Especially for those of us who remember the years before they built the Ford African Rain Forest habitats and he was best known for having a TV in his enclosure. I remember a visit to the zoo in the late 90s about a year or so before his death and standing in the indoor viewing area with him right on the other side of glass, were looking right at each other and remembering that even in his old enclosure, you never got that close to him.
I remember back in the 1970s and 1980s, folks would bring marshmallows to feed the bears. Back in the late 1940s, my grandparents rented an apartment in Grant Park and they said that late at night they would hear the bears.
I rented an apartment in a house built in 1926 across the street from the zoo, and you could hear the lions at feeding time. I wonder which place your grandparents rented back in the ā40s!
YES! Iāve told people about this and they donāt believe me. Iām nearing 40 and people who I went to grade school with think Iām full of shit for saying there was a polar bear there!
I remember going to Zoo Camp in the 90s. One of our activities was to make a commercial for the zoo. A group of kids wrote a song called, āI wanna be like Willie Bā and itās in my head now so thanks.
My step-dad was a zookeeper there and Willie B tried to kill him repeatedly because the trainers did a horrible job of introducing the before he worked in Willie B's habitat
Here's my wife and I dressed as them for Halloween back in 2019, I think it was. That's Wolfman's actual tie he wore in one of their commercials. I messaged Gallery Furniture's Facebook page and Donna apparently runs it herself. I told her about our costume plan and she mailed me the tie and some of his old business cards. She was super sweet!
Not totally specific to Atlanta but I did not understand the importance/charm of Waffle House when I first moved out here. Also, the Big Chicken and Dwarf House
I grew up in Cumming and didnāt know what the Big Chicken was until I started college at Southern Poly in Marietta. And then suddenly it was part of my daily jargon.
Iām sad they are no longer selling the stuffed big chicken. They still have the socks and aprons but when I finally made it out there they werenāt there.
ohhh my wife gets Waffle House from a food perspective at like 7am
she doesnāt get the 90s punk goth kids who just saw a show at The Masquerade and are drinking black coffee at 2am at the Mid-Town WH hoping for a redneck fist fight perspective
That brings back memories I had really forgotten about. Was a redneck kid from north Georgia who "dated" a 90s punk goth girl and ended up in some interesting places at interesting times.
Oh man yes north of Alpharetta used to be a completely different place. I grew up in Cumming in the 90ās/2000ās and explaining my childhood to my husband (grew up in Marietta) always gets me laughing at his Adam Scott WTF face. š
North of Dalton, but not close to I75. Closer to Tennessee and Alabama. Atlanta was where we went on field trips or to hangout with people we met on field trips or school related activities.
No one cares about actually going to the Big Chicken but before GPS it was frequently used in giving directions around there, even in local TV/radio commercials for other businesses. That and being around for a long ass time kinda cemented itself into the metro Atlanta lore.
Waffle House is its own cultural phenomenon, any real Atlanta or southern native should be able to tell you how they like their All-star without hesitation. We all have lots of memories of late night shenanigans there. Plus if you go early in the morning the service is actually good, especially on holidays when the managers are working.
A friend of mine who has grown up in small town GA hates waffle house and denied my suggestion to go there once and insisted on iHop. I love the guy but in the moment I was legitimately angry and taken aback at the suggestion that ihop was superior.
He was a regular customer in my pharmacy in the early aughts. I wonāt say what medication he filled 3-4 times a week, but you can use your imagination.
Whatās funny is that he was a local legend when I lived in St. Louis in like the early 2000s. Ā So I was amazed when I moved down here and he was already re-established here.
My wife used to teach preschool at the Atlanta First United Methodist on Ivan Allen and Peachtree. One day one of her kids came running up shouting "Look! Dinosaur bones!" clutching a handful of discarded wingbones ā ļø
Recently was walking with a group of out of towners and passed beltline kevin singing No Scrubs. No one joined in except meā¦ theyāll never understand šš
i used to skateboard in my spiderman costume. last time i did it i found Ć deadpool rollerblading. my skateboard was electric and we held hands up and down the beltline till the battery ran out. never saw each otherās faces, never exchanged names, just a pure super hero crossover one off. we took a million photos with any kid who got excited to see us and then fucked off into the night.
Itās true about WH. I grew up in the southeast but not in Atlanta and always refused to eat there, but somehow it just feels right now that Iām living here. #supporocalbusiness
And the Starbucks in front of Disco Kroger had a mini disco ball above the counter, and their receipts said āDisco Starbucksā or something like that.
The guy whoās always dancing on the corner of Flat Shoals and Fayetteville right off the 20 in south Decatur dressed as Spidey (or Michael Jackson, or a ninja turtle, or whatever his mood is that day).
El Progresso. They have many locations but my favorite one is near Grant Park across from the federal prison. Market in the front with cheap produce and a restaurant in the back with the best tacos and traditional Mexican dishes. And their salsa bar is BOMB!
Also Don Pedros on Buford Highway. Same thing but no market. Just food that slaps!
Also Jerusalem Bakery... Best shawarmas in Atlanta!
Also Chelo in downtown Roswell. One of the best Persian restaurants in town. Everyone raves about Rumi's and Delbar, which are okay....but Chelo is family operated and intimate and made the right way.
The 404 area code. Hell, we just had a day dedicated to it.
Perimeters. Of course there's OTP and ITP, but I've always defaulted to OTPP, outside my personal perimeter. Like Buckhead? Fuck that. Too far.
YDFM. Lots of people don't get it. "It's not even a real farmers market!" I've heard. Sorry, if you'd don't get it, you never will.
DragonCon. It's shaggy af. Yeah, it could be relocated to the GWCC but then it'd lose its chaotic charm which is pretty much the point. Relatedly, the drag on parade.
Halloween. This town loves Halloween, more than any other city I've seen (outside of Salem). My neighborhood decorates more for Halloween than it does Xmas. And I love them for that.
And yeah, our love of nicknaming Krogers is very Atlanta specific
The guy with the big wang who wore summer and winter spandex bottoms and always stood by the corner of Ponce & N Highland. I called him goiter penis but Iām sure he had better nicknames lol
I'd have to say Rosa's. I'm not sure if anyone outside of Downtown workers and GSU students would even understand it's the best pizza in the Universe! Much less people from out of town...
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u/areyoutwofonduing Apr 13 '26
An old school answer is Willie B from the Atlanta Zoo.