Archive Atlanta

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...

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 | ...