The Coke sign on top of the Walgreens near Underground Atlanta

Down and Dirty Photography in Atlanta

On Saturday, I went with my friend Lauren to investigate a photo walking route for a collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). I assisted her with a photo walk she did last May with MOMA, and they've asked her to do one this year too. 

It was a gorgeous day out so I was happy to take a ride downtown to find some of the older buildings Lauren wanted to include on this year's walk. I hadn't been to Underground in a long time, though I've skirted the area on other photo walks since it's so close to Fairlie-Poplar. 

I don't expect any city to be super clean but downtown Atlanta is a disgrace.

Have you ever watched The Walking Dead? The series was filmed downtown in and around the Georgia State area, among other places. It was crazy watching the show, seeing all those areas reimagined into a post-apocalyptic world.  

Unfortunately, right now downtown looks a little post-apocalyptic. 

When I moved to Georgia with my family in the mid-1990s, the area around Underground was vibrant and buzzing. There was so much to do. I remember bringing out-of-town friends and all of our kids down to Underground for a day of window shopping, eating, and a fun time. 

Underground hasn't been vibrant for many years, and the area has struggled. Developers have brought multiple plans to make it better but nothing ever materializes. 

Currently, there are food trucks, a few art galleries, the Masquerade, a dance club, and a few other venues, but it looks old, tired, and neglected. 

The website makes it look pretty good, but it's struggling. 

The unhoused population is huge around the Five Points Marta station and Underground area.

The situation is seriously unsanitary and being post/still-Covid, it's disturbing, not to mention how disturbing it is that we've failed as a city to get people the help they need. It's sad. 

When we arrived, we parked in the old Underground parking garage. We drove to the top to see if there was a view, but there wasn't, although I got the above photo of the Coke sign from inside the parking garage. I had to lean out from between some posts.

We parked on the fifth level and went to the elevators. As we stood there waiting for the elevator, I got creeped out. My gut was screaming at me.

Although there were quite a few cars parked, the area was deserted. There was excrement on the floor in front of one of the elevators and everything was in disrepair. There were layers of dirt and trash.

I don't love elevators - I knew a woman who was badly injured when one fell multiple stories to the ground, and that was an elevator in a well-maintained building. I didn't trust this one. I told Lauren I wouldn't feel safe getting in it.

She agreed and we walked to the stairs. We couldn't get in the stairwell because the knob on the door was broken. It was all so nasty and dirty that we got in the car, left the parking garage, and found a place to park on the street. 

We got out and walked down the stairs to Underground, but realized we couldn't get in. It doesn't open until 6 p.m.

We went back upstairs and wandered around the area. The old Rich's Department store, built in 1924, has a cool clock tower. The architecture is beautiful, and the building is historically significant - Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested there after a sit-in at the Magnolia Room restaurant. 

While taking photos of the window at the Future Gallery, one of the artists/owners came out and asked us if we wanted to come in. We went in and talked to him for a while. He was super nice and a talented artist. He was also lamenting the state of downtown, and he has legitimate worries that the city will give the area a facelift before the World Cup in 2026 - just enough to raise the rents so the artists will all be forced out.

We bought some t-shirts from him that featured the logo "Future Dead Artists" - the idea being to support artists while they're still alive, which I can certainly get on board with. We discussed using his space to gather for the upcoming walk.  

It was a bright sunny afternoon, so I didn't get a lot of great photos, but it was an insightful and interesting walk.

I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather on Saturday. See you between the raindrops!

xoxo,
Susan