I few places I hope to visit in Little Five this week: Aurora Coffee, A Cappella Books, Criminal Records and The Wrecking Bar.
I have a lot of great memories of Atlanta’s Little Five Points. I haven’t spent any real time there since I was in college, but during that time I went fairly often and made some really fantastic friends. I was incredibly charmed by the quirkiness, the weirdness, and the who-cares-what-other-people-think attitude of the people and the shops. (I had purple hair and a tongue ring at this point in my life, so that probably helped.)
I’ve grown up, I guess (my hair isn’t purple anymore), but I still think it’s somewhat magical to find a place so full of charm — and locally owned shops are what makes a place like Little Five special and unique. Shops like Junkman’s Daughter and Little Five Points Pizza factor strongly in my memories because they’re different than generic Hot Topics and Pizza Huts. Not all local businesses exemplify individuality and creativity, and that’s a good thing, but the businesses of Little Five do — and that’s a good thing, too.
Atlanta is the next stop on the Localist book tour, and in true Little Five style, they’re getting creative with it. The event is called Local Is Alive in Little Five: Everything begins this Thursday (March 18) at Criminal Records at 5:30 p.m., where we’ll kick off a scavenger hunt through the neighborhood’s independents. We’ll hunt for an hour or so, then reconvene at A Cappella Books at 7 p.m., where Eric from Criminal Records and I will have a chat about local buying, and I’ll sign a book for anyone who’d like one.
I have no qualms with saying this is going to be a fantastic event — the staff at A Cappella and Criminal Records have been wonderful and creative and kind, and they put on really fun events all the time. If you’re in Atlanta, please come say hi. If you’re not, but you know people who are, send them my way! To everyone else, catch up after the signing on the blog, the email list, or on social media — here’s a link to my localist story in today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and here’s a link to details on the event from A Cappella’s website.
Atlanta, here I come!