One Night in Buckhead 1985 (Atlanta, Lenox: transplants, leasing, crimes)

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by arjay57

You're off by a couple of decades there, jsvh. Norwood was in her early 30s when all this was going on and was still 15 years away from entering the political arena.

1985 was the era of Grizzard and Hudspeth, Tree Rollins, the Murph, etc.

Lewis Grizzard

In the end, which came in 1994, when he was only forty-seven, the lonely, insecure, oft-divorced, hard-drinking Grizzard proved to be the archetypal comic who could make everyone laugh but himself. He chronicled this decline and his various heart surgeries in I Took a Lickin' and Kept on Tickin', and Now I Believe in Miracles (1993), published just before his final, fatal heart failure.
Ironically, Moreland now boasts museums honoring both him and native son Erskine Caldwell, whose darkly critical vision of the South helped to bring on the changes that Grizzard and his generation of white southerners both embraced and bemoaned.

Lewis Grizzard (1946-1994) | New Georgia Encyclopedia


Ron Hudspeth

In the '80s, the AJC had two hard-drinking, good-ol'-boy local columnists. The scruffier Hudspeth was a Buckhead barfly who was canned in 1987 — prompting a resignation bluff by compatriot Lewis Grizzard — for starting his own restaurant rag, The Hudspeth Report. Fifteen years later, the free monthly is still circulating, but Hudspeth now files his copy from his bungalow in Costa Rica.

Where are they now?

Tree Rollins

Where he lives: Rollins, now 60, lives in Orlando with his wife Michelle. They have four children.

What he does now: Rollins said he is semiretired and at his age, “There is not a lot of clubbing anymore. I am pretty much a homebody.’’

Whatever happened to: Tree Rollins

The Murph

Atlanta Braves legend Dale Murphy opens restaurant near SunTrust Park

[ATLTJL]

I don't fully understand all this...can you explain a few things?

What did these guys have to do with the bar scene in Buckhead? Did they just write about their experiences out and about, or did they have strong opinions about how it should develop? What did they think about the frat boy invasion of Buckhead in the 1990s (was that happening in the 1980s, too?)

Reading about these guys' lifestyles, I'm pretty curious how AJC columnists afforded golfing, Gucci loafers, and bungalows in Costa Rica. Did the media used to pay a lot more than it does now? I thought newspapers were always pretty scant with their salaries.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

And this guy.

Charlie Loudermilk, Mayor Franklin, the Atlanta City Council, the DEA, the Buckhead NIMBY's and their countless cronies ruined a perfectly good 4 AM party scene for young folks like ATLTJL, jsvh and Big Meech.

How have you fellows managed to survive the last 15 years? It's no wonder you're still bitter.

[JMatl]

Weekends was a wild and wonderful two level after hours club on Peachtree, on the block now occupied by the Federal Reserve Bank. RuPaul was a paid go-go dancer for a while, and then she just started hanging out there. The crowds were a huge mix of everyone, and it was my all time fave late night place as a young newcomer from Florida. They poured until 11:30am on Sunday mornings.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUfuc_QpkjI

[ATLTJL]

countless cronies ruined a perfectly good 4 AM party scene for young folks like ATLTJL

Not me!

I got to enjoy it plenty. In fact, when it went away....even though it made me upset, I was more or less outgrowing it anyway.

My favorite thing to do used to be to go out in Buckhead and party until about 2:30 or 3:00am. Around that time my gay friends would be finishing up at the bars they went to...and then we would all meet up at Backstreet. That's really where some of my all-time favorite moments happened! I feel bad for people who never got to experience any of that ultra-wild scene. When I see what passes as nightlife today, I just feel really sorry for the people trapped in it who have no choice but to think that's as good as it gets.

They just have noooooooooo idea. I think what we got to do rivals the Studio 54 scene of the 70s.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Not me!

I got to enjoy it plenty. In fact, when it went away....even though it made me upset, I was more or less outgrowing it anyway.

My favorite thing to do used to be to go out in Buckhead and party until about 2:30 or 3:00am. Around that time my gay friends would be finishing up at the bars they went to...and then we would all meet up at Backstreet. That's really where some of my all-time favorite moments happened! I feel bad for people who never got to experience any of that ultra-wild scene. When I see what passes as nightlife today, I just feel really sorry for the people trapped in it who have no choice but to think that's as good as it gets.

They just have noooooooooo idea. I think what we got to do rivals the Studio 54 scene of the 70s.

So, so true!

[AnsleyPark]

Fun thread! Thanks, jsvh!

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I don't fully understand all this...can you explain a few things?

What did these guys have to do with the bar scene in Buckhead? Did they just write about their experiences out and about, or did they have strong opinions about how it should develop? What did they think about the frat boy invasion of Buckhead in the 1990s (was that happening in the 1980s, too?)

Reading about these guys' lifestyles, I'm pretty curious how AJC columnists afforded golfing, Gucci loafers, and bungalows in Costa Rica. Did the media used to pay a lot more than it does now? I thought newspapers were always pretty scant with their salaries.

Ron Hudspeth was Atlanta's version of Mike Royko, a boulevardier that helped Atlantans negotiate the (at that time, white-dominated) social landscape. He knew and interviewed the local players like Dante Stephenson, Johnny Esposito, Bob Penrod, Jack Loersch, Alez Cooley, and Warren Bruno. He informed us of the hot clubs and restaurants as well as local gossip.
Lewis Grizzard had a similar role but delved more into local politics and human interest stories.
Both were indeed well paid, as they were huge reader draws for the paper. They were also published authors; in Grizzard's case, his books made the NYT bestseller list many times. That, along with speaking engagements, accounted for a lot of their wealth.
They were both huge boosters of Atlanta and its nightlife.

[Tristan840]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

If you want to blame someone, here's your man:

This. End of story. I can't stand that guy, he is the whole reason the buckhead clubs closed down. Was sad indeed, Atlanta and buckhead area in general doesn't seem to have that nightlife excitement it use to have.

[David1502]

The closing of the Buckhead bar scene (that centered around what is now The Shops at Buckhead Atlanta) was caused by several factors, primarily the nine murders that occurred in a two year period in the late 1990's. The murder which involved Ray Lewis (and his entourage) was the most high profile.


Other factors have to do with the business realities of the bars in that district were doing probably 80% of their business three nights a week (Thursday through Saturday), yet were paying exorbitant rents. To increase their business on the other nights of the week, they began to advertise to seek new customers and ran ads on urban radio stations and they also began to advertise to those in the adult entertainment industry. However, these new customers didn't just frequent the bars on the off nights, but also began to visit on the Thursday to Saturday night period, too. During this period, the murders occurred and the old time customers began to frequent the bars, less frequently. There was a heavy police presence, as a result of the murders, too.


In the meantime, the actual wealthy residents who live on the west side of Peachtree (in the West Paces Ferry corridor) were not happy that the "Downtown Buckhead" area had a reputation of having murders and wanted the situation to change. In their view, the problems were being caused by those who didn't live in the area and the bars were of no use to them, anyway. Also, there came to be a racial issue, too, when the residents petitioned the Atlanta City Council to reduce the legal hours for serving alcohol from 4 AM back to 2 AM, blacks were upset and came to the City Council meeting and said, "They are trying to put the rope up and keep black folk out of Buckhead." (Funny, I didn't know that blacks do their drinking only between the hours of 2 AM and 4 AM!).


When the residents found out that there were more liquor licenses in that small area than any other area of the city, that was the catalyst for them to do research and this is where Charlie Loudermilk comes into the picture. Loudermilk owned most of the buildings in which the bars were located. Loudermilk's wealthy neighbors put the pressure on him and he decided to sell the buildings to Carter and Associates for the development which is now known as The Shops at Buckhead Atlanta and the wealthy residents along West Paces Ferry couldn't be happier - They would much rather have Hermes, Dior and Tom Ford to shop in than a bunch of bars which they would never walk into and would bring in a bunch of twenty somethings looking to party.