Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The ATL back in the day had DC beat. But now it's not even on DC's level. DC has too many party areas/districts. In Atlanta, they party in strip malls.
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
8,485 posts, read 14,988,805 times
Reputation: 7333
Quote:
Originally Posted by DC's Finest
The ATL back in the day had DC beat. But now it's not even on DC's level. DC has too many party areas/districts. In Atlanta, they party in strip malls.
Atlanta is one of few cities that has killed their night life. In the 90's, the ATL was a major party spot. Since then, they have shut down major areas where clubs used to pop. DC is doing the opposite.
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
8,485 posts, read 14,988,805 times
Reputation: 7333
Quote:
Originally Posted by DC's Finest
Atlanta is one of few cities that has killed their night life. In the 90's, the ATL was a major party spot. Since then, they have shut down major areas where clubs used to pop. DC is doing the opposite.
That is beyond not being true. There was single club district (the Buckhead Village) that was bought up and bulldozed to make way for a new development, but that was hardily the summation of nightlife in Atlanta. It was always just one part of it.
I have no idea where you got this idea that the city shutdown major areas where clubs used to pop.
That is beyond not being true. There was single club district (the Buckhead Village) that was bought up and bulldozed to make way for a new development, but that was hardily the summation of nightlife in Atlanta. It was always just one part of it.
I have no idea where you got this idea that the city shutdown major areas where clubs used to pop.
Waronmax, can you honestly say that the ATL's nightlife is on par today with the mid to late 90's when the ATL was hot? Atlanta is a lot tamer today than it use to be. ATL officials shot themselves in the foot by canceling Freaknik and closing some of the popular spots that had a bog draw.
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
8,485 posts, read 14,988,805 times
Reputation: 7333
Quote:
Originally Posted by DC's Finest
Waronmax, can you honestly say that the ATL's nightlife is on par today with the mid to late 90's when the ATL was hot? Atlanta is a lot tamer today than it use to be.
It is certainly different, that is far sure. Back in 90s, the club scene in Atlanta was more centered around small bars and clubs and generally just wildin out. That still exists for sure, but outside of that the scene is now more centered on lounges and massive event oriented clubs. Underground spots have also flourished more since then and there are ton of spots (that you will need to be in the know to get into) that cater to all sorts of groups from slam poetry to dubstep.
As for specific districts, yes the Buckhead village is gone, but in it's place Crescent Ave in Midtown has come up in it's place and is basically the same type of setup with just different kinds of clubs/experience.
As far as the tame part, not sure about that. You can certainly still go and have a wild time in this city any night of the week and when you add in the strip clubs....well, I won't go there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DC's Finest
ATL officials shot themselves in the foot by canceling Freaknik and closing some of the popular spots that had a bog draw.
The city did not "cancel Freaknik" as there was no way for them to do so since there was never an official Freaknik to begin with. It just sort of happened every year :P. What did happen though is that the city made it really hard for it to happen by blocking off whole districts from each other, setting up checkpoints out the ass, and various other nonsense.
There is still a lot of debate on whether that should have happened, but I am in the camp that it is probably a good thing that it did even though I was never a fan of the draconian measures the APD took. The reason is that I was a student in the AUC during the early 90s. I remember what Freaknik was like "before" and "after". Before it was not unlike what you see during homecoming week. Lots of parties and lots of folks in town from other schools to party. It was fun and everyone had a great time.
Then around 93, Freaknik moved beyond just a spring break event for HBCUs and the general population or as I call it "The Freaknik that everyone else outside of Atlanta thinks about". The first year (93) it was fun and most people you will speak to will say that was the best Freaknik of them all as the city had no idea that it was coming and it literally one big part across the whole city.
Then in 94 that is when the **** started hitting the fan. Now instead of just a mix of college students and city residents partying, people from other cities that were not part of any HBCU, started showing up to. Since there was already bad traffic from HBCU students in the city, it got magnified by these people driving in from other cities. What resulted was a 3 day long gridlock that no one could get out of. It didn't just affect the streets either but MARTA was basically unrideable too. Since people could hardly get around to the different clubs and events going on, they just decided to party right in the middle of the street.
This lead to what happened in 95 when people wishing to make an opportunity out of the bad situation, started flooding the party with drugs and selling alcohol out of vans among other ignorant behavior. The city had not come together on a major plan to block off streets, so the gridlock hit it's zenith. People just started abandoning their cars and, fueled by the coordinated efforts of dope boys and opportunists, got the fuel to just completely lose all sense. Businesses were looted and vandalized, women were accosted (as in having their clothes snatched off) right in the middle of the street, and there were incidents of shootings (mostly by rival drug crews) and rapes. It was near anarchy for several days and this is when a good chunk of the college students gave up on Freaknik all together.
By 96, the city basically locked down the city for the weekend and a lot of residents (remembering the chaos from the year before) just left town. Because of the choke hold this put on the "party", Freaknik began to die. By 97, it was just a shell of it's former self and just withered away.
The same thing basically happened to the Buckhead Village but on a much smaller scale. The village was only about 6 square blocks, but clubs pretty much made up each side of the blocks. At first the party was fun but, as what happened with Freaknik, stupid folk started showing up and wanting to shoot places up and various other nonsense. During the latter years, BMF had even taken over several clubs and some well publicized incidents just through the whole thing over the edge. The APD employed the same draconian techniques that it had on Freaknik, and that killed the vibe the Buckhead Village had at it's craziest.
Contrary to popular belief though, the city did not "close it down" although the police and the enforcement of early last calls (it used to be 4am, then they moved it back to 2:30am for all districts in the city except for Downtown which remains at 4am) lessened the "party" What killed it in the end was a guy who lived in the neighborhood adjacent to the village (with lots and lots of money) who bought the entire area of the Village and bulldozed it to build a new mixed use development. Unfortunately for him he finalized the purchasing right as the recession hit and recently had to sell the project off to another group. Karma can be a ***** sometimes.
Any way, if the extent of your knowledge of the nightlife scene is limited to Freaknik and the Buckhead Village (or at least an idealized image of the Buckhead Village that didn't match up with reality) then I can see how you might think that it is not on par with the nightlife of 1990s Atlanta. However, those two thing were never the sum total of night life in Atlanta and those who are old enough to remember it wouldn't even take part in a scene like that anymore. At least one would hope.
This lead to what happened in 95 when people wishing to make an opportunity out of the bad situation, started flooding the party with drugs and selling alcohol out of vans among other ignorant behavior. The city had not come together on a major plan to block off streets, so the gridlock hit it's zenith. People just started abandoning their cars and, fueled by the coordinated efforts of dope boys and opportunists, got the fuel to just completely lose all sense. Businesses were looted and vandalized, women were accosted (as in having their clothes snatched off) right in the middle of the street, and there were incidents of shootings (mostly by rival drug crews) and rapes. It was near anarchy for several days and this is when a good chunk of the college students gave up on Freaknik all together.
.
This right here shows you the evolution of freaknik. In early more innocent college freaknik you had a few generous college girls that would flash appreciative guys and even go a little further in public.
In the lewd larger freaknik that had grown beyond the college realm you had alot of professional strippers that came in from all over that would strip in public and let guys grope them right out on the streets.
In the completely out of control freaknik that most college students had abandoned right before the end you had the incidents of guys who heard all the tales of this and flocked in to take part getting overly aggressive and accosting women and such.
As a 17-year old, I would have voted Atlanta. Now that I'm almost 30, I am voting for DC. Atlanta is too much of a club city for my taste. I've been tired of that scene since 2004. There's nothing in Atlanta comparable to Marvin on a Monday night. The perfect night for me is throwing on a button up, a blazer, and heading to the POV lounge in the W Hotel for a drink and looking out at the Washington Monument while listening to some cool jazz and house music. It's not going to some club and yelling in some chick's ear over the latest Young Jeezy song.
My two favorite places in Atlanta were Cafe Intermezzo and Yin Yang. Not sure if either is there anymore. Last time I was down there about a year ago, I saw guys walking into clubs off Peachtree with sneakers, chains and baggy jeans. I'll keep it real...I'm too bougie for that. I don't want to hear any dirty south music coming out of a club. I want some Fela Kuti, Diana Ross, The Black Keys, Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Jay-Z.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 06-14-2011 at 03:16 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
