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Speaker 1: Atlanta is the problems of opportunity, but that promise comes

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Speaker 1: with pressure.

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Speaker 2: They call it the Black Mecca, where.

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Speaker 1: Ambition is the norm and entrepreneurship is part of the

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Speaker 1: city's DNA. But simply moving here isn't enough. You got

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Speaker 1: to get up, get out, and get something. You can

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Speaker 1: see it all play out in the street as the

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Speaker 1: story of Atlanta unfolds, where old school hustle, music, new

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Speaker 1: school ambition, sometimes clashing in the pursuit of truly defining

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Speaker 1: what Atlanta is a big rule and Atlanta is open

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Speaker 1: for businesses.

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Speaker 3: For more than fifty years, Atlanta has been called the

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Speaker 3: Black Mecca, the mecca for culture, where musicians and artists

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Speaker 3: have been flocking to for decades, the mecca for education,

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Speaker 3: home to Spelman College, Moorhouse College, Clark Atlanta University, and

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Speaker 3: Morris Brown College. But maybe most of all, Atlanta is

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Speaker 3: the mecca for business, a city full of hustlers and

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Speaker 3: dreamers who believe, if you can't make it somewhere else,

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Speaker 3: you can.

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Speaker 4: Probably make it here.

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Speaker 3: Just listen to the city's mayor Andre Dickens in the

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Speaker 3: State of the City address in twenty twenty five, you

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Speaker 3: can hear he's directly talking to black folks.

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Speaker 5: Atlanta is the place to be. Money Magazine has named

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Speaker 5: us the best place to live, Black Enterprise Magazine named

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Speaker 5: Atlanta the best city to start a business. We've been

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Speaker 5: named the best place to start a career and the

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Speaker 5: best city for Black home buyers. And if you had

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Speaker 5: any doubts, Atlanta has still influences everything.

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Speaker 4: But what if the story is more complicated than that.

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Speaker 3: What happens when the city that calls itself to Black

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Speaker 3: Mecca can always guarantee that black folks will reap the benefits.

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Speaker 3: What happens when local spots blow up and suddenly the

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Speaker 3: neighborhood doesn't feel like the neighborhood anymore. And what happens

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Speaker 3: when black folks themselves have competing visions for what a

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Speaker 3: business should even look like and how it should operate.

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Speaker 3: This is the story of what it really means to

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Speaker 3: build and fight to keep a business in the so

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Speaker 3: called Black Mecca, And nowhere tells that story better than

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Speaker 3: One Street, Peter Street, a few short blocks that captured

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Speaker 3: everything folks meant when they refer to this city as

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Speaker 3: the Black Mecca, black business owners, black art, black nightlife.

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Speaker 3: If you wanted to see Atlanta's promise in motion. Peter

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Speaker 3: Street was it. To outsiders, the name doesn't ring like Bankheads,

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Speaker 3: Sweet Auburn, or Peachtree, But to anyone who's lived here,

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Speaker 3: they'll tell you that this short strip once had the

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Speaker 3: whole city on fire. At its peak, from the mid

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Speaker 3: two thousands to the late twenty ten's, Peter Street was

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Speaker 3: alive in a way that felt distinctly Atlanta.

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Speaker 4: You'd hear Gucci Main blasting.

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Speaker 3: Out of cars and catch Dave Chappelle hopping on the

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Speaker 3: mic at a bar.

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Speaker 2: Atlanta. I'm very proud of you.

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Speaker 3: You could grab a slice next to Ti or running

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Speaker 3: to GZ at an art show. But today it looks

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Speaker 3: and feels very different. Foot traffic slowed down, a lot

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Speaker 3: of those same businesses are boarded up, and the block

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Speaker 3: that once felt like a symbol of possibility now feels

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Speaker 3: like a big question mark. We're tracing its rise, its fall,

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Speaker 3: and its uncertain rebirth. A few blocks that reflect both

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Speaker 3: the promise and the pressure of being a black entrepreneur

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Speaker 3: in Atlanta.

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Speaker 6: I'm gonna be a real you be like dang Man.

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Speaker 6: There's whole bunch of white people be fussing and stuff.

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Speaker 7: I don't know.

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Speaker 2: It feels like the almost like the bourgeois.

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Speaker 8: Nobody's rushing into relationships with you. Motherfuckers want to know

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Speaker 8: who you are, who's your family, where are you from?

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Speaker 4: They want to look you in the eye standing on business.

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Speaker 3: Indeed, I'm Maurice Garland, and this is episode six of Atlanta.

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Speaker 3: Is to understand how Peter Street became a center of

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Speaker 3: black business and culture, We've got to start at the beginning,

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Speaker 3: before the art walks, before the parties, before it was

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Speaker 3: even on the city's radar. Atlanta has always attracted black

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Speaker 3: folks from all over the country, people looking for their

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Speaker 3: slice of the American pie, or in this case, peach Cobbler.

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Speaker 4: Karl Booker is one of those people.

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Speaker 9: Born and raised mass Point in Mississippi, been in Georgia

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Speaker 9: now for what thirty eight years.

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Speaker 3: Carl is the founder and owner of Off the Hook

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Speaker 3: Barbershop at two point fifty one Peter Street, which he

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Speaker 3: opened back in two thousand and one. I've been getting

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Speaker 3: my hair cut there since two thousand and three. Shout

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Speaker 3: out to JJ. Carl first came to Atlanta in the

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Speaker 3: nineteen eighties visiting friends who were at Morehouse College, seeing

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Speaker 3: them living it up and having the time of their lives.

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Speaker 4: He decided to make the move himself.

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Speaker 9: Up here and visit a week, went back and said

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Speaker 9: this is my two week resignation on head back to Atlanta.

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Speaker 3: His shop has become one of the landmarks on Peter Street.

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Speaker 3: Once you walk in, you can see numerous autograph pictures

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Speaker 3: and jerseys of entertainers and Hall of Fame athletes who

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Speaker 3: have all been longtime clients. It often happens that people

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Speaker 3: who come in to casually get a haircut notice the

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Speaker 3: surroundings and decide that they too want to be a

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Speaker 3: part of this community.

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Speaker 9: Who else in the country could you go to an

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Speaker 9: area where you had this many black owned businesses as

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Speaker 9: well as the property own itself, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: Karl was one of the first in a long time

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Speaker 3: to take a chance on the area. Back then, the

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Speaker 3: neighborhood Calseleburry Hill was mostly old industrial buildings, brick shells

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Speaker 3: with four lease signs hanging in the windows. Some of

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Speaker 3: those buildings had been turned into lost of cheap rent.

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Speaker 3: A handful of artist studios and galleries popped up, but

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Speaker 3: that was about it for most people. Calselebury was just

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Speaker 3: to cut through between downtown and the West End.

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Speaker 9: Partially a ghost town, they called the Snake Nation.

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Speaker 4: I'm glad he brought that up.

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Speaker 3: Back in the eighteen forties, Peter Street and Casterbury Hill

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Speaker 3: was known as Snake Nation, and yeah, they definitely earned

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Speaker 3: that name. Every law unabidened citizen called this place home.

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Speaker 3: I'm talking bootleggers, gamblers, prostitutes, murderers, and literal snake oil salesmen.

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Speaker 3: They were all running the streets until the mayoral election

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Speaker 3: of eighteen fifty one between the Moral Party and I

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Speaker 3: kid you not, the Free and Rowty Party.

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Speaker 4: Naturally, Snake Nation was on the side of the.

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Speaker 3: Free and Rowty Party, but the Moral Parties Jonathan Norcross

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Speaker 3: won the election and promptly sent a mob to burn

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Speaker 3: Snake Nation to the ground. Eventually, a grocery store owner

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Speaker 3: named Daniel Castlebury came to the area and named it

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Speaker 3: after himself. Still, the area was mostly in dush up

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Speaker 3: until the nineteen nineties. Around that time, it became something

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Speaker 3: of a go to backdrop for movies looking for a

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Speaker 3: dystopian vibe, including California That's California with a K featuring

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Speaker 3: Brad Pitt in his interesting Southern accents. People think fast

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Speaker 3: draft there on count all that warm weather go.

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Speaker 1: We to make people.

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Speaker 3: But by nineteen ninety four, Atlanta started becoming known for

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Speaker 3: something else.

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Speaker 4: It's time and time against.

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Speaker 2: It got me thinking about seven.

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Speaker 3: Day Outcast Southern playlistic Cadillac music that came out, giving

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Speaker 3: the city a fresh soundtrack, cementing its place as the

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Speaker 3: new Black Mecca. A little less than two hundred miles

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Speaker 3: away in Asheville, North Carolina, a young artist named Maya

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Speaker 3: Bailly was sitting at home in the projects watching beet Today.

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Speaker 3: He's a renowned tattoo artist and painter who's worked with

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Speaker 3: icons like Lisa leftyut Low, Pazz of TLC, and Usher.

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Speaker 3: But back then he was It's just another kid looking

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Speaker 3: for a way out. Until one line from an Outcast

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Speaker 3: video changed everything.

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Speaker 6: One night, man, I was sitting out there in the

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Speaker 6: hood and then Outcasts player's ball came on and that line,

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Speaker 6: Rico Wave Bless his Soul said.

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Speaker 2: It was like, it's a black man's heaven here.

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Speaker 4: I'm talking about a black man heaven here. You know

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Speaker 4: what I'm saying.

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Speaker 6: And I looked outside of my project window and I

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Speaker 6: heard that words at the same time, and that was

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Speaker 6: just the epiphany. I was like, this shit definitely ain't

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Speaker 6: the black Man's heaven where I'm at right now.

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Speaker 2: And it was only three hours away.

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Speaker 3: Those three hours were three worlds away from what Maya knew.

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Speaker 6: You know, I'm coming from, like caring pistols and wild'n

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Speaker 6: out and just doing a whole But it was just

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Speaker 6: really strong aggression where I came from.

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Speaker 3: But like Carl Booker from Off the Hook Barbershop, Maya

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Speaker 3: saw something in Atlanta, a new kind of freedom and possibility.

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Speaker 3: The first time Maya landed on Peter Street, it was

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Speaker 3: still up to its free and rowdy ways.

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Speaker 4: I think it was like Freaknik ninety five or something

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Speaker 4: like that.

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Speaker 3: Freaknick, but started as a cottage picnic thrown by HBCU

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Speaker 3: students had exploded into an all out street party by

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Speaker 3: the mid nineties.

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Speaker 6: And then we started walking and we ended up following

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Speaker 6: the traffic through Peter Street, and I seen some little

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Speaker 6: boys driving a car, not teenagers, like little boys, and

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Speaker 6: it blew my mind, man, because they had like the

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Speaker 6: trunk open, and they had some girls and they would

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Speaker 6: peep popping with the trunk open. But these kids are

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Speaker 6: out there like eleven or twelve years old, driving these

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Speaker 6: grown women in the car, and they were dressed like

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Speaker 6: grown men.

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Speaker 3: It was crazy, beyond the freaknick craziness. Maya was starting

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Speaker 3: to get a glimpse of that black man's heaven he

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Speaker 3: dreamed about when he saw folks that looked like him

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Speaker 3: driving nice cars and seeing all the beautiful women around.

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Speaker 3: He spent years working out of other folks tattoo shops

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Speaker 3: and eventually opened his own with some friends in the

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Speaker 3: early two thousands. His first goal at it ended with

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Speaker 3: an incident where the landlord had to kick him out.

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Speaker 2: I was just doing stuff I ain't supposed to do.

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Speaker 3: Which may or may not have involved someone getting their

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Speaker 3: toe shot off, and he lived he straight. His second

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Speaker 3: attempt at the tattoo shop didn't last long and he

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Speaker 3: ended up getting evicted.

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Speaker 6: And I was like, Okay, if this get on my credit,

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Speaker 6: I got a hurb and find another spot before the

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Speaker 6: eviction pop up on my credit.

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Speaker 2: And that's when we found the building.

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Speaker 3: The building was an eyesore on the corner of Walker

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Speaker 3: and Peter Street on the southwestern edge of Castlebury Hill.

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Speaker 3: This building would become home to City of Ink tattoo

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Speaker 3: shop in Art Gallery, which sits right on the corner

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Speaker 3: of Walker and Peter Street. They opened in two thousand

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Speaker 3: and seven. It took them a full year just to

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Speaker 3: get the abandoned building into shape. At one point there

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Speaker 3: was a toilet hanging from a pipe in the wall

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Speaker 3: with no floor beneath it, so they had to build

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Speaker 3: one from scratch. And then there was the dead body

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Speaker 3: they discovered inside the wall. After a few false starts, though,

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Speaker 3: they finally made the space their own.

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Speaker 6: We had the whole block to ourselves because everything was

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Speaker 6: a band that was really, really cheap, and it was

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Speaker 6: so close to the middle of everything. My rent was

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Speaker 6: only fifteen hundred dollars when we got city in inc

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Speaker 6: And it was fifteen hundred dollars for seven years, So

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Speaker 6: imagine that.

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Speaker 3: Word about cheap rent in Calseerbury Hills started to spread.

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Speaker 3: Its convenient location was also becoming attractive to future buyers

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Speaker 3: and investors. See the area is right off a major

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Speaker 3: highway I twenty and it's five minutes away from the

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Speaker 3: Atlanta University Center. So within a couple of years after

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Speaker 3: Maya opened up his shop, a proliferation of hangout spots

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Speaker 3: started to pop up glam Bar, m Bar, Blue Cantena,

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Speaker 3: two five five Toppas Lounge, Baltimore Seafood, and more. All

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Speaker 3: of this led to Peter Street being the place to

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Speaker 3: be most days of the week by the late two thousands.

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Speaker 3: A typical Friday night on Peter Street could include hitting

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Speaker 3: the Calterlebury Arstro That was pretty much bar hopping book

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Speaker 3: with art galleries. At one point, the part even crossed

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Speaker 3: over the bridge for the legendary broken bougie parties at

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Speaker 3: the Royal. It was the first time in a while

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Speaker 3: where folks were just kicking it outside. Plus, for a

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Speaker 3: lot of us, being on Peter Street was better than

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Speaker 3: going to the club where they had a dress code

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Speaker 3: and made you pay money just to walk in the door.

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Speaker 7: Peter Street, Man, we call it Black Hollywood over there, man,

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Speaker 7: because you walk up and down the street, man, and

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Speaker 7: you may just see anybody on this little block. Man,

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Speaker 7: that's not probably even a mile wide, but it's so

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Speaker 7: many successful black business owners.

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Speaker 3: In case you didn't recognize that inside speaking voice, that's

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Speaker 3: past the Troy, a rapper and entrepreneur that many of

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Speaker 3: us know for his intense, high energy music.

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Speaker 4: I don't put this too much right here.

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Speaker 3: He caught wind of what was happening on Peter Street,

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Speaker 3: and around two thousand and eight he bought a loft

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Speaker 3: and built his recording studio in there. His most recent

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Speaker 3: business is a vinyl record shop up and listening bar.

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Speaker 7: Just to be able to walk on feet from my

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Speaker 7: spot across the street to the barber shops across the

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Speaker 7: street to the other restaurants that we had up at

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Speaker 7: the time. Man, it was just real smooth man, real

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Speaker 7: city living.

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Speaker 3: This was also when people started posting their whereabouts on

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Speaker 3: social media. Photos and updates of folks having a good

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Speaker 3: time made even more people curious about what was happening

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Speaker 3: on this little last street ducked off in this neighborhood.

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Speaker 6: It was crazy because everybody it was like an underground

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Speaker 6: music scene, party scene, fashion scene.

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Speaker 2: It was just dope.

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Speaker 3: This era of Peter Street wouldn't last forever though. By

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Speaker 3: the mid twenty ten's, the strip that represented a black

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Speaker 3: man's heaven to my belly and Pastor Troy was remarkably different.

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Speaker 3: More boogie than broke, that's for sure, and then came

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Speaker 3: to fire. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. After the break,

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Speaker 3: a pair of ambitious siblings come to Peter Street with

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Speaker 3: a different idea of what a blackguned business could be.

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Speaker 3: So one person that were definitely having on the podcast

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Speaker 3: is going to be Alfonso Cross.

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Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 6: Yep, he was the one who had to chase up

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Speaker 6: when I went in the meeting to chase is writing

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Speaker 6: the notes and the Fonzo was leading the meeting.

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Speaker 2: That was a little different.

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Speaker 3: It was a little different, and the energy of Castlebury

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Speaker 3: Hills night life brings tension to the neighborhood.

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Speaker 9: And his lady asked why there are so many African

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Speaker 9: American kids in this neighborhood, and everybody turned around and

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Speaker 9: looked at her, like.

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Speaker 3: The appeal of Atlanta to out of town dreamers can

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Speaker 3: be a lot of things. For Maya Belly, the Black

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Speaker 3: Mecca was Rico Wade talking about low Riders, seven seven

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Speaker 3: sevills and nail dogs. For Alfonso Augustus Cross Senior, it

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Speaker 3: was real estate. Cross Senior was a native of Swainsboro, Georgia,

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Speaker 3: one of those small southern towns where the best way

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Speaker 3: to describe it was saying how far it was from

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Speaker 3: another slightly bigger small town. He left when he was

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Speaker 3: sixteen years old and sw worldar to never come back,

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Speaker 3: eventually landing in Fremont, California. He wound up doing pretty

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Speaker 3: good for himself, landing a job at United Airlines. He

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Speaker 3: started investing in real estate in California, buying a multi

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Speaker 3: family unit here in an apartment complex there. But he

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Speaker 3: still had family in Georgia, and during visits to Atlanta

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Speaker 3: he rode around looking for real estate opportunities. In nineteen

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Speaker 3: eighty four he found one, a three quarter acre plot

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Speaker 3: with a multi unit building in Castlebury Hill, right on

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Speaker 3: the corner of Fair and you guessed, Peter Street.

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Speaker 8: It didn't take much for my father to be able

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Speaker 8: to see the future, which he always told us. You know,

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Speaker 8: he said, you know, Atlanta's going to grow this direction

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Speaker 8: and this will be really worth something.

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Speaker 3: That's Alfonso Cross Junior. And it turns out his dad

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Speaker 3: had a good eye for real estate trends. He got

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Speaker 3: the multi unit building in nineteen eighty four for one

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Speaker 3: hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. Today, just one condo

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Speaker 3: across the street is going for twice as much. Alfonso

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Speaker 3: Senior passed away in two thousand and one, and for

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Speaker 3: several years his sister managed the property, but by two

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Speaker 3: thousand and nine, Alfonso Junior and his sister Allison decided

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Speaker 3: it was time to step up and take it over themselves.

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Speaker 3: The Cross siblings grew up in Debate Area in San Antonio, Texas,

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Speaker 3: where they were a part of a tight knit black

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Speaker 3: community made up of doctors, business and landowners and the like.

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Speaker 10: Allison explains, there was a lot of structure in San Antonio.

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Speaker 10: There was a black community that my mom was a

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Speaker 10: part of. Bought land, developed land, developed health services showed

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Speaker 10: us a lot of what excellence looks like individually, but

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Speaker 10: what excellence looks like when you pull it with other

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Speaker 10: people from the community.

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Speaker 3: When da Cross siblings inherited the building on Peter Street,

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Speaker 3: it included one stipulation from their late father. If they

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Speaker 3: wanted to keep the property, they had to move to Atlanta,

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Speaker 3: manage it themselves, and open up a business in it,

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Speaker 3: which meant the Cross siblings, who had zero experience, were

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Speaker 3: suddenly new landowners managing five units and first time business

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Speaker 3: owners damn near overnight.

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Speaker 4: So we always tell.

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Speaker 8: People we didn't inherit money. We're not rich. We just

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Speaker 8: inherited a job.

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Speaker 3: They arrived in Castlebury Hill in twenty eleven, and like

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Speaker 3: many who came before them, the Cross siblings showed up

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Speaker 3: with a bold vision for what this neighborhood it could

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Speaker 3: be and the plan to get there by empowering the

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Speaker 3: community and supporting fellow business owners. The only problem was

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Speaker 3: they didn't know the first thing about being landlords. And

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Speaker 3: in Atlanta, this black Man's Heaven, they're still a certain

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Speaker 3: way of doing things. The Cross siblings were about to

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Speaker 3: learn things the hard way.

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Speaker 8: Nobody's rushing into relationships with you. Motherfuckers want to know

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Speaker 8: who you are, who's your family, where are you from.

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Speaker 8: They want to look you in the eye.

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Speaker 3: As soon as our Fonso Junior and Allison got to

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Speaker 3: Castlebury Hill, the streets were buzzing. When I first became

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Speaker 3: aware of you, I'm in the barbershop getting my hair

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Speaker 3: cut and I remember you walking by the window, and

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Speaker 3: somebody's like, that's the dude that owned the block.

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Speaker 4: Then people start chattering there like, oh yeah, bro, I heard.

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Speaker 3: He just kind of came up in here with a

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Speaker 3: piece of paper saying I own this shit now, Jesus,

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Speaker 3: and you gotta pay me rent.

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Speaker 2: You know what it was like?

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Speaker 3: The whole thing you're gonna do this pointing at you

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Speaker 3: out the window, like that's the dude, you know what

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Speaker 3: I'm saying. So I'm curious, how did you introduce yourself?

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Speaker 8: Let me be real fucking clear. Nobody walked around with

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Speaker 8: a piece of paper and told motherfuckers like pay them rent.

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Speaker 4: Like, that's just not how that happened. That's just some

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Speaker 4: wild that's wild.

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Speaker 2: That's why.

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Speaker 4: That's not even my personality.

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Speaker 10: I mean, it was kind of like that. We didn't

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Speaker 10: know what we didn't know. We came down and introduced

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Speaker 10: ourselves to everybody, but as far as we were concerned,

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Speaker 10: we were just focused on getting our little store open.

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Speaker 3: When Alfarso and Allison arrived in twenty eleven, the building

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Speaker 3: they owned already had calls barbershop and a few popular

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Speaker 3: bars like two five to five Tapas Lounge. For their part,

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Speaker 3: Ol Fosol always had a desire to own his own lounge,

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Speaker 3: and Allison wanted to provide healthy food in what was

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Speaker 3: essentially a food desert, so they landed on the idea

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Speaker 3: of opening a community centered grocery store, the Box Car Grocer.

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Speaker 8: We wanted to imagine a world where a whole foods

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Speaker 8: could have a baby with a convenience store.

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Speaker 10: Yeah, it was sort of like this minimalist farm urban

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Speaker 10: chic look that the two of us came up with.

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Speaker 10: We had pictures of black farmers on the wall.

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Speaker 3: Within months after into Atlanta, the Cross has got the

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Speaker 3: store up and operating. Box car grocer offered fresh fruit

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Speaker 3: and vegetables from local farmers, healthy drinks and snacks, and

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Speaker 3: according to Addison, absolutely no Coca Cola products, which is

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Speaker 3: a ballsy move considering that Atlanta is its headquarters.

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Speaker 8: So Allison has always been way ahead of me with

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Speaker 8: like health stuff and fucking crystals in the corner or

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Speaker 8: the room, and think about organic food and all this

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Speaker 8: kind of stuff.

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Speaker 3: I remember, cause I was like, goddamn everything you he'll

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Speaker 3: cost ten dollars.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you remember the price.

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Speaker 4: It was high.

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Speaker 9: Boy.

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Speaker 6: It was like, okay, we didn't made it over here.

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Speaker 6: I can't get no milk from here.

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Speaker 3: The prices were high. But let us remind you, this

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Speaker 3: is twenty eleven. So the whole farm to table ten

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Speaker 3: dollars komboosh of life that some people live now, it

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Speaker 3: wasn't like that back then. Hell, organic might as well

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Speaker 3: have been a cuss word to some people.

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Speaker 10: It's just that when you buy in small amounts and

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Speaker 10: small quantities, things are more expensive. So what people were

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Speaker 10: seeing was the true costa food.

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Speaker 3: But the Cross has had big ambitions for the store.

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Speaker 3: They saw food as being a vital force to building

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Speaker 3: healthy communities in urban areas.

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Speaker 1: Alfonso welcome to fly with presents, Thank you very much.

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Speaker 4: Him and his sister created Box.

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Speaker 3: It wasn't long before Alfonso was on stage sharing the

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Speaker 3: vision he and his sister had for Peter Street. Here

402
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Speaker 3: he is at a live event hosted by the nonprofit Plywood,

403
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Speaker 3: standing in front of a screen with a diagram outlining

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Speaker 3: how their new venture, Box Car Grocer would grow across Atlanta.

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Speaker 8: Where at the center of our hub is a central

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Speaker 8: station that's anywhere from a two to three thousand square feet.

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Speaker 4: Their idea wasn't small.

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Speaker 3: The plan was to build a massive distribution hub that

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Speaker 3: would supply their own stores as well as other convenience

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Speaker 3: stores across Atlanta. The bigger their buying power, the cheaper

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Speaker 3: healthy food could be. On paper, they were setting themselves

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Speaker 3: up to service more than two hundred grocery stores.

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Speaker 8: That's two hundred communities.

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Speaker 3: Alfonso started pitching this vision everywhere he could local reporters YouTubers.

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Speaker 8: I passed by here one time and I was like

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Speaker 8: a grocery store on Peter Street.

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Speaker 3: That's him on Merritt Field's YouTube channel, and here he

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Speaker 3: is introducing himself on the TV program Soul of the South.

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Speaker 8: The South really does have a rich history, a lot

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Speaker 8: of wonderful natural resources, and a lot of opportunity for

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Speaker 8: small businesses to grow.

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Speaker 3: Within a three year span, Alfonso pretty much became the

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Speaker 3: face of Peter Street and he started a neighborhood association

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Speaker 3: that he became president of. Despite all of the attention

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Speaker 3: the store was getting, they were struggling to keep it open.

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Speaker 3: The grand plans for all the satellite stores didn't work out.

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Speaker 3: They were learning that being a business owner in the

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Speaker 3: so called Black Mecca came with a lot of politics

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Speaker 3: and red tape, and they were barely making a profit.

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Speaker 3: Allison jokes that people thought her and her brother were

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Speaker 3: skinny because they were eating healthy, when actually they were

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00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,919
Speaker 3: losing weight because they were stressed and barely eating. Every

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00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:11,520
Speaker 3: dime they earned went right back into that store. They

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Speaker 3: even tried to kickstart a campaign to fund it, but

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00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,240
Speaker 3: it didn't help because a lot of people assumed that

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00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:20,200
Speaker 3: since they owned the building, they already had money.

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Speaker 10: There's a perception, and it was told to us to

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Speaker 10: our faces by black peopeople as well as white people.

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Speaker 10: Why would I give you any money you have so much.

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Speaker 3: By twenty fifteen, just three years after opening, the Cross

441
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,520
Speaker 3: Siblings were forced to close box Car for good. I

442
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,000
Speaker 3: asked our Fonzo what it's like to look back on

443
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,200
Speaker 3: that time. Now, there's a part.

444
00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:49,679
Speaker 8: Of me that we were very naive, and that naivete.

445
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,119
Speaker 8: I feel like we came off as real assholes. We

446
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 8: didn't know what we were doing. We had a bunch

447
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 8: of lofty ideas and a lot of theories, and we

448
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,480
Speaker 8: didn't have I have a lot of time to do

449
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,480
Speaker 8: a lot of propaganda and you know, and marketing and

450
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,200
Speaker 8: pr We sort of just landed and had to get

451
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 8: right to get in this building open because it was

452
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,200
Speaker 8: I mean, we had to pay this banknote.

453
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,720
Speaker 3: Box Car might have shut its doors, but our falls

454
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,760
Speaker 3: on Allison still owned the block, and the block was

455
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 3: about to change fast.

456
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:27,720
Speaker 4: With box Car gone.

457
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 3: Our farms on Allison were still landlords, Like you said,

458
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:35,120
Speaker 3: that was their job. The grocery store had failed, but

459
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,560
Speaker 3: the bars and restaurants on their property were thriving. Peter

460
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,920
Speaker 3: Street was buzzing. People from all over the city came

461
00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 3: there to party. But that kind of success brought problems too,

462
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:50,439
Speaker 3: especially for longtime locals like Maya, who owned City of

463
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:51,600
Speaker 3: Ink tattoo shop.

464
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:53,560
Speaker 6: The problem we had is a whole bunch of people

465
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:55,960
Speaker 6: coming from out of town or something coming from another place,

466
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,760
Speaker 6: which is good for tourism, but it's not even a

467
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:00,000
Speaker 6: demographic was it the neighborhood.

468
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,480
Speaker 4: The crowds coming to Peter Street weren't from the neighborhood.

469
00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:06,600
Speaker 3: They were looking for a party, and sooner or later

470
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:12,280
Speaker 3: businesses had to cater to that demand. Take Slice Pizza,

471
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 3: one of the first spots to open on the Cross's

472
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:18,880
Speaker 3: property back in the early two thousands. It was sleek, simple,

473
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 3: with no frills. You could go there get a cheap slice,

474
00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,560
Speaker 3: a cheap drink, or a toasted pesto chicken sandwich with

475
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 3: arugula and baby tomatoes if.

476
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 4: That was your thing. On the right night, you might even.

477
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 3: Catch Ti Young Jeezy or past to Troy at the bar,

478
00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 3: grabbing a moment away from the spotlight.

479
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 7: But it was really just a real hangout spot for

480
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 7: all us man we probably hadn't even hit thirty.

481
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:43,160
Speaker 2: Years oh yet.

482
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:48,000
Speaker 3: By twenty twelve, Slice was gone, replaced by another pizza

483
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:51,679
Speaker 3: spot called The Spinning Pie or just Spin. It was

484
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:55,159
Speaker 3: a new black owned business that promised more than food.

485
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,719
Speaker 3: Spin leaned into the vibe of Peter Street with craft

486
00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 3: beers or on new balls, TVs for the.

487
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,560
Speaker 4: Game, and DJ spinning and late into the night.

488
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:07,040
Speaker 6: The vibe changed because you know, the frequency of the

489
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,560
Speaker 6: music changed to put this in hip hop playlist terms.

490
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 4: Back in the day at Slice, you would walk in.

491
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:17,439
Speaker 3: And hear slum village, day La Soul or trial called Quest.

492
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,919
Speaker 3: It was a mixed crowd of hipsters and vertsy people.

493
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:24,000
Speaker 3: When Spin took over, you was gonna hear Rick Ross

494
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:24,639
Speaker 3: and Juicy J.

495
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 6: Just seeing like everybody with these fake ass gold chains

496
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,440
Speaker 6: on and wanted to be black Hollywood, Atlanta. It did

497
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 6: change to like, I want to go have some pizza

498
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:38,600
Speaker 6: to niggas standing on the bar.

499
00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:42,440
Speaker 4: He ain't lying. The ship was lit.

500
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,159
Speaker 3: I mean I hosted a bunch of my birthday parties

501
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 3: in there, my damn self.

502
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:48,280
Speaker 4: Shout out to my man. Sean Fallion.

503
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,880
Speaker 3: Blue canteena right next door, leaned it to the same formula,

504
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,919
Speaker 3: music and party vibes, often out shining the food, and

505
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,320
Speaker 3: just a couple of doors down was two five to five.

506
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:01,639
Speaker 3: Once a year they team that with Grand Hustle Records

507
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:05,439
Speaker 3: to throw a massive block party during Birthday Bash or

508
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:09,200
Speaker 3: the Beet Hip Hop Awards. Granted they got the permits

509
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:12,560
Speaker 3: and everything, but that still didn't keep locals from bitching

510
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 3: about it.

511
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 4: Here's how Pastor Troy remembers it.

512
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,160
Speaker 7: That's when a lot of the car break ins and

513
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:22,439
Speaker 7: stuff like that started. But with the neighborhood coming together, man,

514
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 7: they were able to.

515
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:24,640
Speaker 2: Tone that down.

516
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:28,040
Speaker 3: This coming together, if you want to call it, that

517
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 3: would often happen at the neighborhood association meetings.

518
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:33,160
Speaker 4: And here's the thing.

519
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,720
Speaker 3: About Casterlebury Hill that made the fireworks go off at

520
00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:39,600
Speaker 3: these meetings. It wasn't just one type of resident. In

521
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 3: the early two thousands, you had struggling artists living in

522
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 3: loss for cheap rent, but as property values rose, wealthier

523
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 3: folks moved in, some paying top dollar for high end spaces.

524
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:56,280
Speaker 3: Of course, the different residents had different ideas of what

525
00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 3: the neighborhood should be like. But if you sat in

526
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,640
Speaker 3: on those meetings, do you get a front row seat

527
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:04,480
Speaker 3: to who cansel Berry really was before the street lights

528
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:07,479
Speaker 3: came on. I mean, just as Carl, the owner of

529
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,280
Speaker 3: Off the Hook barbershop. He's been here forever, and he

530
00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 3: always used to tell me, man.

531
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 4: You need to write a story on the real calsele

532
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:15,920
Speaker 4: Berry be.

533
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:18,080
Speaker 9: Happy to be in one of the association meeting one

534
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 9: a day and this lady asked why there are so

535
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 9: many African American kids in this neighborhood, and everybody turned

536
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,680
Speaker 9: around looked at her like, ma'am, you're three blocks away

537
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:29,920
Speaker 9: from four black colleges.

538
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be real.

539
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:33,240
Speaker 6: He'd be like, dang, man, there's whole bunch of white

540
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:34,240
Speaker 6: people be fussing and stuff.

541
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 4: I don't know.

542
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,240
Speaker 3: It feels like the almost like the bourgeois. When Maya

543
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:41,440
Speaker 3: says bourgeoisie. He's talking about white folks and black folks

544
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 3: from varying backgrounds who all had different ideas for the street.

545
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 3: And some of them even used to call the police

546
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 3: on my when one of his art shows caused a

547
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 3: little too much traffic until he but hold on, hold on,

548
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:53,800
Speaker 3: before we get there.

549
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 6: I want to say that. But they also do love

550
00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 6: me and they be helping me out. Could they helped

551
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:04,600
Speaker 6: me out right now with a zonea issue.

552
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:06,640
Speaker 8: It was a mess on so many levels. It was

553
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:10,680
Speaker 8: a mess economically, it was a mess racially, it was

554
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,600
Speaker 8: a mess with individual business owners and land.

555
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 4: It was just a mess.

556
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 3: In response, Alfonso founded a neighborhood business association. He noticed

557
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 3: a growing disconnect between the owners running the businesses and

558
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:24,920
Speaker 3: the residents who actually lived there.

559
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 8: The way community development usually works is that you usually

560
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:30,760
Speaker 8: have industrial first, and then you have commercial and then

561
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 8: you have residential. Casterbury Hill didn't develop like that. Casbury

562
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 8: Hill developed all ass backwards. So it was industrial first

563
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 8: and then it was residential, and then it was commercial.

564
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:44,400
Speaker 8: And this is where things did get racial.

565
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 2: If there was this.

566
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:52,840
Speaker 8: White gallery owner, artist, sort of contingent that started to

567
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,840
Speaker 8: really buy in to Casterbury Hill prior to Peter Street.

568
00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,440
Speaker 8: And we live in the south, so it was like

569
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,719
Speaker 8: watching two trains on a track. You know they're gonna collide.

570
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,440
Speaker 4: This isn't too uncommon in Atlanta.

571
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 3: Front facing the city proudly sells the image of black excellence,

572
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 3: where black folks are running shit. I mean, hell, we've

573
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:16,960
Speaker 3: had nothing but black mayors for the last half century.

574
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:21,600
Speaker 3: But underneath there's still pockets of racial and cultural tension,

575
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 3: Thoulans and feedback from the neighborhood and the business Association's

576
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,800
Speaker 3: war to Cross Siblings down because no matter how many

577
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 3: meetings they held, common ground always seemed to be out

578
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 3: of reach. It looked like it was going to take

579
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,160
Speaker 3: a miracle or a disaster for folks to see out

580
00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 3: of eye. The miracle never really came. The disaster unfolded

581
00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 3: in stages. It took ten plus years for Peter Street

582
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,680
Speaker 3: to reach its peak from twenty twelve to twenty nineteen.

583
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:55,120
Speaker 3: Its downfall came a lot quicker. To this day, a

584
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 3: lot of people still point their fingers at Alfonso. In

585
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 3: the summer of twenty seventeen, the Cross Siblings scheduled a

586
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,600
Speaker 3: routine inspection of their building to make sure everything was

587
00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:08,800
Speaker 3: in order. They had renovation plans in the back of

588
00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:12,760
Speaker 3: their minds. After all, the brand new Mercedes Benz Stadium

589
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 3: was just a short walk away, and with it came

590
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 3: big promises for the neighborhood, more people, more traffic, more opportunity.

591
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:22,760
Speaker 3: The Crosses wanted to be ready.

592
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,560
Speaker 10: We had some architects and engineers walk through the building

593
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:27,520
Speaker 10: and give us sort of the big sums up like Okay,

594
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:29,160
Speaker 10: structurally everything's fine here.

595
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:30,960
Speaker 4: But actually it wasn't news.

596
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 9: Drone Iwo flew over a local restaurant where the roof

597
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:35,400
Speaker 9: collapsed and hurt several customers.

598
00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 4: Inspects are asking.

599
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 3: One of the restaurants on the property, Blue Canteena, had

600
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:43,520
Speaker 3: to shut down after a heavy rainstorm caused the roof

601
00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:46,280
Speaker 3: to collapse. It was a pretty big deal because it

602
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,280
Speaker 3: happened on one of their more popular nights and a

603
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:50,440
Speaker 3: few people got injured.

604
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:52,880
Speaker 10: There was a hidden defact that no one could have

605
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 10: found really from what all the engineers afterwards said, that

606
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:00,440
Speaker 10: was a beast of a project to figure out what

607
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 10: was the failure, Because, of course then the worry was

608
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 10: if this failed, then we've been watching it and taking

609
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 10: care of it. What else could possibly fail that we

610
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:12,400
Speaker 10: don't know about. These buildings are over one hundred years old.

611
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 3: Then two years later, in twenty nineteen, Alfonso sat down

612
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:20,960
Speaker 3: for an interview with Atlanta reporter King Williams and revealed

613
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:25,000
Speaker 3: his next big plan to build a boutique hotel above

614
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 3: the businesses on his property.

615
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:28,920
Speaker 4: The timing could not have been worse.

616
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 3: That same year, tenants at two five five Spend Baltimore

617
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 3: Seafood and Pearl Lounge all got word their leases would

618
00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 3: not be renewed. The public reaction was immediate and ugly.

619
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,880
Speaker 3: They accused Alfonso of finally caving to the neighborhood pressure

620
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:52,920
Speaker 3: of making the sweeping changes they suspected he wanted to make. Alfonso, however,

621
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:56,600
Speaker 3: tells a different story. When the roof collapsed at Blue Cantina,

622
00:32:57,040 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 3: it was a wake up call for him in Allison,

623
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:02,720
Speaker 3: the building needed serious work and they couldn't make those

624
00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:06,720
Speaker 3: renovations while tenants were still inside. But by then the

625
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:10,440
Speaker 3: court of public opinion had already ruled against him. I

626
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:13,400
Speaker 3: asked him about the interview and his plans for this hotel.

627
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 8: I will say it right here on the record that

628
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 8: I never should have said that.

629
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:19,760
Speaker 4: I was sort of in my Richard.

630
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 8: Branson face, and I was really wanting to drum up

631
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 8: interest from developers and investors in that project. It was

632
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 8: super premature, Yet again, I didn't know what I was doing.

633
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 2: It was wild.

634
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 3: But just a couple months after that interview, another catastrophe happened.

635
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,280
Speaker 10: Right now in Atlanta. Fire cruis are on this scene

636
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:47,320
Speaker 10: of a business fire. This happening at Peter Street around

637
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 10: eight This morning the fire start.

638
00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:52,800
Speaker 3: On the morning of September eight, twenty nineteen, Allison and

639
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 3: Alfonso woke up to frantic calls their property.

640
00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:57,120
Speaker 4: Was on fire.

641
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,320
Speaker 3: Allison says it likely started from a cigarette or maybe

642
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:04,400
Speaker 3: a hookah coal that slipped between the deck boards at

643
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 3: two five five the night before. By morning, it had

644
00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,960
Speaker 3: smoldered into a full blaze, tearing through two five five

645
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 3: and spreading to Baltimore's Seafood and Pearl Lounge.

646
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:19,520
Speaker 10: That was a devastating day for all of us.

647
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 8: The firefucked everybody up, like it super fucked everybody up.

648
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:27,240
Speaker 3: The leases were supposed to expire three months after the fire.

649
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,640
Speaker 3: Alfonso says there was already an exit strategy in place

650
00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:36,040
Speaker 3: for the businesses, but the fire threw everything off. According

651
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:38,600
Speaker 3: to the Crosses, they didn't force anyone out.

652
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,720
Speaker 4: The tenants chose to leave early. There was no kicking

653
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:43,399
Speaker 4: people out.

654
00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:47,040
Speaker 8: It wasn't even in our financial best interest for that

655
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,239
Speaker 8: fire to have rent suddenly stopped. I mean, what did

656
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:50,960
Speaker 8: you think about that.

657
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,160
Speaker 3: It's been six years since the fire, and Peter Street

658
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 3: is definitely quieter. During twenty twenty and twenty twenty one,

659
00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:02,239
Speaker 3: it was p technically a ghost town, though that was

660
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:06,040
Speaker 3: mostly because of COVID. Slowly, though, pieces of it have

661
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 3: started to wake back up. Off the hook moved into

662
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 3: a new unit, and while the former homes of Blue

663
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 3: CANTEENA Spin two, five to five, and Baltimore's Seafood are

664
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,480
Speaker 3: technically open for new tenants, you wouldn't know it at

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00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 3: first glance.

666
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,359
Speaker 4: Most of them are still boarded up.

667
00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:25,279
Speaker 3: As for Allison and Alfonso, they aren't joined at the

668
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:27,640
Speaker 3: hip like they used to be when they were running

669
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:29,000
Speaker 3: Box Card Grocer together.

670
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:34,239
Speaker 8: When you inherit a business, or you inherit actual physical assets,

671
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,600
Speaker 8: then you gotta work together. And you may not be

672
00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:40,640
Speaker 8: compatible to work together, or you may be compatible for

673
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:41,760
Speaker 8: a short period of time.

674
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:47,960
Speaker 10: And you need to have the humility to know when

675
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,600
Speaker 10: it's time to move into different directions.

676
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,720
Speaker 3: Forty years after their father first bought the property, Allison

677
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:58,239
Speaker 3: and Alfonso now faced the same challenge he did. A

678
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:01,400
Speaker 3: big vacant building in need of work, sitting in the

679
00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:05,520
Speaker 3: neighborhood full of potential, and just like people keep flocking

680
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:08,920
Speaker 3: to Atlanta for their slice of peach cobbler, everyone on

681
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,920
Speaker 3: Peter Street has their own vision for what the neighborhood

682
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:17,239
Speaker 3: should be. Carl for example, wants something practical, something that

683
00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:19,880
Speaker 3: delivers right now, somebody.

684
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:21,440
Speaker 2: Please open the convenience store on Peter Street.

685
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:24,640
Speaker 3: Past de Troy can see the global future of Atlanta.

686
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:28,040
Speaker 3: He kind of liked our Fonzo's idea with Fever World.

687
00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:30,600
Speaker 2: Cup coming and stuff like that. You say, hey man.

688
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:32,400
Speaker 7: It might not be a bad idea to have a

689
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,880
Speaker 7: nice boutique hotel down there with probably sixteen rooms and

690
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 7: stuff like that.

691
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 3: Maya has spent the last eight years opening four more

692
00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,440
Speaker 3: art galleries on Peter Street, so he has some thoughts.

693
00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:45,920
Speaker 6: And I think the other direction is, you know, like

694
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:48,160
Speaker 6: bringing the arts to the neighborhood. It's a lot of

695
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,719
Speaker 6: empty buildings and empty stuff that's still available that we

696
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:53,759
Speaker 6: can do some art related stuff and have a true

697
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:54,400
Speaker 6: art district.

698
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,879
Speaker 8: I think Atlanta can be for people of Colorado world

699
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:02,319
Speaker 8: with Las Vegas is for Americans. And I think that

700
00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:06,279
Speaker 8: the pin drop, if you will, for that Discasper Hill,

701
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:07,840
Speaker 8: and I'd have always said that, I think it's our building.

702
00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,600
Speaker 3: Whatever direction Peter Street and Canterbury he'll take, it won't

703
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:16,160
Speaker 3: be an easy road. The city is changing fast. Rents

704
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:19,520
Speaker 3: keep climbing and so is the cost of everything. So

705
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 3: even as the Mayor's office puts out press releases bragging

706
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 3: that Atlanta is the best city to start a businessing

707
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:28,680
Speaker 3: anyone trying to set up shop down here needs to

708
00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:31,280
Speaker 3: know exactly what they're stepping into.

709
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:31,960
Speaker 4: And if you.

710
00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:34,640
Speaker 3: Decide to try it anyway, you have a landlord down

711
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:35,759
Speaker 3: here waiting to welcome you.

712
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,080
Speaker 10: Whoever comes in the building, they're gonna get a lot

713
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:43,319
Speaker 10: of shine from being in Castlebury Hill at this particular

714
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 10: moment in time.

715
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:48,400
Speaker 3: What happens next on Peter Street is anybody's guests. But

716
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:51,400
Speaker 3: if Atlanta is still the Black Mecca, then this street

717
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,880
Speaker 3: tells us what that really means, not just the dream

718
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,040
Speaker 3: of ownership, but the cost of holding on to it.

719
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 1: Some people see Atlanta as a financial opportunity, Others see

720
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:13,600
Speaker 1: it as a place that's about culture and community. Truth is,

721
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,719
Speaker 1: it's all of that and more. Atlanta ain't one dimensional.

722
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 1: It's multifaceted. It's supposed to if all of us, the dreamers,

723
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:26,319
Speaker 1: the builders, the one still trying to figure it out.

724
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:29,799
Speaker 1: But to me, a Black Meca gotta mean more than

725
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:34,680
Speaker 1: individual accomplishment. It's about community and building together for the

726
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:38,759
Speaker 1: good of us. All that's the real work. That's really

727
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:42,799
Speaker 1: what Atlanta is a city where one rises and we

728
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 1: all rise.

729
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,919
Speaker 3: In the next episode, a die far near Martin Luther

730
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,280
Speaker 3: King's Church serves as the launching pad for the next

731
00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:03,160
Speaker 3: generation of artists and it becomes an unlikely magnet for VIPs.

732
00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:06,800
Speaker 3: In Atlanta is a department store party.

733
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:08,880
Speaker 10: As two Change is walking in the door, He's like this,

734
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,520
Speaker 10: two Change fucking slaps that shit out in his fucking hand,

735
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:12,520
Speaker 10: and I was.

736
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:13,200
Speaker 4: Like, what the fuck?

737
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:21,960
Speaker 1: Atlanta is the will Packer Media production in partnership with

738
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:28,280
Speaker 1: iHeart Podcast Idea, Generation and Complex. This episode was written, reported,

739
00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:31,960
Speaker 1: and produced by Maurice Garlin, with additional production from.

740
00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:33,760
Speaker 2: Christina Lee and jul Wicker.

741
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:38,240
Speaker 1: Our supervisor, producer and editor is Shiva biad Our. Managing

742
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:43,200
Speaker 1: producers are Rose Frulini Bacon O'mari Graham, and Shamara Rochester.

743
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:47,160
Speaker 1: Editorial support from Sean Setero and Jack Irwin.

744
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:50,239
Speaker 2: Original theme music by Iman Sahota.

745
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:54,720
Speaker 1: Sound designed by Shiva Bayat and Our Mind Sahota, mixed

746
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:59,040
Speaker 1: and mastered by Iman Sahota. Fact checking done by Sean Setero.

747
00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:04,320
Speaker 1: C counsel Donison caliph Perez, Lisa Califf and Jacqueline Schwedt.

748
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:08,360
Speaker 1: Executive producers for will Packer Media are Will Packer and

749
00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:09,240
Speaker 1: Alex Bowden.

750
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,720
Speaker 2: Co producer for will Packer Media is Nemi Mohun.

751
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:17,360
Speaker 1: Executive producers for Idea Generation and Complex of Jack Irwin

752
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:21,520
Speaker 1: and Noah Callahan. Bever Head of talent relations for Complex

753
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:26,040
Speaker 1: is Anthony Already. Talent associate for Complex is Ryan Houston.

754
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:30,400
Speaker 1: Senior attorney for Complex is Jordan Washington. Special thanks to

755
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:36,320
Speaker 1: Tyler Klin, Terry Harrison, Chris Senator, Noams Griffin, and Candace Howard.

756
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:38,520
Speaker 2: Big rude piece