Hippies take over “the Strip” on Peachtree Street between 10th and 14th at Bottom of the Barrel, Golden Horn, and Catacombs. Downtown hotels such as the Piedmont, Biltmore, Ansley, Georgian Terrace, Kimball House, and the Henry Grady continue to bring the ballroom scene.Įxotic dancers and more ribald entertainment come to town: The Imperial Hotel opens the popular Domino Lounge and the Clermont introduces the Gypsy Room. Ray Lee’s Blue Lantern begins a five-decade run on Ponce de Leon as a notoriously rough-and-tumble, working-class tavern where Blind Willie McTell plays for change in the parking lot. A decade later, it would be renamed the Royal Peacock. The Top Hat Club opens on Auburn Avenue, bringing in major acts like Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong. It would be another two years before the state lifted its own ban, but unincorporated DeKalb and many other counties would remain dry for decades, making Atlanta a nightlife hot spot. Prohibition is repealed-but not in Georgia, which had outlawed liquor since 1908.
