Q: I read the book, “Downtown,” by Anne Rivers Siddons a few years ago. The book focuses on a young professional moving to Atlanta in the 1960s to work for a newspaper. A club called the Top of Peachtree is mentioned. Was this an actual club? I was very young, but I seem to remember it.
—Karen White, Marietta
A: The Top of Peachtree was a popular hangout for the characters in that book, and Siddons, who is from Fairburn, knew that it had "a sensational view of the city," as she wrote in "Downtown."
Her Top of Peachtree actually was called Top O’ Peachtree, and for good reason.
The restaurant and club was on the 30th floor of the Bank of Georgia Building, which was the tallest building in Atlanta when it opened in 1961.
Top O’ Peachtree boasted “dining and dancing, near the stars” and the “South’s most breathtaking view, according to an ad from the mid-60s. Another ad from later that decade stated the club featured “dancing and spirited refreshments.”
By then, the nightly entertainment was provided by Snooky Lanson, a singer who had gained fame on the 1950s TV show called “Your Hit Parade” and later appeared on Atlanta shows.
Another ad stated the Bank of Georgia Building soared 432 feet high and “is located at the heart of Five Points,” at 34 Peachtree Street.
The Bank of Georgia building still stands, so you might know it as One Park Tower or 34 Park Tower.
The vintage ads for the building and Top O’ Peachtree can be viewed at Atlanta Time Machine (www.atlantatimemachine.com), which is a rich resource of the city’s past.
Summer means snakes in Georgia
You’ve certainly already read or seen stories about snakes biting people and pets this summer, so here’s a reminder of the venomous varieties you’ll find around the state.
I’ve written a variation of this in past Actual Factual Georgia columns.
There are six venomous snake species in Georgia, a group that consists of three types of rattlesnakes (eastern diamondback, timber and pigmy), cottonmouths (also known as water moccasins), copperheads and eastern coral snakes.
If you like to hike, fish or camp, or enjoy working in your yard, familiarize yourself with the markings or characteristics of these snakes.
Copperheads are the most common venomous snake around Atlanta and are tough to spot with their reddish, brown or tan markings. They rarely are lethal to humans, though.
Rattlesnakes often vibrate their tail when threatened, so you might hear them before you see them.
A moccasin typically opens his mouth, displaying the white lining that has led to them being called cottonmouths, and eastern coral snakes feature red, yellow and black rings.
Try to remember the rhyme “Red on yellow, kill a fellow” to help differentiate between coral snakes and non-venomous scarlet kingsnakes.
Eastern diamondbacks and eastern coral snakes usually are limited to South Georgia.
Odds are against dying from a snake bite. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that only about five people in the U.S. die from them every year.
