Chamblee
A lot of people in Atlanta love Buford Highway, and for good reason: it’s full of the best foreign food in the city. You can get a pupusa and hand-pulled noodles somewhere else. Some of the well-known road goes through Chamblee, a town that has its style and is growing. It’s 14 miles from downtown and has the feel of a small town while still being close to Atlanta.
It was planned to be a rail town, and many of the newer parts of Chamblee are built next to working train tracks. After being formed in 1908, it has grown to cover 7 square miles. It’s easy for many people in Metro Atlanta and people going through thanks to two major freeways, I-285 and I-85, and several MARTA stops.
In the yard of Chamblee, Georgia’s City Hall, a mother and her two children are sitting on a blanket to watch a train go by.
Amy Meehan, one of the owners of Revelle Women’s Physical Therapy, chose to open her business in downtown Chamblee on purpose in 2020. “Chamblee’s focus on small businesses and industrial feel made it a no-brainer for us,” she says. Many small companies are right next to her practice, and she likes being able to walk to them and support them. “The city has put a lot of work into this area to keep its culture and character while also making it friendly to small businesses like us,” she says. How to spend a day in Chamblee.
What You Need To Do
You can play at the Atlanta Golf and Social indoor golf club, which is also a sports bar, in the afternoon. The 57th Fighter Group Restaurant is a great place for people who like planes. For many hours after a meal, you can watch planes land and take off from Peachtree-DeKalb Airport (PDK). The dance parties at the restaurant are also famous. In the gallery at the Distillery of Modern Art, you can enjoy craft drinks and local art. At The Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance, you can take a class. At The Bunny Hive, a place for parents of kids two weeks to six years old, you can take a singing or movement class with your little one.
Personify is a great place to look at modern clothes and items for women. For unique gifts, shoppers should then take a short drive to Wanderstate Mercantile and Broad Street Mercantile. Wee Bee Baby Boutique is only a short drive away and has clothes, toys, and other things that babies need. Antique lovers will love walking around downtown Chamblee’s Antique Row, which is home to stores like Chamblee Antiques and Interiors, Treasure Mart, Antique Factory, The Way We Were Antiques, Eugenia’s Antique Hardware, and more.
The city has been working for 20 years to turn the dormant Roswell Junction Railroad line into the Chamblee Rail Trail, which people can use to get their blood moving. The short trail goes from Chamblee Tucker Road to Pierce Drive. It has sidewalks that are 12 feet wide and can be used for walking, biking, running, and getting people around Chamblee for 2 miles. Late last year, a new part opened.
Later this year, the entertainment area BLOCK & DRUM will open. It will have a micro-distillery, a vinyl listening room, a cafe, a live music stage, shipping container restaurants, and even a hydroponic farm all on one 14,000-square-foot property.
A breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee at Moonbird Coffee inside Southbound will get your day off to a good start. This full-service restaurant with Southern influences has been an important part of downtown for more than 10 years. It is in a building that goes back to the 1800s. Go to The Bronx Bagel Buggy if you need to eat a lot of carbs. Even though it just opened a few months ago, there are already lines out the door for New York-style bagels, bialys, sandwiches, and pizzas to go.
It’s easy to get from one bar or restaurant to another in town. In 2023, Downtown Chamblee made a leisure district that runs from Ingersoll Rand Drive to McGaw Drive and lets people leave their open containers there. Some more relaxed choices are Hopstix, Himalayas Indian Restaurant, Bluetop, and Gus’s Fried Chicken. This year, a branch of the popular waffle sandwich shop Bruxie opened.
For lunch or dinner, make an appointment at either Lagarde American Eatery, a restaurant with New Orleans-style food, or The Alden, a restaurant with local and regional food that has been praised by Michelin. Finish it off with an ice cream cone or sundae from Frosty Caboose, which is an ice cream shop in a converted train car. It is right next to a Norfolk Southern Rail Line that is still in use.
From Metro Atlanta, a day trip to Chamblee is always a fun adventure. But there are some special times of the year in the city. This spring was the first Chamblee Art Fest, and in October, A Taste of Chamblee is a must-see event. Chamblee Rocks is a free music series that happens once a month on the grounds of the new City Hall. It is one of the best parts of summer.
Even though there aren’t many hotels in the area, Chamblee is a great place for a day trip because it has so many small shops, bars, and attractions that you can keep the whole family happy and busy for the whole day. Most of them are within walking distance.