Category: Built Environment Description

MLK Memorial Marta Station

Past the Pencil Factory buildings, right across the street looms a large, ultilitarian-looking concrete building. Out front, there is a large metal sculpture that hides a massive staircase behind. The station is extremely large in nature, and the architecture looks like it was built in the 1950s. On the opposite end of the station is a large, colorful mural. At the time I went there was no one present (besides my roommate and myself). The emptiness and the dated look of the building contributed to a very eerie, abandoned feeling.

Walter’s

Walters Clothing is an Atlanta institution that's attracted celebrities -- and confrontation.
Sitting on the corner of Decatur Street and Ellis is a small store with a red and white striped dome on the exterior, sporting the name “Walter’s”. The store sits on campus, and has been a famous little spot in Atlanta for decades. In the window, you can see tacky tourist tshirts and an extremely extensive collection of shoes. The store inside is packed with clothing, shoes, and hats on every available surface. It has a very crowded, cramped feeling, but it makes it almost homey in a way. The mom and pop appeal of the store is one unique to the downtown region.

Decatur Street

Walking along a busy road in downtown Atlanta, you see and hear a lot of interesting things; mostly cars whizzing by, but here and there you find pockets of activity. Unlike most streets in the downtown area, Decatur Street is almost always active with plenty of new, clean buildings to gaze at. Even with the mass exodus of most of downtown’s businesses, Decatur Street has managed to stay alive and well as it has for over 100 years. As early as the turn of the century, this street was part of a relatively wealthy black neighborhood. Sincce then, the area has seen various ups and downs, and it is currently in one of its highs. Being one of the original seven streets in Terminus, Decatur runs throughout many neighborhoods in the downtown region. It’s most heavily congested area, though, runs through our very own Georgia State. Flanked by Classroom South, Willy’s, and the library on one side, and Urban Life, Langdale Hall, and Walter’s on the other. The street cuts directly through the heart of campus. Anywhere along this street near main campus, you can find flocks of students migrating from one end of campus to another. Even the pedestrian bridge overhead is packed with students moving between buildings. On the way to and from the Honors College, I pass over a very different part of Decatur Street as I walk down Hill Street to my apartment. I walk right past the Pencil Factory Shops and Flats, with Bada Bings bar directly across the street from me. While this area is becoming a cleaner, more residential area of the city, you can’t help but acknowledge the very distinct smell of homeless people as you walk past these shops. Right as you cross Decatur Street, there is a tunnel where you can find at least three or four homeless people laying on the ground at any given point. In the city’s efforts to repurpose abandoned parts of the city, the old Pencil Factory was converted into shops and apartments. Along the street on ground level, the storefronts are heavily populated with restaurants, bars, pubs, and grocery stores. As you walk past on weekend nights, the many bars and pubs are packed to capacity with people cheering on their teams and booing the refs. Other nights, the street is quieter, where you can find people sitting in any of the various restaurants, of which Bento Hut is my personal favorite. A little farther down the road in the opposite direction of campus, looms a massive concrete structure adorned with colorful paint on the sides of it. This part is the King Memorial MARTA Station. This section of Decatur Street is much quieter. I’ve passed by, both driving and walking at various times of day, and I have never seen anyone enter or exit the station. Overall, it is hard to come up with just a few ways to describe Decatur Street. Because of how much of the city it spreads across, each individual section of the famous street has its own environment, vibes, and characteristics. It truly is one of Atlanta’s treasures.

Pencil Factory Flats and Shops

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The old pencil factory on Decatur street has transformed into an active residential and commercial area. Shops and restaurants line the streetfronts, offering everything from Indian food to small boutiques. Located on top of these shops are five stories of apartments and flats, vacated by a lot of students and young adults. The renovation of the factory allowed for a once nearly abandoned area to become active once again.

Decatur Street Pedestrian Bridge

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A shot of Decatur Street as it passes through Georgia State University. The pedestrian bridge crosses over the busy street to allow students to get from class to class safely. Students can be found using the bridge at any given point of the day, given that it connects all the major classroom buildings to one another via the Plaza.

Decatur Street Sign

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This sign shows where Decatur Street and Peachtree Center Avenue intersect. This intersection is right in the middle of Georgia State University campus where thousands of students cross everyday. The street is often busy with both vehicle and foot traffic. Around the corner here are the Arts and Humanities building, Kell Hall, and Langdale Hall. Surprisingly, many people frequent these street that do not necessarily belong to the Georgia State community. Much of the vehicle traffic consists of people simply passing through the campus to or from work.

Wall of People

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This area of the venue is to the direct left of the stage. This is where the pianist sat and played during the show. The wall behind has paintings of many different people on it, adding artwork to the room. The style of portrait is similar to that of graphic novels, adding a kind of aesthetic to the room.  I wasn’t able to find out if the people on the walls had any significance to Dad’s Garage, but I assume they are comedians of some sort.

First Game of the Night

The first game of the night was a game called “Categories”, where the audience provided a category, and the actors had to name things from that category without repeating or hesitating. This first one was alcoholic beverages, and it’s obvious that Max’s knowledge is limited in this field. At the end, the audience shouts “Die!” at Max to signal that he said something that wasn’t actually a part of that category. This game was great to start with to warm up the audience for the kind of participation necessary for the shows held at Dad’s Garage.

The Stage

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This was the view of the small stage from the bar where I sat for the show. You can see a portion of the table to the left and the seats up front where the cast sat when they weren’t performing. To the left of the stage was where a man sat, playing the keyboard. He was responsible for providing music during downtime between scenes and for the impromptu musical scenes as well. You can see from this photo that the stage is very small, and can only hold a few people at one time.

Dad’s Garage Theatre Company’s New Home

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Dad’s Garage has been in existence since 1995. Originally residing in the neighborhood of Inman Park, the actors stayed there for 18 years. Since its eviction in 2013, Dad’s Garage was temporarily located at the 7 Stages venue until the middle of summer 2015 when they were lucky enough to find this old church building that was formerly Atlanta Metropolitan Christian Church. Located on Ezzard Street, Dad’s Garage is now found its permanent home not too far from our very own Georgia State campus. It’s just a few turns off of Edgewood, and it takes no longer than five minutes to get there from campus if you have a good navigator (which I did not). The presence of such a theatre so close to campus brings comedic entertainment to the downtown area, where comedy theatres aren’t very prevalent.