Flashback photos: 40 years ago, Georgia in 1977

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Flashback photos: 40 years ago, Georgia in 1977

Many familiar landmarks you’ll see here still stand, but many do not. Some of the people are still with us, too. The fashions, thank heavens, have changed a lot. Take a look back at our city and our state as it was four decades ago.

June 10, 1977 -- Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta looking north from 8th Street. Colony Square is visible at far right.

Downtown Atlanta skyline at night, looking southwest, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2, 1977. J.C. Lee/AJC

Overview of the Fox Theatre on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, GA. (Charles Pugh Jr. / AJC staff) 1977

Aunt Charley's Soup and Spirits on Peachtree Street in Buckhead, November 7, 1977. Bill Mahan/AJC File.

A view of traffic on Peachtree and Piedmont Roads, December 30, 1977. AJC File.

Five Points MARTA station under construction, looking southeast toward the Capitol in November 1977.

Georgia Gov. George Busbee, center, listens to Prince Charles, left, at the state Capitol in Atlanta on Oct. 22, 1977. At right is Lt. Gov. Zell Miller.

James Brown stands in front of the theater where he used to sing for pennies. Photo taken in Augusta, GA in 1977. (George Clark/AJC staff)

Aug. 19, 1977 -- Euclid Drugs is one of the long-standing landmarks in Little Five Points.

Anchors John Pruitt and Monica Pearson (then Kaufman) on Channel 2 Action News in 1977. Pruitt and Pearson were a Channel 2 news desk institution at WSB during the 6 and 11 p.m. telecasts from 1994 to 2010. Pruitt started at Channel 2 in 1964, working at the station until 1978 when he exited to anchor for rival WXIA before returning to WSB in 1994. Pearson started her WSB career in 1975, retiring in July 2012 after anchoring 37 years on Channel 2.

July 7, 1977 - A view of the Downtown Connector looking south toward the heart of downtown Atlanta.

The entrance to the Georgian Terrace facing Peachtree Street is seen in this 1977 photo.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Steve Bartkowski lies in a hospital bed with an injury in 1977. (MINLA LYNN/AJC staff) 1977

Coretta Scott King and Cicely Tyson on the set of the television mini-series "King" in June 1977. Floyd Jillson/AJC

The intersection of Roswell Road and Peachtree Street in Buckhead, November 7, 1977.

Don Bender stands in front of the Redwood Lounge, which he would soon help reopen as the Little Five Points Community Pub. George A. Clark/AJC

Storefronts along Cartersville main business district, January 1977. Charles Pugh/AJC

Ruth Ann Foote walks with son Louis down Linwood Avenue in October 1977. Jerome McClendon/AJCHighlands.

East line construction as part of the Urban Mass Transportation Project, January 14, 1977. Calvin Cruce/AJC file

The World War II-era movie theatre that would become the Variety Playhouse sits unoccupied through the '70s. Here it is in August 1977. AJC file

John and Jane Barbe at work in the recording studio, Atlanta, Georgia, October 1977. Jane's voice was heard around the world in time announcement recordings made for many communications companies. She was a voiceover artist and a singer, as well, and died in 2003. John is a composer, musician and arranger. Both were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2015. Their son, David, is a wll-known Athens musician and producer. Charles Pugh/AJC

President Jimmy Carter being sworn into office by Chief of Justice Warren Burger, Jan. 20, 1977. Bill Mahan/AJC

Elephants and horses perform in the Ricgling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey three-ring circus at the Omni in February 1977. George A. Clark/AJC

Amy Carter (right) at Six Flags Over Georgia on August 8, 1977. Louie Favorite/AJC

Escape artist Newdini dangles 100 feet above Central City Park (now known as Woodruff Park) on September 24, 1977, in a stunt to combat voter apathy. He's wearing a regulation strait jacket from which he freed himself a few minutes later. Newdini said his stunt was to urge Atlanta citizens to escape the bonds of voter apathy and vote in city elections Oct. 4. George A. Clark/AJC

Trucks pass one another on the streets of Calhoun, September 1977. Louie Favorite/AJC

Jimmy Page (left) and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin at the Omni on April 23, 1977. Rick Diamond for the AJC/file

Robert Plant (left) and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin at the Omni on April 23, 1977. Rick Diamond for the AJC/file

Dismantling of the Central Library facade on Carnegie Street for construction of a new public library, 1977. George A. Clark/AJC

MARTA construction near the State Capitol, 1977. Floyd Jillson/AJC

Rescue workers and investigators combing through the wreckage of a plane crash, New Hope, Georgia, April 5, 1977. What should have been a routine day of flying from Atlanta to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with a stop in Huntsville, then reversing the route back to Atlanta ended in one of the deadliest air disasters in Georgia history. On April 4, 1977, Southern Airways Flight 242 crashed in Paulding County, killing 72 people. Nine of those were on the ground. Bill Mahan/AJC

Overhead view of a plane crash, New Hope, Georgia, April 5, 1977. Bill Mahan/AJC

Ku Klux Klansman in robes and hood handing copy of the Klansman newspaper to a passenger through a car window in Plains, Georgia, July 1, 1977. Steve Deal/AJC

Georgia World Congress Center, July 18, 1977. Steve Deal/AJC

MARTA station and rail construction, 1977. George A. Clark/AJC

Front of a furniture store in Little Five Points, August 19, 1977. AJC file

John Lewis, with Ted Kennedy, in Lewis' home in Atlanta on January 16, 1977. Hugh Stovall/AJC

Uga, University of Georgia's bulldog mascot, with his snout on a Gatorade bottle in Athens, November 1977. Allan Walker/AJC

The prices may be higher now, but those hot dogs haven't changed much. Varsity restaurant workers serving up hot dogs to customers in December 1977. AJC file

Then UN Ambassador Andrew Young, actor Paul Winfield and Coretta Scott King on the set of the television mini-series "King" in June 1977. Floyd Jillson/AJC

The original caption: "Now that the old has been cleared away, work is under way in earnest on the main downtown station for the MARTA subway system. The skeletal beginnings of the station, between Forsyth and Broad streets, can be seen taking shape in this view from Forsyth. November 20, 1977" Charles Pugh/AJC

From the original caption: "The first tracks on MARTA's rapid transit system are being laid on the East Line at transit authority's rail yards in Avondale, just east of Sam's Crossing. The track laying soon will go underground, in the subway portion of the line which will run under Sycamore Street and into the downtown Decatur passenger station. November 9, 1977" Charles Pugh/AJC

Owner Ted Turner with the Atlanta Braves' team and manager Dave Bristol, May 1977. Bud Skinner/AJC

Streets in Buckhead, November 7, 1977. Bill Mahan/AJC

Ramblin' Raft Race down the Chattahoochee River on May 21, 1977. Aerial view of the rafts being prepared on the river banks and launched into the river. Calvin Cruce/AJC

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June 10, 1977 -- Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta looking north from 8th Street. Colony Square is visible at far right.

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