Little Five Points (also L5P, LFP, Little Five, or Lil' Five) is a district on the east side 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 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, United States, east of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

. It was established in the early 20th century as the

commercial district Commercial area, commercial district or commercial zone in a city is an area, district, or neighborhoods primarily composed of commercial buildings, such as a strip mall, office parks, downtown, central business district, financial district, " ...

for the adjacent Inman Park and

Candler Park Candler Park is a 55-acre (223,000 m2) city park located at 585 Candler Park Drive NE, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is named after Coca-Cola magnate Asa Griggs Candler, who donated this land to the city in 1922. The park features a ...

neighborhoods, and has since become famous for the

alternative culture Alternative culture is a type of culture that exists outside or on the fringes of mainstream or popular culture, usually under the domain of one or more subcultures. These subcultures may have little or nothing in common besides their relative ...

it brings to Atlanta. It has been described as Atlanta's version of

Haight-Ashbury Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called the Haight and the Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the countercultu ...

, a melting pot of sub-cultures, and the

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

center of the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

Name

The name is a reference to Five Points, which is the center of downtown Atlanta. "Little" Five Points refers to the

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their ...

at the center of the neighborhood. Two points are provided by Moreland Avenue ( U.S. 23 and Georgia 42), which runs perfectly north/south, and forms the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

line dividing Fulton and DeKalb. Two points are provided by

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

Avenue, which runs northeast/southwest. The fifth point was originally

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

Avenue, which met the intersection from the northwest, but the Seminole point was converted to a plaza and there is no longer a five-point intersection, though some regard McLendon Avenue, extending east from Euclid's southern intersection at Moreland, as the new fifth point.

History

The first Atlanta streetcars were constructed just south of the Little Five Points in the 1890s. According to the National Park Service, as the population grew on Atlanta's east side, the area where the trolley lines converged became one of the earliest major regional shopping centers. Little Five Points thrived until the 1960s, when a proposed freeway through the heart of the district drove residents out of the neighborhood. By the 1970s, Little Five Points had fallen into disrepair. A revitalization began as urban pioneers moved into the then-cheap neighborhood and restored the Victorian-style homes. By 1981, local merchants formed the Little Five Points Partnership to continue the restoration and expansion of the retail area, turning what was formerly a

gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

into the "484 retail area" — several retail shops aligned in strip-mall style.

Geography

Little Five Points is surrounded by the Inman Park, Edgewood,

and Poncey-Highland

neighborhoods of Atlanta : The city of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia is made up of 243 neighborhoods officially defined by the city. These neighborhoods are a mix of traditional neighborhoods, Subdivision (land), subdivisions, or groups of subdivisions. The ...

. Immediately to the south on Moreland, just through the DeKalb Avenue and Georgia Railroad

underpass A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing running underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor or train traffic. Terminology In the United States, as ...

, is the Edgewood Retail District, a late-2000s urban infill

land development Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways, such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or House, housing * subdivision (land), Subdividing real estate into Lot ( ...

of former Atlanta Gas Light Company land. This provides the area its

big-box store A big-box store, a hyperstore, a supercenter, a superstore, or a megastore is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The ...

s, mostly at the opposite end of the spectrum from the historic Little Five Points. Its smaller shops constructed along Caroline Street, occupied by many

chain store A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many p ...

s, are done in a small-town " main street" style (with

underground parking A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

), and the entire development is done in

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

, as Little Five Points originally was.

Culture

Little Five Points is renowned for its alternative culture. It is home to metro- wide indie radio station WRFG FM 89.3 as well as many businesses. The neighborhood is featured in the

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

show '' Class of 3000'' as well as the '' Internet Girls'' series of books by

Lauren Myracle Lauren Myracle (born May 15, 1969) is an American writer of young adult fiction. She has written many novels, including the three best-selling "IM" books, ''ttyl (novel), ttyl'', ''ttfn (novel), ttfn'' and ''l8r, g8r''. Her book ''Thirteen Plus O ...

, who mentions several of the businesses in Little Five Points by name. The Little Five Points Halloween Festival takes place every year on the Saturday of

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

. The official L5P Poet used to freestyle poetry in the square and has a mural located in the alleyway between Earthtones and Filthy Wealth; he has not been present in 2014. Local vendors sell

arts and crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

and the highlight of the celebration is the Little Five Points Halloween Parade. The

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

features local celebrities, bikers in costume, live music,

hearse A hearse () is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin to a funeral, wake, or graveside service. They range from deliberately ...

s, several local

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who play while marching. Historically they were used in armed forces and many marching bands remain military bands. Others are still associated with military units or emulate a military sty ...

s, and many

parade float A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually s ...

s that are put together by community action groups and local businesses. Little Five is also the host of Little Five Fest, an annual music festival featuring 50-100 local bands spread across multiple venues. Unlike most of Atlanta's neighborhoods, the

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant gr ...

in Little Five Points is highly concentrated in a compact easily walked area. Works by internationally known street artists can be found as well as works by local artists. Finding the murals can be a bit of a treasure hunt. Many works of street art are tucked away on the back sides of buildings, in alleyways, and in back parking lots. Both the easily visible and hidden gems of street art in Little Five Points are mapped on th
Atlanta Street Art Map

References

External links

L5P Alliance
{{Authority control 1900s establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Neighborhoods in Atlanta