Buckhead, Atlanta’s Belle

It doesn’t roll quite as trippingly off the tongue, but Buckhead is the Beverly Hills of the South--by day, at least.

About four miles north of downtown, Atlanta’s nicest neighborhood is a virtual city within a city, with high-rises and posh hotels to match ritzy residential enclaves that put Tara to shame. The Georgia governor’s mansion is here, as are country clubs with waiting lists seemingly as long as the fairways.

Buckhead is a community with two distinct personas. In the daylight hours, thick canopies of trees shade streets. Carefully tended gardens show off perennial colors with manicured precision. After a hard day of work, professionals retire to the elegant dining rooms or sidewalk cafes.

But by night, Buckhead reveals its wild side. It transforms into Party Central, where new money rolls in to rave till dawn. Women dress to the nines; men marinate in cheap cologne. Seemingly every college student in Georgia comes to grind, laugh and scream in the streets. There’s enough action to keep nearly every tourist intrigued, if slightly off kilter.

Although this dichotomy alone probably isn’t enough to entice a cross-country visit, those who come through town for other reasons--business, family, pleasure--often are pleasantly surprised by this peach of a neighborhood.

After a year in Maui, I recently ended up in Atlanta to finish some writing and regroup before going abroad. When friends from Hawaii announced that they planned to visit, I wanted to show off all facets of Buckhead’s personality.

So one Friday in October, I set out to become familiar with the place I knew mostly from Tom Wolfe’s 1998 novel “A Man in Full,” which sketched the social and political life of Atlanta in much the same way “The Bonfire of the Vanities” did for New York. I wanted to be a proper host (the South demands no less), and I was curious about how well a metro hamlet can maintain its heritage and hospitality. In Buckhead’s case, the answer is “Nicely, thank you.”

As Rodeo Drive is to Beverly Hills and Fifth Avenue is to Manhattan, so is Peachtree Road to Atlanta. Old-school Atlantans follow the maxim, “Invest in Coca-Cola and property on Peachtree.” Maybe that’s why dozens of roads in Atlanta are named Peachtree. But only one Peachtree has six lanes surrounded by high-end hotels, shops, restaurants, pubs and office buildings, and that’s the one I drove to one crisp morning.

My route took me to the historical core of Buckhead, where Roswell, West Paces Ferry and Peachtree roads intersect. It was near this spot in the late 1830s, as legend has it, that Henry Irby built a combination tavern and grocery store where he hung the head of a large buck killed in the nearby forest. Henry called the area Irbyville, but it soon took the name Buckhead. These days, a statue of a buck sits with a storybook on his lap, surrounded by other woodland critters in a grass-and-cobblestone sliver of a park between the busy streets.

For gourmets, the view south from here is a little like looking into Alice’s rabbit hole. Dubbed “Atlanta’s Dining Room,” it’s home to many of Buckhead’s eating and drinking establishments--restaurants generally on the west side, bars and clubs on the east. There’s plenty of construction visible too, especially high-rise condos and apartments, each trying to outshine neighboring digs that have attracted part-time celebrity residents such as Elton John.

First, though, I wanted to see the old part of town, so I took West Paces Ferry Road to the Atlanta History Center, less than a mile away. It has permanent exhibits on Native Americans, the Civil War, folk art, the growth of modern-day Atlanta, even golf legend Bobby Jones. (For an online glimpse, go to https://www.atlhist.org.)

In back, an outdoor walking tour details the Tullie Smith Farm, circa 1845, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors pass small fields of crops, the smokehouse, the barn and fenced-in sheep. The little farmhouse shows how early Atlantans survived without CNN and Coca-Cola.

The walking tour leads to the archives building, repository for books, journals, photos, videos and other chronicles of Southern and Atlanta history. The tour usually continues to the Swan House, a 1920s Italianate mansion designed by beloved Atlantan architect Philip Trammell Shutze. His collection of Chinese and European pottery and porcelain is displayed with American and English period furniture. Unfortunately, the house was closed for a monthlong renovation when I was there.

I walked the little dirt trail around gardens, gazebos and a creek, then drove down the road to 391 W. Paces Ferry Road, the home of Gov. Roy Barnes. The governor was not to be seen, nor was the interior of the mansion. Free 30-minute tours, the guard said, are conducted 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday. (I returned the next week for a tour of the home, which contains an impressive collection of 19th century furnishings.)

Equally grand estates, villas and manors surround the governor’s mansion, many hidden from view behind high walls or acres of forest. But what you can see is delightfully Southern: classical porticoes, sweeping porches supported by Ionic and Corinthian columns, and ivy-clad gates beside oak- and elm-shaded lawns. Some of these treasures were created by Shutze and another Atlantan, architect Neel Reid.

Primed for Buckhead’s contemporary art scene, I turned from West Paces Ferry south on Peachtree. As the downtown skyline came into view, I looked for Bennett Street, the twisting alley that locals say has the core of Buckhead’s 75 galleries.

One side of Bennett is home to antique shops and art marts such as the Bennett Street Gallery, the Stalls Bennett Street Antique Market and Parc Monceau Antiques. The other side of Bennett looks like a landscape from a “Terminator” movie, with Georgia Power Co.’s two-story electric plant humming and whizzing behind barbed wire and red caution signs.

I went into the Tula Art Center, with its handsome hardwood floor and spiral staircase leading to multiple galleries. I perused Gallery Sklo, Robert Matre Gallery and Raymond Lawrence Gallery, and in one visit managed to see sketches, sculpture and paintings from Europe, Asia and Latin America. (The center, at 75 Bennett St., is open Tuesdays through Saturdays.)

Much of Buckhead spends its money in Lenox Square, one mile north of where West Paces Ferry meets Peachtree. Once the grand estate of banker John Ottley, the property was bulldozed in the late 1950s for one of the South’s largest shopping malls.

Here you’ll also find the luxury hotels: the Ritz-Carlton, Swisso^tel, JW Marriott and Grand Hyatt.

I walked across Peachtree, which was dotted with stretch limousines and luxury sedans, to the Ritz-Carlton. The hotel faced Phipps Plaza, a mall even more lavish than Lenox, with an ornate grand atrium and Saks Fifth Avenue as its anchor.

The Dining Room at the Ritz is one of Buckhead’s premier establishments, rated No. 1 in Atlanta by Gourmet magazine. But without the time or the proper attire, I passed.

It was 7 p.m. on this typically crisp autumn evening--still a good two hours until the nightclubs opened. Among the early dinner options--not four-star, but still inviting--were Nava, offering Southwestern cuisine; Chops steakhouse; John Harvard’s Brew House; and a host of other microbreweries, Irish pubs and upscale restaurants.

I went into the ESPN Zone, a two-story bar and restaurant with an artsy, sports-themed facade. The place was hopping. In the Screening Room, a 16-foot screen was surrounded by a dozen smaller TVs flashing competitions of every kind. Upstairs was the Sports Arena, full of interactive video games.

I grabbed a seat at the bar and scanned the menu--typical sports bar fare with lots of stuff that’s not good for you but makes you wish it were. Chicken wings, chicken fingers, deep-fried veggies and mozzarella sticks filled up a sampler platter of appetizers. For an entree, I made a more virtuous choice, a grilled chicken sandwich, and then was ready for the night to begin.

Though many clubs have entrances on Peachtree, ground zero is actually one block east on Bolling Way, with spillover onto side streets. By midnight crowds virtually shut down traffic, and live music comes up hard against local decibel-level ordinances. The area attracts musicians and sports celebrities, and visiting movie stars have been seen mingling.

It’s a wild, eclectic scene with a menu of moods and musical inclinations. One club, Fuel, rolls out a red carpet. Next door a bar called Swingers boasts a night of Jell-O wrestling. At the Living Room, women in string bikinis hang from rope swings above the dance floor.

On this night, at bar after bar, live bands and DJs pumped club, house and rap music. I found two places that would satisfy my guests. The Havana Club, as its name suggests, is for cigar aficionados. It has a walk-in humidor and a smoking lounge replete with stately wooden chairs. Past the smoking lounge, a samba band rocked near a large dance floor.

Across the street and several doors down was Tongue & Groove, a hot spot with goth-chic decor straight from the set of “Beetlejuice.” Outside, patrons lined up patiently. Inside, it was standing room only in spaces filled with high-backed velvet lounge chairs and large mirrors. “The later it gets, the crazier it gets,” hollered a smiling cocktail waitress over the din of hip-hop beats, laughter and conversation.

Around here, last call comes around 3:30 a.m., and by law, doors close at 4. That’s when the party moves outside for cruising and dancing in the street. By 6 a.m., Bolling Way is deserted. The blitzkrieg of dancers disappears to hotels and apartments.

Then Peachtree Road begins to buzz with well-dressed professionals, breakfast diners and the Starbucks faithful. The look is more refined, the pace less frenetic. But it slowly builds all day into night, jump-starting at 9 and quickening all over again.

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GUIDEBOOK

Checking Out the Buzz in Atlanta’s Buckhead

Getting there: Delta and United fly nonstop from LAX to Atlanta. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $358.

Getting around: Buckhead is about 12 miles north of the airport and about four miles north of downtown. From Interstate 85, take Georgia Highway 400 north to Exit 2, Buckhead Loop, which connects with Peachtree Road at Lenox Square.

Where to stay: Lenox Square has the best hotels in the posh part of Atlanta, with double rooms starting at $150 to $275 a night. They include:

The Ritz-Carlton, 3434 Peachtree Road N.E.; telephone (800) 241-3333 or (404) 237-2700, fax (404) 239-0078, Internet https://www.ritzcarlton.com.

Swisso^tel, 3391 Peachtree Road N.E.; tel. (888) 737-9477 or (404) 365-0065, fax (404) 365-8787, Internet https://www.swissotel.com.

JW Marriott Buckhead/Lenox, 3300 Lenox Road N.E.; tel. (800) 228-9290 (national reservations) or (404) 262-3344, fax (404) 262-8689, Internet https://www.marriott.com.

Grand Hyatt Atlanta, 3300 Peachtree Road N.E.; tel. (800) 233-1234 (national reservations) or (404) 365-8100, fax (404) 233-5686, Internet https://www.atlanta.hyatt.com.

Where to eat: Among Buckhead’s restaurant gems is the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton (address and phone above). A four-course dinner is $68.

Seeger’s, 111 W. Paces Ferry Road; tel. (404) 846-9779, Internet https://www.seegers.com, describes itself as “modern classical” with dishes such as grilled lamb chops, venison with braised pineapple, and French dorade with oven-dried tomatoes and spaghetti squash salad. A five-course dinner is $64. .

I looked for something more casual and found it at ESPN Zone, 3030 Peachtree Road N.E.; tel. (404) 682-3776, Internet https://www.espnzone.com. Sports-bar fare with entrees $11 to $20.

Where to find night life: Peachtree Road near Bolling Way is the epicenter. Clubs are open from about 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.

I visited the Havana Club, 247 Buckhead Ave., tel. (404) 869-8484, and Tongue & Groove, 3055 Peachtree Road N.E., tel. (404) 261-2325, Internet https://www.tongueandgrooveonline.com.

For more information: Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, 233 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta, GA 30303; tel. (800) ATLANTA (285-2682) or (404) 521-6600, fax (404) 584-6331, Internet https://www.atlanta.com.