July 2015
Features
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In the 1800s, a freed slave built bridges across the South. In Georgia, one endures
The Red Oak Creek Covered Bridge’s longevity is nearly as astounding as the story of its builder, Horace King, part black, part white, part Catawba Indian—a man so far ahead of his time that he wore a soul patch 60 years before anyone heard of jazz.
Still Alzheimer’s: A roundtable discussion on the disease
When a deadly disease has no cure, no prevention, and no life-changing treatment, our natural response is fear and denial. Even physicians are prone to avoid discussing Alzheimer’s.
My Father Has Gifted Hands: A heartbreaking photo essay on dementia
I was away at photography school, Creative Circus in Atlanta, when my mom started to suspect something was wrong with my dad. It wasn’t one moment, more like a series of subtle changes in his behavior.
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The Connector
Fireworks sales are now legal in Georgia. Here’s what you need to know
Just in time to make your neighborhood Independence Day gathering really take off, fireworks sales are now legal in Georgia. Here’s what you need to know about buying, selling, and what you still can’t ignite.
A drone’s eye view of the Chattahoochee River
Because the Chattahoochee snakes to the west—rather than through the heart of the city—the river is not linked to Atlanta in popular imagination the way that, say, Boston is paired with the Charles, St. Louis with the Mississippi, or Chattanooga with the Tennessee.
Meet Darren Eales, the Englishman building Atlanta United FC
Darren Eales believes Atlanta is ready to embrace Major League Soccer, and he has 20,000 season ticket deposits to prove it.
Southern thriller Bull Mountain wows the literary world
When Brian Panowich was a boy, he would pore over his father’s comic books and pulp fiction paperbacks—and then retreat to his room and rewrite them.
Michelle Nunn returns to her nonprofit roots as head of CARE USA
After a shellacking by David Perdue in the 2014 Georgia U.S. Senate race, Michelle Nunn wanted to take her time deciding what to do next. Her son, Vinson, was less patient.
It takes a forest: How intown development puts Atlanta’s tree canopy at risk
Despite stringent ordinances aimed at protecting those trees, our canopy faces a paradoxical new threat: renewed interest in urban living. Population growth within the city and a surge in denser development may represent eco-friendly shifts from Atlanta’s sprawl, but those trends are paired with infill development that puts trees at risk and reduces space to plant replacements.
Q&A: B-52s’ Kate Pierson on her new solo album and playing in Atlanta
Over the decades, singer Kate Pierson has lent her voice to hit singles by R.E.M. and Iggy Pop and, of course, the Athens-birthed B-52s’ seven-album catalog. This summer, Pierson hits the road with her own band to introduce fans to her first-ever solo album.
How to do your zombie makeup for the Atlanta Zombie Pub Crawl
On July 25, the undead will fill the streets (and bar stools) during the annual Atlanta Zombie Pub Crawl. We asked crawl cofounder and special effects artist Luke Godfrey about how to get that “fresh from the crypt” look.
The Bite
Fresh on the Scene: Breakers Korean Bar-B-Q, Masti, and more
Four new openings in Atlanta, plus Korean eateries that are a must-try
Technique: Matthews Cafeteria’s Michael Greene on fluffy biscuits
Michael Greene grew up on these old-time fluffy “cat-head biscuits” that have been a Matthews Cafeteria signature for six decades.He learned to make them by watching the cooks mix, roll, cut, and bake some 300 to 500 a day in a sprawling old basement kitchen where he has spent much of his life.
The El Felix and Superica
It doesn’t much matter what I think about Superica and The El Felix, Ford Fry’s two new Tex-Mex restaurants with almost identical menus and almost identical lines. When I asked the manager of The El Felix—in Avalon, the Alpharetta mall-city—how many diners they served, he said, “Three to four hundred on a slow night.”
6 cool treats for hot Atlanta days
From tropical beers to Korean shaved ice, these treats are cooler than cool.
The Christiane Chronicles: Stop underappreciating Atlanta chefs, and 2 standout Indonesian spots
I’ve often wondered why Atlanta is bent on turning its back on talented artists. Did we appreciate Guenter Seeger’s passion for farm produce and seafood harvested in our coastal waters? No!
The Goods
The Love List: American Made
It’s hard not to feel a bit patriotic this year when days are filled with shorts, sunshine, and plenty of excuses to slug down an ice-cold local beer.
Room Envy: A Briarcliff garage becomes an upscale man cave
Simone Alisa may have named her interior design firm Been There Done That, but she’ll admit that an upscale garage/man cave was something she’d never attempted.
Editor’s Pick: Little Barn Apothecary’s handmade scrubs, soaks, and balms
When Stone Mountain–based buddies Joshua Morgan and Brad Scoggins began making bath and body products in 2012, they got such rave reviews from friends that they went all in.
Six reasons to love Mechanicsville
The neighborhood takes its name from rail workers in the 1880s, but it was also home to many prosperous Jewish merchants and, later, influential African American entrepreneurs.
How Cobbler Union is disrupting the luxury shoe industry
Handcrafted in Spain in small batches, Daniel Porcelli’s “bespoke-inspired” men’s shoes retail for a fraction of the cost of most luxury footwear.
Miscellaneous
July 2015: Branching out
The other day I was driving on I-285 and right there on the shoulder, near the interchange with I-85, someone had stuck a sign in the dirt that read simply “ENGLISH IVY KILLS TREES.”
One Square Mile: Salvage Hunter Auto Parts, Austell
In this open-air market by the Silver Comet Trail, every item has a tale of calamity or violence or catastrophic malfunction. Maybe the transmission failed, or the front end crumpled, or blood spilled on the passenger seat.
