the_city

Lester Maddox was Georgia's governor and Atlanta's main urban rival was Birmingham, Ala. when I rolled into town that sweaty July day in 1969.
The tumescent metroplex that would scream money, excitement and an almost mindless sense of growth had not come yet. Atlanta was cheap and exciting and for the young, damn near paradise.
But Atlanta, being Atlanta, was perpetually on the make and, like its official mascot the phoenix, was rising with gimlet eyes and dollar bills clutched its beak.Just 15 months after Dr. King's assassination, the city seemed bent on transcending the gains of the Civil Rights Movement and moving as close to authentic harmony as any American city had been before or since. This was the Atlanta we knew during the 70s.