Inman Park in the 50's, 60's, and 70's? (Atlanta, Decatur: middle-class, apartments)

[equinox63]

Can anyone describe what Inman Park was like in the 1950's, the 1960's and/or the 1970's?

[George Chong]

Decline in Popularity
As the twentieth century wore on and automobile use became prevalent, Inman Park’s popularity among Atlanta’s movers and shakers lost its shine. Trolleys were no longer necessary for travel to work, and the high Victorian architecture of Inman Park became outdated. From about 1910 until after World War II, the neighborhood was home to solidly middle-class residents – not the high society homeowners who had built the neighborhood at its inception. Smaller houses were built throughout the neighborhood, weaving bungalows and American Four-square houses among the mansions. The neighborhood gradually declined into a grouping of ramshackle old homes, many serving as boarding houses for transient renters.
Restoration and Preservation
In 1969, the houses of Inman Park began to be caught up in the restoration and preservation movement that had started in San Francisco and moved throughout the country; the beauty of Victorian houses was being re-discovered, and people were learning to revere the architecture. In 1970, the first Inman Park neighborhood association was formed, and shortly thereafter, newcomers were restoring dozens of houses in Inman Park. In 1973, the entire neighborhood was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

History of Inman Park | Inman Park Neighborhood Association

It was still a rough area even when I was in high school in the mid 80's. Things were really shifting by the time I purchased the first house in the late 90's. There was still a working steel mill where the Highland Apartments are located and the space where Inman Park Village is located, it was still a gated warehouse for Mead (paper). I know when they first announced that the bungalows along Lake would be above a half a million, we all thought that the developer was nuts.

[AtlJan]

The neighborhood was lively in the seventies with a weird mix of old ladies, hippies, young gay men, and college kids. Same mix as lived in the Pershing Point apartments at that time, which were located at the point where W Peachtree and Peachtree divide.

[ATLTJL]

I seem to recall in the 90s that if you were hanging out in Little 5 Points and walked too far down Euclid and ended up in Inman Park, that's where the real danger was and you were wise to turn around and come back.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I seem to recall in the 90s that if you were hanging out in Little 5 Points and walked too far down Euclid and ended up in Inman Park, that's where the real danger was and you were wise to turn around and come back.

Yes, I remember in the late 80s and early 90s the bad press about happenings in and around the IP MARTA station.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Yes, I remember in the late 80s and early 90s the bad press about happenings in and around the IP MARTA station.

Inman park bad and dangerous? I can't imagine that.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Inman park bad and dangerous? I can't imagine that.

Until the 1970s, it was still a community of worn out houses divided into tenement apartments. Even in the early 90s it wasn't what I would call locked down.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Until the 1970s, it was still a community of worn out houses divided into tenement apartments. Even in the early 90s it wasn't what I would call locked down.

Yep.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inman_Park#Decline

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Inman park bad and dangerous? I can't imagine that.

It had gotten a little seedy and some of houses had been carved up into inexpensive apartments and rooming houses. It was still sort of industrial and things had not gentrified yet. The Edgewood shopping center hadn't been built and nearby areas like O4W, Cabbagetown and Edgewood were considered a little "rough."

I was in and out of there quite a bit for business reasons and a grown man didn't have anything to worry about. However, it was not exactly where you'd take the wife and kiddies to hang out.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

It had gotten a little seedy and some of houses had been carved up into inexpensive apartments and rooming houses. It was still sort of industrial and things had not gentrified yet. The Edgewood shopping center hadn't been built and nearby areas like O4W, Cabbagetown and Edgewood were considered a little "rough."

I was in and out of there quite a bit for business reasons and a grown man didn't have anything to worry about. However, it was not exactly where you'd take the wife and kiddies to hang out.

What a difference investment makes.