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Health & Fitness

What is a NoNo?

If you won't adopt a dog, at least let a dog adopt you.

How can one type about one's crowning achievement (yeah, my life was that pitiful) without crowing?

I dunno but I'm going to try. No wait. Let's talk about the neighborhood before we get to the business.

There is a section of Midtown on the far west side (the REAL West aka the Connector) on Spring Street NW. It runs between North Ave and 10th street.

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Let's focus on the area between 3rd and 4th. There is an Arby's (beside Checker/Ralleys, the only drive through fast food franchise in "true Midtown"). Behind Arby's is FLEX. Flex is the gay bath house that has to call itself a gymnasium for Christian Reasons.

The people at Flex are really nice, as are Arby's. So are the men who think they are being discreet by walking with their little grips and wedding ring imprints on the 3rd ring finger. Chris, the manager at Flex, tells me over half his gymnasium rats are in fact 'gasp' straight marrieds.

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Evidently there is something there that they can't find at home....a man!

So Flex is a good neighbor. Except they fight with Arby's over parking issues, especially during lucrative Tech Home games. I typically referee. Everyone in the neighborhood must tolerate the other.

Yonder down on 3rd is Apache Cafe. They are mostly nice folks. Just another small business struggling with stupid food and booze rules like the rest of us.

In front of Apache Cafe is the Concerta Medical Center. The building use to house the Infamous 688 Club (wiki it).

That leaves the 'strip center'. The last section of Midtown with 1940's style sidewalks (Wayne Mock seems to keep forgetting about this side of town when he doles out Midtown Green sprucing up money. Here is hoping his memory loss is not health related.).

708 Spring, the old Lorettas, Club 708 and now EXXcess Ultra lounge has an interesting facade, reminiscent of the 1930s neon and marquee style entrances. It actually has a coal chute in the back with a "Who is Noam Chomsky?" paint tag on it. 

The rest of the block is mine, including the old Club NV, now called QUAD. I lease it from Selig, - the best dang landloard a company could ever have! -  714-730 Spring. I'll write more later about what goes on at our business.

The buildings have been used since the 1930s, then added on in the 40s and 60s. The alley behind the block used to be Williams Street before the Connector was built. CBS outdoor advertising was the last major tenant before us.

730 Spring is the 2nd floor of 728. That is where I live. Chris the Flex manager also lives on the block with his good friend, so that makes three of us as the official neighbors in NoNo. The next closest set of residences is almost three blocks away.

What else is in NoNo? Well you can go right down Spring and see it has some great places to eat lunch or dinner, Cheetah Lounge, Primal. The food places around 5th Street, including our own Waffle House open 24/7 rivals any place in Midtown/Downtown. And we have Publix.

And then there is the Mighty "GA Institute of Technology Conference Center" also known in the neighborhood as "Tech." We have a love/hate relationship with Tech. Tech brings us business especially during the school year. But then, Tech gives us "home games."

Like a sleeping volcano, occasionally aroused to spew enough mess to keep things interesting, the Tech home games have a massive negative impact on the neighborhood. They take all the parking. Parking is all scalped. They tailgate, not buying food or drink. And then there is the litter. The code requires our business to keep the front of our establishments clean of trash.

You can only imagine... and this year, some moron at ESPN decided it would be cute to have four Tech games in a ROW at home. The entire month of September: every Saturday. Talk about negative economic impact.

So, for good or bad, that is NoNo. At least 5,000 people a week walk this area all day and all night. Come see what you are missing, if you dare!

Oh, yeah, there is the area we fondly call "Oil Slick." Varsity.

And that is NoNo!

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