Braden Fellman » Intown Neighborhoods

East Atlanta is a progressive, diverse and friendly community located one mile south of Little Five Points, just east of Downtown and around the corner from the historic Kirkwood community. Its convenience to shops, services, boutiques and restaurants makes this neighborhood one of the hottest in Atlanta. The new addition of the Edgewood Retail District features Target, Kroger, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble and other stores. Most nights you will find a live band playing in one of the many bars and music venues in the East Atlanta Village packed with neighbors eager to support the local music scene.

The East Atlanta and Kirkwood neighborhoods are rich in history with charming Craftsman-style bungalows, beautiful Victorian homes and fitting new construction. Kirkwood residential developments date back to the late 1800s.

Other East Atlanta attractions include Brownwood Park, Atlanta's Public Library, Zoo Atlanta, East Lake YMCA and Grant Park. The East Atlanta Community Association was founded to bring a sense of community into the neighborhood. This active group of residents protects and maintains the historic area by working closely with the Atlanta City Council, the Atlanta Police Department, the Atlanta Fire Department and one another. The Association beautifies the area by planting trees and flowers, cleaning up the streets and raising money to improve public facilities. For the yearly neighborhood festival, the East Atlanta Strut, the streets are closed off to provide space for food and drink stands, a parade, bands and artist displays.

In Kirkwood, the Bessie Branham Park is a recently updated recreational amenity. Enjoy the new tennis and basketball courts, playground and ball field. In 1998, the recreational center opened featuring a computer center, offering free classes, and a gym. With all of the amenities and its close proximity to other popular Intown communities, it is hard to believe that in the early 1900s Kirkwood was considered a suburb of Atlanta.

Often compared to New York's Greenwich Village, East Atlanta reflects a small- town-in-the-big-city attitude. Creative Loafing Magazine calls East Atlanta "the epitome of cool, and a neighborhood's neighborhood." The New York Times reports that East Atlanta "reaches the crest in what has been a steadily rising wave of cool!" What ever you may be looking for, you will definitely find it in East Atlanta.