Ansley Mall is an open-air

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

in the Piedmont Heights neighborhood of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

at 1544 Piedmont Avenue at the intersection of Monroe Drive near the Atlanta

BeltLine The Atlanta Beltline is long multi-use corridor on a former railway corridor which encircles the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Beltline is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by in ...

trail. Ansley opened in 1964, sending

Midtown Atlanta Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown for short, is a Urban area, high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used ...

's Tenth Street shopping district into decline.Tommy H. Jones, "Margaret Mitchell House: Historical Context"
/ref> The single-level center had of leasable area and was anchored by a Woolworth's

variety store A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, auto parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, furniture, and a selection of groceries. It usually sel ...

and Colonial supermarket. The tenant list of the 3.2-million-dollar complex included twenty-six retailers. It was a "twin" of what is now officially called the Crossroads Shopping Center, better known by its name in its heyday, Stewart-Lakewood Center, an open-air shopping center on Metropolitan Parkway (formerly Stewart Avenue) at Langford Parkway (formerly Lakewood Freeway) in the Sylvan Hills neighborhood of southern

. Stewart-Lakewood was built in 1962 by the same company and in the same style as Ansley and was also considered a major regional retail center. "Major retail center statistics", U.S. Census Bureau, 1963
/ref> In 1969, a movie theater in the mall was the site of the ''Lonesome Cowboys'' police raid, a seminal moment in the history of the LGBT community in Atlanta. The mall was renovated in 2010, the works carried out by Earthstation. Anchors include

Publix Publix Super Markets, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Publix, is an employee ownership, employee-owned American supermarket Chain store, chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a Privately h ...

supermarket, an

LA Fitness Fitness International LLC is a North American gym chain with over 700 clubs across the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Irvine, California. History In 1984, the first LA Fitness was founded by founder C ...

gym, and a CVS Pharmacy. It is owned by Selig. The Ansley Mall area rivals Cheshire Bridge Road and the intersection of 10th and

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

as the most popular gathering area for gay men in Atlanta. Across Clear Creek is Ansley Square, a strip mall with more gay bars and gay-friendly spaces."LGBTQ Neighborhoods", Atlanta Visitor's Bureau
/ref>

References

External links

Official Facebook page

Page on "Mall Hall of Fame" (blog)

{{Shopping malls in Georgia (U.S. state) Shopping malls in the Atlanta metropolitan area Shopping malls established in 1964 Gay villages in Georgia (U.S. state) 1964 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) LGBTQ African-American culture