Flashback Fotos: Atlanta's Cabbagetown in the '70s and '80s (apartment, rental)

[LynnHarris]

Flashback Fotos: Atlanta's Cabbagetown in the '70s and '80s | www.myajc.com

[JoeTarheel]

Wow...it was a real slum. I can't believe how much Cabbage Town has improved since then.

[residinghere2007]

Great photos. Love them, especially the people! They look like nice folks. I am always struck by the look of "community" in poorer neighborhood photos of years gone by. Seems even though we may have given a face lift of sorts to certain areas, the former community feel is sometimes lost with the prettying up. Not saying that has happened in Cabbagetown though as I only go there for the chomp and stomp so am not familiar with the neighborhood. But in general it seems this happens, communities, meaning the people and their connection to each other, are destroyed in the name of progress.

Many of the abandon houses remind me of those I see driving around some westside Atlanta neighborhoods today, which is crazy.

I wish the city was as active as it seems they were back in the 80s in regards to taking homes from absentee homeowners. They would have had to declare the area a slum to do that and many people don't want to put that label on the westside since "slum" is such a horrible word, but specific houses or streets can be designated as a slum and imminent domain instituted by the city.

I wonder if there are any residents there left who have roots deep in the community.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by residinghere2007

I wonder if there are any residents there left who have roots deep in the community.

There are a few of the old timers still living in the neighborhood. One lady that was born in a house on my street just moved away a couple weeks ago. I suppose she got too old to manage her house, so they sold it and I think she went to live with some younger relatives. A couple streets over from me are two brothers (see linkbelow for one of them) who grew up in the neighborhood and used to work in the mill in the '50s.

http://clatl.com/atlanta/an-intervie...nt?oid=7858243

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by JPD

There are a few of the old timers still living in the neighborhood. One lady that was born in a house on my street just moved away a couple weeks ago. I suppose she got too old to manage her house, so they sold it and I think she went to live with some younger relatives. A couple streets over from me are two brothers (see linkbelow for one of them) who grew up in the neighborhood and used to work in the mill in the '50s.

An interview with a neighbor: Ronald Edwards | Neighborhood Interview | Creative Loafing Atlanta

Great to know that. He seems like a nice guy too!

[JPD]

Originally Posted by residinghere2007

Great to know that. He seems like a nice guy too!

He is very nice, as is his brother Marshall. The hand gesture he's making in that photo is part of a joke he was telling the photographer and isn't meant to be an F-U like flipping the bird, or something.

[Mal93]

this is the cabbagetown I remember growing up with...I loved going to Oakland as a kid, and felt I was stepping back in time at the remnants of the factory town (for good and bad reasons). The Good: loved talking to the artists and "old school" residents. I met women who still had stacks of millbags they used to make everything from aprons to curtains to dresses. Lots of history lessons from a personal level. If I was older I would have tried to record some of their stories but at the time it was like listening to any other of my elders talk-- I didn't understand the historical importance for the time and place.

The bad:
My elementary school classmates referred to the residents as "cabbageheads"-- as they and the dilapidated surroundings were kind of creepy, especially the huge empty mill looming overhead.

In the late 90s my roomate & I looked into an apartment rental in the neighborhood. Apparently the small building was inhabited by former mill workers whose pension included housing (either full rent or a discounted rate). The landlord had a very cheap monthly rate for the room we were interested in, but there were three catches: 1)the place looked like it hadn't been maintained/renovated since the 60s 2)new tenants were expected to "help look out" for the retirees-- ie, help get their groceries, make meals, help with laundry, etc and 3)we couldn't move in until the current tenant died "and any family could get their things out." While "taking care" of one's neighbors wasn't in itself a dealbreaker, with us having 2 fulltime jobs it seemed a rather vague term and we ended up renting across the street from Agnes Scott for the same cost. The actual dealbreaker was when the landlord said if no one wanted the dead tenant's stuff WE could keep what we want or throw it out. .... No thanks, too depressing to clean out a former tenant's items knowing no one was there at the end.

I wasn't sure what was going on there exactly as it was probably the 2nd apt I ever looked at and I was barely drinking age. But it seemed to hit home how the old millworker "company store" mentality held its grip over its workers long after the mill shut down. One lady who lived in one of the houses across from the mill (it was literally melted then torn down after the big fire) used to pick up cans along Memorial. She would tell me I shouldn't like Oakland so much, since she had spent her life looking down at the potters field from the mill and her house, knowing she'd end up there one day, forgotten, always in the mill's shadow, "too poor to leave it behind even though it left us behind."

I still think of her every time I visit the area, and even though I have friends who live in the lofts now, it still depresses me some to think of that. I'm glad its been preserved overall, and the strong sense of community continues, even if its current residents probably won't have to worry about a pauper's burial across the street (unless they prefer it for eco reasons).

[Nanosolar]

That kid wearing a Pepsi shirt was brave.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by Mal93

The bad:
My elementary school classmates referred to the residents as "cabbageheads"-- as they and the dilapidated surroundings were kind of creepy, especially the huge empty mill looming overhead.

One lady who lived in one of the houses across from the mill (it was literally melted then torn down after the big fire) used to pick up cans along Memorial.

Interesting that Cabbagehead was a derogatory term. Cabbagehead has been a term of endearment in the neighborhood for a long time. Panorama Ray used the word in some of his artwork that is 20 or 30 years old, which you can see hanging in Carroll Street Cafe and Milltown Tavern. I guess anything can be turned into an insult when you're a kid, though.

Ronnie, the guy I linked to yesterday, has taken over the role of can collector. He makes some pretty good coin doing that.

[AtlJan]

In the 70s and 80s our church youth group held a Christmas party every year for the children of Cabbagetown. I remember going to pick them up from the boys and girls club there (a one room wooden building). There were trenches dug between the houses with basically raw sewage running in them. The plumbing in so many of the houses no longer worked. It was a big event--the parents came out to the porches to watch the children get into our church vans.

The poverty in that area was heartbreaking. We gave the children hats and gloves at the party each year--they were glad to get them. I remember one little boy asking me to tell his mom that he had not stolen the gloves--that they were a gift--so that she would let him keep them.