The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Prototype of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution redesign
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner	Cox Enterprises
Editor	Kevin Riley
Founded	Constitution: 1868 Journal: 1883 Journal-Constitution: 2001
Headquarters	Dunwoody, Georgia USA
Circulation	195,592 Daily 397,925 Sunday[1]
ISSN	1539-7459
Official website	ajc.com

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. The staff was combined in 1982. Separate publication of the morning Constitution and afternoon Journal ended in 2001.^[2] The AJC has its headquarters in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody, Georgia. It is also co-owned with television flagship WSB-TV and six radio stations, which are located separately in midtown.

Subsequent to the staff consolidation of 1982, the afternoon Journal maintained a center-right editorial stance, while the editorials and op-eds in the morning Constitution were liberal. When the editions combined in 2001, the editorial page staffs also merged. The editorials and op-eds have attempted to strike a more "balanced" tone. Most of the paper's editorial stances have been closer to those of the old Constitution. The combined paper endorsed John Kerry for president in 2004; in 2000 the Constitution endorsed Al Gore while the Journal endorsed George W. Bush. The paper condemned Bush's decision to allow the National Security Agency to spy on phone conversations in the United States without a warrant by calling his actions a "clear, present danger".

[edit] The Atlanta Journal

The Atlanta Journal was established in 1883. Founder E.F. Hoge sold the paper to Atlanta lawyer Hoke Smith in 1887. After the Journal supported Presidential candidate Grover Cleveland in the 1892 election, Smith was named as Secretary of the Interior by the victorious Cleveland. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Margaret Mitchell worked for the Journal from 1922 to 1926. Important for the development of her 1936 Gone With the Wind were the series of profiles of prominent Georgia Civil War generals she wrote for The Atlanta Journal's Sunday Magazine, the research for which, scholars believe, led her to her work on the novel. In 1922, the Journal founded the South's first radio station, WSB AM 740 (now 750). The radio station and the newspaper were sold in 1939 to James Middleton Cox, founder of what would become Cox Enterprises. The Journal carried the motto "Covers Dixie like the Dew".

[edit] The Atlanta Constitution

Constitution building 1890

The Constitution, as it was originally known, was first published on June 16, 1868. Its name changed to The Atlanta Constitution in October 1869.^[3] It was such a force that by 1871 it had killed off the Daily Intelligencer, the only Atlanta paper to survive the American Civil War. In August 1875 its name changed to The Atlanta Daily Constitution for two weeks, then to The Constitution again for about a year.^[4] In 1876 Captain Evan Howell (a former Intelligencer city editor) purchased a controlling interest and became its editor-in-chief. That same year, Joel Chandler Harris began writing for the paper. He soon invented the character of Uncle Remus, a black storyteller, as a way of recounting stories from African-American culture. In October 1876 the newspaper became The Daily Constitution, before settling on the name The Atlanta Constitution in September 1881.^[5] During the 1880s, editor Henry W. Grady was a spokesman for the "New South," and encouraged industrial development.

The Constitution started the second radio station, WGM AM 710, having received its Federal Radio Commission broadcast license in March 1922, just two or four days after WSB. It is now succeeded by WGST AM 640, though its original facility (after frequency changes to 1110 and 890) is now WGKA AM 920. The station folded after just over a year, and was donated to the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Tech).

Ralph McGill, editor for the Constitution in the 1940s, was one of the few southern newspaper editors to support the American Civil Rights Movement. In 1946, reporter David Snell uncovered that Japan had developed its own atomic bomb prior to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.^[6]

From the 1970s until his death in 1994, Lewis Grizzard was a popular humor columnist for the Constitution. He portrayed Southern "redneck" culture with a mixture of ridicule and respect. Other noteworthy editors of The Atlanta Constitution include J. Reginald Murphy. "Reg" Murphy gained notoriety with his 1974 kidnapping. Murphy later served as editor of the San Francisco Examiner.

The Constitution won numerous Pulitzer Prizes. In 1931 it won a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for exposing corruption at the local level. In 1959, The Constitution won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for Ralph McGill's editorial "A Church, A School....". In 1967 it was awarded another Pulitzer Prize for Eugene Patterson's editorials. In 1960, Jack Nelson won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, by exposing abuses at Milledgeville State Hospital for the mentally ill. In 1988 the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning went to the Constitution's Doug Marlette. Mike Luckovich received a Pulitzer Prize in 1995 and 2006. Cynthia Tucker also received a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

Merger[link]

Cox Enterprises bought the Constitution in June 1950, bringing both newspapers under one ownership and combining sales and administrative offices. Separate newsrooms were kept until 1982, though even after the newsrooms were combined, both papers continued to be published. The Journal, an afternoon paper, led the morning Constitution until the 1970s, when afternoon papers began to fall out of favor with subscribers. In November 2001, the two papers, which were once fierce competitors, merged to produce one daily morning paper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The two papers had published a combined edition on weekends and holidays for years.

Prior to the merger, both papers had planned to start TV stations: WSB-TV 8 for the Journal, and WCON-TV 2 for the Constitution. Only WSB actually got on the air (making it the first TV station in the South), moving from channel 8 to WCON's allotment on channel 2 in 1951 to avoid TV interference from a nearby channel 9. (WROM-TV since moved, leaving WGTV on 8, after it was also used by WLWA-TV, now WXIA-TV 11.) This was also necessary to satisfy Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules preventing the excessive concentration of media ownership, preventing the combined paper from running two stations.

In 1989, Bill Dedman received the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for "The Color of Money," his expose on racial discrimination in mortgage lending, or redlining, by Atlanta banks.^[7] The newspapers' editor, Bill Kovach, had resigned in November 1988 after the stories on banks and others had ruffled feathers in Atlanta. (see Anne Cox Chambers).

In 1993, Mike Toner received the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting for "When Bugs Fight Back," his series about organisms and their resistance to antibiotics and pesticides.

Julia Wallace was named the first female editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2002. In 2005 she was named Editor of the Year in 2005 by Editor and Publisher magazine.^[8]

Mike Luckovich again won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial cartooning in 2006, an award he had received in 1995 under The Atlanta Constitution banner.

Circulation[link]

The paper used to cover all 159 counties in Georgia, and the bordering counties of western North Carolina where many Atlantans vacation or have second homes, in addition to some circulation in other bordering communities, such as Tallahassee, Florida, where the Sunday AJC was available. Due to the downturn in the newspaper industry, it contracted dramatically in the late 2000s to only serve the metro area.^[9] Since Q1 of 2007 to Q1 of 2010, daily circulation has plunged over 44%.^[10]

Headquarters[link]

The AJC has its headquarters in Perimeter Center, an office district of Dunwoody, Georgia.^[11][12][13] Previously the AJC headquarters were in Downtown Atlanta near the Five Points district.^[14] In August 2009, the AJC occupied less than 30 percent of its downtown location, which was outdated and costly to maintain. Later that year, the AJC consolidated its printing operations by transferring the downtown production center to the Gwinnett County facility. In 2010 the newspaper relocated its headquarters to leased offices in Dunwoody, a northern suburb of Atlanta.^[13] In November 2010, the former Downtown headquarters was donated to the city of Atlanta, which plans to convert the building into a fire and police training academy.

Parts of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution[link]

The AJC has four major sections daily. On Sundays, it has additional sections. The main section usually consists of Georgia news, Nationwide news, World news, and Business news. Another AJC section is called Metro. This includes major headlines from the Metro-Atlanta area. The Metro section usually reports the weather as well. The next section is Sports. The Sports section reports anything sports related. The Metro and Sports sections often contain "The Vent" where readers vent about things that are currently happening. The final section of the daily AJC is Living. In this section, you will find articles, recipes, reviews, movie times, a sudoku, a crossword puzzle, and a word scramble. Also, it usually contains the comics, however, on Sundays, the comics are a separate section.

See also[link]

	Atlanta portal
	Journalism portal

• Atlanta Constitution Building (AJC's former headquarters)

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

• Perry, Chuck. 2004. "Atlanta Journal-Constitution". New Georgia Encyclopedia Georgia Humanities Council.

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official mobile website
• Politifact Georgia
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution (in the New Georgia Encyclopedia)
• Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive Digital Library of Georgia

Atlanta
—  City  —
City of Atlanta
From top to bottom left to right: Atlanta skyline seen from Buckhead, Fox Theatre, Georgia State Capitol, Centennial Olympic Park, Millennium Gate, Canopy Walk, Georgia Aquarium, The Phoenix statue, and Midtown skyline from Piedmont Park
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): Hotlanta, The ATL, ATL, The A,[1] Gate City[2] (historic), City in a Forest[3]
Motto: Resurgens (Latin for rising again)
City highlighted in Fulton County, location of Fulton County in the state of Georgia
Atlanta Location of the city of Atlanta, Georgia
Coordinates: 33°45′18″N 84°23′24″W / 33.755°N 84.39°W / 33.755; -84.39Coordinates: 33°45′18″N 84°23′24″W / 33.755°N 84.39°W / 33.755; -84.39
Country	United States of America
State	Georgia
County	Fulton and DeKalb
Terminus	1837
Marthasville	1843
City of Atlanta	1847
Government
• Mayor	Kasim Reed
Area
• City	132.4 sq mi (343.0 km2)
• Land	131.8 sq mi (341.2 km2)
• Water	0.6 sq mi (1.8 km2)
• Urban	1,963 sq mi (5,080 km2)
• Metro	8,376 sq mi (21,690 km2)
Elevation	738 to 1,050 ft (225 to 320 m)
Population (2010)
• City	420,003
• Density	3,190/sq mi (1,232/km2)
• Urban	4,750,000
• Urban density	2,420/sq mi (935/km2)
• Metro	5,268,860 (9th)
• Metro density	630/sq mi (243/km2)
Demonym	Atlantan[4]
Race and ethnicity – City (2010)
• Black	54.0%
• White	38.4%
• White (non-Hispanic)	36.3%
• Asian	3.1%
• Hispanic (any race)	5.2%
Language spoken at home – City (2008)
• English	83.3%[5]
• Spanish	8.8%[5]
• Other Indo-European languages	3.9%[5]
• Asian languages	2.8%[5]
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code(s)	30060, 30301-30322, 30324-30334, 30336-30350, 30353
Area code(s)	404, 470, 678, 770
FIPS code	13-04000[6]
GNIS feature ID	0351615[7]
Website	atlantaga.gov

Atlanta ( /ətˈlæntə/, stressed /ætˈlæntə/, locally  /ætˈlænə/) is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia with a 2010 population of 420,003.^[8] Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest in the U.S.^[9] It is a major component of a growing southeastern megalopolis known as the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.

Atlanta began as a settlement located at the terminus of a railroad line, and it was incorporated in 1845. Today, the city is a major business city and the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States (via highway, railroad, and air), with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998.^{[10][11][12][13]} The World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University rated Atlanta as an "alpha(-) world city."^[14] With a gross domestic product of US$270 billion, Atlanta's economy ranks 15th among world cities and sixth in the nation.^[15] The city is a center for services, finance, information technology, government, and higher education. Metro Atlanta contains the country's third largest concentration^[16] of Fortune 500 companies, and is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, Turner Broadcasting, The Home Depot, AT&T Mobility, UPS, and Delta Air Lines. As of 2010, Atlanta is the seventh most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.^[17]

The city has long been known as a center of black wealth, political power and culture; a cradle of the Civil Rights Movement^[18] and home to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, the city's white population is growing rapidly, while Metro Atlanta has quickly become ethnically diverse with large Hispanic and Asian populations. The arts and entertainment are well represented in Atlanta, and the city is an important base for hip hop, gospel, and neo soul music; in addition, it has become a major center of film and TV production. Atlanta stands out among major U.S. cities for its dense tree coverage. In 1996, Atlanta hosted the Summer Olympics, an event that spurred a wave of gentrification that has intensified into the 21st century, revitalizing the city's center and in-town neighborhoods.

History[link]

Marietta Street, 1864

In 1836 the Georgia General Assembly voted to build a railroad to provide a trade route to the Midwestern United States, and its terminus was chosen in 1837. In 1839 homes and a store were built there and by 1842, the settlement – now named Atlanta – had six buildings and 30 residents. By 1854 rail lines had arrived from four different directions, making the young town the rail hub for the entire Southern United States.

During the American Civil War, Atlanta was an important railroad and military supply hub. In 1864, the city became the target of a major Union invasion during the Atlanta campaign. In 1864 Atlanta was under union siege for four months. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered all public buildings and Confederate assets destroyed. On September 2, the city surrendered, and on September 7 Sherman ordered evacuation four days before ordering Atlanta to be burned to the ground.

The city recovered quickly from the Civil War and grew quickly into a transportation, trade and industrial powerhouse of the Southeast. Henry W. Grady, the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, promoted the city to investors as a city of the "New South," by which he meant a diversification of the economy away from agriculture, and a shift from the "Old South" attitudes of slavery and rebellion. As part of the effort to modernize the South, Grady and many others also supported the creation of the Georgia School of Technology (now the Georgia Institute of Technology), which was founded on the city's northern outskirts in 1885. The city of Atlanta's new symbol, the Phoenix, symbolized this spirit of rebirth. By 1890, the city had a population over 65,000; by 1910, the city had more than 150,000 residents. Skyscrapers began emerging with the 1892 Equitable Building and the 1897 Flatiron Building. The city of Atlanta quickly became a center of Southern business. By 1906, the 17-story Candler Building housed Asa Candler's Coca-Cola company. Atlanta's growth was almost unimpeded from 1870 to 1930, with a small interruption during WWI.

Despite discrimination and segregation during the early 1900s, a prosperous black middle class and upper class emerged in Atlanta. Desegregation came in stages: buses and trolleys in 1959,^[19] the first restaurants in 1961,^[20] theaters in 1962.^[21][22] and public schools from 1961–73.^[23]

In the 1960s, Atlanta was a major center of the US Civil Rights Movement, with Martin Luther King and students from Atlanta's historically black colleges and universities playing major roles in the movement's leadership. On October 19, 1960, a sit-in at the lunch counters of several Atlanta department stores led to the arrest of Dr. King and several students, drawing attention from the media and presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. The 1970s saw the election of the first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, most of the MARTA system's construction, and major suburban growth. The 80s saw the launch of CNN and Atlanta hosting the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

In the 1990s, Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport became the busiest in the world. The 21st century saw a tornado hit Downtown in 2008, floods in the region, the adoption of a plan to add 40% more green space, the rise of Delta to the rank of world's largest airline, and rapid gentrification of many central neighborhoods.

Geography[link]

The city of Atlanta from Stone Mountain. Downtown and Midtown to the left, and Buckhead to the right.

The city of Atlanta from Stone Mountain. Downtown and Midtown to the left, and Buckhead to the right.

Topography[link]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city encompasses 132.4 square miles (342.9 km²), of which 131.7 square miles (341.1 km²) is land and 0.7 square miles (1.8 km²) is water. At about 1,050 feet (320 m) above mean sea level, Atlanta sits atop a ridge south of the Chattahoochee River.

The Eastern Continental Divide line enters Atlanta from the south, proceeding to the downtown area. From downtown, the divide line runs eastward along DeKalb Avenue and the CSX rail lines through Decatur.^[24] Rainwater that falls on the south and east side runs eventually into the Atlantic Ocean, while rainwater on the north and west side of the divide runs into the Gulf of Mexico^[24] via the Chattahoochee River. That river is part of the ACF River Basin, and from which Atlanta and many of its neighbors draw most of their water. Being at the far northwestern edge of the city, much of the river's natural habitat is still preserved, in part by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Downstream however, excessive water use during droughts and pollution during floods has been a source of contention and legal battles with neighboring states Alabama and Florida.^[25][26]

Climate and environment[link]

Atlanta has a humid subtropical climate, (Cfa) according to the Köppen classification, with hot, humid summers and cool winters that are occasionally cold by the standards of the southern United States. January averages 42.7 °F (5.9 °C), with temperatures in the suburbs slightly cooler. Warm, maritime air can bring springlike highs while strong Arctic air masses can push lows into the teens (−11 to −7 °C). High temperatures in July average 89 °F (31.7 °C) but occasionally exceed to near 100 °F (38 °C). Atlanta's high mean elevation distinguishes it from most other southern and eastern cities, and contributes to a more temperate climate than is found in areas farther south.^[27] Humid in the summer, Atlanta often experiences summer thunderstorms.

Typical of the southeastern U.S., Atlanta receives abundant rainfall, which is relatively evenly distributed throughout the year, though spring and early fall are markedly drier. Average annual rainfall is 50.2 inches (1,280 mm). Temperatures at or above 90 °F (32 °C) occur more than 40 days per year; overnight freezing can be expected over 45 days, but high temperatures that do not climb above the freezing mark are rare. Annual snowfall averages 2.5 inches (6.4 cm). True blizzards are rare but possible; the heaviest single storm brought around 16 inches (40.6 cm) on March 12–14, 1993 during the Storm of the Century.^[28] Ice storms usually cause more trouble than does snowfall; the most severe such storms may have occurred on January 7, 1973 and January 9, 2011.^[29]

Atlanta's Piedmont Park, with a blanket of winter snow.

Extremes range from −9 °F (−23 °C) in February 1899 to 105 °F (41 °C) in July 1980.^[30] More recently, a low of −8 °F (−22 °C) -- one degree away from the record -- was observed on January 21, 1985.^[30]

Cityscape[link]

Architecture in Atlanta is dominated by modernism and postmodernism in its commercial and institutional buildings, with a significant influence by hometown architect John Portman. A few notable buildings remain from earlier eras going back to the 1880s, but not a single building remains from the antebellum city, which Union troops burned to the ground in 1864.^{[note 1]} Residential architecture in Atlanta's Intown neighborhoods, largely built between the 1880s and 1920s, is characterized by styles ranging from Victorian cottages to Craftsman bungalows to Revival styles; Atlanta's outer neighborhoods were built in post-World War II suburban styles. Historically, industry located next to the rail lines, and repurposed industrial structures can be found near those rail lines which both approach Downtown Atlanta from all directions, as well as surround it in a belt pattern, passing through the city's inner neighborhoods.

Midtown Atlanta from the Northwest near the Cobb County/Fulton County border on the Chattahoochee River. In the middle is the largest mosque in Atlanta (Masjid Al-Farooq) .Atlantic Station is visible to the left with the Atlantic skyscraper in the foreground. April 2010

Bank of America Plaza, the tallest building in Georgia

Most of Atlanta was burned during the Civil War, depleting it its antebellum architecture. Yet Atlanta, architecturally, had never been particularly "southern." Because Atlanta originated as a railroad town, rather than a patrician southern seaport like Savannah or Charleston, many of the city's landmarks could have easily been erected in the Northeast or Midwest.^[34] After the war, Atlanta viewed itself as the leading city of a progressive "New South," and opted for expressive modern structures.^[35]

Candler Building (1906)

As a result of Atlanta's embrace of modernism, its cityscape is dominated by relatively recent architectural styles, containing works by most major U.S. firms and some of the more prominent architects of the 20th century, including Michael Graves, Richard Meier, Marcel Breuer, Renzo Piano, Pickard Chilton, and locally based, internationally known Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam Architects. The city's skyline, which began its marked rise in the 1960s, is punctuated with highrise and midrise buildings of both modern and postmodern vintage. At 1,023 feet (312 m), Atlanta's tallest skyscraper—the Bank of America Plaza—is the 54th-tallest building in the world and the 9th tallest building in the United States.^[36]

The city's embrace of modernism and postmodernism resulted in an ambivalent approach toward historic preservation. Such an approach ultimately led to the destruction of notable architectural landmarks, including the Equitable Building (Atlanta's first skyscraper), Terminal Station, and the Carnegie Library. One of Atlanta's cultural icons, the Fox Theatre, would have met the same fate had it not been for a grassroots effort to save it in the mid-1970s.^[34]

Beath-Dickey House (1890), example of Queen Anne architecture, Inman Park

Atlanta contains more than 40 historic districts, nearly all NRHP-listed. The most notable residential historic districts include Druid Hills, with its parks and parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Inman Park with its Victorian mansions (also Olmsted), Virginia-Highland with its Craftsman bungalows, and Cabbagetown with its shotgun houses.

One Symphony Tower in Midtown

Notable industrial architecture includes Ponce City Market (formerly a Sears regional warehouse), the former Van Winkle Cotton Gin and Machine Works, Northyards (a converted roundhouse and rail yards), and other buildings in the Means Street Historic District, the proposed King Plow/Railroad Historic District, and on the Marietta Street Artery.

The city is divided into 25 neighborhood planning units or NPUs, which in turn are divided into 242 officially defined neighborhoods.^[37]

The three major high-rise districts within the city limits form a north-south axis along Peachtree: Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead.^[38] Surrounding these high-density districts are leafy single-family residential neighborhoods.^[39][40] Downtown contains many notable skyscrapers, the most office space in the metro area and many government offices. Further north is Midtown Atlanta, a major employment center, including many law offices.^[41] Between 1990 and 2010, a skyline of office and residential towers took shape. Upscale retail stores are opening, though scaled down from previous (2006) plans. Buckhead is eight miles (13 km) north of Downtown. The wealthy suburban area developed into a major commercial and financial center after Lenox Square mall opened in 1959. Skyscapers and hotels surround the mall, and around this commercial core are neighborhoods of single-family homes ranging from upper middle-class to very wealthy.

Rowhouses in Glenwood Park, an example of gentrification in Atlanta

Atlanta's east side is marked by historic streetcar suburbs built from the 1890s–1930s as havens for the upper middle class. Each of these neighborhoods are unique, containing separate commercial villages surrounded by leafy, architecturally distinct residential streets. East side neighborhoods include Victorian Inman Park and Grant Park, craftsman Virginia-Highland and Kirkwood, and Bohemian Candler Park and East Atlanta.^[42] In West Midtown, former warehouses and factories have been transformed into condos, apartments, retail space, art galleries, and sophisticated restaurants.^[43] It is largely in these areas where the gentrification of Atlanta has taken place, transformed the city since the 1996 Olympics. As of 2010, Buckhead and northeastern Atlanta were on average 80% white. Downtown, Midtown, West Midtown, and some close-in east side neighborhoods were the fastest growing areas of the city from 2000 to 2010.

Bungalows in Inman Park

Predominantly black neighborhoods cover 60% of the city's area: northwestern, southwestern, and southeastern Atlanta were 92% African American as of 2010. In Southwestern Atlanta, the areas closest to Downtown are streetcar suburbs such as the historic West End; these transition into postwar suburban neighborhoods, including Collier Heights and Cascade Heights, home to the city's established African-American elite.^[44][45] Further out are newer neighborhoods that are also havens for middle-class and upper-class black homeowners.^[46] From 2000 to 2010 there was rapid population loss in northwestern Atlanta (−24.1%) and southeastern Atlanta (−20.5%), while small areas at the far west perimeter like Ben Hill grew quickly (+45.8%).

The population of the Atlanta region spreads across a metropolitan area of 8,376 square miles (21,694 km²)—a land area larger than that of Massachusetts.^[47] Because Georgia contains the second highest number of counties in the country,^[48] area residents live under a heavily decentralized collection of governments. As of the 2000 census, fewer than one in twelve residents of the metropolitan area lived inside Atlanta city proper.^[49]

A 2008 aerial photo of Atlanta's urban core viewed from the Southwest near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Downtown Atlanta (in the foreground) is followed by Midtown, and then Buckhead. Sandy Springs and Dunwoody's Perimeter Center skyline is visible in the background. In 2008, the entire region had a population of 5,729,304.

Demographics[link]

The 2010 Census indicates a population of 420,003 –lower than 2009 estimate of 540,921.^[55] The difference between the 2010 official count and the 2009 estimates caused some to question the reliability of the 2010 count.^[56] However, Atlanta's daytime population is much larger. According to a 2000 daytime population estimate by the Census Bureau,^[57] over 250,000 more people commuted to Atlanta on any given workday, boosting the city's estimated daytime population to 676,431, an increase of 62.4% over the resident population, making it the largest gain in daytime population in the country among cities with fewer than 500,000 residents.

The median income for a household in the city was $47,464 and the median income for a family was $59,711. About 21.8% of the population and 17.2% of families lived below the poverty line.^[58]

In 2010, the city of Atlanta was 54.0% black, 38.4% white, down from 61.7% in 1960,^[59] and 3.1% Asian, with 5.2% Hispanic ancestry. 8.0% were foreign born, while the metro as a whole was 13.6% foreign-born.^{[60][61][62][63]}

Atlanta is the nation's 4th largest black-majority city and has long been known as a "black mecca" for its role as a center of black wealth, political power, education, and culture including film and music.^[64] However, the area's African Americans have rapidly suburbanized since 1990. The city's black population shrinking by 31,678 people from 2000 to 2010, a drop from 61.4% to 54.0% of the population.^{[65][66][66][67]} While blacks exited the city and neighboring DeKalb County, the black population increased sharply in other areas of Metro Atlanta by 93.1%.^[68]

The Atlanta metropolitan area is home to more than 44,000 Korean Americans, 38,000 Chinese Americans, and 37,000 Vietnamese Americans. Metro Atlanta has a sizable community of people of Indian origin, at over 79,000 residents. The Asian community is mostly prevalent in Gwinnett County, where people of Asian ancestry made up 10.6% of the county's residents as of 2010.^[69] Gwinnett County also has a high proportion of Hispanic people, mainly people of Mexican descent.

The proportion of whites in the city grew from 31.3% to 36.3% between 2000–2010.^{[note 2]} Between 2000–2006 the growth was the fastest amongst major cities.^{[note 3][67]} The city also became more diverse with portion of Non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks dropping from 97.1% to 90.3% between 1990–2010 while the Metro area diversified much more quickly. The Hispanic and Asian populations doubled to become 10% and 5% of the population respectively between 2000 an 2010.^[70]

Atlanta has one of the highest LGBT populations per capita, ranking 3rd of all major cities, behind San Francisco and Seattle, with 12.8% of the city's total population recognizing themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.^[71][72]

According to the 2000 United States Census (revised in 2004), Atlanta has the twelfth highest proportion of single-person households nationwide among cities of 100,000 or more residents, which was at 39%.^[73]

Economy[link]

The Coca-Cola world headquarters

Atlanta is one of ten U.S. cities classified as an "alpha-world city" by a 2010 study at Loughborough University,^[74] and ranks fourth in the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered within city boundaries, behind New York City, Houston, and Dallas.^[75] Several major national and international companies are headquartered in metro Atlanta, including four Fortune 100 companies: The Coca-Cola Company, Home Depot, United Parcel Service, Delta Air Lines, AT&T Mobility, and Newell Rubbermaid. Over 75% of the Fortune 1000 companies have a presence in the Atlanta area, and the region hosts offices of about 1,250 multinational corporations. As of 2006 Atlanta Metropolitan Area ranks as the 10th largest cybercity (high-tech center) in the US, with 126,700 high-tech jobs.^[76]

Delta Air Lines is the city's largest employer and the metro area's third largest.^[77] Delta operates the world's largest airline hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and, together with the hub of competing carrier AirTran Airways, has helped make Hartsfield-Jackson the world's busiest airport, both in terms of passenger traffic and aircraft operations. The airport, since its construction in the 1950s, has served as a key engine of Atlanta's economic growth.^[78]

Atlanta has a sizable financial sector. SunTrust Banks, the seventh largest bank by asset holdings in the United States,^[79] has its home office on Peachtree Street in downtown.^[80] The Federal Reserve System has a district headquarters in Atlanta; the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which oversees much of the deep South, relocated from downtown to Midtown in 2001.^[81] | City, state and civic leaders harbor long-term hopes of having the city serve as the home of the secretariat of a future Free Trade Area of the Americas.^[82]

Atlanta's biotechnology sector is growing, gaining recognition through such events as the 2009 BIO International Convention.^[83] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are located adjacent to Atlanta and to the Emory University campus, with a staff of nearly 15,000.^[84] Atlanta is also the headquarters of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region II.

The city is a major cable television programming center. Ted Turner began the Turner Broadcasting System media empire in Atlanta, and established the headquarters of the Cable News Network at CNN Center, adjacent today to Centennial Olympic Park. As his company grew, its other channels centered their operations in Atlanta as well. Turner Broadcasting is a division of Time Warner. In 2008 Tyler Perry established his studios in Southwest Atlanta; and in 2010 EUE/Screen Gems opened soundstages in Lakewood Heights, south Atlanta. (See also: Film industry in Georgia (U.S. state)) The Weather Channel has its offices in the Cumberland district northwest of downtown Atlanta.

Cox Enterprises, headquartered in Sandy Springs, has substantial media holdings in and beyond Atlanta.^[85][86] Its Cox Communications division is the third-largest cable television service provider in the United States.^[87]

Left: Federal Reserve Bank in Midtown Atlanta. Center: CNN Center. Right: Delta Air Lines headquarters.

Culture[link]

The High Museum of Art, a division of the Woodruff Arts Center in Midtown Atlanta

Atlanta, while geographically at the center of the American South, has a culture that is no longer strictly Southern. More than half of Metro Atlanta residents were born outside Georgia^[88] including 13% born outside the U.S.^[89] Atlanta's culture reveals itself at the High Museum of Art, the bohemian shops of Little Five Points, at its many neighborhood festivals, and in the cuisines from around the world found along Buford Highway.^[90]

Arts and entertainment[link]

Atlanta has flourishing music, fine art, and theater scenes. It has also become a major regional center for film and television production.

In music, Atlanta has been called the "center of gravity" for hip hop, including Southern hip hop, and is also an important center for R&B and of neo soul. The city is the current home or birthplace of many hip-hop artists including Lil Jon, Ludacris, and Usher. It is also a center of gospel music where the Gospel Music Association Dove Awards take place. Atlanta also has strong live music, pop, rock, indie-rock, country, blues and jazz scenes, including artists such as the Indigo Girls, and Outkast. From the 1920s through 1950s, Atlanta, with its many mill workers from Appalachia bringing their music with them, became a major center for country music.^[91]

The Fox Theatre is a historic landmark and is among the highest grossing theatres in of its size.^[92] The city also has a large collection of highly successful music venues of various sizes that host top and emerging touring acts including the Tabernacle, the Variety Playhouse and The Masquerade.

The High Museum of Art is arguably the South's leading art museum. Other art institutions include the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA), the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, and the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory, containing the largest collection of ancient art in the Southeast.^[93]

Theater groups include the Alliance Theater, winner of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award, the internationally known Center for Puppetry Arts and dozens of other groups across the city and Metro Atlanta.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra plays at its concert hall at the Woodruff Arts Center in Midtown, which also houses the High Museum of Art and Alliance Theatre. The Atlanta Opera and The Atlanta Ballet usually perform at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre at the city's northwest edge. Atlanta's renowned classical musicians have included conductors Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony's Robert Spano.

In literature, Atlanta has been the home of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind, one of the best-selling books of all time; Alice Walker, author of Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple; Alfred Uhry, playwright of Driving Miss Daisy, and Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Brer Rabbit children's stories. Famous journalists include Ralph McGill, the anti-segregationist editor and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper. Atlanta is also the home of contemporary editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich, who is syndicated nationally to 150 newspapers.

Atlanta has become a major regional center for film and television production, especially since 2008 when Georgia state tax credits were increased. Tyler Perry Studios, TurnerStudios and EUE/Screen Gems studios are located in the city. Metro Atlanta is frequently seen in films and on TV including the top-rated Real Housewives of Atlanta, Drop Dead Diva, The Walking Dead, and The Vampire Diaries. Atlanta has gained recognition as a center of production of horror and zombie-related productions,^[94] with Atlanta magazine dubbing the city the "Zombie Capital of the World".^[95][96] The city was most famously the setting for the film Gone with the Wind, while the nearby CDC is often mentioned in fiction novels. In addition to numerous other film festivals, Atlanta is the host of the Atlanta Film Festival, an Academy Award qualifying, international film festival held every April and showcasing a diverse range of independent films, including genre films such as horror and sci-fi.

Tourism[link]

Multimedia exhibit at the MLK Historic Site

As of 2010, the city is the seventh-most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.^[17] The city was the 12th most popular destination for overseas visitors, who numbered 712,000 in total (2010).^[97]

Atlanta's museums, the High in particular (see Museums in Atlanta) are a great draw, as are the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, the Georgia Aquarium (the world's largest indoor aquarium),^[98] and the World of Coca-Cola.

Other museums include the Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum, the Carter Center and Presidential Library, and the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum (where Mitchell wrote Gone With the Wind). Museums geared specifically towards children include the Fernbank Science Center and Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta. The Atlanta Botanical Garden, next to Piedmont Park, is home to the only canopy-level pathway of its kind in the U.S., 600-foot-long (180 m). Zoo Atlanta, located in Grant Park, is one of only four zoos in the U.S. currently housing giant pandas.^[99]

Outdoor events and attractions are plentiful. Piedmont Park hosts many of Atlanta's festivals, including the annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival, Festival Peachtree Latino, Music Midtown, and Atlanta Pride.^[100] Most older intown neighborhoods hold yearly festivals as well, such as the Inman Park Festival and Virginia-Highland Summerfest. Yearly traditions include the Southeastern Flower Show, and at Christmastime the Macy's (originally Rich's) Great Tree and "Pink Pig" ride at Macy's Lenox Square.

A meal at The Varsity

Cuisine[link]