From the Magazine

Good things have a way of disappearing in Atlanta: New condos rise above historic neighborhoods like gravestones, an iconic doughnut shop burns to the ground, a legendary music venue gets gutted to make room for a shiny office space. But on Monday, December 5, a miracle happened. It came in the form of a familiar voice, edgy and distorted, creeping through car radios like the ghost of rock and roll: "You are listening to the original 99X."

Imagine, after years of wandering through dry and desiccated dating pools, you stumble upon a wise matchmaker who’s helped thousands of people find true love. Now imagine there’s two of them. “We don’t really have a business secret,” says Lisa Lyngos with a shrug. “The secret is that we’re twins.”

West End was named in the 1860s after London’s famed theater district. Connected to downtown by horse-drawn streetcars, the suburb soon attracted affluent residents, including mayors, a governor, business owners, and Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Uncle Remus tales. Though the neighborhood experienced white flight during the mid-20th century, it has long benefited from its proximity to the Atlanta University Center—drawing prominent residents like Dr. O.T. Hammonds, whose grand Victorian home is now an art museum. In recent years, the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside Trail has brought new development—such as the sprawling Lee + White complex—along with the mixed benefits of gentrification. Through it all, strong local leadership has ensured that the “Best End” keeps its sights on the future.

When reports first surfaced of thousands of Haitians stranded at an encampment at the border in Del Rio, Texas, in 2021, a group of pastors connected through the Haitian Evangelical Clergy of Georgia organized a trip to see how they could help.

Over the past two decades, the celebration has departed from Peachtree Street and split into two competing operations: the Atlanta Caribbean Carnival, which has taken place at Turner Field, Morris Brown College, Auburn Avenue, Old Fourth Ward Park, and, more recently, Central Park; and the Atlanta-DeKalb Carnival, which started in Conyers then moved to Decatur and, now, Stonecrest. At first glance, the split might seem to mirror the sprawl of the Caribbean community throughout the metro Atlanta area. But Atlanta’s tale of two Carnivals also reflects the age-old tensions that can occur when people with disparate but similar backgrounds have limited options for celebrating their identities and are forced to find community together—alternately being blamed or credited for each others’ actions.

Winston Munroe has been playing mas for 65 years and he says each year is even more exhilarating than the last. According to the Trinidad native, who is also president of Sesame Atlanta band, Carnival preparations for the next year begin a day after Carnival ends.

Christopher Swain Christopher Swain has traveled the globe seeking to understand his ancestral lineage through the arts. The native Atlantan, author, and public arts coordinator for the City of East Point is an avid collector...

With numbers steadily increasing since the 1970s, Caribbeans officially account for 85,000 of metro Atlanta’s 6 million people. That number will shock some readers for a couple of reasons. The first is what I like to call “undercover Caribbeans.” There are a lot of people in this city who you would never know are Caribbean.

By the time all states had adjourned their legislative sessions in 2022, 17 bills aimed at transgender and nonbinary children had been passed into law—a record. Since January of this year, the U.S. has seen more than 100 bills being introduced that would prevent trans youth from being able to access healthcare—another record. According to the Trans Legislation Tracker, 2023 is the fourth consecutive record-breaking year for anti-trans legislation, with some bills aiming to restrict healthcare up to age 26.

In the 1980s, the Cold War was still raging—and so were the Cola Wars. Maybe it was inevitable that in the summer of 1985, the Pepsi Challenge would make its way into space aboard the Challenger’s Spacelab 2 mission, piloted by Atlanta native Roy D. Bridges Jr.