CONTACT......EVENTS......RESTAURANTS......ANTIQUES - KUDZU ANTIQUES & DECATUR ESTATE ......EDDIE'S ATTIC
Get out and see a Movie: AMC North Dekalb Mall & The Plaza Theatre
Get out and see a Movie: AMC North Dekalb Mall & The Plaza Theatre
Saturday, September 6, 2008
DECATUR BULLDOGS LOSE TO HENRY COUNTY WARHAWKS
The Decatur Bulldogs lost last night to The Henry County Warhawks 7 - 16
Friday, September 5, 2008
New fire chief wanted in Decatur
New fire chief wanted in Decatur
Decatur is looking for a new Fire Department chief.
Applications are being taken until Sept. 12 for the job overseeing 36 staffers in two stations. The city plans to interview top candidates once applications are in and fill the post —- which pays between $72,000 and $83,800 annually —- by January 2009.
AJC.
Decatur is looking for a new Fire Department chief.
Applications are being taken until Sept. 12 for the job overseeing 36 staffers in two stations. The city plans to interview top candidates once applications are in and fill the post —- which pays between $72,000 and $83,800 annually —- by January 2009.
AJC.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
The First Waffle House was in Decatur.
Note: the reason you see chick-fil-a on the sign at the first Waffle House is the founder of CHICK-FIL-A Cathy Truitt out sourced his famous sandwich to them and it got so popular Waffle House had to stop it, because customers kept buying the chick-fil-a sandwich and not the Waffle House Food.
And now you know the rest of the story.
By JIM AUCHMUTEY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are no waffles at the original Waffle House — at least none you can eat.
When Unit 1 reopens this week near Avondale Estates, the only food on hand will be fake. The little restaurant that started the big chain has become a museum, a faithful re-creation of the morning when hash browns first hit the griddle on Labor Day 1955.
The 13-stool diner and a next-door storefront have been restored with vintage equipment, displays of old uniforms, exhibits of memorabilia and place settings with plastic eggs and shellacked waffles. The jukebox is stocked with oldies and a selection of homespun Waffle House songs, one of which, “Waffle House Family — Part One,” talks about the company’s humble beginnings:
Long ago, Tom and Joe
Planted little yellow seeds
And watched ‘em grow.
One day last week, a van pulled up in front of the restaurant on East College Avenue near the Avondale MARTA station, and two elderly men climbed out a bit slowly and stiffly. It was the little yellow seed-planters themselves — Tom Forkner and Joe Rogers Sr. — stopping by to check on their baby.
Rogers — “call me Joe” — is 88 and almost as bald as an uncracked egg. He grinned as he took in the modest structure that spawned more than 1,550 Waffle Houses in 25 states.
“This was the cheapest building we could build,” he said. “We just put a shoebox around our equipment. Cost us $14,000. We didn’t want it to look expensive because we wanted it to look like you could come right in and be comfortable.”
Forkner — “Tom” — is 90 and still has some wavy white hair on top. He walked inside the museum half of the building and paused in front of an enlarged photo showing him pouring coffee for his partner.
Rogers couldn’t resist a jab. “I think that’s the only time I’ve ever saw him pour coffee.”
‘We need a restaurant’
Unlike the museum dedication on Wednesday, when there will be speeches and a ceremony, there was no hoopla when the first Waffle House opened in 1955. That made planning the exhibits a challenge.
“They didn’t save much of anything,” said Waffle House communications director Pat Warner. “When we had our 50th anniversary, I was like: ‘Didn’t you take any pictures? Didn’t you have a ribbon-cutting? Work with me here.’ “
It just didn’t seem like that big a deal at the time. The two founders figured they’d open a few restaurants and then go fishing.
Rogers had come from Tennessee, where he was a regional manager for Toddle House, a chain of diners based in Memphis. When the company moved him to Atlanta in 1949, he bought a house from Forkner, a real estate man whose father had helped develop Avondale Estates. They lived two doors apart and became close friends.
“What started all this is that I tried to get Joe to build a Toddle House in Avondale,” Forkner recalled. “He said Avondale wasn’t right for Toddle House, and I said, ‘Well, we still need a restaurant.’ And he said, ‘You build it and I’ll show you how to run it.’ “
Within a week, Forkner had found a location on College Avenue — U.S. 278 — the main route east out of Atlanta before I-20. The new partners had a house moved and erected their cheap building where it had stood.
David Skinner, a banker who later helped finance the company’s expansion, was there when the first Waffle House opened. He had stopped by this morning to see his friends and their shrine.
“People were just so anxious to get a restaurant,” he said. “Once it opened, there was seldom an empty stool.”
Rogers laughed and quoted the opening day’s take: $142. “Maybe we weren’t charging enough.”
Creative borrowing
Restaurant companies these days like to talk about dining concepts. If the waffle fathers had one, they wouldn’t admit it.
“We didn’t have an idea, really,” Rogers said. “I just copied everything I’d been doing for years at Toddle House. I even brought the recipes with me. I couldn’t see fooling with something that was successful.”
Fair enough. But why waffles?
Rogers again: “That was the year McDonald’s and all the hamburger chains started doing takeout. We wanted to do sit-down, and we knew you couldn’t take out a waffle or it’d become flimsy.”
What about those signs? The first Waffle House sign used those familiar school bus colors — black on yellow — but the reproduction in front of Unit 1 looks different from the Scrabble board design that has become such a feature of the Southern roadscape. For one thing, it has an arrow.
Another case of creative borrowing, Rogers explained. “All we did was turn the old Holiday Inn sign upside down. Their arrow went over the top. Ours went under the bottom.”
“We had one sign that was a flop,” Forkner chimed in. “It looked like syrup was dripping over the letters. Kind of kerflooey.”
Rogers ambled over to the window. “This one’s kind of like that.” He squinted. “Yeah, it’s drippin’.”
Mayo and Aunt Maggie
After a while, the two wandered next door for a closer look at the restaurant itself. Unit 1 remained open until 1973, when the company sold it to a manager who ran it as an independent grill. For most of the past 20 years, it was a Chinese restaurant operated by an immigrant couple.
“I’d stop by every now and then and take a look,” Rogers said, taking a seat on one of the stools.
On the counter was a stack of replica menus with 1955 prices: pecan waffle (50 cents), cheese omelet (65 cents), chopped sirloin ($1). Against the wall was a cardboard stand-up of Waffle House servers, circa 1960, with the faces cut out so visitors can pose for pictures.
Forkner headed to the back of the restaurant and peeked into the 6-by-8-foot room he once used as an office. It had just enough room for a desk, a box and an orange crate.
“They’d call me at all hours,” he said. “They called one night: ‘Tom, we need some help. The cook ran off with the waitress and I’m the only man in here.’ “
Rogers stepped into the commissary at the rear of the eatery, where sacks of potatoes, Dixie Crystals sugar and White Lily flour were slumped on the floor.
“We made everything ourselves in the beginning, even mayonnaise,” he said. “Aunt Maggie ran our commissary. She always had that cigarette hanging out of her mouth.”
Another early employee at the first Waffle House was Rogers’ son, Joe Rogers Jr., who started out washing dishes as a teenager in this back room. He eventually became CEO and presided over the company’s great period of expansion from a new headquarters in Norcross, where the founders have considerably larger offices.
From No. 1 to 1,000
It was lunchtime, and the little yellow seed-planters were getting hungry. So they climbed back into the van and rode a few hundred yards up the road to Unit 1,000, a newer, roomier Waffle House that replaced the original after it closed. It may lack the retro charm of Unit 1, but it has one distinct advantage: real, edible waffles.
Forkner and Rogers — pardon: Tom and Joe — settled into a back booth like they had done it a few thousand times. They didn’t need a menu.
Want more, click here.
More Crossing Guards for downtown Decatur
Two More Crossing Guards for Decatur
Decatur’s push for more people to walk and bicycle its streets has worked so well that the city is hiring two more crossing guards. The city commission Tuesday approved spending $11,000 out of Decatur’s savings to hire the safety officers at two intersections that have seen a significant increase in bike and foot traffic.
One guard will work on East Trinity Street near the city’s fire station, and the other at Commerce Drive and Sycamore Place.
The new hires bring the total number of crossing guards in the city to 18.
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Decatur's Organic Farmers Market Every Wednesday
Decatur Organic Farmers Market offers locally grown fresh organic produce, flowers, and other organic food products such as bread, jam, and sauces. It is a market that supports local farmers by offering them an in town location to sell their products.
Dates & Times
Wednesday's
4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Open Year-Round Location
We have moved to the
Bank of America parking lot
163 Clairemont Ave.
Decatur, GA 30030
at the corner of Commerce Dr. and Church St. Google Map Decatur Organic Farmers Market
Decatur Organic Farmers Market
Contact Information
Please note: The market is only accepting organic farmers and organic food producers at this time.
info@decaturfarmersmarket.com
Please join the yahoo group to get email updates
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/decaturfarmersmarket/
Send an email to:
decaturfarmersmarket-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
to join the email list
Participating Farmers
Whippoorwill Hollow Farm
Andy & Hilda Byrd 678-625-3272
Grower
www.whippoorwillhollowfarm.com
Magnolia Bread Company Inc.
Dianne Reinhard
European-style breads baked in a wood-fired brick oven
www.magnoliabread.com
magnoliabread@gmail.com
Denton Flower Farm
Mary Denton 770-464-3900
Grower
Omar's Lake Oconee Garden
Omar Rasheed 404-377-0104
Grower
oconee@earthlink.net
Riverdale Chicken Ranch
Keith Poole's Grass Fed Eggs
Keith Poole 770-997-1968
Oakhurst Community Gardens & Youth Garden
Grower
Kyla 404-371-1920.
Organic Garden Essentials
Grower
Bobby Britt 404-288-6972
Organic Muffins
Organic Baked Goods
Barbara Pearson 770-322-1373
MICU'S
Grower and Organic Baked Goods
lmicu@bellsouth.net
706-625-1639
Terri Jagger Blincoe
Grower
ladybug@bellsouth.net
404-403-1129
Greenleaf Farms, LLC
Greg Brown
Grower
678-596-6803
Pearl River Vineyards
Paul
Jelly
1-800-773-6531
Antico Mercante
Franco Bess
Cheese (Local organic and imported artisan Italian)
Forest Park 404-644-4876
Steve Miller
Sustainably grown produce
404-788-6598
Dulce Vegan
vegan sweets and can prepare goodies for lots of dietary needs.
678-362-2207
dulcevegan@gmail.com
Pine Hill Nursery
Organic Plants
1101 Durdan Rd.
Rutledge, GA 300663
Pat Jarvis
770-597-0816
Related Information
For other organic markets in the area see: Georgia Organics Directory
City of Decatur
To Find out about more events that are happening in the city of Decatur, please visit the city website at http://www.decatur-ga.com/
Georgia Organics
If you are interested in finding more information about organic farming, please go to http://www.georgiaorganics.org/
Decatur Farmers Market Membership Policies
2008 Decatur Farmers Market Membership Application
http://www.decaturfarmersmarket.com/
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Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Garden & Gun magazine hunts for well-heeled
Lock, stock and barrel, magazine devoted to Southern way of life
By JIM AUCHMUTEY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Susan Bridges had dueling reactions when she first encountered Garden & Gun, a lavish new magazine about Southern culture and lifestyle. While the name made her smile, it also stirred up some prickly memories.
Charleston, S.C.-based magazine is about more than the name implies. It targets well-heeled Southerners.
“It made me think of my ex-husband and all the guns he had,” she said, allowing that she owns no guns herself — just a machete. “But I love the magazine. We have a lot of cool things in the South.”
Bridges was sipping a cocktail at a rolling-out party for the publication in Atlanta. Her gallery, Whitespace, is featured in a 10-page spread about the city in the new issue. She and a few dozen others were mingling with the editor and publisher at Repast, a chic Midtown restaurant known for a menu item with its own shotgun-marriage name: foie gras hot dogs. The banner out front proclaiming “Garden & Gun” looked a bit out of place in an intown neighborhood where guns are usually not considered good news.
Garden & Gun is trying to take root in some hard soil. Outside of Southern Living, few magazines targeted at the South have ever been commercially successful.
No one would confuse G&G with Southern Living.
For one thing, editor Sid Evans said, “We don’t have pictures of cakes on the cover.”
Based in Charleston, S.C., the bimonthly magazine appeals to well-heeled Southerners with a mix of articles about music, art, literature, food, the land and, of course, hunting and fishing. It’s printed on glossy paper and features sumptuous photography and evocative writing from big-name authors like Reynolds Price, Clyde Egerton, Winston Groom and Roy Blount Jr.
The total effect is sort of Oxford American meets Town & Country.
“With some Vanity Fair, Texas Monthly and Gray’s Sporting Journal thrown in,” Evans added. “We’re a difficult magazine to pigeonhole.”
‘A gutsy name’
Samir Husni, a University of Mississippi journalism professor who studies magazines, has been impressed. He named Garden & Gun one of the hottest launches of last year, despite his initial reservations about the name.
“It usually isn’t a good idea to make people wonder what your publication is about,” Husni said. “But they’ve managed to turn it to their advantage. Once you get past the name, it’s a great magazine.”
Publisher Rebecca Darwin admitted that she “gulped” the first time she saw the proposed title. It was coined by the founding editor, John Wilson, who knew that Garden & Gun had been the name of a popular disco in Charleston.
“It’s a gutsy name,” Darwin said. “But if we had called it something like The South Today, it would have been such a snore.”
G&G was something of a homecoming for Darwin. Raised in Columbia, she went to New York after college and made it big in the magazine world, with high-level posts at GQ, Mirabella, Fortune and The New Yorker, where she became its first female publisher.
She stepped away from magazines when her husband, an actor and TV producer, decided to change careers and become a minister. The couple moved to Princeton, N.J., where he attended seminary, and then to South Carolina when he was called to pastor a Presbyterian church in Charleston.
As she settled into her new home, Darwin met Pierre Manigault, the chairman of the privately held company that publishes Charleston’s daily newspaper, The Post and Courier. He had been thinking about diversifying into niche magazine publishing.
“We need a New Yorker in the South,” Darwin remembers him telling her.
She wasn’t sure about that. But she did think there was an opening for an upscale magazine about the cultural treasures and sporting traditions of the South.
A plan to expand
Only nine issues into the venture, G&G is progressing nicely. The magazine has a paid circulation of 60,000, with a total distribution approaching 200,000. While it has subscribers in all 50 states, most of them are in the Southeast. One in eight is in Georgia.
With profitability in sight, the corporate parent is planning to launch more niche publications. “We’re building a national magazine company that happens to be in Charleston,” Darwin said.
One of the publisher’s key moves was to hire a new editor, Sid Evans, a Memphis native who had spent a decade and a half guiding magazines in New York. He was editor of Men’s Journal and Field & Stream, which received seven nominations for National Magazine Awards during his tenure.
Evans is an outdoorsman who likes to hunt and fish and shoot skeet. While he enjoyed New York, he always felt a bit like a deer who had wandered in from the woods.
“Any notion of the outdoors is foreign to a lot of New Yorkers,” he said. “I would tell friends about going duck hunting in Louisiana, and they had no idea what I meant. They didn’t understand the social aspects of it and how important that sort of thing is to Southern culture.”
When he first heard the name Garden & Gun, Evans remembered, he smiled and got it immediately. “I thought it must be a magazine about the South.”
At issue: Atlanta ‘secrets’
A magazine is known by its cover. The September-October issue of Garden & Gun touts articles about Miranda Lambert (“The Next Loretta Lynn”), the best of the New South (“50 People, Places and Things We Love”), the Lost Confederados (“Why They’re Singing ‘Dixie’ in Brazil”), an oyster roast, “the perfect Bloody Mary” and a memoir of Bo Diddley by Jimmy Buffett. In a rarity for the magazine, there’s no cover line about hunting or fishing.
The cover also teases to the magazine’s 10-page package of articles about “Charming Atlanta: Secrets of the City.” The pieces (which include some reporting by AJC food writer John Kessler) offer G&G readers a sampling of Atlanta culture and cuisine ranging from the Ghetto Burger at Ann’s Snack Bar to the sandwiches at Star Provisions.
Candice Dyer’s portrait of Atlanta, titled “The Brazen City,” offers this summation of the city’s sometimes contradictory character: “[Its] relentless boosterism, shellacked in social conscience, has never dimmed and, some dark days notwithstanding, has shaped Atlanta’s peculiar character as a boomtown where wheeler-dealers substitute gumption for bigotry (which is bad for bidniss).”
— Jim Auchmutey
2008 Decatur SpiritFest Pep Rally
Join us as we make history in Decatur on September 19th!
It seems like only yesterday that we said farewell to our old stadium at Decatur High School. On Friday evening September 19th, the city of Decatur will celebrate the opening of Decatur High School’s brand new, state-of-the-art Sports Stadium (DHS) with an old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing SPIRITFEST.
Join us as we gather on the new Stadium Plaza at 5:30 pm for a variety of festivities that will bring together students, parents, residents, teachers, administrators, and DHS Alumni for a celebration our town hasn’t seen in 50 years. Our world-traveling marching band, our cheerleaders, our current and former student athletes will also help mark the opening of this long-awaited facility in grand style.
Come and be part of our historic SPIRITFEST 2008 and then watch our Bulldog Football Team play their first home game on our new field. Remember: SPIRITFEST starts at 5:30 pm; Kick-off is 7:30 pm. We’re making history in Decatur on September 19th and we want you to be a part of it!
SpiritFest FREE
Game Ticket Prices
Students $5.00 General $7.00 Reserved $10.00
Free Parking Courthouse Deck Trinity & Commerce
This is one hometown event you won't want to miss. If you have questions or would like more information, call Barbara Nettles, 404-377-0880 or send her an e-mail message.
hat tip: eLIFE Magazine
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Monday, September 1, 2008
Scooter sales zooming as gas prices stay high
Metro Atlanta scooter stores seeing inventory quickly disappear
By JAMIE GUMBRECHT
Top photo: Dennis Whitefield
Bottom Photo : Joey Ivansco/jivansco@ajc.com
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Scoot over, drivers.
More motor scooters are hitting metro Atlanta streets, flaunting how far they go on a gallon of gas. Sellers say scooter sales have at least tripled since gas hit $4 a gallon this spring. At Twist ‘n’ Scoot on Piedmont Avenue, shoppers used to have about 50 to browse and test drive. Lately, the store has about a dozen in stock, and manufacturers and distributors are just beginning to fill months of back orders.
“Some shoppers were panic-stricken, over the top, buying these thinking it was going to be the best solution,” said owner Bill Gortno, who recently opened a Twist ‘n’ Scoot store in Decatur, too.
About 191,000 motorcycles have been registered so far this year, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue. (The figure includes scooters with engines large enough to require a tag, but not smaller scooters on the road.) Already, this year’s figure is a jump from the 2007 total of 174,000 registrations.
Christie Hall, 36, of Decatur, recently bought a sage green Buddy-brand scooter to run errands and commute to work in Inman Park. Its 150 cubic centimeter engine gets 85 miles per gallon of gas, so its fuel bills are lower than her Toyota Rav4’s. The scooter is more fun to drive, too, she says.
“I get tons of smiles and waves. When I stop, people in cars start chatting me up,” Hall says of her scoot commute. “The first time a motorcycle guy waved to me, I felt really tough.”
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF A SCOOTER IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
What’s the attraction?
Scooters can feel cute, sporty, even a little “Roman Holiday”-Audrey-Hepburn hip. But consider the cost: Scooters can get up to 90 miles per gallon of gas, and with prices at $2,000 to $4,000 new, they cost far less than a car.
Who can drive a scooter?
If a scooter’s engine is larger than 51 cubic centimeters, it is considered a motorcycle and requires the driver to have a motorcycle operator’s license. Drivers must be at least 16 to get an instructional permit or 17 to get a license. (Drivers younger than 18 need a parent’s consent.) Motorcycle licensing information is available at www.dds.ga.gov. If a scooter’s engine is 50cc or less, drivers must be at least 15 and have a valid driver’s license, instructional permit or learner’s permit. Those bikes don’t require a tag, but they can’t travel where the minimum speed is higher than 35 mph, either.
Can a scooter handle the open road?
“People scoot in front of me on Ponce all day long,” says Joe Nieberding, manager of ATLscooters on Ponce De Leon Avenue. A scooter can easily handle neighborhood streets or a commute from nearby suburbs, but drivers shouldn’t take them on an expressway, or even a busy road if they’re inexperienced. People use them year-round in Atlanta, but they are tougher to handle on wet winter roads.
Where can you park a scooter?
It depends: bike racks, car spaces and sidewalks might be your parking lot. If there’s no designated scooter space, try to pick a safe, out-of-the-way spot. Scooter parking “is something we can look into more, and should,” says Angie Laurie, vice president of transportation for Central Atlanta Progress. She suggests scouting out parking lots and bike racks on the map at www.atlantadowntown.com/parking/index.html.
The University of Georgia has installed scooter corrals, and Decatur added free scooter parking in three locations: downtown, on East Ponce De Leon Avenue near Wachovia Bank and West Ponce de Leon Avenue near Taqueria del Sol. The city split three car spaces into five scooter spaces, and might add security racks. “We try to encourage alternative transportation. This seemed simple,” says Lyn Menne, community and economic development director.
What does scooting cost?
Aside from the cost of a scooter, consider helmets, which the state requires, and other safety gear like boots, jackets and gloves; motorcycle education classes and licensing fees; cleaning and maintenance, like oil changes; parking and traffic tickets; insurance. Despite the savings at the gas station, a gas-powered scooter will still require some cash.
What’s the downside?
Theft can be a problem for the small vehicles, so store them away from the street, and lock them up when parked in public. Accidents can be disastrous, too, when the small two-wheelers tangle with four-wheeled cars and trucks. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says there were 35 scooter accident deaths in 2006, and the number is expected to rise as popularity increases.
Hall, the new scooter owner, says she feels more vulnerable on her scooter, but it made her into a safer driver. She plans to take a motorcycle education course in November, too. “It made me aware of how much I was on autopilot in my car,” Hall says. “Now I try to pay more attention.”
An invitation to all Decatur alums to join in on the opening of the new Decatur Stadium on Friday night, September 19th.
Dear Decatur Alums,
City Schools of Decatur would like to extend an invitation to all Decatur alums to join us for the opening of the new Decatur Stadium on Friday night, September 19th ( Lights on Ceremony). Ticket sales open at 5:30 pm. General Admission is $7.00. The SpiritFest Pep Rally sponsored by the Bulldog Booster Club starts at 5:30 in the new stadium plaza followed by a special pre-game lights on ceremony inside the stadium at 6:45 pm.
As I mentioned in an earlier email, we are inviting all former Decatur football players and coaches to participate in a "Dog Walk" to welcome this year's varsity team on to the new field. We know that there are a lot of former players out there, and we'd love to have all of you. Since we will be reserving a special section for all who participate in the Dog Walk, it is important for us to know you are coming. If you are a former Decatur football player or coach and would like to participate, please contact Sherri Breunig at 404-370-4400 ext. 928 or sbreunig@csdecatur.org.
Here is a list of participants thus far:
DeNorris James 1995
Derek Jackson 1995
Sidarius Benton 1980
Bob Campbell 1953
Walter Chadwick 1964
Jamie Owen 1983
Jay Rogers 1969
Larry Womack 1963
Paul Smith 1958
Sam Puckett 1977
Ronald Ellison 1978
Gary Carter 1977
Elmer Blanchard 1934
Jim Dykes 1964
Ruenell Swift 1973
Please pass the word on to your friends. I look forward to hearing from other true blue and gold Bulldogs!
Contact info is here.
Sherri Breunig
Director of Community and Public Relations
City Schools of Decatur
758 Scott Blvd., Decatur, GA 30030
Phone: 404-370-4400 (dial 9 + ext. 28)
Fax: 404-370-3845
sbreunig@csdecatur.org
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Decatur couple restore 1912 bungalow
Photo: Alison Church / Special
Eight-year project revealed home’s elegance
By H.M. Cauley
For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He’s a filmmaker. She’s an interior designer who works with the Johnson Studio, a local firm noted for putting its imprint on many of the city’s top restaurants. They met in Saudi Arabia, where their parents worked for oil companies.
Together, Eric and Karen Blue unleashed a torrent of creativity and love of Eastern motifs and color to restore a 1912 bungalow in Decatur. The challenge was significant: The one-story house had been cut up into a duplex and had missing moldings and a rotting front porch. But the two looked at the property with a good deal of imagination, not trepidation.
“So many old houses have been torn down, we wanted to keep it,” said Karen Blue. “We loved trying to bring it back to its original character.”
The couple did much of the work themselves since moving in eight years ago. They started with the interior, stripping the trim and floors and replacing missing moldings with ones that matched what was intact. A former parlor was transformed into Eric Blue’s office, decorated with slates of the various films he’s completed and a tiled gas fireplace. The dining room, lit by one oversize window, was warmed by red velvet drapes made by Karen Blue. An Oriental rug was hung as a piece of art on one wall near the walnut dining table.
Just off the dining room, a door leads to the second bedroom, now a nursery for the Blues’ first baby, Dylan. Butterflies and animals are stenciled on the wall and on an old chest that has been refinished as a changing table.
The kitchen had been a bedroom when the couple bought the house, but it’s now a sleek, functional space with stainless steel appliances, concrete counters, pale wood cabinets and a terra-cotta-tiled floor. A butcher-block table acts as a center island, and a desk area provides another work area.
“We were lucky to have a friend build some of the glass-fronted cabinets and some bookshelves,” said Eric Blue. “We tried to make everything look custom, but we actually got most of the cabinets at Home Depot,” he said.
Off the kitchen is the bath, redone with new octagonal tiles, a pedestal sink and white subway tile. Down a short hallway is the master bedroom and bath, with the original claw-foot tub. New beadboard molding gives the space a period feel. Stained glass that repeats a pattern in the front door sheds light from the bath into the narrow hall.
Across the back of the house is a sunroom the Blues believe was added sometime in the 1930s. It now doubles as a den and home office for Karen, with a desk area, a soft sofa, a trunk for a coffee table and a desk area. A door leads to a deck with a curtained sitting area, furnished with woven wicker chairs from Target. The deck leads to the overhauled backyard, complete with a hammock in one corner and a pond with a small bridge across it.
Wherever possible, the Blues kept the original brass or crystal doorknobs. They also rebuilt the front porch and spruced up the front yard, adding stone walls to create terraces.
“Honestly, our first thought when we bought this was, ‘What did we get ourselves into?’ ” said Eric with a laugh. “We went five months without a kitchen. But it was a project we could work on together — though Karen did most of the creative work. I love the way she used the Oriental rugs and colors to make this a home.”
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Welcome to Decatur Greene's Fine Foods
Well we now know for sure what the Coming Soon Sign means.
Greene's Fine Foods -Nuts-Candy-Fun to open in the old Decatur Post Office building on E. Trinity Pl.
NOTE: Now they can change The Coming Soon Sign to Opening Soon.
h/t: Decatur Metro
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Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Decatur Book Festival Starts Tomorrow and Runs through Sunday.
By Phil Kloer/ AJC.
The Decatur Book Festival is declaring its independence.
"America's Largest Independent Book Festival" reads on the poster for the third annual book megaparty,which runs Friday through Sunday.
Other cities may have bigger turnouts,says Daren Wang,the DBF'S executive director,but they're all owned by larger corporations. Decatur's Festival, which hopes to draw 75,000 attendees this year, is run by an independent board of volunteers that strives to weave the festival into the laid-back artsy vibe of downtown Decatur.
Wordsmiths bookstore will be open during AJC Decatur Book Festival
Struggling independent bookstore Wordsmiths Books received enough donations to stay open, at least for now, according to owner Zachary Steele.
That means being open this weekend during the AJC Decatur Book Festival, an event attracting 50,000 people, many of them prospective book shoppers.
After Steele’s plea for help was featured earlier this month by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and National Public Radio, checks arrived from 18 states and Canada, and traffic picked up at the store, Steele said. He would not say how much was donated.
How this story of financial woe ends, however, has still not been written.
“Though the signs are down from the window, our road is yet long,” Steele said in a blog on his Decatur store’s Web site.
— Helena Oliviero
AJC
That means being open this weekend during the AJC Decatur Book Festival, an event attracting 50,000 people, many of them prospective book shoppers.
After Steele’s plea for help was featured earlier this month by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and National Public Radio, checks arrived from 18 states and Canada, and traffic picked up at the store, Steele said. He would not say how much was donated.
How this story of financial woe ends, however, has still not been written.
“Though the signs are down from the window, our road is yet long,” Steele said in a blog on his Decatur store’s Web site.
— Helena Oliviero
AJC
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Road Trip for "The Ritz Theatre"
20TH ANNIVERSARY GARDEN TOUR Sept 27 & 28
How Does Your Garden Grow?
SEE WHAT̢۪S BLOOMING ON DECATUR̢۪S 20TH ANNIVERSARY GARDEN TOUR
September 27 & 28
DECATUR, GA (July 24, 2008) ─ The splendors of the garden don’t subside with summer’s end, as the 2008 Decatur Garden Tour will attest. From the stately and formal to the wildly unconventional, visitors will have the opportunity to explore the gardens of 12 private homes as well as four public gardens across this vibrant intown city on Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28. A variety of gardening lectures and demonstrations, musical performances and children’s activities will further enhance the garden offerings.
The Decatur Preservation Alliance (DPA) and Oakhurst Community Garden Project (OCGP) are in partnership to host the tour, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary. Decatur resident and Chair Joy Provost commented, â€Å“On the Decatur Garden Tour, gardening enthusiasts at all levels can harvest creative ideas and inspiration to take back to their own gardens. This year, we’re opening up more gardens than ever that will truly show what’s growing this autumn in Decatur.â€�
Private gardens on the tour include those belonging to Cakes & Ale restaurant owner Billy and Kristin Allin and AJC wine writer Gil Kulers and wife Eleanore. New this year is the inclusion of Saturday twilight tours with wine and entertainment in the gardens of renowned designer and author Ryan Gainey and environmental activist and artist Pandra Williams. Public gardens include the Oakhurst Community Garden, Woodlands Garden, Winnona Park Elementary School and Glenn Lake Nature Preserve.
Programming for adults and children featured throughout the weekend includes lectures, native plant walks, cooking demonstrations, storytelling and more. A schedule of events will be released soon on www.decaturgardentour.com.
In addition to providing abundant gardening content, Provost added, â€Å“the Garden Tour is simply a wonderful way to explore the charming city of Decatur. Between gardens, performances and demonstrations, our visitors pop into the local boutiques and cafés as they make their way to the next neighborhood. It is a real celebration of this unique community.â€�
Dates and Hours: Saturday, September 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and evening twilight tours from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, September 28 from noon to 5 p.m.
Tickets: $25 provides access to all gardens and educational programs for the entire weekend and includes the Saturday evening event featuring two gardens with wine. Tickets will be sold online at www.decaturgardentour.com and at retail locations in Decatur, also listed on the Web site. The weekend of the event, tickets will be available for sale at Woodlands Garden and Oakhurst Community Garden.
On the Web: www.decaturgardentour.com. Visit often for new program listings and garden descriptions.
Decatur Preservation Alliance
The Decatur Preservation Alliance is a non-profit citizens̢۪ group dedicated to preserving Decatur̢۪s historic structures and greenspaces.
On the web: www.decaturpreservationalliance.org
Oakhurst Community Garden
The Oakhurst Community Garden Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving community greenspace and cultivating the next generation of environmental stewards.
On the web: www.oakhurstgarden.org
Labels:
" NEXT STOP DECATUR",
decatur ga 30030
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Work has started on outside of Leon's Full Service Pub.
The renovation of the old Rue de Leon antique store into what will be Leon's Full Service Pub has started, here workers are enlarging the windows facing Church St.
Labels:
" NEXT STOP DECATUR",
decatur ga 30030
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Decatur City Planners had a vision ahead of their time.
The top picture was Decatur in 1960
The city planners vision for Decatur for 1980 is photo on bottom.
Note how they had planned for N. McDonough to curve around the left side of court house, that would have been a great, but one think city planners did plan on was MARTA.
This could still be done today if it was made a one way street.
I think the vision they had was a good one. They did see where E. Court Sq.
would be closed off, and some sort of plaza would be in that place.
Their 1980 vision could be a vision for 2028.
Labels:
" NEXT STOP DECATUR",
decatur ga 30030
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Jumble sale @ McDonough St. Market. Aug. 23
Come eat, shop and play at our Jumble Sale this Saturday, August 23rd,
from 10 am - 3 pm, at McDonough Street Market.
We’ve marked down our end-of-season items, and we’re opening our Events Room for more great deals on regular inventory, as well as our personal stock.
Enjoy great deals on accessories, antiques, art, books, clothing, flowers, food, gifts, household items, Kenyan handmade baskets and jewelry, pet portraits, vintage treasures & more.
Super back-to-school stuff, gifts & personal picks!
McDonough Street Market
515 N McDonough Street
Decatur, GA 30030
[Below Eddie’s Attic,
across from the new Courthouse in Downtown Decatur]
Atlanta Intown/In the Loop
h/t inDECATUR
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Future home of "Leon's Full Service"
This old service station looks like it use to be a early Sinclair Gas Station.
I wonder how they plan to have outside tables and chairs.
I don't see them putting a fence around it, but I could see them using large planters(low ones) to block off part of street. and I hope they use neon lights to make it look like and old gas station.
For more details go here.
sinclair map from: suzysputnik's flickr site.
h/t to: Decatur Metro
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
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