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Midway through a journalism degree at Georgia State, Sienna Brown and a few friends put together Talk. Eat. Art. (or TEA, for short)—an event series centered on the musicians and thinkers and artists who made Atlanta exciting for them. A few years later, she’s working on swear by, a YouTube show dedicated to celebrating even more of what she loves. Atlanta, with its tight-knit artistic community, is high on the list. “You can go as fast as you need to here,” she says, “but you can also slow down. And oh, my God, the food.” She spent a day taking Coach through the city, from hidden bars to high art to her favorite cup of coffee.
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Photographs by Chantal Anderson
The High Museum is mind-blowing. They have amazing exhibitions—there was one a few years ago featuring artists from Atlanta like Paper Frank, who’s huge in graffiti here. He killed it. They throw some fun events, too, but I love to go when there’s nothing going on. I just enjoy the art, and the silence. www.high.org
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For the longest time, it felt like no one in Atlanta could find Little Trouble—they have this huge, Tokyo style neon sign, and you’d see pictures of it, but you’d have no idea where it was. I finally stumbled across it one night, and I was so excited. Last summer I was there all the time. www.little-trouble.com
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JCT Kitchen’s food is “farm-to-ladle”—and it is in-cred-i-ble. I’ve been getting more into eating vegan, but if you put JCT’s chicken in front of me, I could not help myself. It’s flaky, it’s crispy, but you almost feel like it’s kinda healthy, too. And their deviled eggs, their collards, their Brussels sprouts—it’s all stunning. www.jctkitchen.com
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When you step inside BonTon, you are literally kicked in the face by the smell of, like, Creole goodness. It’s amazing. They’re sort of a New Age Cajun seafood restaurant, and the food is crazy. You can do fried stuff, boiled stuff, but my favorite thing has to be the crawfish mac ’n’ cheese. It’s so good, it’s a sin. www.bontonatl.com
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Chrome Yellow’s aesthetic is perfect. It’s all white inside, open floor plan—there’s a coffee shop in front and right behind that is this area for local artisan goods. You want to spend all day there. And, you know, never in my life would I have thought I’d be buying $5 chocolate cold brew, but… I do, at Chrome Yellow. www.chromeyellowtradingco.com
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So, Ponce City Market is right off the Beltline; it has tons of food. And on top of it is Skyline Park—which is a carnival-themed rooftop, basically. There’s mini-golf, there’s carnival games, there’s great frosé … you can see the whole Atlanta skyline from up there, too. It’s really beautiful. www.skylineparkatlanta.com
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I try to go to Kai Lin whenever they have a new exhibition—the space is gorgeous, and I love the work they put up there. They bring in art from all over, which I think is great for Atlanta artists, too—they can go there and see what’s happening somewhere else. www.kailinart.com
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The BeltLine is one of Atlanta’s biggest projects—the plan is to connect 45 different neighborhoods along one multiuse trail. I love the idea of it, of making the whole city one. My favorite thing out there right now is King of Pops Yoga—it happens at sunset, and it feels like there’s a thousand people there. It’s so cool. www.beltline.org
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