December 2025
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Features
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Five “Only In Atlanta” moments from 2025
Y’all know ATL’s just gonna ATL sometimes. Here are a few of our favorite things that happened here this year—and couldn’t have happened anywhere else.
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Best of Atlanta 2025: Readers’ Choice
We asked our readers to nominate their favorites in dozens of categories. Here are more than 100 winners who received the most votes.
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Best of Atlanta 2025: Buy
Our 2025 Best of Atlanta picks for things you can buy—here’s where you’ll find new clothes, cool books, jewelry, home decor, gifts, and more.
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Best of Atlanta 2025: Do
Our 2025 Best of Atlanta picks for things to do—here’s where you can workout, watch movies, enjoy the arts, catch a show, and more.
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Best of Atlanta 2025: Drink
Our 2025 Best of Atlanta picks for all things beverage-related—here’s where you’ll find great cocktails, coffee, tea, wine, bitters, and more.
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Best of Atlanta 2025: Eat
Our 2025 Best of Atlanta picks for all things food-related—here’s where you’ll find great sushi, sandwiches, bread, vegan dishes, soul food, steak, desserts, and more.
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The Connector
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The nation’s only independent conservation facility for endangered frogs and salamanders is moving to Decatur
Agnes Scott College now houses about half of the Amphibian Foundation’s animals, including its vulnerable and endangered species, while a public-facing center in Decatur Legacy Park boasts exhibition space, a gift shop, an auditorium, and a community research laboratory. On December 5, the organization will host an open house with activities, live amphibians, and tours of the new space.
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Goodr Community Market is bringing affordable food to Sweet Auburn
Goodr began as a sustainable food-waste management company, bridging the gap between surplus food and Atlanta’s food-insecure communities. In July, the first Goodr Community Market debuted on Edgewood Avenue in Sweet Auburn. “We’re still doing the work we’ve always done,” Jasmine Crowe-Houston explains. “But now we approach it as, ‘How do we help more families who don’t live near fresh food, and make it affordable?’”
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An obituary for the AJC’s print edition, from its legendary obituary writer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution print edition, 157, dies on December 31, 2025, succumbing to burgeoning digital news coverage. No service is planned. The paper’s survivors will include 40,000 Atlanta Journal-Constitution print subscribers. In lieu of flowers, readers are asked to refresh their browsers.
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Atlanta Checkmate Club turns chess into a social hangout
On a Wednesday night in July, chess boards and timers crowd tables at Ladybird Grove & Mess Hall. About 50 people play chess elbow to elbow, and conversation drowns the room. Chess is usually a silent affair played in concentration, but through the Atlanta Checkmate Club, the game finds life at loud, crowded bars instead.
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How Beau Estes became the “GOATmentator” of NBA highlights
Beau Estes decided to be a sportscaster at age eight. The kid who graduated high school in Norcross got his wish after NBC created an Atlanta Olympic Broadcasting certificate program for area college students. By 2008, he was a Turner mainstay working his dream job, creating content for Turner Sports (now TNT Sports) provided to NBA TV, including commentary for an NBA.com “Top 10” highlights reel.
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The Bite
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5 Atlanta food books to add to your holiday gift list
Atlanta eaters and readers had plenty to devour this year, thanks to countless authors who appeared at venues across the city—sharing food and restaurant memories, historical research, kitchen wisdom, drinking lore, and recipes. From Alton Brown to Duane Nutter, here are a few standouts.
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3 healthy(ish) New Year’s Eve recipes for a good and good-for-you party
Welcome the new year with this trio of comfort-food–inspired hors d’oeuvres that are big on flavor and easy to prepare. Za’atar White Bean Dip, Apple Butter Roast Pork Tenderloin Crostini, and Broccoli Cheese Bites—resolutions will be easy to keep when they taste like this. Bon appétit, y’all!
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Getting Buddy Buddy at Midtown’s coziest new bar
Step into Buddy Buddy in Midtown’s Promenade, and you’re immediately enveloped in the kind of warm, familiar embrace that only true friendship (and truly good food) can create. This isn’t just another bar; it’s a testament to the enduring bond between Atlanta bartenders. Proprietor Nick Chaivarlis’s decades of shaking and stirring across the city are now reflected in every corner of this new spot: a bar helmed by veteran bartending buddies.
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Review: It’s time for Aria’s new chef and owner to move beyond the restaurant’s legacy
Aria has all the right ingredients: an experienced kitchen, a talented front of house, and a loyal audience willing to pay for the experience. What it currently lacks is a clear sense of risk. That could be the natural tension of a restaurant in transition that’s trying to respect its legacy while daring to redefine it. But Atlanta doesn’t need another temple to nostalgia. It requires restaurants that reflect our current state. Aria could do that—if it just got the nerve.
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The Goods
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CratesATL spins new life into South Downtown
A new record store has opened in the heart of downtown Atlanta. CratesATL — a new offering from Darryl Harris, owner of Moods Music in Little Five Points — on Mitchell Street’s Historic Hotel Row, opened its doors this past spring, adding a new rhythm to the area’s growing mix of local businesses. The shop joins a wave of revitalization efforts reshaping South Downtown, bringing music, culture, and community to one of the city’s most storied streets.
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Bella Issakova is releasing her first album after 30 years on stage
After nearly 30 years of performing, hosting house concerts, and teaching the traditional music of Ireland, Atlanta-based musician Bella Issakova is releasing her first album. Come in from the Rain, a collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Randy Clepper, offers a fresh take on Irish dance tunes. It largely features Issakova on the fiddle and Clepper on the Irish bouzouki.
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Miscellaneous
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Editor’s Journal: Plaza Theatre is more than a movie house. It’s a cultural heartbeat.
The Plaza Theatre isn’t just a place to see a film: It is a cultural heartbeat, the kind of space where Atlanta’s weird and wonderful converge. The Plaza, honored as one of our “Best of Atlanta” entries in this issue, is one of the most venerable movie houses in the city—and its oldest. The Plaza’s art deco marquee is a landmark at the corner of Ponce de Leon and Highland avenues, and it’s always been the anchor tenant of Briarcliff Plaza.
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A love letter to Brent Hinds
On August 20, 2025, Brent Hinds, the original lead guitarist of Mastodon, died after his motorcycle collided with an SUV at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Boulevard. When Hinds passed away, Atlanta said goodbye to more than a legendary guitarist; we Gen Xers and elder millennials lost the mascot of our collective memories.
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