Photograph by David Walter Banks
In downtown Atlanta, something hums in the grit and grime of the city’s basement. Someone has plugged in an amp.
Artists, responding to beats from below, are headed to Underground Atlanta, the subterranean corridor that housed speakeasies during Prohibition, a rollicking bar district during the early ’70s, and then chain retailers in the ’90s and 2000s. Today, Atlanta’s “city beneath the city” is having another go-around—now as a DIY arts space.
Across from the Five Points MARTA station, a flight of stone steps leads down to this creative renaissance. On Underground’s lower level, the storefront of an old geode shop has been stripped back to its foundation and redecorated with found objects to become an eclectic performance space called No Tomorrow. Next door, a former Victoria’s Secret, now gutted to the studs, is home to hardcore, hip-hop, and visual art under the name Mom Said It’s Fine. Three other studios complete the row of storefronts-turned-galleries: Innerspace, Emmcdee Gallery, and Itch. Nearly every evening, someone reads poetry or dances to an atmospheric soundscape in the studios.
“We’ll have four different shows next to each other, so people can come and explore each one,” said Carl Janes, who runs Innerspace. In a single evening at Underground, No Tomorrow features performance artists holding experimental improvisation workshops; Itch hosts an open mic; a metal band plays at Mom Said It’s Fine; Emmcdee Gallery hosts an art exhibition; and Innerspace offers more live music—all side by side. “It’s almost like a multistage event every night,” said Janes. And the community is growing: Tyree Smith’s ARTlanta Gallery joined the lineup at Upper Alabama Street late last year.
Photograph by David Walter Banks
Underground Atlanta’s current owner is Shaneel Lalani, a 34-year-old entrepreneur who immigrated to Atlanta from Mumbai when he was a…
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