Archive Atlanta

This week I am re-releasing an old episode from the archives, but I also wanted it to coincide with Black History Month. From the summer of 2021, this is about Lincoln Country Club and the fight for Golf Course Desegregation. Born at the start of the Great Depression, from the need and desire of middle and upper-class Black Atlantans to not only play golf, but to establish a recreation place where...

This week, I had the honor to sit down with Dr. Rhana Gittens Wheeler to ask her about her research of Blandtown, a historically African American neighborhood on the westside of Atlanta that dates to the 1870s. We talked about the neighborhood’s history, the wrong history that had been out there, annexation, zoning and developers' efforts to rebrand the westside of Atlanta.  Pre-order her book her...

This week, we’re talking about The Rap Map with Georgia State's Professor Brennan Collins and student Panther Lattimore. The map chronicles a decade’s worth of rap lyrics referencing different Atlanta locations, connecting popular culture with local history and pinpoints the lyrics of Atlanta hip hop artists to create a map of the city based on narratives from historically marginalized communities...

Atlanta is home to 242 different neighborhoods that each have their own names and history, but this week, we’re talking about the smallest - Just Us. Consisting of two streets sandwiched between the neighborhoods of Mozley Park, Ashview Heights, Hunter Hills and Washington Park, Just Us has a short but fascinating origin story that includes some of the most prestigious Black Atlantans, African Met...

This week’s mini episode is an Atlanta-adjacent topic but one still very intertwined with the city’s history. If you’re new here, Georgia is the peach state, but in this episode we’re going to delve into the history. Why peaches? Where were the peaches? And the most important question of all - why is it named Peachtree Street and why are there so many Peachtree-named streets in Atlanta? Want to su...

If you’re listening in real time, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, and while many know about his birth home and church, there are so many other places in Atlanta connected to Dr. King and his family that I want to share. So this week I want to go through those sites, give you the addresses, a little history and hopefully allow everyone to do a little DIY tour of all the sites with a deep conn...

This week, I am tackling a giant of Atlanta history, the famed soft drink Coca-Cola. There is, understandably, a lot to cover so I am breaking this out into two parts and this week we’re talking about Pemberton, Candler, cocaine, caffeine and the only historic Coca Cola building that still stands. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram | ...

It’s my last episode of 2023 and I thought why not take you along on a highly specific, random rabbit hole that I’ve recently fallen into. I loved the story of the Alkahest Magazine, because it includes the history of magazines, Lyceum lectures, Chautauqua, the American enlightenment and so much more.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagr...

This week’s episode is about the Junior League, specifically its origins in Atlanta. Who started it, who were members and what did they accomplish in their history? Starting with the Butterfly Ball in 1916, the Junior would open a domestic science school, a speech school, two tearooms, fund a ward at the children's hospital, volunteer at Grady, step in for drafted bank workers during WWII and host...

This week, I am re-releasing an episode from April of 2022, covering the fascinating history of the Atlanta Humane Society, from the formation of the Atlanta Branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1871, to its reorganization as the Atlanta Humane Society in 1890. The early AHS fought for the better treatment of hack and dray horses and mules, banishment of rooster and do...

This week I am sharing a conversation with Eli Dickerson about trees; what kind of trees we have in Georgia/Atlanta, the oldest trees in the city, the largest, and historic. We also cover counting tree rings, Champion Trees, old growth forests and Eli shares the story of a very special beech tree that connected him to history.   NOAA Tree Ring Database :  Atlanta Champion Tree   Georgia's State Ch...

This week we’re talking about two pieces of Atlanta history - one, a neighborhood wiped out by urban renewal and the other, the showpiece Atlanta Civic Center that was built in its place.  By the turn of the 20th century, the name “Buttermilk Bottom” was used to describe the area bordered by Piedmont Avenue on the West, North Avenue on the North, Boulevard along the East and Forrest (today Ralph M...

Way, way back in Episode 3 I talked about two downtown hotels. And looking back, I think it was a mistake to bury the story of the Heart of Atlanta Motel, because it is so important and historic and shows Atlanta’s impact on the nation, but it also has one of the best divine retribution endings of any history I have researched in my 5 years of podcasting. So this week, we’re talking about the Hear...

This week’s interview episode with Will Edmonds, who produces Anecdotal ATL is all about with moonshine history of the pre-Civil War era, through the illegal liquor trade, how and why it centers in Dawsonville, GA and then we get into the colorful characters of Raymond Parks, Walter Day, Carl Lloyd Seay, Roy Hall, and Red Vogt. Many people know the basic history of NASCAR and how it came from moon...

Adaptive reuse is defined as the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. This week, I am diving into eight (8) of Atlanta’s former school buildings that have been adaptively-reused into residential units, from the oldest to the newest school building.    Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.c...

For Halloween, Liz Clappin ( Tomb With A View ) and I are talking about the history of cremation and why Atlanta did not get its first crematorium until the 1980s, which is  a century behind the rest of the United States. It’s a story of race, religion, class and tradition and you don’t want to miss it. Follow Tomb With A View on IG   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialem...

In 1934, W.A. Scott was a hugely successful entrepreneur, with a publishing empire and a brand-new 4th marriage. As he pulled his car into his garage one late night, he is shot by an unknown assailant. One week later he'd be dead. We may never know who killed W.A. Scott, but this week we're talking about his life, why someone would want him dead and who was charged with the crime.    Leave your At...

This week, I have collected the stories of Emily Battey, Isma Dooly and Mildred Seydell into Part II of my Women of Atlanta series. The three women we’re talking about today are all white, all upper class but they all share the same profession - albeit decades apart - and were writers and journalists and way ahead of their time.   Leave your Atlanta Ghost Story: 404-829-4596 Want to support this p...

The Atlanta Newspaper scene today is dominated by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, but even before their existence as two separate papers, there are several forgotten publications from Atlanta’s founding. Today we are going to cover those early papers, who ran them, what you could find in them and how long they lasted.   Leave your Atlanta Ghost Story: 404-829-4596 Want to support this podcast? V...

This week about nursing - the earliest history of the profession, the city’s first nursing programs and schools, how each World War impacted it, how the state regulated the profession and talk about some of the men and women who made history as nurses.    Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

Today marks the 117th anniversary of the Atlanta Race Massacre, so I am replaying my episode from last year with Ann Hill-Bond. I did an Episode 19 WAY back in the beginning of this journey that is titled 1906 Race Riot, but this episode with Ann was so important because we discussed her efforts to change the name, we included the stories of Brownsville and East Point and really got into the detai...

This week we are covering the Atlanta Art Association, the men and women who were members, the events they hosted, the work they did to bring a permanent museum to Atlanta and the 1962 plane crash that rocked Atlanta’s art community to the bone. Archive Atlanta 5 Year Anniversary Party! Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week, we’re talking about Atlanta’s small, but fascinating German community - who they were, when they arrived and how they left their culture and legacies around the city. In 1890, the entire state of Georgia had only 1.78% of residents with foreign patronage and Atlanta’s immigration story is really one that occurs post-1965 Immigration Act, but all that being said, there were small racial...

If you’ve been listening for a while, you know my love for any and all buildings designed by architect A. Ten Eyck Brown. Brown was prolific in Atlanta, and there are many things he designed - so this week, we’re going to talk about his life, how he got to Atlanta, what he designed here, and what is still left today. Archive Atlanta 5 Year Anniversary Party! Want to support this podcast? Visit her...

This week, we’re talking about the “Atlanta Six” (Anne Burlak, Mary Dalton, Gilmer Brady aka Herbert Newton, Henry Storey, MH Powers and Joe Carr) and Angelo Herndon. These are stories about communism, specifically in the United States, how it spread during the Great Depression, why it became popular with Southern Black Americans, how that story ties into Atlanta history and how leaders in Atlanta...