#1: Buckhead is an affluent residential neighborhood, that turned into a startup hub and investment banker district in a couple of decades... but hasn't changed the "residential neighborhood" infrastructure. There are 24/7 traffic issues even when Lenox is closed.
#2: The Atlanta metro had about two-dozen thriving malls a couple of decades ago. Today there's, what? Lenox/Phipps, Perimeter, maybe Cumberland (?). Mall of Georgia way out in the boondocks, having killed all the others along the I-85 corridor? Even Lenox isn't as hopping today as it was in the "old Buckhead" (i.e. pre-Ray Lewis) days. The trend is pretty stark.
Throughout the 1990's, Buckhead had a TREMENDOUS club/nightlife scene.
In 2000, Ray Lewis was in town for an away game or whatever reason. He and his entourage got into a nightclub altercation that lead to a stabbing death... you know, just read his Wikipedia entry if you're not already aware of those details.
Anyway, it was an EXTREMELY high-profile story in the local press, and shortly thereafter the bar and nightclub scene was drastically curtailed.
Now, it's definitely arguable whether this should be attributed to Ray Lewis. The truth is more complex... political pressure from wealthy local residents had been building for years, and the Lewis incident was really just a "symbolic" tipping point. Regardless, a lot us lifelong Atlanta residents tend to remember that incident as one of those miniature 9/11-ish moments where a culture shifts abruptly.
Oh wow thanks, this whole time I thought that incident occurred in South Beach. Makes sense. I'm sad I'll never get to experience the "old Atlanta". I usually hear people describe it as pre and post Freaknik though.
#2: The Atlanta metro had about two-dozen thriving malls a couple of decades ago. Today there's, what? Lenox/Phipps, Perimeter, maybe Cumberland (?). Mall of Georgia way out in the boondocks, having killed all the others along the I-85 corridor? Even Lenox isn't as hopping today as it was in the "old Buckhead" (i.e. pre-Ray Lewis) days. The trend is pretty stark.