Dreadlocked artists sell beadwork from carts, a yogurt stand sells wheatberry juice by the recyclable cup, and stores display vintage to trashy fashions. The vegetarian, ecological, egalitarian community offers cheap eats, late-night live entertainment, and places to sit with a coffee or bottle and watch the crowd. Many restaurants by day turn to live-music venues by night. Once largely a funky residential district, midtown has since undergone extensive renovation, evolving into an upscale business center and the city's premier cultural arts center. In the shadow of the city's most stylish skyscrapers lie vacant fields of green and blocks of comfortable Victorian cottages.
Midtown neighborhoods hold particular appeal for Atlanta's gay community.
The small, walkable neighborhood around Peachtree Street and North Avenue, with convenient public transit and parking, restaurants, and easy access to the freeway, is a secluded alternative to pricey downtown hotels or some freeway exit motel. Farther north around Peachtree and Tenth streets, visitors find a quiet niche among midtown's gleaming chrome towers. The Hyatt Regency, Westin Peachtree, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott Marquis, and Atlanta Hilton compete in the large hotel category, surrounded by over a dozen smaller and less expensive hotels. Generally, less expensive hotels such as the Days Inn are west of Peachtree. South on Highland, a short walk from this central village, is the nightlife strip anchored by Blind Willie's blues club and long-time saloon Atkins Park.