For more than century, Lakewood Park has been many things and envisioned as many more. A weekend getaway for the city’s elite, an agricultural fairground, a race track for horses, a race track for cars, a monthly antique market, a concert venue, a movie set, even housing for 1996 Olympics security personnel have been among its previous lives.
On the list of could-have-but-weren’ts: a Ford Mustang museum, a zoo, a city cemetery, a mixed-use development complete with its own charter school.
Today, that section of southeast Atlanta is home to the EUE/Screen Gems Studios.
The Photo Vault looks back on an incarnation that was among the most notable — Larkland, a midway with food, games and a 2,950-foot roller coaster with a 66-foot drop. Reports of the day said it was “outclassed only by the one at Coney Island.” The thrill ride was named the Greyhound for its gray cars.
By then it was called Lakewood Fairgrounds and was the home of the Southeastern Fair that opened on Oct. 14, 1916. Well before the crowd of 164,577 descended upon the scene that fall, the grounds were opened to picnickers and those seeking refuge from the city’s summer heat.
The park and fairgrounds continued on through the 1970s.
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