Three days in Atlanta

[Klazu]

There have recently been several Atlanta threads in here, but here's one more with a visitor's look of the city. Few weeks ago I had three days to spend in Atlanta and I tried to make the best out of it.

First few photos are from the flight there. Taking off from Vancouver you almostimmediately see the huge Mount Baker.





Clouds surroung Cascade Mountains in the morning light.





Chicago O'Hare looks huge from the air. I find ORD an easy place to change flights in Midwest.



ATL doesn't look that huge from above, although it is the busiest airport in the world (95M passangers annually!). Delta really dominates this airport, as it is their home base hub.



I really liked the heavy subway Atlanta has. There are four lines running through the city center. Subway is an easy and inexpensive way to travel and great thing that it connects with the airport.







My base in Atlanta was Hilton in Downtown.



View from the 24th floor. Looking urban if you exclude that ugly parking lot.









I didn't find Downtown very pedestrian friendly and it seemed to be planned for cars and cars only. Most people travel between parkades and office through skyways that are literally everywhere.











This must be the ugliest building I know. Based on what I read, it is some kind of wholesale center for businesses. Would a window be too much to ask?



CNN has their world headquarters in Atlanta. The complex is called CNN Center.







It's free to step inside and there is a huge food court to enjoy. The atrium is something to behold and used to house an indoor amusement park back in the 70s. It went belly up quickly and nowadays the complex is mostly CNN offices and studios and a hotel.

















The escalator up to the eight floor is said to be the longest freestanding escalator in the world. You can ride it in the beginning of CNN Tour.







For $16 you can take part in a 50-minute tour of the CNN Center.



CNN main news room.





HNL news room.





HNL morning studio.



I thought the tour was worth the money and was interesting. Too bad that CNN itself is not so worthwhile these days.

Anyways, next photos will be from the World of Coca-Cola and around Downtown.

[bobdreamz]

Nice tour especially of CNN. Those downtown street shots with the skybridges and no pedestrians at street level would be perfect for that vampire series filmed there!

[Klazu]

Yeah, I was surprised how few pedestrians there are on Downtown streets during a normal office day, especially when considering how many office towers and massive hotels there are. After dark it gets really quiet and eerie in some places.

Midtown and Buckhead seemed much better in this sense.

[RudyJK]

Can't wait to see the rest of the tour Klazu.

People often freak out about the sky bridges but they are only prevalent among the four buildings that make up the AmericasMart wholesale trade complex - one of the busiest and most important in the world. Without those bridges, the complex could not successfully function during the busy market periods in January and July when 10's of thousands of people are on the campus. They keep the streets clear during those times and make buying possible between buildings. It's hard to explain to people their utilitarian aspect but they are a necessity. Maybe not that attractive though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmericasMart

[RudyJK]

CNN Center (then known as the Omni International complex) did indeed house an indoor amusement park - for about 1/2 a year in the 70's. There was also an ice skating rink in the atrium. And Burt Reynolds had a night club too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wo...d_Marty_Krofft

[Doady]

Excellent photos. Very strange-looking city, especially with those bridges. What's up with those anyways?

[L41A]

Originally Posted by Doady

Excellent photos. Very strange-looking city, especially with those bridges. What's up with those anyways?

Did you read the response from RudyJK (immediately before your response) which included a link that explained it?

[Doady]

Originally Posted by L41A

Did you read the response from RudyJK (immediately before your response) which included a link that explained it?

No I didn't. He made two posts and only the saw the second one. I thought it was one post, not two, my bad.

[Tom Servo]

Wow, ghost town. Reminds me of Houston's downtown.

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by Tom Servo

Wow, ghost town. Reminds me of Houston's downtown.

c'mon man. that was certainly no comprehensive tour of downtown atlanta. i'm not saying it's a bastion of pedestrian activity but this actually highlighted some of the worst aspects and streets, and not really enough info to make a judgement on. (no offense to the photographer meant at all - downtown does not do a good job of presenting its best face) there are definitely far more active areas, like around farlie-poplar, sweet auburn, and the centennial park area.

klazu - great photos so far! i've never taken the cnn tour myself, maybe i will some day. if you have more pics i'd love to see them.

[jtown,man]

I've actually found downtown Atlanta, and most certainly around peachtree road, a lot of pedestrian activity.

[Nightsky]

Very nice, I like the CNN Center!

[Klazu]

Thanks for the comments, guys!

Originally Posted by RudyJK

People often freak out about the sky bridges but they are only prevalent among the four buildings that make up the AmericasMart wholesale trade complex - one of the busiest and most important in the world.

Yeah, it is pretty cool complex that you don't normally find in Downtown of a major city. Although an eyesore, I did find it quite interesting with all those randomly placed skywalks.

Originally Posted by cabasse

c'mon man. that was certainly no comprehensive tour of downtown atlanta. i' not saying it's a bastion of pedestrian activity but this actually highlighted some of the worst aspects and streets, and not really enough info to make a judgement on. (no offense to the photographer meant at all - downtown does not do a good job of presenting it's best face) there are definitely far more active areas, like around farlie-poplar, sweet auburn, and the centennial park area.

Yeah, my trip there was in late September so outside of the tourist season. I still have to say I was a bit surprised how empty the business district was during normal weekdays. There must be tens of thousands of people working in there, but I didn't see any crowds. Maybe they were all busy working?

It is a completely a different story in Midtown which I did find much nicer on street level.

[Klazu]

Not everyone knows it, but Atlanta is both the place where Coca-Cola was invented and where the company still has its world headquarters. There is no ordering Pepsi in this town.

In 2007 the company opened a brand new museum to promote its history and brand which is called World of Coca-Cola. It's a fun (although commercial) place to spend a few hours learning about the history of Coke.





Dr. John S. Pemberton invented the formula in 1886.







There is a LOT of memoribilia to see from all those years.









There are several different exhibitions to explore and The Secret of Coca-Cola is one of the most exciting one.



In this exhibition you learn about the mystery around the secret formula and how many have tried to uncover it.



In the 1800s Coke and other soda beverages were served in special soda bars. A drink cost you a nickel and it was supposed to have healing powers.









The whole place is very interactive and uses the latest technology. For example there are cool displays where you can see your picture being blown with the wind.



At the end of the exhibition you enter a 360-degree cinema...



...after which you are shown The Vault where the secret formula is claimed to be stored. It is up to you to believe if this is indeed true or not.



There is also a fully operational bottling plant inside the museum. The bottling line is slowed down 110 times to make it easier to observe.







The Santa Claus we think of today was invented as part of a 30s Coke marketing campaign.



The Coke polar bear is alive and living the dream.



Today The Coca-Cola Company owns and sells well over 100 brands of beverages...



...and you get to taste most of them in here!





At the end of the tour you are free to take one free commemorative bottle of Coca-Cola with you. All bottles have been bottled by the plant you saw earlier.



Back at hotel I decided to try the Nicolai's Roof restaurant on top of Hilton. The view from the 28th floor is nice.





It's an upscale restaurant, however every evening they serve an inexpensive three course meal during the first hour they are open. It was around $35 which is good value.







When I was done eating the sun had already set.



Marriott Marquis hotel next door.



That was my first day in Atlanta. More to follow.

[Labtec]

Looks like you visited at the wrong time, here's how downtown Atlanta streets can look (by Detroitman)

[Klazu]

The State of Georgia has come a long way to be the entertainment production center of the South. One of the biggest still ongoing production in Atlanta and around it, is of course the record-breaking The Walking Dead.

Atlanta Movie Tour is a company organizing daily tours to see TWD filming locations in town. There are two tours to choose from, one focusing on Atlanta and another one in nearby Senoia where fictional Woodbury and Alexandria Safe-Zones are located and currnet filming is taking place. I chose the first one as my tour and was not disappointed.

The 3-hour tour takes place onboard a mini-bus.



This is the bridge that Rick rides in town in thevery first episode. The building used to house some railway company offices but is now vacant.







Fictional department store where Rick and Glenn escape zombies in second episode.



Stretch of street that Rick and Glenn walk covered in walker guts.



Next door is the parking lot where Glenn steals an orange Dodge Charger to distract a herd of walkers.



In season 5 Daryl and Carol find a van hanging from this bridge while they try tracing down Beth.





Time jump to season 4, Terminus turns out not to be a safe haven. The building is located south of Downtown.



This is where the group is loaded on a rail car in final minutes of season 4.



Back to season 1 and episode 1. Rick rides to Atlanta through this bridge.



And this is the square where the scene with a tank being surrounded by walkers was shot. Unfortunately the bus just drove through, so I didn't get that good shot.



Alley where Rick and Glenn escape walkers in the second episode (just before climbing on top of the department store).



Next we drove north of Atlanta, where there is a hippie commune called Goat Farm. Several productions have been filmed in here, including The Hunger Games where the location was used as District 12 "mining town".









Some random season 3 scenes have been shot in here. Our guide has been an extra zombie on Walking Dead and is one of the walkers eating Merle.





Back in episode 1, this is the police station where Rick and Morgan get some guns and ammo, and where Rick shoots his former colleague (now a walker) next to a fence.





Pimped up swag mobile!



Every one should recognize this location. This is the hospital where Rick wakes up and discovers piles of dead bodies at the backyard. It's an old Atlanta Mission building.







Unfortunately the tour was not able to take us to where "CDC" was filmed, but instead we got to see the most famous view of the Downtown skyline. From Jackson Bridge Downtown skyscrapers line up nicely for a great photo.







...and this is the famous view in the series.



Note how much they have digitally edited. They doubled the lanes, added a railway, etc. Nothing is what it seems in Hollywood.



And that was it. The tour is definitely worth the money for a TWD fan and I had good time. More Atlanta photos soon.

Lastly there is a nice clip showing one how much they twist the reality in film industry.

• Video Link

[Centropolis]

walking dead tour, how novel. thanks!

[Klazu]

More Downtown early in the morning. Walking around on my way to check out the view from Westin Peachtree Plaza.



Nearby Five Points station.





Love the "steps" on the building.







Very thin flat iron building.



I really love how this photo turned out. Very different architectural styles all in one shot.









New Mercedes-Benz stadium under construction.







Restaurant integrated with a multi-storey parkade.



Too bad I didn't know about Ted's while I was still there, as it is supposed to be a great steakhouse and owned by CNN's owner Ted Turner.



More photos soon.

[Danny]

Fantastic pictures of Atlanta! Very good work! Thanks for sharing.

The views of Atlanta's skyline are stunning, and the pictures about the museum of Coke are great too.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain.

[volguus zildrohar]

I've softened on that city over time. Hard to argue that there's eye-catching architecture there.