Best Of Atlanta

A generation ago, Atlanta was just another city with Southern accents, big ambitions and a busy airport. Suddenly, we’ve morphed into something else — though we’re not quite sure what it is.

We’re a metropolis that sprawls into the North Georgia mountains. We’re an urban Oz with high-rise condos and Manhattan-style sophistication. We’re a consumer testing ground for national marketers, as well as a fountainhead for homegrown trends that often sweep the nation.

So, for this year’s Best of Atlanta issue, the Creative Loafing staff scoured hip-hop studios and country bars, hipster scenes and family pastimes, Korean barbecue joints and country barbecue joints, raunchy nightclubs and fancy day spas … all in search of the real Atlanta. 

About the cover: Although our readers and critics sometimes made easy work of determining the authentic places, people and events around the city, it wasn’t nearly as simple figuring out a single image to capture “the real Atlanta.”

That’s why this week you’re looking at three different covers, each designed by Creative Director Markus Schneider and Senior Art Director John Yardley. The dynamic cover photos — featuring a family gazing into the blue-tinted world of the Georgia Aquarium, a young lady about to take a bite of a Vortex burger, and a party night at MJQ Concourse — were taken by Staff Photographer Joeff Davis. Collect all three!