21 Reasons We Love Atlanta
Clockwise from top left: Aisha Taylor Issah, Jere Chang, Blondie, Chantelle Rytter
Photographs by Stephanie Eley
It’s February, we’re in love, and we want everyone to know it.
This year, we’re dedicating Valentine’s Day to our favorite city in the world. Atlanta is a weird, wonderful place, as full of marvelous people and fascinating corners as it is marked by the scars of its complicated history.
Our editorial staff writes about Atlanta all day, every day, and we’re still amazed by how much there is to learn. Whether we cover restaurants, local politics, or the niche happenings in the Atlanta art scene, discovering the secrets of the city is one of our favorite parts of the job. Here, we’ve gathered some of the many reasons we love the city: the most interesting characters, serendipitous moments, and only-in-Atlanta stories that remind us what’s so special about the place.
Please enjoy our love letters to Atlanta. We hope they remind you why you love it here, too.
By Edward Adams, Carly Cooper, Richard L. Eldredge, Vené Franco, Denise K. James, Tess Malone, Lia Picard, Xavier Stevens, and King Williams
Edited by Rachel Garbus
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because singing at a Kroger can land you in a Francis Ford Coppola movie
It only took 45 minutes to change Robert Kim’s life. One day, the retired Elvis impersonator took a karaoke machine to the nearby Kroger. He didn’t know how the Peachtree City suburbanites would react to, as he puts it, “a 74-year-old Asian guy singing Frank Sinatra in the parking lot.” But the audience stuffed his tip jar in less than an hour.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because Evergreen Butcher & Baker’s burgers are so popular that a scalper set up shop outside
When Sean Schacke stepped out to confront the burger hustler, he peeled off in a Porsche SUV. The controversy increased demand, so much so that Evergreen Butcher and Baker had to pause the entire operation in late July, after other businesses on the block began complaining about the line.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because one of our TikTok stars is the lesbian Mr. Rogers
It was fall 2020 and Jere Chang was stuck at home when she downloaded TikTok on a whim. An Atlanta public school teacher, Chang soon found herself on “TeacherTok” and decided to start creating her own classroom-themed videos. Six months later, she had reached 190,000 followers and secured her first brand deal.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because when car booting became an epidemic, the Boot Girls of Buckhead created a cure
By some estimates, approximately 100,000 boots are placed on cars in Georgia each year, rendering them immobile until a $75 fine is paid. In 2023, two entrepreneurial women created a workaround—The Boot Girls.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because lemon pepper wet is still the king of wings
It’s kinda funny how something like lemon pepper wet chicken wings are as synonymous with Atlanta as the Braves, Tyler Perry, or CNN. The flavorful bites have been the subject of rap songs like “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” by Lizzo and Rick Ross—and who can forget the classic scene from Atlanta when Paper Boi gets the wings hookup at J.R. Crickets with the off-menu item.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because The Colonnade, 98, will live to sling fried chicken another day
Atlantans panicked last summer, when The Colonnade, the city’s second-longest running restaurant, went up for sale. After many decades, owners Jodi and David Stallings had decided to retire. The beloved 98-year-old Cheshire Bridge Road institution, famed for its meat-and-threes, had just crept out of the pandemic when a pair of road closures caused by bridge fires threatened to collapse the iconic eatery’s business for good.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because Blondie can still crush beer cans and write poetry
The 67-year-old Blondie is best known for her supreme ability to crush beer cans with her breasts. She’s been doing it since 1979 at Clermont Lounge, where she still dances a few nights a week. “I’ve gotten bruises on my breasts from doing certain cans, so I only do Pabst Blue Ribbon now,” says Blondie. But she also taps into another creative side: that of a poet.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because Spiller Park Coffee is honoring one of Atlanta’s oldest buildings in South Downtown
Amid the relentless razing and redefining of Atlanta’s never-ending transformation, a few glimpses of the past remain intact thanks to history enthusiasts and preservationist-minded business owners. This includes Dale Donchey, owner of Spiller Park Coffee, whose respect for old Atlanta is reflected in Spiller Park Coffee No. 4 on Mitchell Street downtown.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because when The Sistah Shop was in peril, a flash mob rescued it
The Sistah Shop owner Aisha Taylor Issah's plea caught the attention of two local business leaders: entrepreneur Nehemiah Davis and podcaster and influencer David Shands. Together with several other influencers, they galvanized their hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers to save The Sistah Shop from the brink, organizing a surprise flash mob of more than 150 people who descended on the store on September 8.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because the Hawks’ head coach is also a style icon
If you’ve caught a Hawks game recently, you’ve probably Quin Snyder and his hard-to-miss glasses. Snyder’s raspberry-colored Warby Parker frames (Percey style) provide a vibrant red pop from the sidelines. “I guess I had a few options, but I wanted to match the Hawks. Plus,” he added, “it’s easier to find and not lose them.”
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because Betty Lindberg, 100, still runs the Peachtree Road Race
"I saw all the really good racers go by, the ones in wheelchairs and the professionals, and then the big crowd that’s out there cheering. I thought, Well, maybe I could do that. I ran my first Peachtree at 64 years old."
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because the Lantern Parade founder threw her cat a funeral and the whole neighborhood came out
When Rex Rytter, King of Cats, passed away peacefully at the ripe old age of 16, his human, Chantelle Rytter, decided to honor him with a funeral. But this would be no ordinary funeral, because Rytter was no ordinary cat mom: She is the founder of Atlanta’s Lantern Parade series, those magical nighttime spectacles of handmade glowing puppets.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Because H. Johnson, a host on WABE, is a classic all his own
If Friday or Saturday night finds you near a radio, do yourself a favor and turn the dial to 90.1. There you’ll hear the voice of H. Johnson, warm and gravelly, as he queues up tracks and opines on the meaning of music during his two long-running shows on WABE, Blues Classics (Fridays, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.) and Jazz Classics (Saturdays, 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.).
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: The oldest things we love + the newest things we love
Atlanta then and now: 81 places we love—from Magic City to Ponce City Market and everything in between.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Reasons YOU love Atlanta
We asked, you answered: Here are some of the things you love most about this city.
21 Reasons We Love Atlanta: Six more quirks that make us love this city
Because after the Marriott Marquis ripped up its iconic carpet, Dragon Con fans formed the “Cult of the Carpet” and incorporated the design into costumes and accessories.
Read our February 2025 issue
