Archive Atlanta

My last episode of 2024 is a conversation I had inside Constellations , with the incomparable Gene Kansas , who just wrote a book called Civil Sights: Sweet Auburn, a Journey through Atlanta's National Treasure , which is being released in February of 2025. Every time we get together, our shared love of historic preservation, Auburn Avenue and Atlanta come out and this is no different. University...

Today, I am sharing a conversation I had with Abra Lee , Director of Horticulture at Oakland and scholar in Black garden history from Reconstruction to Civil Rights.   Black Flora   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter    

To celebrate Halloween, my friends Liz and Cynthia joined me to discuss the mystery of the Atlanta Blood House. On September 8, 1987, Minnie Winston stepped out of the bath and into a pool of blood. But it wasn't her blood or her husbands... The Blood House mystery has never been formally solved, but we discuss the neighborhood, the house, the people, the facts, debunk some theories, share out own...

This week, we’re talking about Atlanta’s first, official Playboy Club and the place it was located, the people who worked there, went there and when it closed.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week, we’re talking about one of Atlanta's most famous thoroughfares - and no, it’s not Peachtree Street - it’s Cheshire Bridge Road. Each time the city debuted a new thoroughfare, so began the promotion of its caliber and residents. Streets and avenues like Peachtree, Washington, Edgewood and so on would wage the battles of maintaining its status as an upper class section. As Cheshire Bridge...

This week, I am checking off another Atlanta neighborhood off the list - Ormewood Park. From its start as a single large estate that bred jersey cows, to the 1890s development, annexation, through its current history and unique landmarks and homes.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week, I am sharing my interview with Peter Bahouth, talking about the Springlake neighborhood, and exploring his treehouse, which A irBnb named it’s #1 “Most Wished For” listing. While we talk about the history of  the Battle of Peachtree Creek, the Springlake neighborhood, its connection to the Klan and the efforts to form a park space that can be accessible to the public, the most impactful...

This week, we’re covering the The Great Speckled Bird, Atlanta’s alternative press that ran from 1968 through 1976. It was one of the longest-running underground newspapers of the era, publishing articles on Atlanta's political leaders, the women's movement, abortion, racial issues, culture and gay liberation.  https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/digital/collection/GSB Want to support this...

This week, I am re-releasing an episode from waaaay back in August of 2019, all about Atlanta’s Carnegie Libraries. It's not only a story of where we keep books, it’s also a story of gender, power, race and access to information. Before the age of technology and the internet, books represented knowledge, and knowledge is power. Keeping that power away from people has been a tool used by the ruling...

This week, I am covering one of my most requested topics, the Science & Technology Museum of Atlanta, better known as SciTrek. I didn’t grow up here and so I love hearing people’s stories of classic Atlanta memories or experiences that really defined their childhood and one of these is definitely SciTrek. The way that current Atlantans reminisce about and their stories of school field trips, e...

This week, we’re talking about basketball - from the invention of the game, when it arrived in Atlanta, who played it and where, and all the way into the story of our professional teams today.   Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta - and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week, we’re talking about an Atlanta radio icon - WABE-FM. Located at 90.1 on your radio dial, the station has a fascinating history that dates back to the 1940s. So this week, we’re talking about radio history, the educational radio movement, who funded the station here in Atlanta, who it was for and how it became the public radio institution that we know and love today.      Want to support...

This week, in honor of the upcoming Peachtree Road Race , we are talking about the origin of the world’s largest 10K and the organization that sponsors it, the Atlanta Track Club.    Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

Surprise! Yes - I am still on the podcast break and I will be back officially on June 14th with fun new episodes, but while I’ve been gone I was a guest on another amazing Atlanta podcast, Savory Stories .  Savory Stories is a WABE podcast about Atlanta’s rich stories through the lens of cuisine and food history. It’s hosted by Chef Asata Reid and culinary historian Akila McConnell, and if Akila s...

This week, we’re talking about Vine City. This neighborhood just west of downtown Atlanta has SO much history, I struggled to fit it all in; from quarries, early German immigrants, to the largest nursery operation in the city, Black amusement parks, so many historic homes, and a prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement, and Dr. King - you do not want to miss this.   Want to support this podcast...

This week, I’m talking about Atlanta’s International Pop Festival, a concert held in July of 1969, the first of its kind in the South. And while it took place 20 miles south of Atlanta proper, everything about the festival was rooted in this city. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week, we’re talking about Italian artist Athos Menaboni. In 1950, Time Magazine declared Menaboni the heir of James Audubon, because of his bird paintings that spanned over 150 different species. But this isn’t just a story about art and animals - it’s also a love story, a story about finding your calling after the age of 40, and the unsung roles of spouses or partners in someone’s success. ...

This week, we’re talking about Waffle House. Opened in 1955, in Avondale Estates, we’re covering the two men that started it, the first locations, franchising, expansions, controversies and legal issues and even the Waffle House Index. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

In 1911, Atlanta’s population was only 150,000 people and the idea of Commerce Schools was new - only two operated in the South; one at Louisiana State and the other at Washington and Lee. Georgia State was born from Georgia Tech’s idea of starting an evening school, was later part of UGA and fought hard to become an independent institution. In this episode we’re covering how that idea took shape,...

This week, we’re talking about Piedmont Hospital. From its start as a small sanitarium in 1904, the doctor that started it, its numerous expansions, the move to Peachtree Street and the impact it had on Atlanta.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

Spring is here and if you’re in Atlanta, everything has just started to bloom. I decided it’s the perfect time to re-release my episode from 2021 about the history of the Dogwood Festival in Atlanta. This year’s festival is happening April 12-14th, and so you have time to listen in for a deep dive into this blooming tree, why it’s associated with Atlanta, why we celebrate it, when it was created,...

This week, we’re talking about Georgia’s only remaining velodrome - the Dick Lane Velodrome in East Point. We're talking about what a velodrome is, Atlanta’s first velodrome, Dick Lane and the decade long efforts to open this velodrome in East Point.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

March is Women’s History Month, and researching women is my very favorite thing to do. So while I was brainstorming an episode idea, I realized I had this huge collection of women on my list whose stories were very short - in terms of research, not the length of their lives or quality of achievements. This week I have collected these shorter stories into one episode about three different women; ed...

This week, I picked up the story of Coca-Cola after it’s sold in 1919 and took it through the Great Depression, World War II, Civil Rights, the Cola Wars, Diet Coke, New Coke and the World of Coca Cola.  Book Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week, I am sharing my conversation with Antar Fierce, a graffiti historian, educator and archivist to learn about the history of graffiti, especially writing. Graffiti is loosely defined as words, drawings, or writings in public view - something that humans have created since the dawn of time. Writing developed first in the 1960s in Philadelphia and then New York City. We cover that early his...