Archive Atlanta

This week, I am sharing an interview I did last week with Hannah Palmer, talking about everything she does in Atlanta, from her book Flight Path to the recent Ghost Pools exhibit, presented by Flux Projects . I learned a lot about the history of public swimming places, spring-fed pools, the switch to what we think of today as a swimming pool and how these public spaces were battlegrounds in the Ci...

This week, I'm talking to Patrick Sullivan about Atlanta's soccer history. We cover the sports development, the first Scottish immigrants, and later Welsh and Irish that brought the game to Atlanta. Where and when the first matches were played. The rise and fall of an organized league, the arrival of the Atlanta Chiefs and all the way through our MLS team today, Atlanta United. My own personal soc...

This week, we’re talking about Candler Warehouse, today, The MET . A giant concrete warehouse didn’t really call to my history-nerd heart, but once I started digging into the history, I was hooked - it’s economic instability, drama, the Candlers, world wars, fires and so much more! Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter    

This week, we are talking about early photographers in Atlanta. Starting with an early history of the technology, then the photographers, their lives, their studios and what, if anything, is left today. https://georgia-photographers.com/ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Hidden_Treasures/18hjGwAACAAJ?hl=en   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook | ...

The story of the "Miss Atlanta" pageant coincides with the growth of Atlantic City's "Miss America".  Like all things Atlanta in the 1920s, this contest and the choosing of a ‘representative’ of our city, was tied with the marketing of and push to sell the Gate City to the rest of the country. The first Miss Atlanta was crowned in 1923 and this week, I am telling the earliest stories of the winner...

This week’s mini episode is about public access television; the early history, its arrival in Atlanta with Cable Atlanta, its proponents (Access Atlanta), and it's most popular program, The American Music Show. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week we’re talking about Atlanta’s automobile history - a very fitting topic if there ever was one because Atlanta’s love affair with the car is still going strong in 2023 and we’ve been obsessed since they first hit the market at the turn of the 20th century. I'm sharing when the first auto appeared, the first auto dealers, the auto show, auto racing, Automobile Row and so much more.   Want...

This week's mini is all about the New Deal in Atlanta; how this national history impacted Atlanta, what was built here with these federal funds, who did it employ, and what legacies can we still see today? Did you know Robert Woodruff saved the City of Atlanta of Atlanta from bankruptcy during the Great Depression? Or that Georgi Tech received the bulk of campus additions and construction? Listen...

This week we're talking about Atlanta's shopping mall history - the first shopping center, the first enclosed, the first multi-story, where these properties stand today and so much more.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

Atlanta and alcohol have a long, sordid history. From the colony of Georgia banning ardent spirits in 1735, to Fulton County taking 5 extra years to actually celebrate Repeal Day, the story of temperance and Atlanta is a great one. Listen this week to hear the stories - well known and unknown - about the Prohibition in Atlanta. Links: Prohibition in Atlanta Liquor in the Land of the Lost Cause Bac...

This week, I am sharing the history of the Model Railroad Club of Atlanta , when they were organized, where did they meet and what did they build, as well as the history of the hobby itself. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Leila Yavari , who became the Chief Archivist of the Atlanta Baha’i Assembly in January of this year. In that short time, she’s learned so much about Atlanta’s earliest Baha’i history, including the people, places and events that make up the century of this city’s history.  Register to see the exhibit here . Want to support this podcast? Visit here Ema...

This week we're covering the history of Georgia’s Governor’s Mansions - four official, one unofficial, spread over two different cities (Milledgeville and Atlanta).    Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter  

The word teen or teenage today is part of our lexicon, but that wasn’t the case less than 100 years ago.  The post-World War II period in America was one of prosperity. Young adults didn’t have to go to work, high school attendance skyrocketed and teenagers developed their own culture - music, cars and clothes. This week, I am covering how Atlanta teens organized recreation spaces for themselves,...

Inspired by the Greensboro, NC sit-ins of February 1960, the Atlanta Student Movement, led by the young men and women of Morehouse, Atlanta University, Clark College,  Interdenominational Theological Center, Morris Brown College and Spelman College, brought sit-ins, kneel-ins and boycotts to Atlanta. This ushered in the transition between Atlanta’s “old guard” civil rights leaders and the younger,...

In this week’s mini episode, we’re talking about the Clermont Hotel , from its start as a high-end apartment in the Roaring 20s called Bonaventure Arms, to the infamous Clermont Lounge, to it’s demise and rebirth. This building is full of fascinating stories that you do not want to miss. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

Did you know College Park was first named Manchester? Or that it could have been named Attica, Minerva, The Colleges, Colegia, or Ledra? This week we're covering all of that history, through the airport expansion and even into College Park's contributions to Southern rap. Georgia Trust Spring Ramble Flight Path Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook | ...

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; El...

This week I am handing the mic to Aaron Strand from Behind the Slate who is sharing some wild Atlanta stories - like how the city's motion picture history dates back to 1895, how “Birth of Nation'' impacted the city’s cinema, how segregation and Jim Crow laws affected movie goers, and also covering cinema greats like the Lowes Grand, the Plaza, The Tara, and Coronet. Finishing off with Blaxploitat...

This week’s mini episode is about the Atlanta Sports Arena, which once stood on Chester Avenue in today’s Reynoldstown neighborhood.  This is a story of basketball, boxing, wrestling, amateur sports, square dancing, 70s rock bands and Muhammad Ali. Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

This week, I’m checking off another Atlanta pillar of higher education, the famed Morehouse College. We’re covering its earliest iteration in Augusta, GA, its move to Atlanta, its first deans, presidents and professors, famous graduates and important buildings - we are talking about as much as we can in 20 minutes! Morehouse Graduates Maroon Tiger Archives   Want to support this podcast? Visit her...

If you’ve been listening for a while, you know that I do my best to cover all facets of Atlanta history and I’m also terrible at planning specific episodes to coincide with national events, holidays, etc. But I could not let Black History Month pass by without an episode about the city’s Black history. This week, I am re-sharing my episode from June of 2019 about Atlanta’s African American Hospita...

This week mini episode is all about Atlanta’s original hippie community of the 1960s. When they arrived, who they were, the businesses they started and patronized, the clashes with government and local police and the community’s eventual demise.    Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter    

Many of us live, work and/or play in buildings that were dedicated fallout shelters during the Cold War. This week, I am covering the federal, state and local response to the Cold War, and how the fallout shelter craze played out in Atlanta.   Want to support this podcast? Visit here Email:  thevictorialemos@gmail.com Facebook |  Instagram |  Twitter

There are so many stories from American history that, while not centered solely in Atlanta, have connections to this city. This week, I sharing the story of the U.S. Marine Corps first Black Marines, from the lens of those that enlisted in Atlanta. A dozen Black Marines served in the Revolutionary War, but from 1798 until 1942, enrollment in the corps was denied to Black men.  In May of 1942, the...