There is a reason for everything...you just have to know the story. Welcome to Stories of Atlanta. Why was a major Atlanta avenue named after a 15th century conquistador who never came near Atlanta? Which Atlantan hit the longest home run in baseball history and how many miles did it travel? And why are there so many stories of Atlanta that no one knows? Lance Russell explores the history and the stories of Atlanta.
Virginia bonafide Light skin Black non Latino Spanish descent Georgia is forbidden it's a fuck not business only with that state I trust my discernment in this matter have a sweet day.
I enjoy the bite-size content. It's a lot of good information and being in a 5 minute story it's easy to pause my day and digest the information. I always walk away with something. Thanks
Matthew, thank you for watching and the feedback is appreciated. Don't know if you've noticed, but our Iron & Ambition videos are all loosely connected in chronological order. We've put them in a playlist for easy access.
Thank you so much for listening and then taking the time to comment…truly appreciated. As for the tone of my delivery, I can only quote that great American Popeye, I am what I am.
Thanks Frank! It was fun spending a few days roaming around the Municipal Market and getting to know some of the folks who work there. I appreciate you taking time to post a comment. - Lance
Stories of Atlanta is a great feature of the Saporta Report. Thank you! We have to know our history for lots of reasons. And it's often fun as in the story of the Municipal Market.
Thanks for the kind words Stuart! One of the reasons I've enjoyed learning about our city's history is the connection to my adopted home town that it has brought me. It's hard to explain, but, like so many before me, I came here in my youth because Atlanta held the promise of a better life for my family. Having now learned more than I ever expected to about the city, I feel closer to Atlanta than I could have ever imagined possible. Thanks for taking time to watch and to comment, and kudos to Maria Saporta for her support and her friendship.
Thanks for commenting Chad, glad you liked the story. We’d been wanting to experiment with some longer stories and the Booker T. Washington story was our first try.
Some Atlantans with a touch of gray in their hair (well, a lot of it for some of us) remember the old Grady hotel and its demise (along with the Roxy theater) for the erection of the majestic Peachtree Plaza. Situated next door then to Atlanta's 'other' downtown department store, Davidson's, (with apologies to Richard Rich), the structure began its ascent towards the heavens. Each floor was poured with reinforced concrete that was lifted from the street in large vessels suspended by heavy cables attached to a large rooftop crane that rose along with the structure. Before the mirrored glass windows were installed, the thing had the appearance of a very tall stack of gray colored record albums. When opened in 1976, it was the world's tallest hotel....but has been eclipsed by many other hotels since then. I recall once taking my wife's sister and her husband to dinner at the revolving Sundial restaurant on the 73rd floor on their visit from N.J. The woman was petrified of heights, and as the 'outside' elevator began to rise she turned inward towards the doorway...not wanting to see the view unfolding down below us. In 1981, the building would have a leading role in Burt Reynold's "Sharky's Machine". And the 2008 downtown tornado gave the building a 'gapped tooth' appearance for a while until hundreds of broken windows could be repaired. I don't think the restaurant revolves any longer following the tragic death of a child there some years ago. Carry on.
Well, here we are in late 2023 and it looks as if the "Centennial Yards" project may be slowly gaining steam....finally. Hope 2024 will see increased activity in the old 'Gulch'.
We can only hope Greg. The recent disappointment over the collapse of the Newport South Downtown development project reinforces the continuing relevance of the cautionary advice given by our elders about counting our chickens before the eggs hatch. On a more optimistic note, I believe those same elders also observed that hope springs eternal. Fingers crossed. Thanks for watching!
Yep...would'a....could'a....should'a indeed ! And how about that Omni...some of us witnessed our' Flames take the ice there under the careful coaching of Bernie 'Boom Boom ' Geoffrion. Ah...memories.
I remember Boom Boom. Thanks for the reminder. My Atlanta hockey memories go back to the Knights, probably because two of my kids, at the time the Knights were in Atlanta, were totally into ice hockey.
One of the best "stories", ever, Lance. I still can recall when Paige was signed by the Braves organization in 1968. Just 3 years earlier he had pitched 3 scoreless innings for the Kansas City As against the Boston Red Sox...becoming the oldest pitcher to pitch in an MLB game.
Thanks Greg, Paige was truly a remarkable ballplayer and the stories around him are the stuff of legend. I appreciate you taking the time to watch and post a comment.
Wouldn't it be nice if we were able to say that blacks were allowed in the theater, but in 1939 Jim Crow Atlanta, that was never going to happen. The Lowe's Grand was a segregated theater and inclusion in the 1930s was not a word spoken by city leaders. In fact, Hattie McDaniel, who played "Mammy" in GWTW and would go on to win an Oscar for her performance, was advised by just about everyone involved with the making of the movie and its premiere not to come to Atlanta. She was allowed to attend the Oscar ceremonies but was given a seat in the very back of the room. Oakland Cemetery's Blog has a good review of the movie and its relation to Atlanta and in it they reference McDaniel's absence from the premiere. You can find the blog post here: www.oaklandcemetery.com/gone-with-the-wind-premiere-80-years-later/
Appreciate the comment, thank you. If you haven't seen it, we have a story in our Iron and Ambition series titled "No Place Like Home," where we explain the origin of the name Slab Town. Here's a link: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hVlwsJsHN1U.htmlsi=jgqbs5CEoQMcrF_D
Thanks Unc...just FYI, our Iron & Ambition stories are a chronological account of the founding of Atlanta. You can find all of them, in order, in the playlist we've creatively titled "Iron & Ambition."
Very much against the DH, takes away from the small ball element of the beautiful game. That said based on data I've heard, I appear to be in the minority. As long as it's thriving, im sure I'll get over it. Thank you for all you do, signed an Expatriated Georgian.
Thanks for the comment Perry. Like it or not, it seems the DH is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. As with digital electronics, online shopping and GPS, generations of kids don't know the game of baseball without the designated hitter option. For better or worse, I'm sure, in the not too distant future, the same will be said about artificial intelligence And so it goes. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for watching and how cool that you have a connection to such a pioneer Atlantan...if only they had saved you a little piece of Reuben's part of land lot #78. They didn't, did they? 😲
Lance, we are so thrilled by your return. We've learned so much about our hometown and the people that have made it special. Thanks for telling our stories!
Thank you for watching our Stories of Atlanta series, much appreciated. You are correct, Rebecca Felton did talk about lynching black men and worse. Rebecca Felton owned slaves prior to the Civil War. She also gets credit for her work in the women's suffrage movement but she was far from a women's suffrage leader. It was peer pressure that pulled Felton off the sidelines and into the women's suffrage movement. She was also a feminist long before the term ever entered the American lexicon. Rebecca Felton had the courage of her convictions and was fearless in the face of the daunting, misogynistic beliefs of her time. She stood toe-to-toe with her detractors in the court of public opinion and in the Georgia General Assembly, as she did when she fervently argued agains the inhumanity of Georgia's convict leasing program. Like so many in our city's, and our nation's past, Rebecca Felton was a dichotomy and it is hard for us today to understand how she could do such good in her life while, at the same time, holding to beliefs that we find so abhorrent. In the end, I didn't forget about Felton's past, I chose to write a short story about the excitement of a little girl who rode the first train to ever leave Atlanta and ended her life topping that excitement at the age of 87 by stepping into the well of the U.S. Senate as the nation's first female Senator, albeit a ceremonious honor.
