A Bit O' Bedlam
 

Tonight, Maria had decided to go visit a girlfriend of hers at a Buckhead restaurant so Christopher and I decided to go to our little neighborhood pub, Sidebar. Sidebar is next door to the Mark nightclub and across the alley from the old Fulton County Courthouse and twenty feet from Slice Pizzeria. We were sitting at the bar playing video poker and sipping scotch when the whole bar was shaken by a huge BOOM. We sat unflapped as everyone ran outside to find that the Mark's awning was gone, broken glass was everywhere and most amazing, Slice's wrought iron outdoor tables and chairs were gone too. They had blown away! I had just been outside ten minutes earlier trying to make a call and it was completely calm. You can't believe the damage down here. It took alittle while for the reality to filter into our feeble brains that an actual tornado had hit our neighborhood. Once it did, we headed back to our building to assess any damage. We were lucky. There was minor exterior damage to the Metropolitan, but the Healy, just a block away had it's lobby rotunda wrecked. From our vantage point, we can clearly see whole window blocks just missing from the upper floors of the Equitable and Suntrust buildings. We can't see it from our window, but I've been told that the Flatiron building is screwed up too. We gathered with some neighbors and toured the wreckage. Amazing how quickly we became the white trash trailer park of American cities. Here are some pics;

This is about three blocks from our loft. The CNN Center.


Same area. Tourist heavy.


The Philips Arena Sign has basically collapsed onto our favorite Chinese restaurant... 


This dangling traffic light (one of dozens in the same condition) is right in front of our building.


Heavy billboard falls on car. The iron beams just folded.


This is the Tabernacle entertainment venue. Earlier tonight, there were large letters on the front that spelled out TABERNACLE. Not so much anymore.


Centennial Olympic Park. The column on the ground in the lower left should be pointing in the same direction as the others.