From the Magazine

Johns Creek has achieved a lot in the 20 years since it was incorporated as its own city. Travel + Leisure named it America’s best suburb in 2024. U.S. News & World Report declared the city as one of the best places to live in the country. It boasts nine city parks, its own symphony orchestra, a hospital, and two Michelin-recommended restaurants.

Hapeville is famously the birthplace of the Chick-fil-A sandwich, first served at Hapeville’s Dwarf House in 1946. It is also home to Delta Air Lines’ headquarters and flight museum, Porsche Cars North America, and the Hapeville Depot Museum.

Adair Park was developed as one of Atlanta’s first “trolley neighborhoods” in the late 19th century. With a prime intown location adjacent to the Atlanta Beltline, Adair Park offers a mix of historic charm—it’s on the National Register of Historic Places—and proximity to Atlanta’s liveliest happenings.

Ormewood Park came about in 1891 thanks to a trolley extension from downtown that connected to what were then Atlanta’s suburbs. The community is about as residential as intown Atlanta comes, with single-family homes built in Victorian and Craftsman styles alongside a smattering of low-rise public housing.

Cobb County’s Smyrna is known as the Jonquil City—a nod to the fragrant yellow flowers that dot its landscape each spring. It has come a long way from its beginnings in the 1830s as a Methodist campground known as Ruff Siding. The arrival of the railroad in the 1840s spurred mills and factories, setting the stage for the city that exists today.

Once a quiet railroad stop 14 miles northeast of downtown, Chamblee is now DeKalb County’s fastest-growing city. The recent opening of Spruill Studios at the old city hall helped solidify its reputation as an arts hub. Don’t miss the city’s famed Antique Row: Its 350 dealers offer everything from vintage clothing to 19th-century watercolors and Polish stoneware. 

At Georgia State University’s Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, nursing students take their knowledge into the kitchen, where they dice avocados and chop onions as part of a fast-growing, hands-on approach to conveying the critical link between diet and disease.

Founded in 1975, Cure Childhood Cancer funds pediatric cancer research. Today, Cure’s major focus is precision medicine—a cutting-edge approach that uses patients’ genetic profiles to identify the most effective therapies for their diagnosis.

Former NBA reporter and Johns Creek resident Kristen Ledlow founded Positionless, a durable leisurewear brand for children. Ledlow found it hard to source clothes she loved for her son—especially ultrasoft sweat sets he didn’t ruin quickly. So she made them herself.

Lauren Speed-Hamilton first captured hearts on the inaugural season of Netflix’s Love Is Blind, during which she met and married Cameron Hamilton in 2018. Lauren and Cameron now live in Smyrna with their almost one-year-old son, Ezra, and two pups. Here, she shares a day in her life in Atlanta.