Shops surround the Plaza where many people have continued to congregate despite changes in Little 5 Points.
A Vibrant Cultural Revival: Little Five Points
A neighborhood cultivated in cross cultures
Little Five Points, one of Atlanta’s most unique intown neighborhoods, is in for a change that community members have desired for over 40 years. The Little Five Points Community Improvement District (CID) is planning to revamp the Plaza, a main hub for activity as well as the location of many homeless individuals.
“Welcome to Little 5 Points,” the colorful mural reads on the corner of Moreland and Euclid avenues. “We’re all here ‘cause we’re not all there!”
This offbeat neighborhood has gained its distinct and unusual vibe from years of vibrant history fueled by counterculture hippies of the 1970s and the shifting socioeconomic dynamic of its surroundings.
“Little Five Points has a distinct flavor,” said longtime property owner and former chair of the CID, Don Bender. “It was always edgy. It was politically progressive and artistically progressive.”
However, Bender believes the neighborhood is not quite what it used to be.
“Some of us have been dissatisfied for quite a while with what Little Five Points has become,” Bender said. “In its beginnings it was vibrant and very artistically creative, and it still has that spark, but it’s gotten bogged down a bit.”
The CID has raised the money needed to complete the development and plans to promote different performances and art booths in the Plaza that are regulated, in contrast with the variety of random pop-up performances located there now.
“I don’t want it to become just another vanilla development,” Bender said. “We want to preserve the best of it and keep the counterculture tone.”
Jeff Cramer • Nov 26, 2018 at 9:58 am
Thank you for a well researched and well written article. You have presented the neighborhood honestly, and the pictures are spectacular. I suspect the four men in the first photo have a story to tell as well. Keep up the great work you all do at the Southerner. Jeff Cramer