My Idea for Underground Atlanta

[reet]

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Underground is more popular with tourists than you might think. It's still a destination that many visitors ask about, and one of the best-known landmarks in the city. The food court and restaurants in UA are popular with GSU students and office lunch crowds.

I'm not so sure the clientele is "low end" either. It's a mostly black crowd and it draws a lot of inner-city teens, but I for one don't see anything wrong with that. It isn't my crowd and I don't have any desire to go there, but others do.

You nailed it. I've read a lot of posts about Underground Atlanta here and elsewhere that seem to be written by people who have not visited it. My family lives in the Five Points area and I visit UA regularly on the weekend. It certainly isn't a perfect shopping area and it could use serious improvements, but it's fairly busy most weekends (not so much on the week days). Most Saturdays the stores are packed and it's very lively. And I think the food court area is pretty decent for what it is.

My main 2 beefs with it are:

- the odd low ceiling in the mail entrance hall that looks like the underside of a parking deck. It really does feel like you're walking through a parking deck in there.

- the truly craptastic 80's design elements that are unattractively & inappropriately overlayed on many parts of the historic facade. I'd like to see someone invest in some serious cosmetic work to remove that stuff.

I'm in the minority in that I think that UA is, for the most part, pretty cool as it is. Give it some cosmetic work and add a downtown branch of the Atlanta History Museum (focused on rail history) and I think it could be more consistently profitable and appeal to more people.

[shivtim]

When I first visited Atlanta as a tourist (2006) we went to underground (as well as the old World of Coke and the brand new Aquarium). I remember liking underground - it was nothing special, but it certainly didn't feel dirty or unsafe. I did some tacky tourist shopping there and got a smashed penny. So, yes, from a tourist's point of view, it's still one of the first attractions that pops up when you're searching what to do in Atlanta.