homes was "almost to boom proportions." In 1928, East Lake was annexed into the City of Atlanta.

In 1926 Francis Marion Swanson moved to East Lake, and bought the home at 246 Daniel Avenue, across from what is now East Lake Park. Mr. Swanson was the treasurer of the East Lake Land Company, which helped spur development of the East Lake area by providing mortgages and construction loans to home buyers and builders. Mr. Swanson and friends encouraged sports enthusiasts to move to the area, many of whom had ties to Georgia Tech. The property site of the Swanson home also has the last of the remaining "Lake Cottages" that date back to the amusement park. This cottage was a guest house for the Swanson family, where Notable Atlantans and Georgia Tech personalities such as Football Coaches Bill Alexander and Bobby Dodd, and Renowned Golfer Bobby Jones. Jones would come in for weekends, and drive onto the 9th fairway from Daniel Street to avoid the crowds.

During the Early to mid twentieth century, the East Lake community thrived with life centered around the Athletic Club. The community had a swim team, tennis team, and football team as well as many accomplished golfers. Across Alston Drive from the Golf Course sat the Bachmann Farm, which kept the horses used for pulling the mowers at the Golf Course. In the early 1950s the land was donated to the City of Atlanta to be converted into what is now East Lake Park. The original Bachmann farm house was converted into a recreation center.

The AAC moved from Atlanta in 1966, selling both its East Lake and downtown Atlanta properties and purchasing its current site in northern Fulton County (now Johns Creek). A new club soon bought the property, establishing what is now known as East Lake Golf Club.

During the 1970s, a notorious public housing project, East Lake Meadows, was built at the former site of the second course at East Lake, west of Second Avenue. A violent crime wave took over the development, and the community saw crime rise, as quality of life and housing values declined. In 1995 a private group led by developer and former resident Tom Cousins entered into a partnership with the City of Atlanta to raze the Meadows and rebuild a new mixed income development, the Villages of East Lake. With the Meadows demolition, crime began to rapidly decline, and the community began a renaissance as the 20th century ended.

Sparked by an already active community association established in 1975, residents protected and preserved the neighborhood during the tumultuous 1960s, 70s, and 80s. As a result, in the late 1990s the neighborhood began to attract young urbanites who eagerly bought the charming homes and changed the residential character of the area, subjecting East Lake to a dramatic property value inflation of 230%.

In the 2005, the East Lake Neighbors Community Association adopted the East Lake Park in Partnership with Park Pride, completing the first community vision plan for a park with that organization. The goal of the parks group was to bring neighbors together in support of renovating the neglected park. That year, the Friends of East Lake Park received a $100,000 donation from Home Depot Foundation to build a new playground, shade structures, walking trails and benches, as well as extensive plantings throughout the park, and off site improvements at East Lake Elementary School and the Villages at East Lake. Over 800 volunteers from the community and corporate partners from Home Depot, Coca-Cola and UPS built all the improvements over a 6-hour period. Since then the Friends of East Lake Park has helped secure grant funding to renovate and restore the recreation center. The park is the pride of the community, with newly renovated tennis courts, and little league ball field, and is very active use most weekends.

EDGEWOOD

Edgewood was originally its own town, prior to the city's 1909 annexation across the county line from Fulton into DeKalb. Edgewood was developed during Atlanta’s Reconstruction-era economic boom that lasted from 1870 to 1910. With the extraordinary growth of Atlanta’s population during this time, and the development of an extensive core downtown business district, many forward-looking business and municipal leaders began to see the need for separate areas of recreation and residential development for the ever-increasing numbers of those who worked downtown. However, unlike other east side neighborhoods, Edgewood was geared primarily towards blue-collar workers. As such, the Victorian architecture common in Kirkwood and Candler Park is noticeably absent in Edgewood, the neighborhood's housing stock being composed primarily of craftsman bungalows. Edgewood sports a multitude of businesses, shops, and services within its new Retail District that make living in this neighborhood very comfortable and convenient. Edgewood is conveniently located within 8 miles of I-285 and 1 mile of I-20. Hosea L Williams Drive (one of the main roads in the neighborhood), connects Moreland Avenue and Candler Road. According to residents, one of the top advantages to living in this great neighborhood is quick access to Atlanta or Decatur, and very little traffic within the neighborhood streets.

GRANT PARK

Grant Park, Atlanta, GA is the area’s largest and oldest historic district, which also surrounds its oldest city park. Primarily a residential neighborhood, the community sponsors an annual tour of homes which spotlights period styles from Craftsman bungalows to Victorian cottages. A haven for families, the 131.5-acre park features lush lawns, stunning views and annual festivals, including the Grant Park Summer Shade Festival which features an artist market, 5K run, food vendors and live entertainment all nestled under the ancient oak trees. 

Bordering Grant Park are three of Atlanta’s premiere attractions: Zoo Atlanta – home to more than 1,300 animals including Giant Pandas, Sumatran tigers and one of North America’s largest captive gorilla populations; the Atlanta Cyclorama which immortalizes the 1864 Battle of Atlanta with a 42-foot-tall cylindrical oil painting and one of the South’s largest collections of Civil War memorabilia; and Oakland Cemetery – a rolling greenspace built in 1850 which is now the final resting place of more than 70,000 stories. Notable figures buried here include Atlanta’s first African-American mayor Maynard Jackson, as well as Gone with the Wind author Margaret Mitchell and golf legend Bobby Jones.

Atlanta homebuyers have been flocking to Kirkwood since the late 1990s to buy up and renovate the community's beautiful craftsman homes. The result has been the birth of a tight-knit community and steadily rising home prices. Kirkwood is still an affordable area for intown homes, making it popular with young professionals and first-time homebuyers. Typical homes range in price from the mid-200's up to half a million for large, restored homes, though there are still some lower-priced bargains to be found on the outskirts of the area. Bessie Branham Park and Coan Park provide outdoor recreation opportunities including tennis and basketball courts as well as picnic facilities. Both East Lake Golf Club and Charlie Yates Golf Course are just down the road for putting enthusiasts. The newly built East Lake YMCA provides top-of-the-line equipment and community programs. Today, Downtown Kirkwood has become what neighbors call "the small town in the big city," hosting its own post office, newly constructed fire station, police precinct and public library. Residents and visitors also have a host of shopping and dining options at their disposal, including: day spas, furniture galleries, gift shops, restaurants, bars, a wine store, coffee shops, real estate offices, professional/creative spaces, salons, dance studios, yoga studios, and more. At the Kirkwood Spring Fling each year the KNO ushers in the warm weather with its annual Spring Fling Festival and Tour of Homes. Local residents can sample music, artist market, food, beer and children's area at Bessie Brahnam Park. Proceeds from the event are committed to local community improvement projects. At the Kirkwood Wine Stroll, The Kirkwood Business Owners Association hosts an annual Wine Stroll each summer where attendees can sample wines from around the world at local businesses. At the B*ATL Event held each July in commemoration of the area's geographical role as the starting point of the Battle of Atlanta during the civil war, Kirkwood, East Atlanta and East Lake host the B*ATL celebration across their communities. Events include a Gala Dinner and House Tour, a 5K run, van and walking tours, a re-creation of the Frontlines with Re-enactment Soldiers and artillery, a Civil War Village with civilian re-enactors, historic music concerts and dramatic performances, story telling and more.

GLENWOOD PARK

Glenwood Park is an award-winning 28-acre brownfield redevelopment in an infill location that features a mix of well-designed homes and commercial spaces. The neighborhood is noted for its commitment to traditional neighborhood design, walkability, mixture of residential and commercial uses, and environmental management practices. Glenwood Park is a certified EarthCraft Community for its focus on site selection, water management, planning and design, preservation landscaping, community involvement, and green building.

INMAN PARK

Inman Park is Atlanta’s first planned residential suburb and also Atlanta’s first electric trolley neighborhood. Created at the cusp of the twentieth century, this ideal Victorian neighborhood — curved streets, generous residential lots, and verdant parks — was built upon the wrecked land of Atlanta’s Civil War battlefield, two miles east of downtown Atlanta. Inman Park was the brainchild of a renaissance thinker named Joel Hurt (1850-1926), who modeled the neighborhood after other trolley neighborhoods he had seen throughout the United States. The neighborhood was an immediate success; Atlanta’s nineteenth-century elite flocked to Inman Park to construct grand homes, which had been designed by the city’s best architects. In its heyday, Inman Park residents could travel via electric trolley to downtown Atlanta for work, and then return home to the pastoral lands of Inman Park for relaxation – after paying the hefty trolley toll of five cents each way. Turn-of-the-nineteenth century business moguls such as Asa Griggs Candler, founder of the Coca-Cola Company, called Inman Park home during this successful period of Inman Park’s growth. 

Today, Inman Park is the neighborhood of Joel Hurt’s dreams: beautiful homes filled with professionals who appreciate the charm of urban living in a bucolic setting. Almost all of the houses – both the mansions and the smaller dwellings – have been restored to their former glory, and the parks scattered throughout the neighborhood are well-maintained green spaces, which pay homage to Hurt’s original designs. A strong neighborhood association – IPNA – continues to fight for the betterment of the neighborhood, mostly financed by a three-day annual festival that brings thousands to Inman Park for food, music, and a tour of the historic homes. Throughout the neighborhood, visitors can see a symbol, created by a neighborhood resident back in the earliest days of Inman Park’s restoration. This symbol – a yellow and black butterfly – captures Inman Park’s theme of rebirth, with two faces outlined in the butterfly’s body looking left and right to signify both the past and the future of Inman Park. The original Inman Park neighborhoods, along with a few adjacent Victorian developments, are now part of the Inman Park Historic District, and the historic appearance of the district is regulated by the City of Atlanta.

LAKE CLAIRE

Lake Claire is an intown Atlanta neighborhood known for its diverse mix of home styles, its abundant mature trees, its lovingly tended gardens and greenspaces, and its community-oriented residents. There is no actual lake.  The name stems from the center of Lake Claire at the intersection of Lakeshore Drive and Claire Avenue. Nestled between Candler Park and Druid Hills, Lake Claire is bordered by Ridgecrest Road to the east and Clifton Road to the west, and by DeKalb Avenue to the south and Ponce de Leon Avenue to the north. Lake Claire sits on the Eastern Continental Divide, which separates rivers flowing to the Atlantic from those flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Claire is on the Gulf side. The streets in Lake Claire were originally surveyed as a few separate developments, which were incorporated into Atlanta one by one in the 1910s. Although some developers built groups of houses, much of Lake Claire was sold as empty lots, with individuals constructing their own homes. Today Lake Claire is a neighborhood unit recognized by the City of Atlanta. 

Lake Claire’s residents are professionals, artists, and entrepreneurs; young families, empty nesters, and everything in between. One of Atlanta’s smaller neighborhoods, Lake Claire has cultivated a close-knit community, where neighbors share more than just borders. The neighborhood association, Lake Claire Neighbors (LCN), is made up of an elected executive committee and all the residents of the neighborhood. LCN plans neighborhood events, such as the Lake Claire Home & Garden Tour in the fall and the annual Halloween kids parade; reviews variances to city zoning within Lake Claire; helps maintain Lake Claire Park and the Harold Avenue Greenspace; provides a community voice to city elected representatives; produces and distributes the monthly newspaper, the Clarion; and provides a place to meet and share ideas with neighbors. Within the neighborhood itself are many smaller, vibrant communities. One is Lake Claire Cohousing, the first cohousing development in Georgia. Another is the Lake Claire Community Land Trust, an idyllic community-owned greenspace in the heart of Lake Claire that features gardens, a children’s play area, a sweat lodge, and drum circles every first and third Saturday of the month. Clifton Sanctuary Ministries, the oldest house-of-worship shelter operating in Atlanta, provides food, shelter, and counseling to thirty men every night of the year.

LITTLE FIVE POINTS

Little Five Points

Little Five Points is a district on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 2 1⁄2 miles east of downtown. It was established in the early 20th century as the commercial district for the adjacent Inman Park and Candler Park neighborhoods, and has since become famous for the alternative culture it brings to Atlanta. It has been described as Atlanta's version of Haight-Ashbury, a melting pot of sub-cultures, and the Bohemian center of the Southern United States. 

Little Five Points is renowned for its alternative culture. It is home to metro-wide indie radio station WRFG FM 89.3, two independent bookstores (Charis Books and More and A Cappella Books), a skateshop staffed by some pro skateboarders (Stratosphere Skateboards), record stores (Criminal Records, Wax'n'Facts, and Moods Music), coffee shops (Java Lords, Aurora Coffee, Starbucks), a health and wellness center (Sweetgrass Wellness Spring), new and used clothing stores (Rag-O-Rama), a shoe store (Abbadabba's) novelty shops (Junkman's Daughter), a new-age shop (Crystal Blue), a locally owned credit union (BOND Community Federal Credit Union), a natural foods store (Sevananda Natural Foods Market), an independent pharmacy, and independent record labels (DB Records) and Shut Eye Records & Agency, two theaters (7 Stages and Horizon Theatre), a major music venue (Variety Playhouse), a community music school (The Little 5 Points Music Center), a smoking store (42°), and several local restaurants and bars. The neighborhood is featured in the Cartoon Networkshow Class of 3000 as well as the Internet Girls series of books by Lauren Myracle, who mentions several of the businesses in Little Five Points by name.

Little Five Points is one of Atlanta's best neighborhoods for viewing street art. Unlike most of Atlanta's neighborhoods, the street art in Little Five Points is highly concentrated in a compact easily walked area. Works by internationally known street artists such as Jerkface can be found as well as works by local artist such as Chris Veal and R. Land. But finding the murals can be a bit of a treasure hunt. Many works of street art are tucked away on the back sides of buildings, in alleyways, and in back parking lots. Both the easily visible and hidden gems of street art in Little Five Points are mapped on the Atlanta Street Art Map.

MIDTOWN

Midtown is the second largest business district in the city of Atlanta, situated between the commercial and financial districts of Downtown to the south and Buckhead to the north. Midtown has a resident population of 30,000, a workplace population of 68,000, a student population of 20,000. The district attracts about six million visitors annually. 

Midtown is marked by its cultural attractions, institutions of higher education, noteworthy architecture, and urban layout. The district is the center of the city's arts scene that includes the Fox Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, the High Museum of Art, the Museum of Design Atlanta, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Center for Puppetry Arts, and the 14th Street Playhouse. Midtown is also home to three well known institutions of higher education: Georgia Institute of Technology, John Marshall Law School, and the Atlanta division of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Midtown contains about one-third of the city's high-rises and some of Atlanta's most iconic buildings, such as the Bank of America Plaza, AT&T Midtown Center, Atlantic Center, and 1180 Peachtree. Midtown has also been a primary area for high-density development in the city in the first decade of the 2000s due to the district's mass transit options and urban street grid. 

Known as the “Heart of the Arts” it comes as no surprise that Midtown is at the center of Atlanta's arts scene. Home to many theaters and arts center, Midtown embraces the arts with open arms. This helps to provide Midtown with the trendy, eclectic and urban feel. But don't let it fool you, just because Midtown feels like a big city, you will still find that comfortable, neighborhood feel. Midtown has a variety of trendy shopping, dining and nightlife. Don't worry about driving, Midtown is known for the walkable environment and ease of getting around.

MORNINGSIDE

Morningside. By 1911, the neighborhoods of today's Ansley Park and Virginia-Highland were under development. That same year, Plaster Bridge Road in front of Walker's Mill was paved; the road was renamed Piedmont in 1917. Kimballville Farm was a large farm in the area known for its modern technology and prime livestock. Visitors were invited to come out from Atlanta and spend a leisurely day on the farm and buy livestock or farm products. In 1923, real estate agents James R. Smith and M.S. Rankin build eight homes in Morningside Park and advertised a "new type of suburb." The new development prospered after the city annexed the area in 1925. The section known as Morningside, one of the newest subdivisions around Atlanta, was experiencing a boom. Also in 1925, developer Byron C. Kistner built a row of shops on North Highland. Original tenants included Shackleford's Pharmacy, Henry's Dry Cleaning, Rogers Brothers Grocery and an A&P. In 1927, construction began on Morningside Shopping Center, the storefront strip on Piedmont just north of Monroe Drive. The growing neighborhood acquired a school when Morningside Elementary opened in 1929. Originally, the school had six classrooms on the lower floor of the western side of the current building. Enrollment grew, and a new building was commissioned and completed in 1935, providing work for the unemployed during the Depression. In 1934, the Morningside Civic League beautified the neighborhood by planting crepe myrtles and dogwoods. 

Today, Morningside is a thriving Intown neighborhood filled with wonderful homes, shaded parks, an award-winning elementary school, and terrific neighbors. Not to be missed are the great Restaurants, Shops and Neighborhood Events. Morningside host two large events each year. In the fall there is the Monumental Ball. This is an excellent opportunity to meet new friends and neighbors while supporting your neighborhood. The Celebration of Summer takes place at the end of the School Year. This is an ALL family event held at Sydney Marcus Park with music, games, and food.

OLD FOURTH WARD

Old Fourth Ward is one of the Hottest Intown Neighborhoods and considered the “Comeback Kid of Atlanta” by many due to its recent resurgence as a center of development. It’s O4W for short and is a neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The neighborhood is best known as the location of the Martin Luther King, Jr. historic site. However, the Old Fourth Ward has also garnered national attention as "a cradle of culinary and artistic innovation and as a symbol of gentrification. The area north of Freedom Parkway and east of Boulevard is one of the city's most up-and-coming areas. It is home to The Masquerade, a music venue hosting national acts, and Historic Fourth Ward Park, a product of the BeltLine. In the very northeast corner of this area is the 2.1 million sq. ft. former City Hall East, which a developer, Jamestown, plans to spend $180 million to convert into Ponce City Market, a complex of retail, restaurants, boutiques, offices and residential space, featuring a food hall of national importance along the lines of Jamestown's own Chelsea Market in New York. This area has also seen an influx of young professionals. When complete in Fall 2014, Ponce City Market will become the “The Chelsea Market of the South….on Steroids!” After decades of neglect, Edgewood Avenue, which connects the Old Fourth Ward to downtown and Inman Park, has become a bar and restaurant district, home to a number of Atlanta's most eclectic nightspots, including Corner Tavern, Noni's, Church, Circa and the Sound Table which was recognized as one of the 50 Best Bars in America by Food and Wine magazine. Bar and restaurant-owners are attracted to Edgewood's "non-corporate" feel, mostly due to its urban layout and historic buildings showcasing turn-of-the-century architecture. 

One of the new attractions bringing people to Old Fourth Ward is Historic Fourth Ward Park. This beautiful park, opened in 2011, is accessible from The Beltline, and even features one of Atlanta's only intown skate parks. The park is a fun place to just lounge, and there's also a splash fountain for kids. The neighborhood is also home to the King Center, a free historical site honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Soon the new Atlanta Streetcar will open along Edgewood Avenue, connecting Downtown Atlanta to the King Historic District and Edgewood Avenue nightlife.

ORMEWOOD PARK

Ormewood Park is the most historically intact of the 45 neighborhoods along the Atlanta BeltLine, due in part to the juxtaposition of being too expensive and too low-priced to justify tearing down and replacing homes. The leafy green streets are made up most commonly of brick and clapboard houses on an inconsistently gridded street pattern. Housing styles range from Victorian cottages to craftsman bungalows to minimal traditional and ranch homes. Generally 1-1.5 stories, homes in Ormewood Park are cozier which lends itself to an affordable intown neighborhood. With Grant Park next door to the west and Glenwood Park to the north, you have a triangle of park-named neighborhoods, indicative of the greenspaces you will find in this part of town. The Atlanta BeltLine makes up the entire western border of the Ormewood Park neighborhood, which gives you a lot of opportunity to own real estate along the BeltLine corridor! The Atlanta BeltLine then goes north into Glenwood Park along Bill Kennedy Way and south into Boulevard Heights.

PONCEY-HIGHLAND

Poncey-Highland is a neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, located south of Virginia-Highland. It so named because it is near the intersection of east/west Ponce de Leon Avenue and north/southwest North Highland Avenue. This Atlanta neighborhood was established between 1905 and 1930. The Little Five Points area sits on the border of Poncey-Highland, Inman Park, and Candler Park. Poncey-Highland is a vibrant intown neighborhood in Atlanta, GA located 2 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta, just south of Ponce de Leon Ave. Poncey-Highland is home of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, established in 1982. The Carter Center occupies an area of land that was originally the neighborhood of Copenhill, and which was razed to build an interchange between eight-lane highways: Interstate 485 (now Stone Mountain Freeway) east and west, and Georgia 400 and Interstate 675 north and south. The development was successfully stopped by the surrounding neighborhoods, leaving Freedom Parkway in the area where GDOT had already demolished over 500 homes. 

Nestled in the middle of many dynamic intown neighborhoods, Poncey-Highland is rich in the amenities of urban living such as great restaurants, cool shops and galleries, lively sidewalk activity, great schools, easy access to interstates and transit, and a variety of housing options including historic and new single family homes, condominiums, and apartments. Freedom Park is one of Poncey-Highland’s outstanding assets offering accessible and ample greenspace which gives residents the best of what urban living can provide combined with access to serene open land for relaxation and exercise. The residents of Poncey-Highland are a highly talented, interesting mix of young and old, longtime residents and new, families and singles, professionals, artists, students and more. This neighborhood is a walkable, safe and welcoming place to live, work and play!

REYNOLDSTOWN

Reynoldstown is a historic neighborhood on the near east side of Atlanta, Georgia located only 2 miles from downtown. The neighborhood is gentrifying and attracting new families, empty-nesters, Atlantans opposed of long commutes; as well as diverse culture of first-time homebuyers, single professionals, artist and students due to its close proximity to other nearby intown neighborhoods, high walkability index, urban amenities and nearby bohemian hotspots on Carroll Street in the adjoined-at-the-hip also historic Cabbagetown neighborhood and in other surrounding communities. Reynoldstown lies in NPU-N. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. Local landmarks include the Colgate Mattress Factory lofts, Trees Atlanta headquarters and nursery, and the former Atlanta & West Point Railroad depot, which now houses H. Harper Station, "a modern watering stop." Reynoldstown was annexed by the city of Atlanta in 1909 and celebrates its historic tie to freed slave roots and artistic expressions to empower residents with its annual Wheelbarrow Festival. This friendly and very walkable neighborhood is home to over 1500 households and is one of the most diverse areas inside the perimeter. Young families putting down roots, first-time homebuyers, older residents whose families have lived here since the 1920s, single professionals, artists, and students--all have chosen this community because of its warm, welcoming nature, its rich local history, and its central location. The homes in Reynoldstown range from early-20th century shotgun houses and bungalows to 21st century ultramodern architectural abodes and lofts, townhouses, condos and apartments of all shapes and sizes.

VIRGINIA HIGHLAND

Virginia-Highland is a neighborhood of Atlanta, often called “VaHi” for short, that was founded in the early 20th century as a streetcar suburb. It is named after the intersection of Virginia Avenue and North Highland Avenue, the heart of a busy commercial district at the center of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is famous for its bungalows and other historic houses from the 1910s-1930s. It has become a destination for people across Atlanta with its eclectic mix of restaurants, bars, and shops and for the Summerfest festival, annual Tour of Homes and other events. Around Atlanta, "Virginia-Highland", "Virginia Highlands" and "the Highlands" are all commonly heard. However, only "Virginia-Highland" is the official name of the neighborhood. The other terms are even included in some business names, but are incorrect. In 2011 readers of Creative Loafing voted Virginia-Highland "Best Overall Neighborhood",[and in June 2011, Atlanta Magazine designated Virginia Highland "favorite neighborhood overall". In 2012 readers of Creative Loafing voted VaHi "Best Walkable Neighborhood". 

Historic Virginia Highland is Atlanta's most popular neighborhood for shopping, dining and nightlife. Developed in the early 1900's, it consists of seven distinct commercial "villages" alternating with short, walkable blocks of charming bungalow homes. Locals and tourists alike mingle for brunch at charming sidewalk cafes, cocktails at lively nightspots, and innovative cuisine at progressive restaurants and bistros. Discovering the unexpected is part of the attraction where you may find world- famous musical entertainment at a tiny nightclub, an opening-night party at an art gallery or a gathering of fascinating people at one of the coffeehouses. Virginia Highland is acclaimed for its diverse and unique shopping. Trend-setting apparel, classic to kitschy antiques, folk and pop art, whimsical decorative accessories, natural linens, rare cigars, distinctive art books, gourmet kitchen wares, fine woodworking and gardening tools, unusual fresh flowers, gelatos, unique contemporary, antique or traditional furniture, do-it-yourself pottery, full-service day spas, fashionable salons – all are just a few of the extensive retail offerings.

TRILITH (formerly Pinewood Forest)

Pinewood Forest is designed as the kind of mixed-use community where “positive collisions” happen among neighbors—and where picturesque streets might serve as the backdrop of a Hollywood blockbuster. It’s ifteen miles south of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, on 234 acres of former wheat fields

The Fayetteville live-work-play hub, envisioned as a denser Serenbe or Alys Beach, is rising across the street from Pinewood Atlanta Studios, the country’s largest purpose-built complex for filming outside Los Angeles. It’s the brainchild of a local CEO and real estate vets who designed a mini-city where creativity is encouraged. Pinewood broke ground in 2016,  but will continue developing over the next ten years.

With styles mimicking the European roots of Pinewood Studios’ U.K. headquarters, the look and size of Pinewood’s housing stock will vary as greatly as pricing (from the $300,000s for for an 1,100-square-foot cottages to much larger $2 million estates).

In addition to a public pool and typical tennis courts, there will be a 15-mile system of permeable-surface trails (including a 5K loop and boardwalk over wetlands) that encourages residents to walk, pedal, and be at one with nature. Pinewood Forest will also include gigabyte Internet and a frequent, WiFi-enabled shuttle to the airport’s MARTA station.

Each of the standalone houses will be geothermal-powered with the highest sustainability standards available (solar optional). All will be either directly on parks or within a block of one.