2005 Index of Winners
Best Unique Date Night BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best Restaurant When Someone Else is Paying BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best Restaurant When Someone Else is Paying BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Unique Date Night BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best Place to Hear Local Music BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Place to Hear Local Music BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best Place to Hear Music For Free BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Place to Hear Music For Free BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best Place to Hear Music For Free BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
After a few years of battling free concert series, DOWNTOWN ROCKS emerged as the winner when On the Bricks hits the bricks after losing its sponsorship. With its new home in Underground Atlanta, 99X brought the tried-and-true alternative rockers Cake, Weezer, Ben Folds and Garbage. Also on the bill were acts breaking into the mainstream, including Spoon, the Bravery, Kasabian and the Caesars, and if you got there early, local acts kicked off each night. Although it rained for most concerts, crowds packed in anyway because free makes everything better.
www.99x.com.
Best Nightclub BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best Place for a First Date BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Bar to Hook Up BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Maybe it’s the proximity of Georgia Tech, or it might be crossover from nearby Halo’s popular gay night, but WETBAR’S COLLEGE NIGHT comes with cuties swinging from the proverbial ceiling. Thursday arrives and a sassy 18-and-up crew of nubile newbies crowds the swanky Spring Street watering hole, where DJ Greg Dean and a host of go-go boys keep the atmosphere light and sexy. Sure, it’s fun — just make sure he’s not taking you back to his dorm room.
960 Spring St. 404-745-9494.
Best Gay Bar BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Lesbian Bar BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Hardware Store BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Some folks howled when a new shopping center landed just south of Little Five Points, but the renovating residents of nearby neighborhoods have embraced the big-box charms of LOWE’S HOME IMPROVEMENT. And when we say “renovating,” we mean, of course, the lesbians. This expansive new temple of 2-by-4s sits at a handy crossroads between queer-friendly Midtown and dyke-tastic Decatur, which may be why so many smiling sisters fill the store’s aisles. She’s got a power-sander, you’ve got a tool belt — who needs a deck?
1280 Caroline St. 404-658-8650. www.lowes.com.
Best Place to Play Pool BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best Place to Play Pool BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Dive Bar BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Rock Club BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Sports Bar BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best Sports Bar BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Strip Club BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
If you know anything about chemistry, you know the blue flame burns hottest. And in Atlanta, THE BLUE FLAME LOUNGE proves the point. Talk about hot and this black gentlemen’s club is bound to come up. The world’s starting to catch on that nights in the A-Town shake clubs are off the heezy, and the tight, bouncing beats and round booties at this club only minutes from downtown confirm that. To top it off, table dances are only $5, so you don’t have to be a big baller to party at the Blue Flame without getting too burned.
1097 Harwell Road. 404-794-1446. www.blueflamelounge.com.
Best Strip Club BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Urban Music Club BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best Urban Music Club BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Readers Pick
Best Weekly Club Night BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Promoters J. Carter and Kenny Burns may describe their popular nightclub event SOL-FUSION as an “intercontinental love fest,” but really it’s just one hell of a good time. No other event in Atlanta features music provided by some of the industry’s coolest personalities, such as ?uestlove and D-Nice, and a serious blend of genres from alt-rock to house to reggae. No other event assembles such a multicultural collection of people serious about partying, not posing.
www.sol-fusion.com.
Best Weekly Club Night BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best New Addition to the Cityscape BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » After Dark » Critics Pick
Best Day Trip BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Day Trip BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Georgia Beach Retreat BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
It may catch a lot of flack for its campy boardwalk and dated motels, but TYBEE ISLAND is a nostalgic alternative to the more highbrow St. Simons and Jekyll islands a little ways south. The three-mile-long barrier island sits 18 miles east of Savannah and 270 miles southeast of Atlanta and boasts Georgia’s oldest and tallest lighthouse — as well as a fair dose of old-fashioned fun, including an annual water gun fight and beach bum parade. The tin-roofed, open-air, sandy-floored Crab Shack (motto: “Where the elite eat in their bare feet”) is not to be missed.
www.tybeeisland.com.
Best Georgia Beach Retreat BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best New Addition to the Cityscape BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
When United Parcel Service went public in 1999, its generous employee stock option made millionaires out of longtime employees, from managers to delivery truck drivers. And UPS keeps on giving. Even part-time employees get full benefits, including forgivable student loans of $2,000 per year for four years. The company was ranked eighth in the U.S. for employee benefits by MONEY magazine. And Fortune ranked UPS No. 23 out of 1,000 companies for minority employment.
55 Glenlake Parkway. 800-742-5877. www.ups.com.
Best Bizarro Local News Story BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Bizarro Local News Story BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Best Georgia Mountain Retreat BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Georgia Mountain Retreat BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Named for its sheer, dark-hued cliffs, BLACK ROCK MOUNTAIN STATE PARK sits in the far northeast corner of the state, where Georgia meets the Carolinas. With an altitude topping out at 3,640 feet, it also boasts the highest point in a Georgia state park, offering 80-mile views of the southern Appalachians. The 1,740-acre park also is home to fields of wildflowers; 11 miles of trails; a 17-acre lake for catching bass, bream, catfish, perch and trout; and 64 campsites, ranging from $3-$21 per night.
800-864-7275. gastateparks.org/info/blackrock.
Best Rock Climbing Wall BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Contribution to Atlanta’s Urban Design BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
It takes a tenacious neighborhood group to get Wal-Mart to listen. But UNDERWOOD HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION did just that, making sure the store’s developers heard residents’ concerns about the Wal-Mart superstore that will anchor a mixed-use project off Howell Mill Road near I-75 (formerly the site of the Tudor-style Castlegate Hotel). The association played an active role in the decision to build the store — and most of its parking — underground, reducing the big box eyesore. And although the association did run off a Home Depot, its treaty with Wal-Mart represents a compromise other neighborhood groups have been unwilling to make.
www.underwoodhills.org.
Best Convention BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
This year, Atlanta lost several trade shows, some of whose organizers blamed an economic slump for diminished interest in the events. Despite the losses, the BRONNER BROS. INTERNATIONAL HAIR SHOW, hosted by the Marietta-based hair product company and drawing 50,000 people to the Georgia World Congress Center every August, is holding up Atlanta’s reputation as a convention town with the tenaciousness of a tub of African Royale Mink Oil Gel. From intense barber battles to outlandish hairstyles bobbing down the fashion runway, the convention is so iconic that Ludacris gives it props in his track “Pimpin’ All Over the World”: “But I drop you off and pay you no attention/If I make it to Atlanta’s Bronner Brothers convention.”
www.bronnerbros.com.
Best Country Music Station BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Golf Course BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Neighborhood to Have It All BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
As small-town main streets go, one of the most charming in these parts belongs to the city of BUFORD, nestled in the northern tip of Gwinnett County. Founded in 1872, the city was put on the map by industrialist Bona Allen, who ran the tannery and leather factory — now fully renovated as an antique mall — that served as the town’s economic engine. In 1912, Allen built a 17-room Italianate mansion, and the home and tannery bookend Main Street, which is now lined by boutiques, antique shops, restaurants and galleries that double as working studios.
www.cityofbuford.com.
Best Public Art/Artwork BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Festivals BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Held the last weekend in April, the INMAN PARK FESTIVAL has all the offerings you’d expect from a such an event: a goofy parade, a street market, live music, and a tour of the neighborhood’s Victorian homes. But what sets the three-day festival apart is the people. Everyone, from everywhere in town, goes. The festival marks one of the rare occasions when stroller-pushing Virginia-Highlanders and well-heeled Ansley Parkers brush shoulders with Little Five Points bohos and south-of-Ponce hipsters. One bit of advice: Parking can be an exercise in futility. Take MARTA.
www.inmanpark.org/festival.php.
Best Jogging Path BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
Emory University’s 185-acre LULLWATER PARK, nestled between Clifton Road and Emory’s Clairmont Campus, is home to a scenic lake, mature trees, and well-developed paths. Venture on the dirt trail that circles the lake, or take advantage of the paved path that meanders through the entire park. Lullwater, which is popular with students and non-students, joggers, fishermen, and those seeking a quiet place to read, is also home to Emory University President James Wagner’s sprawling English Tudor-style home.
Entrance on Clifton Road, across from the medical school. www.emory.edu.
Best Jogging Path BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Overall Neighborhood BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Readers Pick
Best Overall Neighborhood BOA Award Winner
Section » Print Features » Special Issue » Best of Atlanta » 2005 » Cityscape » Critics Pick
After the textile boom hit Atlanta in the 1870s, villages started cropping up around the city’s cotton mills. When the mills closed, many of the mill towns disappeared. But not WHITTIER MILL VILLAGE. Located in the northwest corner of the city, about three miles off I-75, Whittier Mill is a 110-home neighborhood boasting homes built in the 19th century. An adjacent park is home to the mill’s original brick tower, where neighbors gather for picnics. And many of the houses — which sell for around $225,000 — include original heart-pine floors, bead-board walls, and an overall feeling of having traveled back in time.
www.atlantaga.gov/government/urbandesign_whittiermill.aspx.
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