Are you familiar with Atlanta? If so, what is your perception of the city?

Are you familiar with Atlanta? If so, what is your perception of the city? If you know it from both past and present, how do you think it has changed, particularly with regard to race relations?

I have been to Atlanta many times. The best depiction of the city, I think, was in the non-fiction book, WHERE PEACHTREE MEETS SWEET AUBURN by Gary M. Pomerantz. It's a big city with a small town feel. They have been significantly less successful than most large cities in revitalizing the city center, and as a result, it's a city made up of neighborhoods .... and suburbs.

I have been in the Atlanta airport once many years ago so I am not familiar with the city. Would like to visit in the future.

I live 90 miles south of Atlanta. It is a city made up of people from all over the world. Like many large cities, it has its various ethnic communities. Many celebrities live in Atlanta. But it also has that Old South aristocratic atmosphere. I wasn’t living here when the crash occurred but have heard stories of it. The beautiful Woodruff Arts Center was built in 1968 as a remembrance to those who died in the crash and a way to continue their arts legacy. I have attended many art exhibits at its High Museum and plays at its Alliance Theatre. It also houses the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

I'm a Southerner by birth, but not by blood, since my parents were native New Yorkers, and I was born in Florida. I do feel a deep connection to the Southern storytelling tradition, and I'm fascinated with such cities as Savannah, New Orleans, and Charleston, but way back when, I knew Atlanta as where my father went on a Delta shuttle for his work for the Southern Bell/BellSouth phone company. He'd fly up in the morning and be back by dinner.

I've had a sense of Atlanta having pride in itself, dignity, from the stories my father told about Atlanta, from what I've read. But then Savannah gets in the way.

I grew up in Atlanta but I am not a Southerner by birth. I live 60 miles north of the city and have family members that live and work there. During the Civil Rights Movement years, Atlanta mostly avoided national headlines and exhibited a non-confrontational stance. One example of this I saw firsthand was in response to peaceful protests called "sit ins". To avoid difficulty, all the lunch counters in the downtown area were closed. In 1962, the timeframe of the book, Atlanta would have had a small town feel. Now it's a bustling metropolis with a cosmopolitan vibe.

I have never been to Atlanta other than passing through the airport. I actually saw Whitney Houston boarding the train tram and I know many celebrities live there. Their aquarium and their museum are reputed to be among the finest in the country.

I've been there a few times on vacation and for business trips. I'm a huge fan of Gone With the Wind, so visited the Margaret Mitchell House. Part of the city feels vibrant and part feels torn apart still by racism.

I have been to Atlanta and love it! Love that it is a big city with lots of green spaces. This book especially made me think of Piedmont Park and how much I love it.

I have been to Atlanta for vacations. My family and I saw all the typical touristy stuff: CNN, Coca Cola, the Aquarium, an Atlanta Braves game, Centennial Olympic Park, and MELLOW MUSHROOM, haha! There is also a lot that we did not see. We usually came in from the east side of the city, arriving from South Carolina. We always parked at the first Metro stop we saw, and rode the train where we wanted to go. What I most noticed, and someone else mentioned it as well, is that Atlanta is very spread out. There were clusters of skyscrapers in various parts, rather than all being grouped together in one downtown area. This makes it harder to walk from place to place in some instances like it is possible to in Chicago or New York. We have stayed in different parts of the city and did most of our exploration on foot. We never felt unsafe. Atlanta did not have that stereotypical "southern feel" that I found in Asheville, Charleston, Richmond, or other southern cities I have visited.

Yes, I am familiar with Atlanta. My perception has always been of the "cities within cities" of Atlanta. There are very urban areas, suburban areas and rural areas all to be found in Atlanta. As a Georgia-born girl, Atlanta seemed to be an anomaly among other Georgia towns and cities. It felt and feels like a woman still checking herself in the mirror to be sure that her skirt hangs just right. She puts on a bold front as she is of the south but not quite southern. It's a city that struggles with its history while reaching forward into its future.

I think Atlanta is a very pretty city, and I do agree with the person who said (above) that despite being a big city, there is more of a neighborhood feeling to it. It has a vibrant and very diverse culture. For people who do not live in the South, we think of Atlanta as being "the south," and yet there is something different about Atlanta at the same time. I wish the "Atlanta Plastic" television show about the three young plastic surgeons had more episodes. Those doctors were fun to watch and didn't beat around the proverbial bush with what they had to say.

I just spent a week in Atlanta in July, and enjoyed my time out there. I feel that it is a beautiful city, and like all big cities it is filled with good and bad. I love all of the recent museums and tours that it has to offer.

I spent a week in Atlanta on business and another three days years later on a different kind of business. My perception was that like most, if not all, big cities, Atlanta is a place of contrasts. It has good and bad, rich and poor, educated and not so educated. I was impressed by the seemingly vibrant cultural life, with the museums and tours and music and theater. I also (bearing in mind that I'm a New Yorker) was impressed when I took the subway that at every stop the conductor announced not just the stop, but what landmarks/famous paces were to be seen aboveground if you got off at that stop.