MORE INFO Proposed changes Consistent streetscape that includes wide sidewalks and trees. Install more pedestrian-friendly street lights to replace the towering “cobrahead” street lights. New developments with entries, porches, windows, bays and balconies facing onto and primarily accessible from the sidewalk. • Creating “pocket parks” to strengthen and unify the neighborhood. Optimal mix for Cheshire Bridge would consist of 15 percent offices, 35 percent residential, and 50 percent retail. Of this retail, no more than 20 to 25 percent should be bars and restaurants. Encourage mixed-use developments to be two to three stories with commercial uses at the street level and residential and office uses above. Acquire all undeveloped property surrounding South Peachtree Creek to preserve the forest and wetlands and protect South Fork Peachtree Creek. Source: Cheshire Bridge Road Study, 1999
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Feb 04, 2005  |  By: DYANA BAGBY  | COMMENTS |   |  

Atlanta City Council member Anne Fauver holds a special place in her heart for the Colonnade on Cheshire Bridge Road, a longtime favorite spot for gay Atlantans to gather and nosh.

It was at the landmark restaurant in 1969, after she and her father visited the monastery in Conyers, where they shared their last meal. Upon returning to Washington, D.C., Fauver’s father was killed by a co-worker.

“I’ve always considered the Colonnade kind of home to me,” Fauver said. “That dinner with my father is a very fond memory.”

More than 35 years later, Fauver, the council’s only openly gay member, now represents District 6, which includes the restaurant as well as businesses and residents living on and around Cheshire Bridge Road.

And after years of planning and debate, several projects designed to give Cheshire Bridge a more urban appeal are underway along the street best known as Atlanta’s gay red light district.

It was on this road where Sweet Gum Head, one of the first Southern drag clubs, offered a safe place to gather in the 1970s. And it is where today’s popular gay clubs like the Jungle and the Heretic host copious crowds of attractive gay men every weekend.

There are also gay bars in the corridor — such as Buddies, tucked into an aging strip shopping center at the road’s intersection with Lavista Road, and Opus 2, discreetly located next to a strip club on Alco Road — that cater to gay patrons who prefer their drinks in a more intimate setting.

And to give Cheshire Bridge its “adults only” feel, there are sex video rental stores, strip clubs, massage parlors and businesses offering sex toys and risqué gay gifts.

But the street is also home to numerous ethnic restaurants, antique shops, affordable apartments and new housing developments.

“Cheshire Bridge has always been one of those places where anything goes,” said Bill Golden, a gay realtor who lives in LaVista Park with his partner, Andrew Plant.
“I absolutely love Cheshire Bridge Road. Yes, it has its seedy places, but what a wonderful place to go to find anything you need,” he added.

Rezoning approved
Last month, the City Council and Mayor Shirley Franklin approved the rezoning of Cheshire Bridge Road between Piedmont Avenue and just south of Faulkner Road. The effort designated a new “neighborhood commercial” district that will encourage such urban designs as outdoor dining patios and mandate tree plantings along the street. The rezoning was just one of several recommendations made in an extensive 1999 study of the corridor.

There are also long-range plans for the development of higher-end residential buildings and improvements to sidewalks and roads. The city’s overall mission for the area, according to city planner Enrique Buscanana, is to make Cheshire Bridge a place where people can live, work and play and to discourage dependence on automobiles.

But the only concrete plans are intersection improvements at Piedmont Avenue and Cheshire Bridge Road, estimated to cost $350,000; and an estimated $500,000 in streetscape improvements from Piedmont to Manchester Street. That project will include wider sidewalks and tree plantings.

The rezoning approved last month is one of the first steps in trying to make Cheshire Bridge less “seedy” and more urban, Fauver said.

“I like Cheshire Bridge Road, too, but it’s a little bit scruffy,” she said. “Now [with the rezoning] there probably won’t be new adult entertainment facilities without having to go through variances.”

The rezoning and future plans will not negatively impact the gay bars and clubs on or near Cheshire Bridge, Fauver added.

Club Eros, a private sex club for gay men located on Faulkner Road, for example, will be “grandfathered” into any new development in the area and not affected by any proposed changes along the corridor, she said.

“It’s not going to change any of the existing businesses,” Fauver said.

Construction continues at a brisk place at Cheshire Place II, a 32-unit condominium development that symbolizes the changing face of Cheshire Bridge Road. (Photo by Sher Pruitt)

Officials with Club Eros did not respond to interview requests. Bev Cook, owner of the popular gay dance spot the Heretic, also did not respond to requests for an interview. Cook served on a task force that produced the ...