Cheshire Bridge Road

Cheshire Bridge Road is a street in Atlanta, dating back to the early 1800s. Today, the Cheshire Bridge Road corridor is "a diverse community that includes residents, antique shops, restaurants, bars, and specialty retailers"[1] and which also contains many adult entertainment businesses and gay nightclubs.

The road traverses the Morningside-Lenox Park and Lindridge-Martin Manor neighborhoods, running southwest to northeast from Piedmont Avenue to Lenox Road at what was Cheshire's Bridge[2] over the South Fork of Peachtree Creek, just a few steps north of the I-85 overpass.

History

Origins

White settlers originally settled the corridor in the 1820s. Two of these early settlers were Napoleon and Jerome Cheshire, two brothers who owned farms on opposite sides of South Fork of Peachtree Creek, and connected their farms by a bridge known as the Cheshire Bridge, giving the road its name.[1][3]

The area remained agricultural until the early 20th century. At that time suburban development encroached from Atlanta to the south, in today's Morningside neighborhood. By the 1960s the entire area was suburban.

Arrival of gay and adult businesses

By the early 1970s, more affluent residents were moving further away from Atlanta. Many longtime businesses closed and were replaced by low rent businesses. In the 1980s residential areas around the corridor rebounded, but the commercial area continued to stagnate, despite some individual businesses opening that were popular.[1] By the turn of the 21st century, the city Department of Planning still stated: "the Cheshire Bridge Road corridor continues to fail to reach its potential. While thriving residential neighborhoods, an eclectic business mix and many popular establishments mark the area, the corridor remains a seedy and undesirable locale in the collective Atlanta psyche due, in part, to the proliferation of adult businesses and the unkempt nature of the corridor."[1]

Possible "cleanup" of Cheshire Bridge

In 2005 the city banned new adult businesses on Cheshire Bridge, but existing ones were allowed to stay.[4][5]

In 2013, councilman Alex Wan introduced legislation, supported by neighborhood associations and NPU F,[6] to remove existing adult businesses from Cheshire Bridge by 2018, but this was not passed, opposed by a mix of gays, strippers and Atlanta’s real estate interests – including Scott Selig.[7] Some in the gay community wondered if Cheshire Bridge were "sanitized", "where would people go for sexual expression"?[8] Matthew Cardinale, the editor and publisher of Atlanta Progressive News, and resident of the Road, decried "the ongoing project of gentrification, homogenization, sterilization and capitalization of a historic neighborhood," Atlanta's "red-light district".[4]

Businesses

Iconic businesses along Cheshire Bridge Road include:

Amenities

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Cheshire Bridge Road Study", 1999, City of Atlanta Department of Planning, Development and Neighborhood Conservation, Bureau of Planning In conjunction with the Cheshire Bridge Road Task Force Archived 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "Site of Old Cheshire Bridge", GeorgiaInfo, University of Georgia
  3. ↑ "History", Lindridge-Martin Manor Neighbors Association Archived 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. 1 2 "What to do with Cheshire Bridge Road?", Jordan Friedman, Feb 15, 2013, Creative Loafing
  5. ↑ "Clean up Cheshire Bridge?", Creative Loafing, May 8, 2013
  6. ↑ "Residents OK Cheshire Bridge plan to gently give adult businesses the boot", Max Blau, Creative Loafing, April 16, 2013
  7. ↑ "Cheshire Bridge Road to remain an “adult” district, if Atlanta City Council upholds ruling by its zoning board", May 9th, 2013, Saporta Report
  8. ↑ TAYLOR TRIMBLE, "Opinion: Cheshire Bridge is Falling Down", David Atlanta, March 2013
  9. 1 2 "HOW TO GET LAID BY A MAN: IF YOU ARE ALSO A MAN", DJ Toyota Fest, Vice, December 31, 1999
  10. ↑ "The Colonnade Restaurant", Zagat
  11. ↑ "Woodfire Grill", Zagat
  12. ↑ "Cheshire Farm Trail", South Fork Conservancy
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