Road Warrior: Richard's Variety Store: MyFoxATLANTA.com
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A score of 66.5, according to Walkscore.com, describes a "somewhat walkable" city meaning "some amenities are within walking distance." In rating cities, the site considers their city center, their population density, the cost efficiency of housing around businesses, whether they have public parks or spaces to gather, and their consideration for pedestrians, proximity to schools and workplaces and street design.
According to this site, people who live in walkable neighborhoods weigh 7 pounds less than people who don't. Also, their studies show that for every 10 minutes spent in a daily car commute, time spent in community activities fall by 10 percent.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Near Decatur, the struggling North DeKalb Mall has emerged from the long recession as a virtual ghost town, with roughly 30 percent of its storefronts sitting vacant.
A stroll through Gwinnett Place Mall shows that a similar portion of its storefronts are dark. And Union Station Mall — the former Shannon Southpark Mall in Union City — shut down in early November, except for its Macy’s and Sears stores.
While most shopping centers are fretting these days about how good Christmas sales will be, the season could prove critical for a handful of metro Atlanta’s malls.
Better-than-expected retail sales reports for November also are buoying hopes a bit.
Still, signs of holiday cheer can be a bit thin at some malls.
On a recent weekday morning, a small crowd of parents and shoppers at North DeKalb Mall’s food court quickly evaporated after an orchestra of fifth-graders from Kittredge Magnet School finished their performance.
Within minutes, the crowd was gone. Half the shops surrounding the mostly empty food court were vacant, as were roughly 30 percent of the storefronts in the mall. Few shoppers walked around.
“It looks worse than last time [she visited]. Decidedly. It makes me sad,” said Debra Scott Remlinger, who had come to North DeKalb Mall to see her son, Ian Remlinger, play the cello.
ajc story
Lakeside High School is ready to see major changes as the first stage of a $24 million renovation project begins.
At the groundbreaking ceremony for the site, DeKalb County School System officials, faculty and students gathered Dec. 1 to celebrate the project’s long-awaited start.
“This process started about three to four years ago and it started with the idea that we were going to get a fine arts auditorium,” school Principal Joe Reed said.
“Obviously it’s gotten a little bigger than that. At this point as far as the process continuing the people chairing have gotten us from a fine arts auditorium to 25 additional classrooms...and all sorts of other things,” he added.
The audience applauded as Reed went on to thank those involved for “getting this thing way beyond what it was suppose to be.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The railroad crossing at South Candler Street and East College Avenue in Decatur will remain closed this week while DeKalb County officials repair a water main.
A water main under the train tracks burst last week, county officials said.
The county’s watershed department anticipates the crossing will be closed to all train and vehicular traffic for a week while repairs are made.
ajc story
Join us for our popular annual Holiday Shopping Parties, with great SALES every weekend until Christmas.
Sundays are our special days, with free beverages and food from 1-7, and live music from 2-5. We have an amazing musical lineup the next four weeks:
Sun, Nov. 28 – Ever popular local recording artist Caroline Aiken.
Sun. Dec. 5 – Grammy award winner Yonrico Scott with guitarist Jody Davies
Sun Dec 12 – Mr. Music Man himself, Tom Wolf
Sun Dec 19 – Guitar virtuoso Craig Rafuse and friends
2928 East Ponce De Leon Avenue
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 373-6498
Atlantans dreaming of a white winter may be delighted to find that some beloved aspects of New York City’s holiday offerings have been duplicated in the South this year. A focal point of these offerings is a brand-new ice skating rink at Piedmont Park.
Called the Rink at Park Tavern, this 3,200-foot ice rink is located in the restaurant’s Garden Tent at 500 10th St. N.E. in Midtown. Open Nov. 22 through Valentine’s Day, the rink will be open seven days a week with special 21-and-up sessions each night at 9. To add to the festive feel, Park Tavern will serve specialty drinks and desserts both rinkside and in the lodgelike restaurant.
“I took my kids ice skating at the St. Regis last year, and we had a great time. It made me think that a bigger, parkside rink in Midtown would really work,” said Paul Smith, owner of Park Tavern and the rink.
ajc full story
Ice skating on the swimming pool in Piedmont Park, 1940.
Catalog No. Vis.82.128.12
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Her art gallery was a destination in Atlanta for nearly three decades, and now Fay Gold is planning on taking tour groups to arty destinations.
Having closed her self-named Buckhead gallery last year, Gold is launching a new venture with Atlanta travel business executive Bram Majtlis -- high-end European art tours. Their endeavor, Fay Gold Treasures, takes wing in May 2011 with a weeklong tour of Vienna. Visits to Amsterdam and Berlin also are being planned for 2011.
The groups will be small (20 to 25), the better to savor behind-the-scenes tours of museums, art fairs, private collections and artist studios. The price tag will be ... well, not so small. The Vienna tour is $6,750 per person based on double occupancy.
But the freight is virtually all-inclusive, covering everything from five nights of luxury accommodations at the new Ring Hotel to multiple fine-dining meals and a packed art itinerary that includes stops at the Leopold and Albertina museums, Belvedere Palace (home to the famed Gustav Klimt painting "The Kiss") and the Viennafair international contemporary art fair.
ajc story
A four-year-old boy from Essex using a metal detector with his father unearthed a gold pendant believed to date from the 16th Century.
James Hyatt, of Billericay, found the reliquary while searching in a field in Hockley in May last year, a treasure trove inquest in Essex heard.
It is believed to be worth up to £2.5m, a sum the Hyatt family would share with the landowner if the pendant is sold.
His father, Jason, said: "We dug down... and got a flash of gold."
Virgin MaryHe added: "All of a sudden we got a buzz from the metal detector, quite a strong buzz.
"We dug six to eight inches down and lo and behold, we got a flash of gold.
"I moved the earth around and brought it to the surface and there it was."
The locket was declared treasure trove at the inquest.
The British Museum examined the locket, which it said weighs a third of an ounce (8.68g) and has a gold content of up to 73%.
It said the image engraved upon it is probably that of the Virgin Mary, and the speckles on the cross she is supporting could signify blood.
The back panel no longer slides out but would have revealed a cavity, probably designed to contain a relic, the museum said.
It is decorated with the five wounds of Christ.
"Devotion to the blood and wounds of Christ was one of the hallmarks of late medieval piety," a letter from the museum to the coroner stated.
As in all treasure trove cases, any proceeds from a sale is split between the landowner and the person or people who discovered it.
see video @ link below
Fernbank Museum Transforms into a Winter Wonderland during
Cultural Exhibition, Celebration and Programming Series
Fernbank Museum of Natural History will celebrate holidays, traditions and cultures this holiday season with Winter Wonderland: Celebrations & Traditions Around the World, a new exhibition and programming series offered from November 17, 2010 through January 5, 2011. Featuring trees and other displays decorated by local community partners and Consulate offices, the exhibition will twinkle with lights, glimmer with color, and shine with a variety of cultural ornaments and emblems that recognize the diversity of celebrations, holidays, traditions and events around the world. Festive programming will accompany Fernbank’s Winter Wonderland on select days as cultural groups entertain visitors with performances, dancing, music, craft demonstrations, storytelling and more.
Winter Wonderland trees, displays and performances will showcase the cultures, celebrations and traditions from the Arab world, Argentina, Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Greece, Honduras, India, Israel, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Ukraine, Peru, Philippines, Switzerland and Turkey. Fernbank and Callanwolde Fine Arts Center will also decorate trees and will offer a joint ticket package that includes a ticket to Winter Wonderland and Christmas at Callanwolde.
Fernbank will feature a variety of other opportunities to celebrate Winter Wonderland: Celebrations & Traditions Around the World, including:
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Saturday, November 27 and Sundays on November 21, December 12, 19 and 26
Fridays during Martinis & IMAX® on November 19 and 26 and December 17
See Winter Wonderland after dark during special extended hours. On weekends, the Museum and exhibitions will be open until 7 p.m., and hot chocolate and cookies will be available for purchase. During Martinis & IMAX® only Winter Wonderland will be open until 11 p.m.
Cost: Weekend tickets: Included with Museum admission and free for members. Friday tickets: Included with Martinis & IMAX® admission (free for members or $7-$12 for non-members).
·
November 20-21 and December 11-12
Join Fernbank for special activities, performances, crafts, games and more inspired by the cultural celebrations and traditions of Winter Wonderland.
Cost: Included with Museum admission and free for members.
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Friday, November 26 from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Work off those extra Thanksgiving Day calories with live music by Kingsized, evening viewing hours of Winter Wonderland and more during a special holiday-themed edition of Martinis & IMAX®.
Cost: Included with Martinis & IMAX® admission.
·
Saturday, December 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Enjoy the sounds of the season and holiday delights including performances by the Georgia Boy Choir, ornament-making crafts and a special appearance by “Santa-saurus!”
Cost: Included with Museum admission and free for members.
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Wednesday, December 8 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Warm up to the holiday season with a special evening presented in partnership with B98.5 FM’s Vicki Lock and the Morning Show team. Try a special Peppermintini cocktail, enjoy free hors d’oeuvres from Serpas Restaurant, and experience Winter Wonderland after dark.
Cost: $15 (includes one drink ticket). More details to be announced soon.
*Events, dates and times are subject to change.
Admission to Winter Wonderland: Celebrations & Traditions Around the World is included with Museum admission at $15 for adults, $14 for students and seniors, $14 for children ages 3 to 12, and free for Museum members and children ages two and younger. Tickets can be purchased online at fernbankmuseum.org or by phone at 404.929.6400.
A special joint ticket package is available from December 1-12, which includes admission to Fernbank Museum, including the Winter Wonderland exhibition, and to Christmas at Callanwolde, a historic mansion decorated by Atlanta's top interior and floral designers to reflect a Roaring ‘20s Christmas theme reminiscent of the era when the Candler family lived in the Gothic-Tudor mansion. The joint ticket package is offered at $30 for adults, $25 for students and seniors, and $22 for children and can be purchased by calling 404.929.6400
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Brandi Berry
Director of Public Relations
Fernbank Museum of Natural History
767 Clifton Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30307
Direct: 404.929.6339
www.fernbankmuseum.org
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Wal-Mart plans to open most of its stores at midnight the night of Thanksgiving, the company announced Monday, becoming the latest in a series of retailers to expand hours to lure shoppers who want to get a head-start hunting for holiday bargains.
American retailers have increasingly expanded their hours on Black Friday to get ahead of the competition, but now the kickoff is creeping into Thanksgiving Day.
Sears Holdings Corp., which operates Kmart and Sears stores, is opening Sears on Thanksgiving Day for the first time this year. Toys R Us plans to open its stores at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and stay open through Friday. And Gap Inc.'s Old Navy stores will be open on Thanksgiving Day as they were last year.
On Monday, the world's largest retailer also offered shoppers a preview of the discounts it plans. Starting at midnight the night of Thanksgiving, all Walmarts will offer $9 Wrangler jeans and $15 tubs of Legos. Starting at 5 a.m. Friday, they'll sell Hewlett-Packard Co. laptops with 15.6-inch screens for $298, Emerson 32-inch LCD HDTV TVs for $198 and Kodak digital cameras for $59.
Full story @ accessatlanta.comThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Delta Community Credit Union opened its first DeKalb County branch this week in Decatur.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Thursday at 246 West Ponce de Leon Ave.
On Saturday, the bank will also host a community event to teach children ages 12 and under about savings accounts. The first 50 children who open an account will receive a $50 deposit. Children will also receive coloring books and piggy banks.
Von Maur | |
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Founded | 1872 |
Headquarters | Davenport, Iowa |
Website | Von Maur website |
Von Maur is an upscale specialty department store chain with virtually all stores located in the Midwestern United States, except one in Louisville, Kentucky. The chain, based in Davenport, Iowa, sells upscale brand-name apparel, accessories, cosmetics, gifts, jewelry and shoes. As of November 3, 2008, the chain has 24 stores in nine states. (A store opening in September of 2010 in Missouri will mark the chain's entry into a tenth state.) All of its stores are anchors of shopping malls or lifestyle centers. A hallmark of some of the Von Maur services are a no-interest bearing credit card account, free shipping and free gift wrapping. Another signature element of Von Maur stores is a live pianist who performs for customers during normal business hours. It competes on the same level as Nordstrom, and Lord and Taylor.