The Olympics are coming this summer, and like a host gettingready for important guests, the "house" is in turmoil. Parks andpedestrian plazas are still piles of rubble and earth.
Traffic - horrific in the best of times - is straight from hell,as the city tears up streets and the Georgia highway departmentcloses freeway lanes at crucial hours to add new lanes. Even whenall the road work's done, traffic will still be a wide-awakenightmare because many major streets and downtown freeway ramps willbe closed during the Games, which open July 19 and close Aug. 4.Many of the thousands who cheered four years ago whenInternational Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranchproclaimed, "the city of At-lan-tah," the big winner, now wish he'dsaid "Ath-ens" (as in Greece) instead.But with the Opening Ceremonies now less than three monthsaway, the Olympic City is taking shape, and officials of ACOG(Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games) believe that when all thejackhammers go quiet, and the grass is planted, the banners hung andthe athletes make their dramatic entry into the new 85,000-seatOlympic Stadium, the grinches will glow in the glory of the city'sbiggest moment since 1864, when William T. Sherman's Union Armyburned the place to the ground.At this relatively late date, the most coveted tickets - openingand closing ceremonies, gymnastics and basketball in theair-conditioned Georgia Dome, swimming and diving at the Georgia TechAquatic Center, most anything, truth to tell, that's shielded fromGeorgia's ferocious summer sun and humidity - are long gone.On the plus side, the 11 million tickets for the Atlanta Gamesare more than the combined total for the 1984 Games in Los Angelesand 1992 in Barcelona, both of which had tickets leftover. Hence,ACOG says last minute ticket buyers have an excellent chance to seeat least one of the 271 events that will involve 10,000 athletes from197 countries, the largest in the history of the Games.Many tickets are $20 or less. Order by phone (404) 744-1996,but have your Visa card ready - it's the "official" Olympic plastic.There'll be plenty of free and low cost entertainment for thosewho want to be part of the excitement but don't know a decathalonfrom a marathon.Olympic Centennial Park, 21 acres of landscaped walkways,fountains, sculptures and outdoor stages created in time for theGames from a wasteland of vacant lots and derelict buildings, will beAtlanta's answer to Barcelona's Las Ramblas.Like the Spanish city's magnetic avenue of round-the-clockbars, cafes and promenades, Centennial park will be a 24-hourgathering place. The Southern Crossroads Festival will celebrate theSouth with six acres of free music and dance, food, craftsmen andartists from the 12-state region. Coca-Cola will have its owninteractive theme park on Centennial Park's periph ery, adjacent tothe company's international headquarters.While the Olympic athletes are doing their thing, Shakespeare,Jessye Norman, Picasso and a host of other international artists willdo theirs on behalf of the Atlanta Olympic Arts Festival.The performing arts calendar is headlined by opera superstarNorman (a Georgia native), violinists Pinchas Zuckerman and IthzakPerlman, jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Bavarian RadioSymphony. Two dozen other regional, national and internationalcompanies playing around the city include the Alabama ShakespeareFestival, England's Royal National Theater, the Alvin Ailey AmericanDance Theater, the Royal Thai Ballet and the Atlanta Ballet. Ticketsare $5-$75, phone (404) 744-1996.From July 4 to Sept. 29, "Rings: Five Passions In World Art,"comes to the High Museum of Art with 125 paintings and sculpturesloaned by worldwide private and public collections. Spanning 75centuries, from 5500 B.C. to A.D. 1993, the works personify the powerof art to inspire five universal emotions: love, anguish, joy, aweand triumph.Among the best-known works will be Edvard Munch's painting, "TheScream," Auguste Rodin's sculpture "The Kiss," Monet's "Woman With aParasol," and Matisse's "Dance (II)," making its first appearanceoutside St. Petersburg's Hermitage.Among many others will be masterpieces by Rembrandt, Van Gogh,Picasso, El Greco and Georgia O'Keeffe; Byzantine icons; sculpturesof Buddha from Korea, India and Thailand; wood Olympic visitors. Toget a grasp of things to do around the vast metropolitan area,population 3 million, stop at the Welcome South Visitors Center, awalk-though information-central downtown at Spring Street andInternational Boulevard, (404) 224-2000. You can pick up freebrochures and view high-tech audio-visuals, films and displays aboutAtlanta and destinations elsewhere in Georgia and neighboring states.You'll also be able to purchase Olympic tickets, exchangeforeign currency and visit a book and gift shop.The Games are a welcome tonic for Atlanta's small, anemicdowntown - the so-called "Olympic Ring," where the majority of eventswill be held. Along with the new Olympic Centennial park, olderparks have been rejuvenated. Streets have been dressed up with withtrees, planters, ornamental lighting and outdoor sculptures. A newshuttle bus links hotels with Underground Atlanta, a festival-styleshopping,dining and entertainment complex. Kids are dragging their parents infrom distant suburbs to stand in long lines at the Planet Hollywoodand Hard Rock Cafe.Corporate sponsors have turned scores of vacant buildings intohospitality centers. Lofty rents paid by corporate execs and otherhigh-rollers gave developers the financial clout to turn other emptybuildings into loft apartments that will be leased or sold toAtlantans after the Games.Thanks to a $5 million gift from Germany's Daimler BenzCorporation, "Gone With the Wind" fans can explore the MargaretMitchell House, at Peachtree and 10th streets, where Atlanta'sbeloved author wrote her blockbuster novel in the 1930s. Mitchellwas struck and killed by a taxi crossing Peachtree in 1949.Collections of books, letters and photos are displayed in theturn-of-the-century boarding house "Peggy" Mitchell dubbed, "TheDump." Phone (404) 249-7012. Admission fees haven't beendetermined.For kids and grownups curious about what makes our world tick,the SCITREK Science and Technology Museum, downtown at 395 PiedmontAve., (404) 522-5500, has scores of gadgets and thingamabobs to pull,push, climb into, and stand on. Adults $7.50, ages 3-17, seniorcitizens and students with ID, $5.You'll have a better appreciation of what makes Atlanta tickafter spending a day at the Atlanta History Center. The woodsy30-acre sanctuary at 3101 Andrews Dr., in the Buckhead neighborhoodnorth of downtown, (404) 814-4000, has three major sites: the Museumof Atlanta History, with numerous displays and special exhibitsshowcasing pages of the city's past; the circa 1836,"plantation-plain" Tullie Smith Farmstead; and the Swan House, anopulent Palladian-style villa, furnished with European and Asianantiques, set among terraced fountains and formal gardens. Adults$7, age 65-over and students 18-over with ID $5, ages 6-17, $4.The neighborhood around the History Center is the city's mostprestigious address. "Old money," much of it from wise investmentsin Coca-Cola way back when, built French chateaux, English Tudors,Italian and Spanish villas and white-columned Greek Revival mansionsthat sail like luxury liners on the green lawn seas of West PacesFerry, Tuxedo, Blackland, Habersham and other tree-lined roads.Buckhead is also the city's liveliest dining and entertainmentzone and the most high-end shopping area. Scores of restaurants andbars crowd around the triangular junction of Peachtree, Roswell andWest Paces Ferry roads.The young, yuppie crowd meets and mingles at such faddishhangouts as the Cheesecake Factory, Lulu's Bait Shop and the ThreeDollar Cafe. The older and more affluent favor upscale continentalat Pano's & Paul's, 103 West and the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead Hotel;Japanese cuisine at the Hotel Nikko Atlanta; and provencal atBrasserie Le Coze.At Peachtree and Lenox roads, Phipp's Plaza's big guns includeTiffany, Gucci, Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue. Lenox Square,across the intersection, counters with Neiman Marcus, Macy's and 200other deluxe shops.Virginia-Highland - a revived old blue collar neighborhoodalong North Highland and Virginia avenues, three miles northeast ofdowntown - is more relaxed and less pretentious and expensive thanBuckhead. Several blocks are elbow-to-elbow with restaurants, bars,art galleries, and cool shops. Popular restaurants include Surin ofThailand, Capo's and Camille's (Italian), Mambo (Cuban) and IndigoCoastal Grill (Caribbean seafood). High decibel blues is the draw atBlind Willie's.Atlanta's booming economy has attracted a sizeable Asianpopulation. Pacific Rim newcomers have converted three miles ofBuford Highway (U.S. 23) from Clairmont Road north to I-285 insuburban Chamblee into a largely Asian dining and shopping area.Unlike the compact, pedestrian-friendly "Chinatowns" in New Yorkand San Francisco, this area requires a car. The largest and mostattractive magnet is Asian Square, a modern shopping center at 5150Buford Hwy. Half a dozen restaurants include Phoa Hoa, a Vietnamesenoodle shop; Asiana Gardens, Korean and Japanese; and Buford TeaHouse, a cozy room with a choice of teas and music on traditionalstringed instruments.As sprawling and frantic as it is, Atlanta has manyquick-escapes. One of the most popular is Stone Mountain Park, (770)498-5600.Sixteen miles east of downtown, the 3,200-acre state parkwill host Olympic tennis, archery and cycling. The world's largestgranite monolith - 825 feet high and six miles around - is thecenterpiece. The Confederate Memorial, a dramatic 90 feet by 190feet carving of President Jefferson Davis and Gens. Robert E. Leeand Stonewall Jackson galloping across the mountain's north face, isthe stage for a summer-long musical laser show.Spread your blanket and picnic supper on the grass and enjoy theshow, a montage of mostly-Southern music. Also in the park, you'llfind an 18-hole golf course, a swimming beach, water slides, gameranch, a transplanted antebellum plantation, a skylift to themountaintop, a steam train around the base and lots of space forhiking, biking and picnics. Park admission is $5 per car, withadditional fees for individual attractions.And, if the kids are still bored, just west of Atlanta is SixFlags Over Georgia. It's celebrating its 30th season. Call (770)948-9290.William Schemmel is an Atlanta-based free-lancer.
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