August 2017
Features
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The complete guide to the Chattahoochee River
By stopping bulldozers and filing lawsuits, nature lovers helped create a 10,000-acre wonderland of hiking, fishing, and paddling on par with great national parks—running through the heart of metro Atlanta. Nearly 3 million people come to the ‘Hooch every year to use it the right way. Here’s how you can as well.
The story of the Chattahoochee is the story of Atlanta. What is the river’s next chapter?
Today’s river is much better shape than it was in the 1970s. That feeds my optimism, but it’s the next part that gets me excited. Another stretch of the river is under restoration. If our own generation is as successful as the River Rats were 40 years ago, the green ribbon that cuts across the entire metro area will truly be a gift for all Atlantans.
Dr. Donald Hopkins helped wipe smallpox from the planet. He won’t rest until he’s done the same for Guinea worm disease.
As special advisor for Guinea worm eradication at the Atlanta-based Carter Center, Hopkins insists the end is close and says he won’t retire until Guinea worm is completely wiped from the planet. “There’s no way I can stop,” he says. “I’ve got the tiger by the tail and I can’t let go.”
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The Connector
Driverless cars are coming to Atlanta. Are we ready?
The civic transformation ushered in by driverless cars could revolutionize the way Atlanta’s buildings and roads are designed, as well as upend how people move around a car-centric metro region. Eventually it might even do away with car ownership altogether.
Don’t Miss List: Our top 5 Atlanta event picks for August
Akashic Books’s Atlanta Noir, Leslie Odom Jr. at Variety Playhouse—you don’t want to miss these events this month
Solar eclipse 101: What to know about watching in Georgia
On August 21, for the first time in nearly a century, a total solar eclipse will cross the United States, sweeping southeast from Oregon to South Carolina. Here, your eclipse watching 101.
The Thiokol factory explosion is a largely forgotten tragedy. Survivors want to change that.
Jannie Everette stood up from her desk in Camden County High School and felt the earth shake. Miles away, a fire at the Thiokol munitions factory just outside of Woodbine triggered a chain reaction of blazes, culminating with an explosion that filled the sky with flames. In those first terrifying moments on February 3, 1971, Jannie had no idea if her mother, who worked at Thiokol, was alive or dead.
The Bite
Fresh on the Scene: Varuni Napoli, Dish, Mix’d Up Burgers, Whiskey Bird
A Korean restaurant ITP, a new East Lake location for Mix’d Up Burgers, Chad Crete’s new restaurant in Morningside, and Varuni Napoli’s new Krog Street Market outpost.
Yes, you can enjoy red wine in the summer heat
Rosé gets all the love this time of year, as our city is baking like a pan of lasagna, but you don’t have to give up red wine when it’s hot out. Here are five easy-drinking “summer reds” to try.
Coming soon: Buckhead’s healthy Sama cafe will have its own meditation studio
The 2,700-square-foot space will include a meditation studio; a shop selling nontoxic home and body products; and a bar offering cold-pressed juices, teas, and coffees.
Drink This: El Floridita #2 at 8Arm
The cold and refreshing El Floridita #2 is concocted with rum, vermouth, cacao, lime juice, and grenadine, the daiquiri almost has a cherry flavor. Faulkner thinks he first found the recipe in the Ernest Hemingway cocktail compendium To Have and Have Another—but under another name.
Home for Dinner: Victoria Camblin, editor and artistic director of Art Papers
Stacks of paper—handwritten notes, last Sunday’s New York Times—cover Victoria Camblin’s midcentury modern dining table. “I have so much to do I can’t possibly go out to a restaurant, but somehow taking time for a dinner at home is excusable if done under the specter of productivity,” says 33-year-old Camblin, who is the editor and artistic director of Art Papers.
Zero forks given: These Atlanta dishes are meant to be eaten with your hands
Lose the forks—use your hands for these Atlanta meals, including the Kamayan Feast at Upper Room, Tibs at Desta, and the Shack-tastic Platter at Crawfish Shack.
The Goods
Get shopping—on Jon Bailey’s Instagram feed
See something you like on Bailey’s feed? Send him a direct message, Venmo your payment, and—voila—set up an appointment to retrieve the items at Bailey’s Chamblee warehouse.
Local spotlight: Cactus + Bones woven wall hangings
Kayleigh Denner and Hanna Mazza have been weaving for a long time from their Little Five Points living room—interlacing yarn over looms they make out of repurposed picture frames.
My Style: St. Beauty’s Alex Belle and Isis Valentino
Atlanta natives Alex Belle and Isis Valentino met in 2012 while working at Poor Little Rich Girl, a now-closed vintage clothing shop in College Park. After discovering a shared taste for 1970s soul music, they formed their neo-soul and R&B duo, St. Beauty. They plan to release a full-length album later this year.
Room Envy: A garage door-enclosed backyard retreat
As a custom builder, Michael Ladisic’s job is to make clients happy, but he’s free to experiment with his own Peachtree Park home.
Miscellaneous
Editor’s Note: As Atlanta evolves, so does the Chattahoochee River
In a sense the river is a microcosm of Atlanta itself—a place that is constantly being redefined and reimagined to suit our evolving (and sometimes fickle) agendas. But no resource is as indispensable or as fundamental to who we are as the Chattahoochee.