March 2016
Features
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A look inside 3 modern homes in Atlanta
Antimodern sentiment has practically vanished as the region’s attitude toward unconventional architecture has finally begun to shift. Although Atlanta is stocked with ranch-style, midcentury modern homes, locally the modern trend experienced a long lull beginning in the 1980s.
How gentrification really changes a neighborhood
To neighbors, she was “Miss Anna,” and to her children, she was the strictest, strongest woman in Kirkwood.
The BeltLine Guy: A Q&A with Ryan Gravel
What’s now a destination was, until very recently, trash and kudzu. And it’s not hyperbole to say it would be still if Ryan Gravel hadn’t decided in 1999 to write his Georgia Tech master’s thesis on how four different rail lines encircling the city could be strung together.
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The Connector
Electric car credit not the only victim in the haphazard world of Georgia tax breaks
If it sounds as if state leaders changed their minds about the benefits of a greener emissions policy, then you’re overthinking the erratic and often illogical world of Georgia tax breaks, where incentives are created, extended, and killed in seemingly arbitrary fashion.
At the Smite World Championship, gamers have rock star status (and paychecks to match)
Walking into the theater for the best-of-five grand finals between Team Enemy and Team Epsilon, I felt I’d stumbled upon something like The Hunger Games: the palpable bloodlust of the crowd beating noisemakers, the cheery British announcer, the underwriting of the powerful, and the practiced brutality of the players.
A Douglasville couple created DriButts reusable diapers to help impoverished families
Michael Wahl never planned to start a diaper company. But in 2013, after building wells as a church missionary in Haiti, where toddlers often go naked, he returned home and, with wife Starla, set about designing a quick-dry, reusable diaper.
Rome native Jamie Barton commands the stage in the world’s greatest opera houses
Barton sounds richly experienced, old-school, with a coloratura that is pure Technicolor, in arias that evoke some sort of empyrean birdsong in a three-octave range. The New Yorker has lauded her “once-in-a-generation talent,” and other reviews have joined the chorus of praise.
The Agenda
Bulloch Hall’s Great American Cover-Up Quilt Show spotlights the Southeast’s best stitchers
This month up to 200 quilts cover Roswell’s Bulloch Hall for the 34th Great American Cover-Up Quilt Show. Draped over beds and hung on walls, the blankets are made by artists from all over the Southeast, including Bulloch Hall Quilt Guild member Diane Knott, whose quilts are featured in a special exhibition.
Meet Lilburn’s own Harlem Globetrotter: Alex “Moose” Weekes
While playing basketball at Berkmar High School in Lilburn, and later at college in Tennessee, 31-year-old Alex “Moose” Weekes got used to coaches battling him over his hair.
Atlanta actress Terry Burrell brings the story of Broadway legend Ethel Waters to the Alliance
Ethel Waters was the second black actress ever to be nominated for an Academy Award, and the first to be nominated for an Emmy. But as she grew older, the roles—and subsequently her legacy—dwindled. It’s a continued fact of life for women in show business, and one to which Atlanta actress Terry Burrell can relate.
The Bite
Fresh on the Scene: Bread & Butterfly, Cape Dutch, il Giallo, S.O.S Tiki bar
The early word on Cakes & Ale’s newest cafe, Bread & Butterfly, plus bites from Cape Dutch, il Giallo, and S.O.S Tiki Bar.
Review: With two chefs in charge, can Brezza Cucina find its way?
With a menu of standards that doesn’t vary much, execution needs to be consistent. But keeping track at Brezza was like watching a slide show where pictures go in and out of focus and pass by too fast.
Technique: Holeman and Finch’s Linton Hopkins on French rolled omelets
“An omelet in its purest form is sacred to me,” says Linton Hopkins as he sets a nonstick skillet with shallow, sloping sides on the stove. “The fewer ingredients the better, so long as they are of exceptional quality: the best farm eggs you can get, really good butter, and sea salt. I don’t even add pepper.”
Find Ramen Crush ATL pop-up at Last Word this month
In recent years, the nationwide demand for Japan’s star slurper has come to a boil. Just ask Andy Tran, whose ramen pop-up, Ramen Crush ATL, has been attracting long lines since last September.
The Christiane Chronicles: Yes, there’s great food OTP, and why eats don’t need to be Instagram-worthy
I’ll log as many miles as it takes for a good meal. Other folks eat only at restaurants nearby out of convenience. That’s fine, unless you’re one of the many intown residents who regard their refusal to travel outside I-285 as a badge of sophistication. Plus, why there’s nothing wrong with simple food.
Artisanal, drinkery, and 24 other dining terms that need to go away
In a business where margins are slim and every dollar counts, restaurateurs can be quick to capitalize on whatever’s trendy, slapping on a few catchphrases to attract customers and justify higher prices for those “artisanal” menu items. So can we please collectively scrub our menus of these words?
The Goods
Indie brands set up shop at Ponce City Market’s Citizen Supply
Ponce City Market is home to plenty of big-name stores, but on the second floor, you’ll find something a bit more personal. Citizen Supply, an artisan marketplace, has the feel of a well-curated flea market.
Room Envy: This colorful East Cobb breakfast room will wake you up
Paige Minear and her husband, Nathan, both grew up in Florida, so their East Cobb house channels a bit—no, make that a lot—of Palm Beach. “Color is something that makes us both feel [at] ‘home,’” says Paige.
My Style: Derreck Kayongo, CEO of National Center for Civil and Human Rights
“Fashion in Uganda,” says Kayongo of his home country, “is flamboyant and loud.” Kayongo’s colorful, fun style offers a contrast to his very serious work as the new CEO of downtown’s Center for Civil and Human Rights.
Lather up with these Georgia handmade soaps
Seven bars worth a place in your soap dish, including one with a loofah insert, an activated charcoal bar, and one even made with SweetWater IPA.
Miscellaneous
Editor’s Note: The price of success
My wife and I moved to Decatur in 2009 when we were expecting our first child. We’re lucky we bought when we did; Decatur’s current real estate market is out of our price range. By a long shot.
One Square Mile: Feather, Fin, and Fur Taxidermy Studio
Beth Johnson believes that every life has a story. Among the nails, pins, knives, and other tools scattered about her workbench lies the colorful, limp-necked carcass of a parrot. Johnson doesn’t know the bird’s name, but she knows that it was a beloved pet for 22 years, and the bereaved owner wants Johnson to give the animal in death what it rarely took in life—flight.
