Swear and Shake performing at Grocery on Home. (Image via coca-colacompany.com)
If you're looking to perform in a peculiar environment, you've got plenty of choices in Atlanta. Repurposing buildings – former hotels, existing cleaners, and more – is a popular theme, yet somehow each effort stands alone as especially unique.
But before we go onto our picks, we'd like to list a few honorable mentions that lately, for whatever reason, aren't being used for live shows too often.
- Southern Comfort Restaurant and Lounge, aka "Soco": A honky-tonk bar frequented by passing truckers that's hosted bands like the Black Lips and the Coathangers. (The latter filmed part of this video there.)
- WhirlyBall Atlanta: Named for the game, it's primarily the home of a bumper car-based team sport, but the Roswell entertainment spot also used to open its doors to the occasional band or artist, including Deerhunter and Diplo.
- Suburban Lanes: This Decatur bowling alley used to host lots of punk shows, among other musical events. It was rumored to be closing for good just before new owners took the reins last May; they're renovating now and expect to open in the fall.
While we'd love for the aforementioned spots to rejoin the nontraditional venue circuit, we think Atlanta can more than make do with the five stellar – and very active – options below.
1. The Big House on Ponce
Image via facebook.com
This Ponce de Leon Avenue building has a history of high traffic: in the late 1920s, it served as part of a hotel called the Shady Rest Inn. It's actually still open to travelers via Airbnb, but it's best known as an eccentric, idiosyncratic venue.
Programming at the Big House is incredibly varied – art shows, yoga, comedy, lectures, live music, and film screenings are all in its wheelhouse. The back-house theater gets the most use, but various rooms inside and its outdoor area are also potential stages. It's a truly special place for any occasion, but things are especially memorable when a mix of mediums is presented in one shindig – and, lucky for Atlanta, that happens on a regular basis.
2. The BeltLine
Broad shot of this year's Old Fourth Ward Fall Fest. (Image via rivalentertainment.com)
It's still an in-progress project, but ultimately – by 2030, they say – the Atlanta BeltLine will connect 45 in-town neighborhoods with parks, trails, rail transit, and housing. As of now, it's only four trails and six parks in its 22-mile corridor, but already it's become a vital part of the city. Maybe their cultural entertainment initiatives have something to do with that? Art on the BeltLine is a fall series that, since its 2010 launch, has grown in scale each year. The 2015 edition includes more than 100 works – music, art, dance, and more – altogether. Other local festivals have also set up camp on the BeltLine, like the recent Old Fourth Ward Fall Fest, providing even more opportunities for local performers.
3. The Secret Spot
Atlanta one-man-wonder Cousin Dan performing at the Secret Spot at the 2012 East Atlanta Strut festival.
Here's a riddle: a person saw a show at the Secret Spot, but they never went inside. How is that possible? Because bands play on the roof, duh! Rooftop shows aren't totally unheard of, but this is basically the only place in Atlanta doing them regularly, and they're definitely the only ones doing them like this. The East Atlanta Village building, which is pretty tiny, is often decorated for events with projections or other special lighting, and the gravel lot on which it stands can transform into a dance floor pretty quickly once the music gets started. (And inside the tiny building, there are sometimes art exhibits!)
4. The Cleaners
Image via facebook.com
Housed on the second floor of an actual cleaners business owned by the parents of Adam Babar, one of three organizers, the Cleaners is fresh addition to Atlanta's venue circuit – literally, it opened earlier this year. Figuratively too, though: the trio told Creative Loafing, Atlanta's local alt-weekly, that they wouldn't be selling alcohol because they "want to have a spot where people can come and continue to critically engage."
Adding extra likability to the endeavor is the purpose in its Lakewood Heights location. Sure, it probably helped that Babar had a familial in with the landlords, and there's also a smaller adjacent building in the agreement. But these guys actually have a very genuine goal in mind, and that's to grow an artistic community in the venue's Southeast Atlanta neighborhood. Last August's first big fest, Lakewoodstock, seems to be the start of just that: CL reported that area residents, leaders, and independent music fans from all over the city were all there in support.
5. Grocery on Home
Dare Dukes performing at Grocery on Home. (Image via daredukes.com)
At Grocery on Home, the audience sits down; this way, they can fully take in the earnest performance before them. But it's even more intimate than that, because not only are RSVPs typically required, but also the Grant Park neighborhood venue is literally a small room attached to owner Matt Arnett's home. And, like the name implies, it actually was once a grocery store. That was a long time ago, and Arnett's been operating for nearly five years now. His skill in booking incredible singer-songwriters has earned him a supremely loyal following of both listeners and players.
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Jhoni Jackson is an Atlanta-bred music journalist currently based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she juggles owning a venue called Club 77, freelance writing and, of course, going to the beach as often as possible.
