Mr. Fangs

**** 1/2
Is it vandalism or is it art? Can't it be both?
Atlanta has a reasonably active graffiti community but one image stands out from all the rest: Mr. Fangs.

While the Krog Street tunnel might be the easiest place to find him, you've seen him all over town. Usually he is in the form of a laughing ghost but sometimes he shows other emotions or brings along a leg of fried chicken or a birthday cake. If Atlanta had a mascot (Izzy doesn't count), Mr. Fangs would be it.

To the untrained eye, he might just look like a ghost but it goes deeper than that. Through both the emotional appearance and color of Mr. Fangs, a message is being sent to the world.

See a red Mr. Fangs? That means he's angry. Maybe it is because of a bunch of trees being cut down for a strip mall or maybe it is because of neglect of part of the city. Whatever the cause, you know when you see Mr. Fangs glowing red, something bad is up.

See a blue one? Well, that means Mr. Fangs creator "Totem" felt a bit guilty about putting Mr. Fang there. Check the website for more insight into the various colors of Mr. Fangs.

Speaking of Totem, though he is credited with the creation of Mr. Fangs, the ghost has taken on a life of its own. Some question if Totem is truly the creator of Mr. Fangs or just a conduit through which Mr. Fangs is able to make himself seen to the world.

Sadly Mr. Fangs appears to be dying. He isn't around as much as he use to be. Is he taking a vacation, sick, or being gentrified out of the city. Who knows? What I do know is that it is getting harder and harder to find new appearances. Perhaps Mr. Fangs actually is the soul of old Atlanta, which is slowly fading away.

Minus half a star for the vandalism aspect of Mr. Fangs. There is no way around it, the majority of the places that Mr. Fangs calls home did not invite him. There is value in the social commentary and he does do a reasonably good job of not popping up in places that would create a danger (such as covering an entire stop sign) or are in active use but nevertheless, his presence is usually a form of vandalism.

While I am not part of the crowd that romanticizes what Atlanta was in the 70s and 80s, it will be sad if there is no place for Mr. Fangs in the renewed city that is currently being created.

Phipps Plaza

** 1/2
Like virtually every other shopping mall in the US, the outside of Phipps Plaza is a complete and total disaster.  The architecture is terrible, it is surrounded by a huge moat of parking, is actively pedestrian hostile, and it does a terrible job of blending into the urban environment.

With that said, most of us have become zombified when it comes to the appearance of the outside of shopping malls.  Our brains become disconnected and only come back to life once the inside of the mall has been accessed.

The interior is nicely done, relatively speaking.  Grand staircases, hardwood everywhere, marble, and decent (though not great) use of natural light are hallmarks of this mall.

There are lots of high end stores but also a mix of "everymall" stores such as Brookstone.  Once in a while a lower end store somehow finds its way into the mix but rarely lasts. I suspect this is usually a case of a local shop owner getting too ambitious and forgetting who is their true clientele.

The food court is on the small size but manages to have a reasonable variety of cuisines.  The mall is home to several sit down restaurants including Twist, an outpost of The Grape, and Katie Couric favorite, The Tavern.  I find it weird to go to a mall for fine dining but once you're in most of the restaurants, it is easy to forget the rest of the mall is just outside the door.

The mall is kept clean and the bathrooms are nicer than the airport like bathrooms across the street at Lenox (and let's not even get into the other malls around the metro) but there are places here and there where the paint is peeling or the carpet shows wear.  Though Phipps (thankfully) attracts nowhere near the crowds that Lenox does, it is still difficult to keep everything polished all the time.  Nevertheless, presenting the mall as the ultimate in upscale is a bit of a stretch.

There are plans to add a tower to the southside of the mall parking deck, which could help tie together the mall and the rest of the city but because it is next to a hopelessly autocentric underpass, it is doubtful that it will help much.  Perhaps someday Phipps will add a Grand Arcade leading from Peachtree Street to the mall.  Until that happens, it is just another relic of our attempt at cartopia.

If you do drive, there is plenty of parking on the various levels of the parking deck that envelops the entire mall.  Phipps also has valet parking available.

For those taking MARTA, the Lenox rail station is between a five and ten minute walk, with the Buckhead station being about five more minutes away.  Do be aware that getting from the sidewalk to the mall entrance can be an adventure in dodging automobiles whose drivers see you as more points on their quest for the high score in "Pedestrian Slayer". The free BUC shuttle services Phipps and both MARTA stations should you not want to walk.