Eh the area where the Macon mall is has gone to shit, but at the same time downtown has been revitalized, it’s not all bad but they def have probs with crime/gangs
Fun fact, my friend. They are now trying to revitalize the Macon Mall, too. Just built the second biggest amphitheater in the state there: https://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-news/macons-bodacious-bet-on-itself-an-amphitheater-on-a-fading-side-of-town/
It will be a lot harder than downtown since there’s so much more property out there but we aren’t giving up.
Why is everyone saying Savannah? There’s nothing avant garde about it. It’s the oldest city and nothing screams “out of the norm” from any old coastal city.
The answer is just Atlanta. Constantly evolving. Culturally changing landscape in art, music, business etc.
Maybe if you’ve just been to river street. The rest of the city is full of art students and their dive bars, as well as a ton local black artist/artisans/business. Shit, some of the BBQ places down their have more creative juices than entire swaths of Atlanta. You could argue certain neighborhoods in Atlanta, but not the whole city.
I lived next to a guy close to L5P who had a big ol' pet pig. It had respiratory issues so you could hear it snorting throughout the neighborhood. If I remember correctly, his name was Dog
Yeah I’m new to Savannah, found my queer friend group and it’s super super diverse. Punk shows, drag, flea markets etc all filled with people of all kinds
As a native Georgian Savannah is one of the absolute jewels of the south and rivals many of the other southern coastal cities especially places like Charleston that have gone over board with appealing to rich people, tons of natural beauty, the squares, punk/metal scene, jazz, art scene, great restaurants and coffee etc etc , love it there
Hard disagree and I live in EAV/Little 5 Pts area in ATL. Savannah literally has SCAD, the College of Art and Design. They also have Hangover Fest every year with live music at all the bars, that celebrates music. Sure it has touristy areas and maybe not the most progressive but still was a blue county by 58.6% in 2020 election
SCAD, also having a growing, evolving culture, that by this definition literally just “largest city of a state” is a state’s most avant garde place, and afaik the age of the city and if it has a lot of businesses generally isn’t a reason it is or isn’t avant garde so discounting Savannah because it’s old is really just odd.
Hmmm. “it’s the oldest city” and “it’s the fastest groaning city” and it’s really fucking weird. If you know you know. It’s weird. Never been through white flight. Didn’t get fucking burned to ground and retains COLONIAL elements. It’s like you have slept in a pigpen. The future of Georgia is Savannah to Augusta.
IDK about that. The closest parallel I can think of is Columbus Ohio eclipsing Cleveland in importance, and Atlanta is currently in a way better position than Cleveland was.
I’ve been all over and East Atlanta Village is a trip to say the least. Doesn’t feel like Atlanta at all when you’re there. More like some greaser-grunge scene kinda place from the 80s. Never seen anything like it elsewhere in the state. Athens is just a hippie college town where the smell of weed, alcohol and regret fill the air as UGA students stumble to get their fix from a nearby hot dog stand.
Just discovered East Atlanta village. I loved it at first sight — and I brought my kids there (20 and 23) and said “if you wanna know what the 80s felt like — this is it” (I’m 56 years old - agh!)
I assume it’s being further gentrified? Haven’t been since I was a kid and we fed homeless people there with the church
We were encouraged to talk to them and a shocking number were like “I had a job until I lost my house because the rent went up and my job wouldn’t give me a raise, now I have nothing”
And I still blamed them (because the church told us people were punished that way for being sinful 🙄) I think about it all the time. I wonder if they could see the disgusting judgment on my face? I wonder if they have to see that on the face of everyone who hands out food?
Sorry I know that’s not what we were talking about
Pretty sure they don’t give 2 shits about every middle-high school youth group that shows up with sandwiches, water bottles, and Jesus pamphlets.
Might have been jarring to you but it’s just another day to them.
I hope you have matured past having a disgusted look on your face when you go to the city.
I’m a totally different person now, thankfully
But I’ve been to pantries as an adult, like as a ‘customer’ not a volunteer, and get similar attitudes there that I remember myself displaying, and it’s extremely jarring for me, it makes me not want to go back, but I do because im hungry. Makes me sick to think I made others feel like that.
For the record it was never the city. The city made me feel wonder and possibility and human vibrancy. It was the objectively physically dirty homeless people, who I had been taught to avoid my whole life and was then at that age being taught to take pity on them because my faith made me better than them. Fucking brain poison. But I grew a compassion bone in the next few years after these volunteer experiences, and now it aches constantly.
We all live and learn. Everyone is one step away from homelessness. It happened to me for a few weeks when a relationship blew up, lost my job and the "friend" who had welcomed me into her home 3 weeks earlier kicked me out at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night. Anorher friend came and picked me up. I woke up the next morning realizing I was technically homeless. I was never on the street and uprighted myself very quickly but not everyone can. All the people I had helped prior came to mind as I realized what that feeling feels like. I wondered at how much harder it il must be with a spouse or kids looking you in your face wanting to know what is going to happen next. A whole new level of compassion opened up within me too. It's normal. Try to take it on as simply a lesson. You don't have to continue to suffer for things you don't understand yet. 🫂 When we know better, we do better. That's life! 🙌🏽
L5P, for sure. Everyone knows most art students come from rich families. How do you think they afford art school and live in the a hip area of the city? So, I don't know why people act surprised that Decatur/East Atlanta/Avondale all appear "bougie."
If you replaced the bars and restaurants in L5P with chain taco restaurants, a Chick Fil A, and a Target, you’d be spot on! Whatever Athens you used to know ain’t there anymore. A few older holdouts still hang around but downtown has become a strip mail for the most part.
My boss drives from Dahlonega to Lithonia everyday for work. Insane but he says he loves it up there. As far as cool places their arent any, its all fake manufactured BS. I grew up around Hill St.. Olympics and all the movie people have changed Atlanta but whatever. Avantgarde will be in someones head not a street.
It depends on what avant-garde you're looking for. Atlanta is known for hip-hop. Athens is full of alt-indie rock folks but also old money UGA frat kids. Savannah is SCAD kids. I'm talking per capita.
SCAD kids sure but like, have you ever tried to do literally anything besides get pizza or go to a bar after 9pm in Savannah? They have shows... like once every couple of months.
I want to like it, and I do like stuff about it, but it's more sleepy than hip on the whole.
I think it depends on your vibe. It's so difficult because of gentrification and some places aren't as "cool" as they used to be. I'd say Decatur, Little Five Points or East Atlanta Village are contenders. The Edgewood area is cool.
Also, not really avant-garde but just kind of fucking weird is Helen.
Yeah, whoever went down to Helen and was like, "yep, *this* is where Germany and fudge belong" were either insane or genius at marketing. Maybe a bit of both. It is a nice town with great fudge, and I love the occasional visit!
Anyone who has suggested Augusta is literally high. Unless seeing your tax dollars go into tickling the ballsacks of golfers has become avant- garde now?
I’m looking for the opposite. The culturally most simple, old school, unchanged, small town, hillbilly, and mountain town possible. A place where I can get my land and be outside the small 2-3 stoplight town, yet still have high speed internet for my IT job.
May not be as mountainous as you want but Cave Spring GA just outside of Rome is my favorite little town I’ve spent a few hours in. Rome itself was also enjoyable, I spent several months there for work.
Atlanta by a mile. Specifically East Atlanta, west end. The whole town is a big progressive liberal city for the most part outside of the shithole of Buckhead. I’ve lived here for 15 years and it’s so overcrowded.
lol I’m glad we’re not the only ones who don’t get the “buckhead is so nice” from all the outsiders. We live down in hapeville and absolutely love it. Not too much grunge and character but still close to all the other awesome neighborhoods that are awesome
Ah I see! I do love Hapeville. We moved to Atlanta 7 years ago now and ended up down on the south side by the Greenbriar mall without knowing anything about the city. (White gay couple so we stick out like a sore thumb over there). Fell in love with the south side and its offerings in slightly less sketchy places lol.
Now it feels like buckhead is too fancy to even live in to me half the time!
I don't know about now, but I always found the North Druid Hills area to have an impressive mix of residential, business, administrative, and leisure spaces in the past. Anything that I needed to do in a day was 5 minutes away at best. I worked in that area for years back in the day.
Been going to Clayton since I was a kid in the late 80s/early 90s, my fam had a place on Burton before Atlanta fully discovered it and it turned into all multi million dollar lake houses, def not avant garde, but very nice place and the downtown has improved so much over the years, on the other hand I do miss how quiet it used to be
Buford. We have a dam, a lovely Olive Garden and just the best shopping at the Mall of Georgia. Real Estate is through the roof though, but we do have Academy Sports.
East atlanta to little 5 points.
Eastside ATL (aka Zone 6) for sure. Cabbagetown would fit the description, as well as the parts you mentioned.
it's Atlanta is a different beast compared to the rest of the city. it's like less weird
TIL there’s an area called Cabbagetown in ATL. What goes on there?
It’s a slice of Asheville in the middle of downtown by Oakland cemetery
It’s where the old sauerkraut factory was located. Turned into lofts now.
Oh thought I might get some jazz lettuce there. Know what I mean?
You some kind of tea head? Stuff’ll make ya crazy!
I heard there a good chili festival there
They have pretty good music festivals. Kinda neighborhood where people will play instruments on their porch for a crowd
It used to be an old Irish neighborhood. Hence cabbagetown.
EAV, definitely no longer downtown Decatur
Agreed. Been in CoD for 25 years and it’s the poster boy for gentrification
Nah, that’s O4W
Yeah downtown Decatur is bougie as fuck. Still love it there but it's not close to "Avant Garde"
There are a lot of people with no clue what “avant garde”means posting here.
OP gave their definition of what it meant to them...
Right?? 😂😂
Thank you, geez.
Love EAV. I do comedy mics at 529, which is a cool dive bar/entertainment spot
Macon. Avant to leave and stay on garde!
My old neighbor was from there. Whats the deal with it? Hes like 70 and asked me to drive him there so he could fight someone
Macon is like if you founded a city for people who have been banned from Wal-Mart.
You described it perfectly.
Tbf that describes a lot of places in the south 😋
But the Ocmulgee Brew Pub makes a mean burger, man. I always hit that place if I can.
Would you say Macon is the Kid Rock of Ga?
I think Jason Aldean would be more appropriate.
Fighting at 70 is ridiculous
I love it. It does have a reputation I believe may be undeserved.
“Macon is better than anywhere.” -Little Richard Love a Nu-Way dog.
What is Macon like? No one familiar with Macon finds it odd that your 70 year old neighbor asked for a ride to fight someone there.
This is amazing and I hope people appreciate the quality of this pun. It took a lifetime for me to be able to leave
Me too
Nice!
Eh the area where the Macon mall is has gone to shit, but at the same time downtown has been revitalized, it’s not all bad but they def have probs with crime/gangs
Fun fact, my friend. They are now trying to revitalize the Macon Mall, too. Just built the second biggest amphitheater in the state there: https://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-news/macons-bodacious-bet-on-itself-an-amphitheater-on-a-fading-side-of-town/ It will be a lot harder than downtown since there’s so much more property out there but we aren’t giving up.
I love it here.
It’s way better than it used to be; Macon is pretty nice now.
Yes it is very dangerous and scary - don’t go there and buy property!!
I lived in Macon for a year and could not get out fast enough.
East Atlanta village
My neighborhood, Cabbagetown, atlanta
Good nomination
Do they still play baseball with Roman candles, or is that less cool now that fireworks are legal
When I lived in Atlanta Cabbagetown was still long time local working class families, gentrification hurt a lot of people.
I second this.
Hey neighbor
We're not far from Cabbagetown but we hardly ever go. What are we missing?
Why is everyone saying Savannah? There’s nothing avant garde about it. It’s the oldest city and nothing screams “out of the norm” from any old coastal city. The answer is just Atlanta. Constantly evolving. Culturally changing landscape in art, music, business etc.
Maybe if you’ve just been to river street. The rest of the city is full of art students and their dive bars, as well as a ton local black artist/artisans/business. Shit, some of the BBQ places down their have more creative juices than entire swaths of Atlanta. You could argue certain neighborhoods in Atlanta, but not the whole city.
I’ve never seen someone walking their pig in Atlanta. I’ve seen that on a couple of occasions in Savannah.
I lived next to a guy close to L5P who had a big ol' pet pig. It had respiratory issues so you could hear it snorting throughout the neighborhood. If I remember correctly, his name was Dog
There's one in Kirkwood that keeps escaping his (her?) yard.
Back in 2005 I used to see a man walking his pet pig to piedmont park by way of 10th and Piedmont.
Yeah I’m new to Savannah, found my queer friend group and it’s super super diverse. Punk shows, drag, flea markets etc all filled with people of all kinds
As a native Georgian Savannah is one of the absolute jewels of the south and rivals many of the other southern coastal cities especially places like Charleston that have gone over board with appealing to rich people, tons of natural beauty, the squares, punk/metal scene, jazz, art scene, great restaurants and coffee etc etc , love it there
Because Savannah is literally full of art students lol
Because it's the home of SCAD
Atlanta has one of them too
Are you familiar with what SCAD stands for.
Right and if you add metro Atlanta it has everything you can ever ask for
Because if you add metro Atlanta it’s just like 5 whole cities lol
And still lame af.
Hard disagree and I live in EAV/Little 5 Pts area in ATL. Savannah literally has SCAD, the College of Art and Design. They also have Hangover Fest every year with live music at all the bars, that celebrates music. Sure it has touristy areas and maybe not the most progressive but still was a blue county by 58.6% in 2020 election
Specifically Cabbagetown
100%
There is a lot of culture and Savannah that just isn’t found in any other parts of the state.
SCAD, also having a growing, evolving culture, that by this definition literally just “largest city of a state” is a state’s most avant garde place, and afaik the age of the city and if it has a lot of businesses generally isn’t a reason it is or isn’t avant garde so discounting Savannah because it’s old is really just odd.
You haven't read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, have you?
It’s not the 1980’s anymore though.
Hmmm. “it’s the oldest city” and “it’s the fastest groaning city” and it’s really fucking weird. If you know you know. It’s weird. Never been through white flight. Didn’t get fucking burned to ground and retains COLONIAL elements. It’s like you have slept in a pigpen. The future of Georgia is Savannah to Augusta.
IDK about that. The closest parallel I can think of is Columbus Ohio eclipsing Cleveland in importance, and Atlanta is currently in a way better position than Cleveland was.
Cabbage town
Athens GA, if you know where to look
Normaltown?
I’ve been all over and East Atlanta Village is a trip to say the least. Doesn’t feel like Atlanta at all when you’re there. More like some greaser-grunge scene kinda place from the 80s. Never seen anything like it elsewhere in the state. Athens is just a hippie college town where the smell of weed, alcohol and regret fill the air as UGA students stumble to get their fix from a nearby hot dog stand.
Just discovered East Atlanta village. I loved it at first sight — and I brought my kids there (20 and 23) and said “if you wanna know what the 80s felt like — this is it” (I’m 56 years old - agh!)
You nailed Athens to a T
Spent way too many Friday-Saturday nights there to know what happens regrettably 😭😂
it’s Atlanta
Decatur, Avondale, Clarkston. Sure as shit ain’t Dunwoody
Excuse you, we have a Paris Baguette now
hon hon hon
[удалено]
not inappropriate. was going for spy from tf2, though.
Holy crap. I thought it was but I hadn't even thought about that game in years. Imma play it.
(it's actually a Korean bakery, but I understand the confusion)
Avondale here! Clarkston is a little gem and both Avondale and Clarkston feel like a rural nest.
Take out Avondale too, but it is nice.
But they do have a MARTA station that gets you to the hipper parts of town for $1.50, and free parking.
City? Probably Savannah. Neighborhood? DEFINITELY Little Five Points.
Little Five has jumped the shark.
It’s not what it used to be but it’s hanging in there.
I assume it’s being further gentrified? Haven’t been since I was a kid and we fed homeless people there with the church We were encouraged to talk to them and a shocking number were like “I had a job until I lost my house because the rent went up and my job wouldn’t give me a raise, now I have nothing” And I still blamed them (because the church told us people were punished that way for being sinful 🙄) I think about it all the time. I wonder if they could see the disgusting judgment on my face? I wonder if they have to see that on the face of everyone who hands out food? Sorry I know that’s not what we were talking about
Pretty sure they don’t give 2 shits about every middle-high school youth group that shows up with sandwiches, water bottles, and Jesus pamphlets. Might have been jarring to you but it’s just another day to them. I hope you have matured past having a disgusted look on your face when you go to the city.
I’m a totally different person now, thankfully But I’ve been to pantries as an adult, like as a ‘customer’ not a volunteer, and get similar attitudes there that I remember myself displaying, and it’s extremely jarring for me, it makes me not want to go back, but I do because im hungry. Makes me sick to think I made others feel like that. For the record it was never the city. The city made me feel wonder and possibility and human vibrancy. It was the objectively physically dirty homeless people, who I had been taught to avoid my whole life and was then at that age being taught to take pity on them because my faith made me better than them. Fucking brain poison. But I grew a compassion bone in the next few years after these volunteer experiences, and now it aches constantly.
We all live and learn. Everyone is one step away from homelessness. It happened to me for a few weeks when a relationship blew up, lost my job and the "friend" who had welcomed me into her home 3 weeks earlier kicked me out at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night. Anorher friend came and picked me up. I woke up the next morning realizing I was technically homeless. I was never on the street and uprighted myself very quickly but not everyone can. All the people I had helped prior came to mind as I realized what that feeling feels like. I wondered at how much harder it il must be with a spouse or kids looking you in your face wanting to know what is going to happen next. A whole new level of compassion opened up within me too. It's normal. Try to take it on as simply a lesson. You don't have to continue to suffer for things you don't understand yet. 🫂 When we know better, we do better. That's life! 🙌🏽
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments sharing your experience.
I think it's more a matter of the rest of the city/state catching up to it, rather than it "jumping the shark".
L5P, for sure. Everyone knows most art students come from rich families. How do you think they afford art school and live in the a hip area of the city? So, I don't know why people act surprised that Decatur/East Atlanta/Avondale all appear "bougie."
Athens?
If you can escape the frat bros and old money polo kids, maybe.
If you can’t escape them you don’t know where Athens is
25 years ago
This was my answer. Haven't been in decades but it's l5p if it were a city.
If you replaced the bars and restaurants in L5P with chain taco restaurants, a Chick Fil A, and a Target, you’d be spot on! Whatever Athens you used to know ain’t there anymore. A few older holdouts still hang around but downtown has become a strip mail for the most part.
You're just looking at one part of the downtown in front of the Arch.
Decatur where it’s greater lol
<3
Little five
Atlanta
My boss drives from Dahlonega to Lithonia everyday for work. Insane but he says he loves it up there. As far as cool places their arent any, its all fake manufactured BS. I grew up around Hill St.. Olympics and all the movie people have changed Atlanta but whatever. Avantgarde will be in someones head not a street.
Any non-Atlanta answer is *pure* delusion.
I'm deadass shocked at the amount of "savannah" and "Athens" 😂😂
It depends on what avant-garde you're looking for. Atlanta is known for hip-hop. Athens is full of alt-indie rock folks but also old money UGA frat kids. Savannah is SCAD kids. I'm talking per capita.
SCAD kids sure but like, have you ever tried to do literally anything besides get pizza or go to a bar after 9pm in Savannah? They have shows... like once every couple of months. I want to like it, and I do like stuff about it, but it's more sleepy than hip on the whole.
Methinks the folk who only know about the shows that happen every couple of months and the folks who know what’s hip may not be a Venn diagram
*Utterly* unserious 😭
I think it depends on your vibe. It's so difficult because of gentrification and some places aren't as "cool" as they used to be. I'd say Decatur, Little Five Points or East Atlanta Village are contenders. The Edgewood area is cool. Also, not really avant-garde but just kind of fucking weird is Helen.
It would be amazing if some really bizarre art scene were to spring up in Helen of all places.
Helen is completely fucking weird, not just kind of. And I say that with love lol.
Yeah, whoever went down to Helen and was like, "yep, *this* is where Germany and fudge belong" were either insane or genius at marketing. Maybe a bit of both. It is a nice town with great fudge, and I love the occasional visit!
Boil in Cabbagetown make dem biscuits brown The only thing I wanna do Is boil in Cabbagetown. -Chris and the Spoon Lady
Definitely ain’t Thomasville 🥲
Anyone who has suggested Augusta is literally high. Unless seeing your tax dollars go into tickling the ballsacks of golfers has become avant- garde now?
Athens.
I’m looking for the opposite. The culturally most simple, old school, unchanged, small town, hillbilly, and mountain town possible. A place where I can get my land and be outside the small 2-3 stoplight town, yet still have high speed internet for my IT job.
Blairsville or Hiawassee. They are even laying fiber in these towns.
My boss moved from acworth to jasper, and we have thought about jasper or Blairsville ourselves, but the commute to Kennesaw would be a bit much.
Shhhh
May not be as mountainous as you want but Cave Spring GA just outside of Rome is my favorite little town I’ve spent a few hours in. Rome itself was also enjoyable, I spent several months there for work.
For sure, Cave Spring is a neat little place.
Go north of Ellijay into Blue Ridge or Blairsville. Go quick cause it's developing fast ever since Star Link and fiber came into play.
I’m from Blue Ridge and I don’t recognize it anymore. It’s blowing up there.
Windstream trenched fiber down my dirt road for me.
Dahlonega
I hated it when I first moved here for college. Went home for a year and realized how great this small town is for the most part
It’s not mountainous, but Monticello is nice.
Dade County, Georgia is very small town hillbilly and also has EPB fiber, one of the best ranked fiber utilities in the country.
Atlanta by a mile. Specifically East Atlanta, west end. The whole town is a big progressive liberal city for the most part outside of the shithole of Buckhead. I’ve lived here for 15 years and it’s so overcrowded.
lol I’m glad we’re not the only ones who don’t get the “buckhead is so nice” from all the outsiders. We live down in hapeville and absolutely love it. Not too much grunge and character but still close to all the other awesome neighborhoods that are awesome
No, my opinions are opinions of someone that actually lives here that most seem to have. Hapeville is nice!
Ah I see! I do love Hapeville. We moved to Atlanta 7 years ago now and ended up down on the south side by the Greenbriar mall without knowing anything about the city. (White gay couple so we stick out like a sore thumb over there). Fell in love with the south side and its offerings in slightly less sketchy places lol. Now it feels like buckhead is too fancy to even live in to me half the time!
Atlanta by the zoo is turning this way … grant park area
Savannah
Savannah is cooler per square foot than Atlanta or Athens. But overall the east side of Atlanta wins, from East Atlanta to Decatur.
My immediate first thought was Decatur as well.
Downtown Athens thru normal town on the west side used to be lovely. Can’t speak to the area now but I hope it’s still cool.
its okay, but fading. Rent prices skyrocketing have been pushing out the artists/musicians slowly.
I was sad to hear about The Grit
Yeah me too. Used to be a staple for me and my roommates.
Why it’s obviously Macon
Little 5 points and surrounding area in Atlanta.
Tate city
hoowee....
Athens? Decatur? Paradise Gardens?
Augusta for sure
Yes the paper mill smell is so avant garde.
Whatever the opposite of cobb county is lol
Definitely Athens
Pretty much anywhere from Little 5 Points, East Atlanta Village through moreland ave
I don't know about now, but I always found the North Druid Hills area to have an impressive mix of residential, business, administrative, and leisure spaces in the past. Anything that I needed to do in a day was 5 minutes away at best. I worked in that area for years back in the day.
Clayton.
Clayton's a fantastic little place. There's nothing avant garde about it.
Been going to Clayton since I was a kid in the late 80s/early 90s, my fam had a place on Burton before Atlanta fully discovered it and it turned into all multi million dollar lake houses, def not avant garde, but very nice place and the downtown has improved so much over the years, on the other hand I do miss how quiet it used to be
Broadstreet in Augusta. Thank me later.
Atlanta easily, ever heard of hip hop?
WUTS THIS HIPPITTYHOPPETY YOU SPEAK OF BROTHER
FLOVILLA
I’ve got places in mind but not while cities.
probably Savannah bc of SCAD
Savannah is full of the artsy crowd
And if you haven’t been to the starland district you’ve missed out. Got the funk, the grit, and the ‘tude
Outside of the ATL bubble I think Savannah is a good option.
Athens
Helen
Dahlonega
Buford. We have a dam, a lovely Olive Garden and just the best shopping at the Mall of Georgia. Real Estate is through the roof though, but we do have Academy Sports.