The Coca-Cola corporate headquarters building on North Avenue, as seen from Civic Center Station

If you’re wondering why the Coke HQ building is decked out as if it’s about to walk down the aisle, CL has some explanation.

The white drape on the the 29-story building will be used as a screen to project images on during an event commemorating Coca-Cola’s 125th anniversary this weekend.

That’s not just any 350-foot, semi-opaque white sheet, by the way. If this permit application is to be believed, that’s about $600,000 worth of Odwalla, Vitamin Water and Simply Lemonade hanging up there.

Flickr photo by J. Yung

District 2 Councilman Kwanza Hall wants to see pedicabs back on the streets in Atlanta.

The three-wheeled people-pullers disappeared from the city in the 1990s, according to Sunday’s AJC story, after running afoul of the already highly competitive taxi industry.

But with pedicabs now operating in Decatur and Marietta, and a prominent council member behind the effort, things could work out differently this time.

Compact and pollution-free? Yes.

Cheaper than a taxi to go just a few blocks? Almost certainly.

But, will touists or locals take to them? They certainly didn’t seem to have any use for the Circulator bus routes several years ago, despite the effort and expense MARTA went to with buying new redesigning buses and heavily publicizing the new routes.

Horse-drawn carriages still manage to eke out some business, though. Maybe novelty is more of a draw than speed sometimes.

Has anyone lived anywhere that had a long-standing pedicab business? Ever used one? Would you?

Remember when this was a club? “Jaguar,” I think it was called. Now it’s just a very empty building on a very prominent corner. But that’s only half of what’s wrong. The other half is what’s not there.

Thousands of people live and work a 10-minute walk from that building, and that’s leaving aside the thousands of people who pass through Arts Center Station every day. If any of them need to buy anything other than prepared food or coffee, they have to go to the Publix near Midtown Station or in Atlantic Station, or to the CVS at Peachtree and 6th. That erstwhile nightspot would be the perfect site for a Walgreens or for someone local to open a drugstore/market combo. That parcel of land is pretty small, but a two-level or slightly downsized version could fit. It wouldn’t even need to be open 24 hours..

Two blocks south is this derelict duo, (whose appearance is not at all enhanced by the ever-droopier power lines). The one on the left is brick, so it might be salvageable…in a few years when we’ve run through the surplus of condos. It’s hard to think of something useful to build there, given the size and position of the lots.  How about replacing these two condemnations-in-waiting with a tiny park?

Another notable nowhere is the restaurant graveyard at the corner of Piedmont and Morosgo. I’ve lost count of the number of establishments that have met their doom there. Whatever occupies this site next, it obviously shouldn’t involve food. Same goes for its sister eyesore next door, the former Shoney’s.

Put those two lots together, though, and there’s enough space for a two-level gym built right on the street, with parking behind and beneath. With the Buckhead Crunch and Lindbergh Bally both sunk, there’s not a full-service fitness facility in that neighborhood any more. People who pass through Lindbergh Station could get their workouts in right before or after work without having to think about parking.(Of course what really ought to be on that corner is a stop for the light rail line that should be running the length of Piedmont from Turner Field to Roswell Road, but that’s a whole different fantasy.)

Finally, let’s not leave out everyone’s favorite conspicuous void: The Mistake Streets of Buckhead.
The whole “Rodeo Drive of the Southeast” notion might need some adjustment at this point. Obviously, some degree of fancy-ness is required to generate the “destination” aspect Ben Carter is so hot on, so you can’t stack it with stores in the vein of Forever 21. But you also can’t keep a development going on platinum yo-yos and yoga mats for teacup poodles. Even people who can buy $1000 purses aren’t going to come around for one every week.

So, what DO we need right there? Other than the MARTA station that should have been built there 20 years ago, that is.

I could go on and on (I really could) about all the nothings that ought to be somethings around here. What empty or underutilized space is bugging you? If you had several million dollars burning a hole in your pocket, what project would you put some of the metro area’s roughly 275,000 unemployed people to work on?

James made a comment about seeing Atlanta through other people’s eyes, and it got me thinking a little bit.  I enjoy seeing Atlanta through his eyes, as well, because there are tons of things that I take for granted or just don’t think are a big deal because I’ve been here for so long.  I don’t really get the big deal about the Starlight Drive-In on Moreland, for example.  I actually haven’t been too many times because I used to go up to the twin drive-in on I-85 where the spaceship-looking Hollywood 24 is now.  I prefer the whole theater experience, but all my friends who grew up in the ‘burbs or moved here from elsewhere just love the Starlight.  I’ve got plenty of friends who grew up here who like it just fine, but to them it’s mostly just a drive-in.  Sure, you can brink a six pack and drink while you watch the movie, but I’m not sure that should elevate the place to mythic status.

Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about was Woody’s.  Chances are you drove by it on Monroe and it was closed.  The same two guys have been working the counter as long as I can remember.  They have the worst hours (11-5, T-Sat), and I wouldn’t understand how they stay in business except that they have the best cheesesteaks in town.  While I can’t really give you an objective view of the place since I’ve been going there forever, I had lunch there today with a friend who moved here from Virginia some years ago.  We both inhaled the cheesesteaks so fast that that we had to catch our breath afterwards.  The same thing happens to me when I eat a double quarter pounder at McDonald’s.  I forget to breathe and I sit around gasping like a fish.

Like I said, I don’t have an objective view of Woody’s, since it has always been a part of my life.  If it were open more I’m sure I’d go there a lot more often, but for now I only end up there every few months.  It also isn’t the sort of place I hear many people talk about, so I thought I’d give it some love here on the Metblog.  An old timer’s trick though – if you go, order ahead.  The wait can get pretty bad, although it is definitely worth it.  You want a cheesesteak all the way, with extra meat.  If you are feeling ambitous, their milk shakes are pretty good.

A fairly small and quiet contingent of a dozen or so anti-abortion/right-to-life activists were on the Georgia Tech side of the 10th Street bridge this morning.  They had graphic signs and red shirts (I didn’t catch the denominational affiliation or specific church).

They disbanded at about 9:30 or so as my wife and I were returning from daycare on our way to work.

Thankfully our 5-year-old didn’t see them on the way over the bridge.

As much as I disagree with their views AND support their right to express them, I’m fairly certain my wife would have jumped out of a moving car to beat one of them had her little girl seen the aborted fetus on their signs.

I’m just sayin’.

If you’ve got a picture or your own recollection, share a comment.

Keeping Midtown dimly lit (if at all) since this morning.

[Via Amber on Twitter]

Anyone else thinking of that commercial where the squirrel causes the traffic accident or, perhaps, the farting squirrel ad?

I need to get out more often.