Category Archives: Site Description

My Experience at The Georgia State Capitol

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I have lived in the same house for 11 years now and due to my location, people would think that I have visited the Georgia State Capitol several times. My residence is located 3 blocks away from the original Turner Field which is located about 5 minutes from downtown. However, I have visited the Georgia State Capitol twice in my 11 years of living so close to downtown. The first time was when my grandparents came to visit from Mexico 2 years ago and the second time was recently when I conducted my site visit. My recent visit to the Georgia State Capitol brought back memories and created a sensation of excitement towards my future.

Gordon Statue outside of The Georgia State Capitol

Gordon Statue outside of The Georgia State Capitol

 

As I stated before, the first time that I visited this spectacular National Historic Landmark was when my grandparents came to visit from Mexico. We gave them a tour of downtown Atlanta in our car and when we passed by the capitol, the golden dome caught my grandparents attention. We immediately found a parking spot and parked so that they could tour the Capitol from the outside. While walking, I remember that my grandmother was so amazed by the golden dome that she would constantly point at it and take pictures. My grandfather on the other hand, was amazed by the historic facts displayed on the signs throughout the Georgia State Capitol and since my grandfather was a sergeant during the 60’s in Mexico, all of the military statues and texts caught his attention. I remember that he would ask me to translate the information on the signs. As I walked around through the various signs and statues of the Capitol, all of these beautiful memories came into my head and made me feel as if I was with my grandparents again.

The Georgia State Capitol

The Georgia State Capitol

 

My dream career has always been to be in the law enforcement for a really long time. It took me time to determine what specific career I wanted to choose for me, but when I found it, I concluded that I want to be a detective. While I was walking through the front part of the Capitol, I saw several detectives walking in and out of the building. I smiled and observed how they carried themselves, how they greeted people; I looked at every detail. As we walked around with my father, I noticed several black civilian Chevrolet Tahoes and I told my father,” your son will drive one of those one day soon. Those are detective cars.” My father looked at me confused and asked how did I know that they were  detective cars so I showed him the police lights that were located in several parts of the truck. I wanted to take pictures of the SUV’s, but there was no one close in order for me to ask permission and I did not want to look suspicious. As I observed the detectives, their cars, and imagine what they could possibly be doing inside of the Georgia State Capitol, made me picture myself in their shoes in the future. When I saw myself carrying that badge, the traditional detective Glock 19 sidearm, driving a black Tahoe, and making a difference, I was excited.

The Georgia State Capitol

The Georgia State Capitol

My recent visit to the Georgia State Capitol was really pleasant. This visit made me notice new signs as well as new details on the building that I did not notice the first time. It also made me remember memories with my grandparents and in some way relived them. Seeing detectives and part of their every day cause a wonderful sensation of excitement that made this cite visit worth doing.

 

All of the photographs used in this blog post were taken by Alexis M. Buenrostro.

The Colors on The Georgia State Capitol

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The Georgia State Capitol

The Georgia State Capitol

The Georgia State Capitol is a National Historic Landmark that is located in Atlanta, Georgia. The Capitol was built more than a century ago a few decades after the Civil War ended. The construction of this enormous building initiated in 1884 and ended in 1889. After doing some research, I found that this building was constructed primarily with Georgia’s own marble, wood, iron, steel, and completed with a limestone exterior. Of course those materials are beautiful and fancy, but it is the Capitol’s gold dome that make this National Historic Landmark distinguishable. The colors on the Georgia State Capitol depict history and power.

Gordon Statue outside of The Georgia State Capitol

Gordon Statue outside of The Georgia State Capitol

The capitol is exactly 127 years old. Since its creation, signs and statues were placed. There are weathered statues along with scraped paint signs. Some of the statues are of important people in the history of the state of Georgia and other statues are of important events in the state of Georgia. Most of these statues are painted in a bronze or brownish color. However, much of that color is now grayish due to the wearing over the years. The signs that are made out of metal have a grayish metal color with signs of rust on the letters. Gold and black are the colors that decorate the wooden signs. The golden paint completely came off of the letters and in parts of the sign, only the cracks and scraped paint remain after all of these years.

"To The Memory of William Ambrose Wright" Sign

“To The Memory of William Ambrose Wright” Sign

"EXPELLED BECAUSE OF COLOR" Sign

“EXPELLED BECAUSE OF COLOR” Sign

Arnall statue outside of The Georgia State Capitol

Arnall statue outside of The Georgia State Capitol

Weathered picture on the side of a Statue outside of the Georgia State Capitol

Weathered picture on the side of a Statue outside of the Georgia State Capitol

The capitol is 127 years old and there have been remodeling done to the inside as well as the outside. The most common remodeling done, as far as I was able to see on the outside, was the repainting of the signs around the capitol. All of the signs that were repainted around the Georgia State Capitol are painted in black and gold. The color black symbolizes a formal presentation and the color gold symbolizes an important, powerful presentation. I am not sure of the exact dates in which the signs were placed, but judging by the aging of the wood, the signs have been there quite a while. These signs have important history on then and therefore, should be kept in good shape.

"The Siege of Atlanta" sign outside of the Georgia State Capitol

“The Siege of Atlanta” sign outside of the Georgia State Capitol

 

Gold has been loved by humanity since its discovery. This beautiful mineral shines brightly and catches the attention of anyone. Over time, gold has become more accessible to citizens. However, in earlier times, gold was only accessible to powerful rich people. Whenever someone is seen with gold, people think that they are rich because of the high value that gold has. Gold has been a universal symbol for power since its discovery. The golden dome on top of the Capitol is widely know for its beautiful shinning color. Its larger section is the one the can be viewed from any angle. However, the smaller section that is on the top can only be viewed from certain angles.

The Georgia State Capitol

The Georgia State Capitol

The Georgia State Capitol is home to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Secretary of State’s offices. There are also chambers of the State Senate, State House of Representatives along with offices for both the State Senate & House of Representatives. It is a symbolic building that has its place of importance among government, architecture, and National Historic Landmarks of the United States. A building with this importance always sticks out and what better way to make something stick out than its colors. The colors on the Georgia State Capitol enforce the National Historic Landmark’s importance and authority in the state of Georgia.

All of the photographs used in this article were taken by Alexis M. Buenrostro

Grant Park’s Traffic Flow & Its Automobiles

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The Grant Park neighborhood is a neighborhood located eight minutes away from Georgia State University. Being so close to downtown Atlanta, it is expected to have real busy streets. However, that is not the case; the traffic flow in this neighborhood is real low. The street is a two-way street with four lanes in total. The last lanes on each side of the street are used for public parking. In this community, I did not see any alley ways while driving around, only side streets. Some of the streets are two-way streets and other streets are one-way streets only. There are crossing ways at each light, stop sign, and some in the middle of the street which of course have the “pedestrian crossing” sign. As of now, there are no biker lanes in this community but there are bikers. The bikers ride on both the sidewalks and the main roads. While walking around its sidewalks, I notice that the cars that were parked on the side of the road were small to mid-size cars. Most of the cars that I saw were Toyota, Audi, BMW, and Volkswagen. The brands that were named are all foreign automobile brands. Yes, Toyota is really popular in the United States, but that brand is not from here.

 

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Here, you can see cars parked on both sides of the street along with two pedestrian crossings.

 

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Toyota Prius

 

Yes, Toyota is really popular in the United States, but that brand is not from here. The most common Toyota that I saw in the Grant Park neighborhood was the Prius. The Prius is known to be really eco-friendly and it is also known for the large amount of jokes that it receives by car enthusiast and many other people as well. This Prius was a light coffee brown color with clear windows. The wheels appeared to be 15 or 16 inch wheels. In the back, the bottom glass piece had a black tint with clear rear tail lights.

Audi R3 Wagon

Audi R3 Wagon

 

After the Toyota Prius, I spotted an Audi A3 Wagon around the 2007-2009 model. This Audi A3 was grey with 17 inch grey wheels. The windows of this car were clear with a black trim around them. The rear tail lights were red all around with a small white squared spot that turns on when the car is backed up.

Volkswagen Jetta Wagon

Volkswagen Jetta Wagon

The Jetta from Volkswagen is a famous car that is efficient in every aspect. This particular Jetta that was spotted was the Jetta Wagon. The Jetta Wagon was a light coffee brown with dust covering the entire car. The wheels on this car were 17 or 18 inch wheels. As all of the other cars, this Jetta Wagon’s windows were all clear with a black trim around it. The tail lights were mostly red with a white line on the bottom that turn on when the car is backing up.

 

The cars that are found around the Grant Park community are small multi-purpose cars. These cars have enough room to put bikes inside. Since there are no bike lanes in this community, people have the option of putting their bikes away and use their cars instead. With a traffic flow that’s low however, bike riders are safe to ride their bikes. Thanks to low traffic flow, pedestrians can walk more confidently on the side walks while walking their dogs or even going for a jog. The traffic flow that the Grant Park community provides makes it an enjoyable experience for its citizens, pedestrians, bikers, and drivers.

 

All of the photographs that were used in this blog post were taken by Alexis M. Buenrostro.

Grant Park Neighborhood Personal Site Visit Response

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The Grant Park Neighborhood is a very especial neighborhood for me. Even though I live 4 minutes away from this neighborhood, Grant Park is neighborhood were a grew up. The Grant Park Neighborhood is a neighborhood that has been around since the late 1800’s and it is located 8 minutes away from Georgia State University. When I entered the community, I felt a sensation of welcome. The vintage and new homes with people sitting on their porches, people running on the side walk and running their dogs as well. As I passed more houses, I noticed several beautiful classic automobiles as well. When I was young, I would pass large amounts of time in this community and in the park as well. Recently, I would only pass by there and I would not spend any time there at all. Thanks to this project, I relieved some of my childhood memories. When I was first entering the community, I remembered the first time I that I stepped foot on this community. My father wanted to play soccer so after looking and asking around, we were able to find Grant Park. Every time that we went to this park, I would see the wide pavement roads that are found in the park and I would love to run on them as if I was a car. Returning to these wide pavement roads made me feel like a child again. The big green trees surrounding the park set a cool temperature that made me feel like a little child again.

 

 

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As I was entering the park, I was greeted by its entrance which included a stone wall in the middle. The stone wall had a door-styled of shape in the middle with reddish orange tiles. When I looked closer, I notice that there were four small blue tiles at the top that made a blue square. Below the door-styled tiles was a type of construction that stuck out about 2 feet, however, this part had tiles missing. In the background, there was this curved wall that was made out of stone as well that surrounded the door-styled tiles. On the ground, there were plants planted a certain distance apart from each other and as I looked around, I noticed that there was an old paint bucket that was white; I’m guessing that the bucket is used to water the plants. Stepping back a little, I as was able to appreciate the two big trees that guarded the stone curved wall and the door-styled tiles. These two trees provide a lot of shade and people could be able to take a sit after a long walk through the park.

 

 

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After taking a closer look at the stone wall and the tiles, I noticed that I was stepping on the logo of the park. Back I use to come here, this logo wasn’t present. Therefore, I took time to admire the logo and it materials that composed it. The logo was made out of stone as well with the engravings in black. The top of the logo states the name of the park, followed by a leave-less tree, the year that this community of grant Park was established, and the quote that reads, “THE PEOPLE’S PLAYGROUND”. This text offers a welcoming feeling to anyone that sets foot in this park. The quote is basically stating that anyone can come to this park to enjoy everything that is has to offer.

 

 

 

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Next to the stone wall was this sign that states the year that the Park was founded. It also states the name of the mayor during this time and other major contributors that made it possible for the park to be founded. However, judging by the glue around it and the minimum wear of the sign, I concluded that this sign was recently placed.

 

 

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The wide pavement road that is in the entrance caused a feeling that made me run like a kid. At the beginning of this pavement road, there was a crossing walkway that was made out of two colored stones. Behind the walkway, the pavement remains the same as it did when I was a kid. There are scratches on it, cracks, and broken edges.

 

 

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As I kept walking on the same pavement road at the entrance of the park, I noticed this cool graffiti. As we can tell, the graffiti is the Adidas brand logo. The logo has 3 main colors: black, white, and gray. The outline of the graffiti was carefully done with a few exceptions on some corners. When it came to the fulling in of the logo, there were some corners that weren’t filled out of the way and the white paint symbolizes a shine effect on the logo.

 

 

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While I made my way through the pavement road in the park, I noticed this peculiar tree. The small, tree that looks like a snake is in the middle of a field which cause it to stand out. The leaves that grow from it are long and narrow. The leaves almost touched the ground. After admiring the tree for some time, I got close to it and I started to mess with it. At first, I thought that the tree was going to be soft enough to move around. However, once I started to mess with it, I found out that the tree was really stiff and it could barely move.

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Inside this beautiful park and community remains what use to be the Cyclorama. The Cyclorama is more than a century old and it remained in grant park since it’s opening in 1885. However, in 2015, the Cyclorama was permanently closed and relocated to Buckhead, Georgia.  This beautiful building with four pillars in the bottom & another four pillars on top was a civil war museum. The building gave a presidential aspect with two sets of stairs; one on the left and one on the right. Above the four pillars located at the bottom, there was a silver metal frame with four golden spheres and the Georgia logo in the middle. There were four benches outside of the bottom entrance with two on each side. There were also two gardens on the sides of the main entrance with left one having some scrape paint. As I looked closer, I also noticed that the “Cyclorama” logo was gone and the only thing that was left there was the outline of the letters.

 

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On the right side of what use to be the Cyclorama awaited Zoo Atlanta. The first thing that stuck out was the big plants that were on each side of the entrance. I am not a plant expert, but those plants appeared to be tropical plants even though I doubt it because Atlanta does not have much of a tropical weather the whole year around. After that, most of the entrance was made out of wood; the pillars, the ticket stands, the roof. The only metal things in the entrance were the gates. The colors that stuck out the most besides the big plants and their color were the big red “MAIN GATE” signs. The red and yellow combination was created I suppose to grab the people’s attention. Of course, if I looked at that, it was a must that I saw the “Zoo Atlanta” in big white letters with two animals on the sides.

 

 

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When I left the park and went to the neighborhood, I felt the same peace that I felt in the park. The neighborhood is so quiet and the only things that could be heard were dogs barking, people running while talking on the phone, and the very few cars that passed by. It did not matter what direction I looked; I would always see a person smiling.

 

 

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As I passed by different houses, I noticed these two homes that were in front of each other. I have never seen these style of houses before. The houses appear to be small castles made out of wood. The house on the right side of the street was dark brown with a tan outline. On the left side of the house was a tower that had 360 windows and I assumed that there is a staircase inside the home to access the tower. There was this black metal fence that surrounded the house as well. The house on the left side was significantly larger. The house on the left had a black metal fence that was placed above a stone wall which surrounded the whole house. The beautiful was painted in a lovely light brown with white finishes and roofing on the top. However, this home had a chimney next to the tower. This tower had windows on only two of its sides that would give a beautiful view to the street. Judging from its outer appearance, this home appeared to have two stories because there were several windows on the top of the house. Some of the windows were usual squared windows, but there were some oval windows as well.

 

 

Overall, the Grant Park neighborhood is a welcoming neighborhood. People here are always friendly, the environment, the community, and everything that it has to offer caused a welcoming sensation. One hour wasn’t enough to discover everything that the Grant Park neighborhood has in stored.

 

 

All of the photographs that were used in this blog post were taken by Alexis M. Buenrostro.