First Presbyterian Church Of Chili: Fill & Download for Free

Well, this is a start. If you can’t find something interesting in this list of sites, check again. I am really suprised at the depth and vitality of the theatrical community in Cincinnati.Cincinnati Chili (It ain’t chili - greek spaghetti - but it is Cincinnati)Empress Chili Alexandria (claims to be the original)Skyline Chili (Where it started)Gold Star Chili (The other big chain)Camp Washington Chili (claims to be the best)Price Hill ChiliEden Park:Art Museum (free)Eden Park Fountain (See Kim Harrison Tour - below)Krohn ConservatoryOther ParksSawyer Point Park & Yeatman's Cove (Geologic Timeline walk & Scale model of Ohio River from Pittsburg to Cincinnati with bridges, dams and locks - lots more)Woodland Mount ParkMiami Whitewater ForestPyramid Hill Sculpture Park & MuseumBig Bone Lick State Historic Site (Union, KY) (Think bones & salt)Theaters (Live Performance)Aronoff CenterTaft TheatreCincinnati Playhouse in the ParkCincinnati Shakespeare CompanyEnsemble Theatre CincinnatiCovedale Center for the Performing Arts (amazing performances by Cincinnati students)Warsaw Federal Incline Theater (Community theater with local performers)The Carnegie (Community theater in Covington, KY)Footlighters (Community theater in Covington, KY)ELEMENTZ - Hip Hop & Artsthe drama workshop - Cheviot, OH (near-westside “arts district”)Madcap Puppet Theater - Cheviot, OH (near-westside “arts district”)May Festival - Cincinnati's Chorus (8 days in May, thats it!)ArchitecturePlum Street Temple (Downtown)St Mary’s Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption (Covington, KY)Mother of God Catholic Church (Covington)Covenant First Presbyterian Church (Downtown)St. Francis Xavier Church (Downtown)Saint Peter in Chains Cathedral (Downtown)Saint Francis De Sales Catholic Church (Near East-Side)Cincinnati City Hall (Downtown)Music Hall (Downtown)Elsinore Arch (North of Downtown)Rookwood Pottery Company (Mt Adams)The Boone County Quilt Barn Trail - Driving map to 60 barnsRoebling Bridge (Downtown)(Pattern for the Brooklyn Bridge)Simon Kenton Bridge (Maysville, KY) (Roebling Bridge preceeding the Golden Gate Bridge)Odds, Ends & GemsCCAC: Clifton Cultural Arts Center (Creative and Performing Arts)Hebrew Union College/Klau Library (First Rabbinic seminary in U.S./Largest collection of printed Jewish materials in United States [2nd Largest in World])Mercantile Library - Unusual to say the least hidden in a Downtown building.Blue Manatee Children's bookstore & cafe - Famous Children's Book StoreOhio Book Store - Used books - Big enough to be a Library.Brown County Fair - Georgetown, OH (The Little State Fair )Grailville | A rural oasis just a short drive from CincinnatiConey Island Amusement ParkJane’s Saddlebag (Big Bone Lick, KY) - Restaurant gone wild (west, paleo, etc.)(Yes, they have a petting zoo too.)BB Riverboats (Cruise on the Ohio)Cincinnati Railway Company (the ultimate railroading experience)Weller Haus Bed, Breakfast & Event Center (Bed and Breakfast in Bellevue, KY)Trammel Fossil Park - Want to Dig for Fossils?Rivers Edge Outfitters (Rent a Canoe or Kayak and float down the Little Miami River)Morgan’s Ft. Ancient Canoe Livery (Rent a Canoe or Kayak and float down the Little Miami River)Caesars Creek Pioneer Village (Recreating Ohio’s pioneer history)Camp Kern Zipline Ohio Ozone Canopy Tour at YMCA Camp Kern - That sinking feeling just keeps going..Rabbit Hash General Store in Kentucky (You missed it, but it is rising from the ashes.. still a fun place to visit and they could use your dollars.)Anderson Ferry - Cross the river by ferry, on the way to Rabbit Hash & NKY AirportCincinnati Roller Girls - Live to Skate, Skate to Live - hard to believe, but trueShake It Records - 25,000 titles on vinyl, 15,000 titles on CD (independent label and obscure titles are their specialty)World Peace Bell - Newport, KYMuseumsEntertrainment Junction (Trains Everywhere)Railway Museum of Greater Cincinnati - Covington, KYThe American Sign Museum (Neon Glory)Lucky Cat Museum (A bit of Japan hiding in Cincinnati)The Fire Museum of Greater Cincinnati (downtown)Behringer-Crawford Museum (Covington, KY)Taft Museum of Art (downtown)DAAP Galleries (At University of Cincinnati)Skirball Museum (Near Hebrew Union College)Reds Hall of Fame and Museum (downtown, by Reds Stadium)Tri-State Warbird Museum (east side)Cincinnati Museum Center (Yea.. this is on the standard list.. but do not pass on it)Harriet Beecher Stowe House (Near east side)John Rankin House Museum - Ripley, OH (out past the boonies and sticks on US 51)(You pass Grant Birthplace on the way, and Meldahl Locks and Dam, lots to do when you get there.)National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (See Kim Harrison Tour - below)Beer & Spirits!Tours of Cincinnati's Historic Breweries - part of the Brewing Heritage TrailCraft Connection Brewery Tours (yea.. Cincinnati is serious about beer)Hofbrauhaus Newport (German Style Beer Hall with brew made on site)New Riff - Whiskey - Northern Kentucky Style (Right beside the largest beverage and alcohol store in the United States - why?)Woodstone Creek - Distiller and Vintner in St. Bernard (Near-northside)Interesting Locations to visit and shopFinal Friday Over-the-Rhine (Arts event on the last Friday of each month)MainStrasse Village (Covington, KY)(German village style)Findlay Market (Classic Marketplace - Veggies, Meats, Restaurants and more)Newport on the Levee (Newport, KY)(Newport Aquarium next door)Rookwood Commons (Americana, a strip mall gone wild)Clifton Gas Light District - Ludlow Ave (North campus grunge and eclectic fare)Hyde Park Square (Classy, Upscale on the near East side)Madeira Ohio (Homey cozy shops hidden on the East side)Bellevue, KY (Northern Kentucky with an urban flare)The Banks - Seriously corporate but interesting, set between the StadiumsCincinnati Jazz - & - R&BDee Felice Cafe (Covington, KY)Arnold's Bar and GrillKim Harrison Tour: Hollows (series)Eden Park (Lake & Fountain)Loveland Castle (Drone video of Castle.. yes it is real..)Cincinnati Subway - CINCINNATI SUBWAYCincinnati ObservatoryNational Underground Railroad Freedom CenterFountain SquareCarew Tower Observation DeckWestern RolleramaWashington Park - Cincinnati OhioDevou Park (below is a view from overlook - wikipedia)Tours of CincinnatiAmerican Legacy ToursCincinnati All Attractions & Activities | Cincinnati Things to DoCincinnati Food Tours (from the Banks to Over-the-Rhine eateries)

The SouthI grew up in Milwaukee on Lake Michigan, camped and canoed in the Wisconsin deep woods and portaged lakes and rivers in the wilderness of the Upper Peninsula. I went to school with a slew of friends WW II Refugee Camps in Europe and from the South since their fathers relocated up here to work in the heavy industries. Also had friends here that had distant relatives still down in Kentucky working in the coalmines and farming at the same time. We used to ride the Monon down there to lend them a hand bring in the tobacco, sweet corn and other crops by hand since they lacked the machinery for that.The 1950s was a decade of change, from WW II fighting Germans to fighting Soviets trying to convert the world to communists. Civil Rights struggles was emerging in the south, civil rights workers were getting murdered and new federal laws were being passed to protect blacks. The Brown vs. Board of Education case in the 1950s, followed by President Eisenhower's ordering National Guard units to desegregate schools in the South is largely the beginning of the end for the Jim Crowe South. The Civil Rights movement would begin to accelerate under JFK and by the time LBJ stepped in to finish Kennedy's first term, Civil Rights became a focal point of his Great Society. By the time that Nixon became President, the South had lost all of its powers to restrict African Americans to the poorest neighborhoods.1955 - US NavyIn 1955 after high school I went into the navy. After Boot Camp at Great Lakes and sea duty on Lake Michigan on a Sub Chaser, I was stationed for a few months in the Washington, D.C. Naval receiving station. First off, I learned that the Navy uniform attracted girls like flies to sugar. I hit the town and wow . . . women were everywhere, all looking for a handsome young man like me for marriage only and not hanky-pank. There were ten women for every man, and I had choice and selection from all kinds of women never found in Milwaukee.I hung out with some airline stewardess who lived in Dupont Circle, even stayed overnight on the couch with no hanky pank and also with several young ladies who worked at the FBI or Treasury Department. Seems all the women in Washington worked for the government and were lonely and despairing for an eligible marriageable man. I heard it all the time from the women, "All the good guys are taken, married, or gay. All kinds of people frequented the dance clubs on 14th Street; my favorite was the Florida Club on U Avenue. Was especially great for meeting black and white women and dancing the night away to a live band. I soon discovered young women are full of drama and they seem to like 'Bad Boys' It's almost like they want a good guy to save them, sort of like a princess in a fairy tale. But we good guys didn't want the girls who liked bad boys . . . damaged goods we said. I could jitter bug pretty good and got a lot of attention from the young lovelies and even met some I liked too. I found myself being attracted to black women, most of them had big butts and breasts, an easy smile, talked sweetly, smelled musty good, and were very sexy . . . Yum! But the south was segregated and integrated Washington had not fully gotten the message on inter racial dating so I stayed clear just to keep the peace and myself out of trouble.I went to Bainbridge for Fire Control school and after eight months was assigned on a WW II Destroyer out of Norfolk and it was segregated. That seemed so stupid to me. The evilness of the system reminded me of Hitler's Nazi Germany and all those horrible depriving humanity stories from Jews who lived through the genocide rang back in my ears. As it was, I dated only white women in the south, and that was rarely, seemed the local population didn't like sailors. If I tried dating a black girl, the police would arrest you immediately and heaven help me the brutal treatment I would get in the local jail for being a 'white nigger.' The southern white girl selection was small, in fact, practically non-existent. Anyway, I didn't like racist Red Necks, small talk southern ill educated girls, people filled with never ending animosities, and especially those preachy - wholly than thou - so often bigoted - lily white - Christian types.There was nothing to do in Norfolk except drink on East Main Street, the worst Hell Hole in the world, filled with dirty urine smelling bars whose claim to fame was cheating sailors with cheap lean beer and fat tattooed women hawking ice tea drinks for a dollar; with lap dances and hand jobs in the back rooms. Meeting girls in Norfolk was impossible, there was nothing to do in this dry sucking segregated southern hell hole with signs that said “Sailors keep off the grass,” but Manhattan was filled with love hungry girls looking for attention from young sailors like me. Dance clubs and bars were all around NYC, about 10,000 just in Manhattan. You could meet every race, ethnic type or religion – they were everywhere.It wasn't until I got to hanging around New York City on weekend liberties that I discovered how the world really is - or as I liked it and personal freedom were unlimited. I was in Roseland on west 52nd Street doing my thing, dancing to some ballroom with a curvaceous big-breasted dark haired Armenian woman, when the Harlem Dance Troupe came in. I guess my eye contact and body movements with obvious gushing excitement showed and this beautiful voluptuous black girl took a fancy to me, came over for conversation and we danced. My heart was pitter patting and my loins were on fire, this women had it all and I was immediately attracted to a new way of life of inter racial dating.So, I took most of weekend liberties in Manhattan and found what I was looking for. It was there I lost my cherry . . . yes, I was a virgin at twenty years old, but this Jewish nurse from the Bronx who worked in Columbia Presbyterian got it. Then other nurses got more of it. I was in heaven! I met many women while in the Navy, became worldly you might say, and I definitely knew the type I liked. They were all the same, curvy, sensuous, dark complexioned, a white or black girl, all with a good sense of humor, nice warm women who made me feel good and were fun to be with. Whereas NYC had everything, from tough water front bars, girls of every color and ethnic type everywhere anxious for attention from loved starved sailors, to ritzy nightclubs, the south had no social life, just military bases, guns and churches.New York City was a major port of call for freighters, cruise ships, and foreign navies. Consequentially, it had many bars geared to the tastes of salty sailors and seagoing men unlike no other watering holes or dens of iniquity inhabited our favorites. They had to meet strict standards to be in compliance with the acceptable requirement for a sailor beer-swilling dump. The first and foremost requirement was a crusty old crossed anchors tattooed gal serving suds. She had to be able to wrestle King Kong to parade rest, be able to balance a tray with one hand, knock sailors out of the way with the other hand and skillfully navigate through a roomful of milling around drunks. The establishment itself had to have walls covered with ship and squadron plaques. It had to have the obligatory Michelob, Pabst Blue Ribbon and "Beer Nuts sold here" neon signs. An eight ball mystery beer tap handles and signs reading: "Your mother does not work here, so clean away your frickin' trash." "Keep your hands off the barmaid." "Don't throw butts in urinal."The bar had to have a brass foot rail and at least six Slim Jim containers, an oversized glass cookie jar full of Beer Nuts, a jar of pickled hard-boiled eggs that could produce rectal gas emissions that could shut down a sorority party, and big glass containers full of something called Pickled Pigs Feet and Polish Sausage. Only drunk Chiefs and starving Ethiopians ate pickled pigs' feet and unless the last three feet of your colon had been manufactured by Midas, you didn't want to get any where near the Polish Napalm Dogs. Liberty bars were home and it didn't matter what country, state, or city you were in, when you walked into a good liberty bar, you felt at home. They were also establishments where 19-year-old kids received an education available nowhere else on earth. You learned how to make a two-cushion bank shot and how to toss down a beer and shot of Sun Torry known as a "depth charge."1969 - NorfolkAfter the Navy I stayed in the south working for IBM as a Main Frame Engineer. I traveled the rural south and made many trips to New York where most of the computer applications were located. Traveling throughout the south I found Confederate Flags flying and extreme anti Yankee attitudes everywhere. To me, the flag was a symbol of racism and allowed white southerners to say "Fuck You" to the integrationists and civil right movement workers trying to integrate the south during the 1960s. As hard as it is for southerners to admit, the Confederate States of America was pro slavery and fought to keep it that way. And now they are fighting to keep Jim Crow segregation. Pastors preached from the pulpit that the Civil Rights movement was a communist inspired idea and the federal government was fascist for trying to desegregate the south. How horrible was this yet it was common all over as I traveled throughout the south. It drove me crazy and I became very disillusioned - I had to get away.I didn't like the racially segregated and south and took up the cause of Civil Rights. Everywhere there were signs for “Negro” motels and drinking fountains. And when I entered North Carolina, there was an enormous billboard by the side of the road telling us that we were entering Klan Country. It was complete with a huge illustration of cloaked men with pointy hats and covered faces riding horses and holding torches. Makes you feel really welcome! I think it was when we stopped for gas and I foolishly made a negative comment about the sign and then was heading out of that state that two guys who were sitting around the gas station suddenly jumped into their truck and drove right behind me until I got to the state line, just about bumping the back of our car, trying to scare us. Not too friendly. But I loved parts of the south, it was into guns just like me and I hunted in Dismal Swamp every week. The swamp was full of critters unknown to Wisconsin, like gators, spiders the size of your hand and poiseness (water moccasin) snakes all over. One has to be careful handling anything outdoors or in sheds since there’s brown recluse and black widow spiders everywhere along with scorpions, which can vary in size. Damn fire ants are everywhere along with wasps, ground hornets and a giant hornet that looks like a mutant specie. I’ve stumbled into their nests before to have swarms come out and chase me for a block as I tried to get away from them.Southerners hated Kennedy, were switching to the Republican party that was against integration (at that time) and kept blaming Yankee Aggression was violating their states rights. They were fighting the Civil War again saying the war had nothing to do with slavery, it was all about 'States Rights' to own slaves and "Yankee Aggression." It is clear to anyone who studied that 19th century time period that the USA was really two completely separate and different kinds of countries, one an oligarchy based on slave labor and the other a democracy based on manufacturing and immigration.For example I was talking to an elderly man while getting gas and when he realized I was a northerner, he went off as if the war was still in progress. I made the HUGE mistake of saying something silly like, “Huh? Are you talking about the civil war?” He absolutely exploded: “NO NO NO - it was the Northern War of Aggression and if we hadn’t run out of bullets, we’d have won!” Needless to say, the rest of the conversation didn’t go well as I couldn’t get him back on-topic. As a northerner, I was never really accepted, merely tolerated. (You had to be 3rd generation before you could even call yourself a southerner).I once attempted to open the door to a shop for an old lady who, after hearing my voice and accent, told me she "didn't need any he's from no yanked." I get along with older people and that incident almost broke my heart. One last thing - did you know that the Mississippi state legislature did not ratify the Thirteenth amendment banning slavery until 2013? Yes, three years ago. Oh, they claim that it was because of an “administrative error” wherein they “lost the paperwork” when they tried to ratify it back in 1995 (which was only 130 years after the end of the Civil War, you know)…but any of us who were raised in Mississippi know better as to why it took so inexcusably long to ratify that amendment.I ran across a couple of jarring oddities. One in particular stuck with me because I found it funny. We stopped at a diner for lunch. My buddy is a vegetarian. (I’m not.) He asked what the diner might have for a vegetarian. The waitress responded, with a straight face, “Well, we’ve got chicken.” This was not unique in our travels. Many dining establishments in the South seem blissfully unaware of vegetarian eating patterns.Biggest shock is hypocritical Bible shelters. Not all, but many, go to church three times a week and then bad mouth everyone. Predominantly racial prejudices still lingering after all this years- just below the surface. And the animosity toward the “North”. They're still fighting the civil war. And the history revisionist still trying to convince him or herself that slavery wasn't that bad and that the Civil War wasn't about slavery. When I cite that each of the southern secessionist states specifically state in their Declarations of Secession that they were succeeding because they did not wish to give up the practice of owning slaves I am met with simmering silence. Most of the people are poorly educated conservatives and want to stay that way. And DO NOT questions their religious beliefs. They'll castigate you to hell.1968 - NYCThen I move north and spent thirty years working in Manhattan. As a General Manager in the computer industry and 'Corporate Recruiter' I traveled across the south attending meetings or recruiting at the military bases and found it very backward compared to the Northeast {Massachusetts] where my headquarters were located. We Northerners tend to be more supportive of social egalitarianism: human rights, civil rights, workers’ unions, and people stuff en all. We think as long as you work hard, everyone should be given a fair chance to succeed. Despite both having a traditional culture, midwestern traditionalism didn’t originate from a class-based society and Southern traditionalism did originate from a class-based society. Northerners tend to be far more educated, industrialized, high tech, socially advanced, and immigrant driven worldly. More students from Northern States go to Ivy League and highly academic Colleges and get better-rounded educations. The North generally spearheaded and protected many of the American social and domestic human rights movements as a first world country in the early 1900's to ensure the good of its people. The south still remains in a backward thinking, a capricious slumber in which visions of white power and hate speech are as common as the rising of the sun.I will say that in the more urban areas around the South, and especially those where there are major universities, it’s not so bad, and interracial relationships do seem to be tolerated. But in all the times I’ve been to the Delta - the last being two years ago - I still have yet to see a single black/white couple in the Delta, even though it’s the “blackest” region in all of America. It’s not that the blacks won’t have relationships with whites, but because the whites would ostracize the family of any white man (and especially any white woman) who had the temerity to actually have relations with a black person. White and Asian are okay, but black and white? Verboten. That’s how it is there even today.Whereas Atlanta has the best Strip Clubs, NYC has the most decrepit bars. Since I enjoy the weird and unusual and while walking on 8th Avenue at 42nd Street, poked my head into the Terminal Bar, one of my old Navy Military Police stops back in the day. Its notoriety drew artists and punks and the curious. The bar was filled with worn out actors, musicians and old playboys who saw their last female conquest many years ago. Merchant Marine sailors and navy men from all nations who drank themselves silly hoping for a quick tryst with the hookers that came in for a rest. But the Terminal was not about boy meet girl or getting over with some scam, that would get you out and probably with a bust nose from the bouncers that were ex wrestlers and boxers and took no shit. I found that straights like businessmen in pin striped suits and high class women in furs and high heels went there to experience the 'other world' once in while, to get dirty and hang out around 3 a.m. after working or nightclubbing all night and having double eggs and bacon breakfast around the corner at the 11th Avenue Diner with its sing waitresses and where Mickey Spillane and Jimmy Breslin got their story book characters from.But, it wasn’t really welcoming to slumming business engineering hipsters like me or bush league adventures looking to make nice with Terminal bums. You needed tattoos, earring, being unshaven with long hair, having a worn out - been through a war and barely survived with that six month drunks look - to enter without provocations coming back at you. It was still an enclosed society with it’s own brutal code, not easily cracked by the voyeuristic aesthete.The Terminal Bar was filled with drunks, merchant marine sailors, drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes that hung out at what was considered to be the roughest bar and street corner in NYC. Ex boxers, wrestlers and famous entertainers who fell on bad times were the standard bearers of the place - they had a few welfare - disability bucks for the watered down drinks. It was all about mind your own business and keep your mouth shut territory and don't get on a political or religious soapbox about anything! No one took any crap; bigots and perverts were promptly deposed of. Judgmental religious types were the worst, but Catholic Priests who came in to have a drink with the boys and consult with the needy were welcome. I saw first hand what a Priest could do working his magic with the people who needed Christ like Christian love and forgiveness. I am sure someone made a movie of it, if they didn't they need to. It was here I discovered good Christians again, those Catholic Priests going in harms way to talk the talk and walk the walk acting out what Christ was all about and saving souls. Father Dan was one of my favorites, sitting there in his black suit and white collar, commiserating with the people sitting around his table. Made me feel good and I sat with him too and I knew the human condition was going to get better. And right across the street was the Port Authority Bus Station. Also known by commuters as the 'asshole of the world.' - was the equally despot grittiness of the Terminal Bar. There was no question about it, if the world was going to get an enema, this 8th Avenue 42nd Street corner would be the point of insertion.Business Trips to AtlantaAtlanta gets referred to frequently as Black Hollywood. It is, like Los Angeles and New York, a city in which no small number of celebrities feels it is important to maintain a presence. At 60 percent, Atlanta is predominately a black city, the south side being black while the north side being white with Buckhead where the Governor and many celebrities live alongside Decatur my favorite section of town, which is the closest thing to Mayberry you'll ever find. In fact, articles have been written describing Decatur as "Mayberry Meets Berkeley." No particular area is completely wonderful or completely safe. But in general, there are a lot of great places to live, both inside and outside the I-285 perimeter. Atlanta is, after all, a collection of towns and cities buried within 7 counties, a teeming 5 million-population metropolis the same as New York City or Los Angeles. You must have a car. There is no way to walk to where you got to be and even though the MARTA rail and bus serves small parts of the city well, everything is spread out.I think Atlanta tingles with bling, crime and unnecessary racial sensitivity. Citizens who haven't got a pot to piss in drive German luxury cars and strive to live in mansions, and I wonder, is it a southern thing that so many people seem to be very materialistic and attracted to money and appearances (how you look, what you drive, how big your house is, etc.). Atlantic traffic is fast, heavy and loaded with trucks, and I'd like to be able to let my kids outside to play without being constantly scared a car will squish them.I have pleasantly been in Atlanta dozens of times for business meeting and product line training every year and gotten to know the city well. Atlanta had some of the same vulgarities as NYC, maybe even more. We bad boys were looking for something dirty and happened upon a black strip club called Foxy Lady. It was rough, it was kind of like one of rough neck leather jacketed motorcycle clubs found in Manhattan, and a very raunchy strip club too. I fell in love with the place right then, was just amazed at the atmosphere. It was the first time I ever experienced strip joint here in the South. I didn't know you could get naked like that. I mean nasty, totally, butt hole bare ass naked. They don't just get naked here. They get asshole-naked. You could tell me to get naked standing in this room and I might do it. Then you'd tell me to bend over with lipstick on my ass hole? Nope. In fact . . . "Fuck you!" Like I said, the girls were rough and ugly in there and I wondered: What if you had some real pretty girls in the club?What the hell could happen then? We tried a new place called Magic City, which opened in 1985 with a single dancer. But a single dancer with, as they say it, with a perfect balloon butt. Then they hired a woman named Indigo. She brought one of the first big butts in Atlanta. Just a big round voluptuous perfect butt. You could bounce a quarter off of it." But no one had yet thought up the kind of butts that you find in the strip clubs of Atlanta now, the anatomically impossible, fantastical, warped, unlicensed-plastic-surgeon-designed Asses that have blown the minds of people for many years. Alas, big black butts are just one ingredient that made Magic City into what it is today.We tried a new place called Magic City, which opened in 1985 with a single dancer. But a single dancer with, as they say it, with a perfect balloon butt. Then they hired a woman named Indigo. She brought one of the first big butts in Atlanta. Just a big round perfect butt. You could bounce a quarter off of it." But no one had yet thought up the kind of butts that you find in the strip clubs of Atlanta now, the anatomically impossible, fantastical, warped, unlicensed-plastic-surgeon-designed Asses that have blown the minds of people for many years. Alas, butts are just one ingredient that made Magic City into what it is today. Atlanta, compared to most cities in the South, is way ahead philosophically, but way behind major cities like NYC, Chicago and Boston. It will never have the mass transit, restaurants, diversity and sophisticated civilization of the north. It's still a southern city with lots of confederate baggage and I don't think that will ever change. There is a lot of corruption in the city, bad neighborhoods, Aids, crime, drugs, gun violence, and lousy education.So, how does Atlanta stack up overall? There are ten things about Atlanta that stand out. Horrible traffic and crime and schools got to be number one, two and three. Building a new world class Braves stadium with no parking is number four with "What the Hell were they thinking." Atlanta being an amazingly diverse place for being in the 'Deep Bible Belt' very judgmental South' is number five. The greasy spoon Varsity is number six, and is not only the world’s largest drive-in restaurant, but it’s also arguably Atlanta’s most famous "Greasiest" burger restaurant too. It's a bit divey, a bit touristy, and a definite fixture of Atlanta history. The Varsity is the real deal . . . a drive-in with car-side service in the old style. They also have indoor counter service and lots of seating. Most days, the restaurant claims to go through an estimated two miles of hot dogs, 2,500 pounds of potatoes and 300 gallons of chili. In ONE DAY.Those figures are still relatively slow compared to Georgia Tech game days, when an estimated 30,000 people visit The Varsity. Another fun fact? The Varsity’s been around longer than the famous Atlanta novel, “Gone With The Wind.” It's got to be on your 'Bucket List.' Actually, I love this place! A trip to Atlanta wouldn't be complete without a stop at The Varsity for chilidogs, onion rings and an orange frosty. So, whenever I am in Atlanta, whatever time of day it happens to be, we will stop at the Varsity and have something, like hamburgers or chili slaw dogs. I like them with their crunchy and somewhat greasy onion rings. This is stick-to your ribs (and roof of your mouth) comfort food. Ironically they have a sign that states they use a healthy oil . . . I suppose that's what lends the lite flavor to their very-good fries. Yes, you can find better food, better service, better location ... however it wouldn't be THE VARSITY, and as such just wouldn't be what this place is. As I said: this is the real deal. You will get hooked . . . I have been back a dozen times.Tonight the crew and I are hanging at the Lazy Lounge in Five Points. They have Mexican food so hot you could remove dried paint from your driveway. I tried some of their chili and it took me four beers to put the flames out. My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead and I can no longer focus my eyes. I farted a wicked Hershey mist and four people behind me said “Oh my God.” The server seemed offended when I told her that her chili had given me brain damage. It was then that we happened upon a black strip club called Foxy Lady. It was rough, it was like one of those rough motorcycle clubs found in NYC and I fell in love with the place right then. It was the first time I ever experienced a strip club down here in the South. I didn't know you could get naked like that. They don't just get naked here they get asshole-naked. You could tell me to get naked standing in this room and I might do it. Then you'd tell me to bend over? Nope. Like I said, the girls were rough in there and I wondered: What if you had some real pretty girls in the club? What the hell could happen then?As long as we are talking down and dirty, the Clermont Lounge has to be number seven. This was a "thing' everyone in Atlanta has to do and is really worth writing long about. Located at the end of the dingy Clermont hotel with its rusty and deplorable look, there is the Clermont Lounge with the most eclectic crowd you can find in Atlanta. Big belly red necks mix with worn out COPs and shifty business types, black street hustlers and decrepit cowboy truck drivers. It's Atlanta's claim to fame for outrageous characters. There is a $10 cover that opens the door for experiences you will never forget. My first time there I walked down some seedy stairs behind an old hotel. Then you pass shifty retired prison guards security and walk into one of the lost circles of hell. The place was packed and smelled like an ashtray, the "club" is tiny and dirty; the broken down "bar" is a conglomeration of duck tape on top of the torn vinyl tiles. To the left there's a big stage where everyone is dancing and then in the back there are tables where the dancers that work there are mingling with guests.To the right when you walk in there's a (the one) big circular bar - and in the middle of that bar one dancer is on stage (rotating every few minutes) all night. It ranges - some young some old - all different shapes and sizes. All great people watching! There was a bandanna covered white haired Dixieland band playing while skinny wrinkled strippers were onstage dancing to the drums and wailing saxophone. We watched one dominatrix stripper spank the hands of tippers with a crop, the lady must have been in her 60's wearing a weird costumery boo peep peak tits and pussy getup.Definitely no place for prudes, so if you're expecting to find a fine wine no cussing smoke-free environment and you don't enjoy a raunchy grab ass good time, then this isn't for you. The qualities of this establishment are not the aging dancers, but how the uptight folks deal with each other. You watch them squirm. People watching are key when visiting the Clermont, so keep your eyes open, and keep your narrow minds in the car. Laughter and conversation is good. Be entertained. Grab some wrinkled ass. The dancers will love you for it! This was the start of a fantastic evening of drinks / shots / naked ugly dancing women / more shots and breathing second hand smoke and finally getting drunk. I got to motorboat some breasts and spank them, so I'm not complaining. So let me tell you, if you are looking for a ritzy, classy night on the town, this is not the place for you. If you're looking to let loose, down some cheap drinks, and sing along to country classics, then head on down! The club is jammed packed, extremely hot, nasty, jammed pack, did I mention hot?Yes sir, this is not your typical strip joint. This is an Atlanta institution where people rarely go for anything except to say they have been to the Clermont and make new friends with the deplorables. The crowd consists of people who would probably never hang out together in their daytime everyday lives, but somehow this rowdy atmosphere is the perfect catalyst for coming out in rare form. You'll find all walks of life visiting this establishment - people you would never expect. So you shouldn't feel out of place. It's loud music and trashy white 'Adult Fun,' where aged strippers go to get the last strip in before death becomes them.The ladies are very unique looking, not your typical sweet young thing sexy dancers with big boobs with hot hooches. These old dancers are fun and sweet as pie . . . maybe not as sweet as your grandma, but nice! There's the old lady who uses a handheld light-up rainbow ball thingy to flash you her 'camel toe.' Then there's the lady who attaches sparklers to her nipples. There's also the young chick that dances to 90s pop rock, causing me to get all weirdly nostalgic. My favorite dancer had glow-in-the-dark panties that were slowly being eaten by her giant ass as she moved back and forth on the top of the bar. And, of course, there's the infamous Blonde'. She is the icon, the creme de le crème of Claremont Lounge, has been working here since they opened. I think she may have been one of the construction workers or maybe formed out of the rubble. She is a hustler but I can't resist, getting her to crush a beer can between her boobs for $5.00. That kind of entertainment pays for itself!I ended up sitting on the side of the bar where the dancers enter the "stage" and I really got to know them pretty well over the course of the evening. Here's the thing: everyone goes to this place because of the quirkiness of it, but sitting there while nursing my drink (s) it's pretty obvious that these women take their craft seriously. The girls are, to their credit, incredible - I suppose it is not easy to get up there and display to the world your wrinkled goodies - and they do show you all the goodies - roast beef and all . . . frankly they were great. The crowd is very mixed and this humid, seedy, smoke filled dive bar, fat bottom girl strip club can definitely be an "attraction" for bachelor parties and anyone who just likes to people watch for a good show. Apparently this is also a Celebrity attraction place.You are likely to run into someone famous here. The whole place was packed out with T-shirted big-bellied red necks with mullet hair and motorcycle color tattoos. Leather jacketed motorcycle gangs (no colors allowed) and business people in suits mix listening to country music while grabbing some fat ass from the big blond. Oh and I forgot the name of the dancer I met right away. She was from upstate New York Ithaca and her silicon filled tits were amazing. Most of the dancers are WAY past their prime. These are women you don't dream to have sex with but rather have a great time with kidding around. There was one who had the tits of a 20 year old and the saggy ass of the 60-whatever years she was. The "strippers" do their gig on top of the main bar. To say it’s a freak show is an understatement. These are ladies who look pretty rough around the edges and some are easily in there 70's. There is one blonde lady who looks exactly like Baby Jane and dresses like a German Beer hag. So she lifts her skirt if you give her money, and it’s hilarious if you are Steven Spielberg looking for an inter cellular creature, but disturbing if you have a soul. Not a place for the faint of heart. I did see lots of breasts and pussy and meet cool weird people - all my type. I also questioned the legality of what was going on around me more than once.I will tell you, as an ex Navy man, the Clermont is much like a one night stand in Bangkok or Karachi. A night at the Clermont Lounge will change your life. For a prude it can become painful. As for me, I was trying to put it out of my mind and concentrate on other topics: Pulled teeth. Prostate exams. But nothing was going to change the reality: I was on a collusion course with destiny. Destiny was a fat woman who was funny as hell who sat squirming and squealing on your lap and I liked her. Then there was Ruby and Porsha and the woman who sets her nipples on fire. The Clermont is not so much a strip club as a super divey basement bar with crazy people having fun with body-positive dancing women.This place is the real deal. There a side show performance featuring hooks, snails, and a performer who would only accept tips if they were taped to her body. The strippers being so nice also impressed me. They walk around and say hi. This is literally the least intimidating strip club ever. Between the nice older strippers not working hard for tips, to the super nice bartender, and the cheap drinks, it’s really a great hang out for people that love being out of the ordinary. It was fun and very odd and hot. This is a place you visit to cut loose and make memories. Just remember Ginger is my true love so if you see her tell her Jerry L recommended a lap dance from her. I sipped some Purple Thunders (which I'm sure is a mixture of purple Kool-Aid powder and Everclear), and we danced ourselves silly after we spent all our cash on the dancers and jukebox.The second hand smoke was awful and so was the bathroom, but the hilarious conversations with strangers and watching Blondie's infamous beer can trick made up for that. This place is the best dive bar and strip club imaginable. The women are from all ages of life and looks and they know it but don't be a jerk about it. No one likes people like that. This is a business, and they mean business so treat the ladies nicely, pay your cover charge, and enjoy the show. The best time to show up is around nine in order to get a spot at the bar. And going to Clermont Lounge for the first time is like losing your virginity all over again. It's awkward. It's dirty. It's sort of life changing. But no matter how bad or how good your experience is you want to do it again to see what's in store for your second rodeo. I can also see Clermont as an excellent venue for sales team building or acquiring a new blood brother or sister. Or contracting Hepatitis. Holy $hit, I need to go to church next Sunday but I am going back to the Clermont ASAP! P.S. BTW ask for Barbie, the really hot big ass blonde with great tattoos! Tell her Jerry L sent you!Meeting Southern PeopleEvery time I am in the Atlanta area, I speak with many different people. Just going to Wal*Mart or the Home Depot was going to give me an opportunity to meet new people. When I was looking at new homes, I met some interesting people who were the hostesses in the model homes. They were fore-rightly honest and we talked about Atlanta’s racial make-up. which is to say, Atlanta is basically segregated, but not by law as years before, but by people living with their own kind, as they said. As a New Yorker, I found that disgusting. Own kind? I don’t measure people by race but by class and values. But Atlanta does have redeeming values. It’s called youthful enthusiasm and opportunity for Black people and had become an area full of the beautiful people.One young lady was at the Brayson a home model in Snellville. Her name was Susan and she was born and bred in Atlanta. She said her grandfather is a bigot who hates Blacks and loves the Old South that represented slavery. Her father, on the other hand, was not a bigot, she said, but prejudiced. He stereotyped Blacks, thinking they were all dirty, but had a lot respect for many Black people he knew. He did not love the Old South and was embarrassed by it. Susan was a Christian and said she was so ashamed by her grandfather and father and prayed for their deliverance every day. She envied people like me who lived in a multi-cultural world. But she was afraid of the North and New York in particular. Susan considered everything ‘up North’ to be too big, too fast, and too dangerous. And of course, New York City was like a mysterious and foreign land. Susan was like so many Southern people I met. They had a great fear of New York City, but wanted to talk to me about what it was like. It was similar to the phenomena of “Tell me about your experiences in combat.”Barbara, another hostess I met in a model home on Covington Highway in a Black section, was born in Atlanta. Barbara is White; in fact she went to Farrington, Morgan’s school, when the area was White, about twenty years ago. She told me to look in Snellville and when I asked if she told me that because I am White and we were now in a Black area, she said yes. That opened the door to a frank discussion about race in Atlanta. I asked her why all the whites moved out when the middle and upper class blacks started to move into Dekalb County. She simply said, “This is the South.” We talked about southern bigotry. Barbara said it was changing, but there were still many of the old timers around who believed in segregation. These people flew the Confederate flag and sent their kids to private school. She said that these Confederates lived much farther out in rural areas and do not bother the Black residents of the Atlanta area. However, they do still have their Ku Klux Klan meetings to intimidate and harass the progress of Blacks in the Old South. Only a few Confederates still lived in the immediate Atlanta area. Barbara was awed and enchanted by New York City even though she feared and hated it.To her, New York City represented everything exciting and immoral, it was forbidden fruit and that was what made it enticingly desirable. She talked about religiously watching NBC’s morning show and reveling in the scenes of people being interviewed in Rockefeller Center. Barbara was in love with Mat Lauer, the host of the morning show. Like many Southerners, Barbara had no idea that New York State was a mountain state. That it contained the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, Finger Lakes, Lake Champlain and the Hudson and Delaware Rivers She thought all of New York was like Manhattan.Looking at New Houses, around Atlanta, all the neighborhoods are black, and there are no (very few) white people. After living in New York where all kinds of people are mixed and living in the same neighborhoods, Atlanta seems strange and disconnected from the real world. Or maybe there are not enough white people to go around and integrate all the many hundreds of black neighborhoods. But there was no question that you get a lot more for your dollar in the Atlanta housing market and I found most of the houses to be extremely well built.Moving to the Atlanta RegionFinally, after years of looking at new homes, I found myself moving to warm and inexpensive Atlanta for retirement. I quickly learned after I moved here, "the war ain't over, the confederacy ain't dead and the south would rise again." Remnants of the old south are still around. I would say it’s all about two things, the reverence for the Confederacy and twisted believe systems around the Civil War – it had nothing to do with slavery they say and evangelism still runs the show here. Being a Christian conservative is square one to being elected. But in general, there are a lot of great places to live, both inside and outside the I-285 perimeter. Atlanta is, after all, a teeming 5 million-population metropolis the same as New York City or Los Angeles.Atlanta, compared to most cities in the South, is way ahead philosophically, but way behind major cities like NYC, Chicago and Boston. It will never have the clubs, mass transit, restaurants, diversity and sophisticated civilization of the north. It's still a southern city with lots of confederate baggage and I don't think that will ever change. Atlanta is predominately a black city, the south side being black while the north side being white with Buckhead where the Governor and many celebrities live alongside Decatur my favorite section of town, which is the closest thing to Mayberry you'll ever find. In fact, articles have been written describing Decatur as "Mayberry Meets Berkeley." No particular area is completely wonderful or completely safe. There is a lot of municipal corruption, bad neighborhoods, Aids, crime, drugs, gun violence, and lousy education. You must have a car. There is no way to walk to where you got to be and even though the MARTA rail and bus serves small parts of the city well, everything is spread out.I live in a beautiful new development in country oriented Walton Cnty of ranch style homes and paid $200K with taxes of $900 for mine. This house would coast more than 500K in upstate NY with taxes of about 15K to 18K per year. Right away I noticed that people don't socialize like us Yankees. In my neighborhood in upstate NY people gathered for block parties and constantly visited each other as kids played in the street. It’s not like that in the south where people don’t intercourse socially – unless it’s in church. The church is where people socialize; they are not used to the diversity of races, religions, ethnic types and different ideals and hang with people like themselves. Also developments in the south have HOAs to keep people from parking on the grass and keeping their grounds up. My development has a nerve wracking Nazi like HOA and they worry about “Bling” here - grass and hedges and how many cars in your driveway. I think Atlanta tingles with bling, crime and unnecessary racial sensitivity.I wonder is it a southern thing that so many people seem to be very materialistic and attracted to appearances (how you look, what you drive, how big your house is, etc.). I found the people to be nice and southern hospitality is alive and well – on the surface. Underneath there is a southern culture that loves itself, fears the outside world and modernity, hold Yankees in loathing (especially New Yorkers) and loves fast food. There are lots of very obese people.Northern blacks are moving back to the south to Atlanta, a few big Fortune 500 companies come too, but the city is basically blue collar unless your involved in - get some for your self - politics, which is black, liberal, and trying to make a difference. White live on the north side [Buckhead], local TV stations run never ending personal injury lawyer commercials trying to get over and make a fast buck from the blame game. Atlanta is still cheap city - it's all about how loads of homeless people, a bar, gun / pawn shop is on every corner, along with pay by the month motels and used car lots with questionable titles is typically what you find within the I-285 perimeter which is also filled with modern skyscrapers, corporate headquarters, world class hotels and convention centers.So, this Yankee is back down South again for retirement, warm weather and cheap living and this time the experience is more pleasant. I like the South now, it has changed for the better, it is easy living, but it is nothing like the more sophisticated northern style of multi cultural living, where people are better educated and more tolerant, and where there is more to do, but it’s cheaper, and that is what I need now on my Social Security budget.In Georgia, I am in the land of religious zealots and Tea Party conservatives and closed minded thinking. The people don't seem so much that way but the politicians they elect definitely are. The people usually are full of - mostly mean and nasty - opinions without facts. Their media outlets support them like Fox News and conservative talk radio. They are only looking at their "side"... and their "side only!" All justified because they're Bible tells them so! Especially when their view is so bigoted and hateful . . . that is so UN Christian to me but normal religiosity to them.It is also the land of comfort, low speed ease, warm weather, tradition, good friends and hospitality. Everyone is so polite; they say "Bless your heart" which makes it OK when followed by a verbal bomb, like "Your breath stinks. " But while it is all giving with warm fuzzys on the surface, I still felt underneath it was like a bomb waiting to go off. There is so much 'anti' feelings exhibited toward people not like them, like Yankees and most especially New Yorker with their liberal values. I felt southern culture was kind of ridiculous. Sweet tea. Lots of churches. Religious judgmental attitudes out the wazoo. Ugh it just seemed so phony. But every corner I turned, there was a voluptuous white or black woman in a spring, floral-print dress with big hair and too much makeup, smiling and telling me, "Bless yer heart." I kinda liked that! Made me feel good and welcome.But the south has great irritations for me. For example, The "War" isn't over, the confederacy lives on and the south will rise again in the Deep South like Alabama and Mississippi is heard often in churches and town halls... They have a worldview separate from the rest of the USA. They want to teach "creationism" in the schools and elect ultra conservative politicians who want to make the USA a Christian nation. From the outside it has looked like a gaggle of incompetent evangelical inbreeds at times.Southerners tend to have traditional conservative values, lots of religion, and pride in the Confederate heritage that all Southerners share. Southerners tend to dislike liberals, like that they are more religious and don't like socialism. They like their guns; many carry and are better armed than northerners. There is only a hand full of different cultures in the Southern States, while in the Northern States there are many diverse cultures from around the World. Southern society is based on ultra conservative REPUBLICAN beliefs and evangelical religious practices that justify all sorts of evil transgressions that refute evolution, global warming, cosmology, modernity and the genome of DNA. The south is an intolerant society that is loaded with fears of diversity and modernity. They try to keep things the same, and between political gerrymandering, voter suppression of minorities, constant messaging from conservative and religious ideologues, there are very few mechanisms for getting another opinion much less the truth. It's so bad that there’s not a day that goes by where I don’t see some conservative going on and on about how the Republican party is the party of “good Christian values” and everyone else (specifically liberals) is waging some kind of war on religion.Northerners tend to be more educated, taller and slimmer, industrialized, high tech, socially advanced, and immigrant driven worldly. More students from Northern States go to Ivy League and highly academic Colleges and get better-rounded educations. The North generally spearheaded and protected many of the American social and domestic human rights movements as a first world country in the early 1900's to ensure the good of its people. The south still remains in a backward thinking, a capricious slumber in which visions of white power and hate speech are as common as the rising of the sun.How friendly everyone was, far more so than up North. They greet you on the street, they strike up conversations while waiting in line at the store, and they actually stop their cars so you can cross the street. I went to Wal*mart and everyone there smiled at me. I was absolutely shocked. I walked down the rows of desks and upon first eye contact; students would light up and smile at me. That had never happened to me in the history of school. It was like a polar universe. I made friends my first day. Wherever I went, people greeted me with a smile. Strangers almost always said good morning. Everyone everywhere seemed to be in a good mood. Random people often struck up friendly conversations with me.Southern hospitality is real and it’s amazing. Welcome to my warm, friendly and very comfortable south!