Travel
Pssst: Every third Friday is Friday
Night Music Remix where you can
enjoy live music as well as halfprice admission.
A Touch of Eden
The Atlanta Botanical Gardens are
well worth a visit if you’re craving
an escape from the urban frenzy. As
you ramble through the 30 acres of
greenery you’ll discover over a dozen
different gardens, ranging from the
Japanese Garden to the popular
Edible Garden, where they hold the
Well-Seasoned Chef Cooking Series.
But the real wow-factor is the
fantastical “Imaginary Worlds”, an
over-sized menagerie of 28 topiarylike sculptures, including a 25-feettall Earth Goddess.
Pssst: The best time to explore
Imaginary Worlds is at the
Thursday night cocktail party,
6-10 p.m. when the sculptures
shimmer under the night sky
and you can imbibe in specialty
cocktails such as the Earth
Goddess, I’ll Have What
She’s Having.
Celebrate Gone with
the Wind Anniversary
Fiddle-dee-dee, it’s hard to believe
that this year marks the 75th
anniversary of “Gone With The
Wind”. The Margaret Mitchell
House & Museum, listed on the
National Register of Historic Places,
where the author lived and wrote
her Pulitzer-Prize winning novel.
Gone With the Wind, is celebrating
the occasion with a special exhibit,
“Stars Fall On Atlanta: The Premiere
of “Gone With The Wind”.
Pssst: For significant savings
on visiting the M.M. house,
and a handful of other popular
attractions, check into buying
an Atlanta CityPass. You can
purchase it here and use it for
the High museum, the Atlanta
Zoo, World of Coca-Cola, etc.
The excitement keeps
building as Atlantians
eagerly await the
opening of these next
two hot spots:
Upscale shopaholics are marking off
Dream Car exhibit is great
for picking up men!
RIGHT
I’d fly back just to take a
class at Preserving Place
Earth Goddess at the
Botanical Garden
RIGHT
Star Provisions has
it all
the days until the grand opening
of the $1 billion Buckhead Atlanta
shopping development, the kingdom
of haute! Six seductive blocks of
luxury dining, entertainment,
shopping, upscale office and
residential towers will start opening
their doors this September. Breathe
in the gentrified air as you stroll
the intimate, cobbled streets, lined
with fashion icons such as Hermès,
Louboutin, Bruno Cucinelli, and
Helmut Lang. Local Spanx billionaire,
Sara Blakely, put her stamp of
approval on the prestigious project,
when she announced they will be
moving their world headquarters
here and it will also be home to their
flagship store. Haute shops deserve
haute restaurants, so indulgent
dining choices will include Le
Bilboquet, Lugo Caffe, Gypsy
Kitchen & The Southern Gentleman.
headphones that spew out hideous
racial slurs and verbal abuse by
outraged counter protestors. You
are timed as to how long you can
endure the torment and can stop
at any time. I only lasted two
minutes, unlike the non-violent
student activists who were trained
to take endless hours of abuse.
Pssst: Apartments are a part
of OliverMcMillan’s mixed-use
development plan so, if you hurry,
you can still snag one of the three
bedroom/three bath,1,962 square
feet penthouse apts, with
complimentary jaw-dropping views,
at The Residence, Buckhead Atlanta.
Pssst: If you donate $250 you
can have your name or a message
permanently displayed on a metal
tile in the lobby. Check out this
video for a preview of this
fabulous new museum.
I was fortunate enough to score
a private press tour of The Center
for Civil and Human Rights (opening
June 23) enthusiastically led by
Gabriel Wardell, Director of Group
Sales. It is no exaggeration to say
that it was a life-changing
experience. The $100 million, 43,000
square-foot museum, located next
to Centennial Olympic Park, centers
around three main exhibits: Voice
to the Voiceless: The Morehouse
College Martin Luther King, Jr.
Collection, whi ch will rotate
selections from over 10,000 personal
items such as King’s “report card”
from Crozer Theological Seminary
(he only received a C+ in public
speaking!) a hand-edited draft
of MLK’s famous “Letter from
Birmingham Jail”, a crumbled
note from his wallet with a quote
by Gandhi and a telegram from
President Lyndon B. Johnson inviting
King to the signing of the Voting
Rights Act.
The next floor up houses Rolls Down
Like Water: The American Civil
Rights Movement, which is brilliantly
curated by Tony Award–winning
theatrical playwright and film
director George C. Wolfe. Wolfe’s
interactive displays transports
visitors back in time to the American
Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s
and 1960s. You really “get it” once
you sit at the segregated lunch
counter exhibit and put on the
57
At the top of the museum is Spark
of Conviction: The Global Human
Rights Movement which furthers
the link between civil rights and
human rights and how they affect
the lives of every person.
When I asked Gabriel what he hopes
the museum will accomplish, he
succinctly replied, “We’ll be doing our
job if a 12-year-old girl walks out of
the museum and is inspired to become
the next Gandhi, Mandela or King.”