When Sherman put Georgia’s capital to the torch, much of its antebellum charm went up in smoke. Jonathan Hart reports from a contradictory city searching for its soul Atlanta’s first contradiction is its airport, the world’s busiest, to or through which every business traveller will fly sooner or later.
You’d think a gateway the size of Hartsfield, with minute-by-minute arrivals and departures, multiple runways, two massive terminals and six separate concourses, handling 80 million passengers a year, couldn’t fail to pose a logistical nightmare. Even on a good day.
But you would be wrong. Compared to similar and arguably more energetically updated behemoths, the still slightly careworn and ageing Hartsfield appears by and large to run with admirable smoothness; its parallel terminals are well planned, simple to use and geared to processing the hordes with speed. Or at least those possessed of a moderate sense of direction and more than cotton wool between their ears.
The second contradiction is that Atlanta, some 16km or 15 minutes from the airport, is not really as Georgia peachy as you might expect for a centre that eagerly promotes Southern hospitality and a rich sense of history.
The reason for this is that the city today, in contrast to centuries past, can boast little heart or soul, largely devoid of a genuine core, communal spirit or anything much to absorb or captivate the visitor beyond business.
The same goes for Atlanta’s hotels, entertainment and attractions; as lavish, lively or varied, and certainly as big, as any in the US, competently supplementing the formidable venues of the stock in trade sport, convention and exhibition sectors of the market.
Yet somehow, for all the confusing melange of roads, avenues and blocks bearing the seductive name of Peachtree, the whole lacks any individual or collective ‘wow’ factor.
Encircled and criss-crossed by Interstate highways, Atlanta looms somewhat disjointedly through the stifling humidity of summer, appearing not so much a city as a series of suburban satellites loosely linked to a downtown whose reputed charm and romance seem to have gone with the wind. In other words, scattered or consumed in the flames depicted in the renowned novel and film set around the city. While the movers and shakers have fled up the main Peachtree Road to upscale suburban Buckhead, a civic sense of pride has been restored and new public infrastructure installed since Atlanta hosted the Olympic Games 12 years ago. But there remains about downtown a feeling of the piecemeal, glued together by transitory opportunism and presented courtesy of the city’s big corporate players. Like Coca-Cola, sponsor of a couple of museums, and CNN, a media empire housed in a nondescript shopping centre.
It helps that local transit authority MARTA provides a good system of trains, buses and shuttles in and around Interstate 85 which rings this urban sprawl, because local driving etiquette can make car rental hazardous to your health. And taxis, usually with drivers straight off the boat, cannot be hailed, only ordered by phone. Facts Guide
Currency: (US$1=€0.82/€1=US$1.21)
Tipping: part of US culture – 15% is standard for waiters (up to 20% in more lavish establishments), with similar expectations by taxi drivers, bar tenders, barbers and hairdressers
Time: GMT -5 (GMT -4 from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October)
Electricity: 110-120 volts (mainly flat two-pin plugs)
Public holidays 2006: May 1; June 12; July 4; October 2; November 26; December 25, 26
Climate: generally mild for most of the year, although high temperatures and humidity are common in the summer, and there is a risk of snow in December and January; best
times are spring and fall
Airport: Hartsfield-Jackson is 16km (10 miles) from the city; Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) operates frequent trains and buses; taxis cost around US$30 for the trip downtown
Hotels: Amerisuites; Comfort Inn; Country Inn; Courtyard by Marriott; Crowne Plaza;
Doubletree Club; Drury Inn; Econo Lodge; Fairfield Inn by Marriott; Hampton Inn; Hilton; Holiday Inn; Holiday Inn Select; Howard Johnson, Inter-Continental, Omni, Red Roof Inn; Renaissance; Residence Inn by Marriott; Ritz-Carlton, Sheraton; Wellesley Inn, Westin, Wyndham
Business hours: 09.00-17.30 Monday to Friday
International dialling code: 001 404
In emergency: 911 (all services) business do’s and don’ts
Do remember when making appointments, Americans write the month first, then the day ie May 1, 2006 is 5/01/06
Do be punctual – Georgia may the in the laid-back South but it is very businesslike
Do be prepared for a certain amount of informality – casual dress and relaxed breakfast or lunch meetings
Do be prepared for an early start – a 7am breakfast meeting is not uncommon. Dinner can
also be as early as 6pm
Don’t forget that smoking is banned in restaurants and bars
Don’t be surprised to find rigorous security checks at US airports
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