The back seat drivers have spoken.
Lyft on Wednesday morning announced the winners of its third annual "Lyftie Awards." The coveted designation goes to places in 32 major cities and other locations around the country (perhaps you've heard of "New Jersey?") that Lyft deems "local hot spots."
Now, there are many ways to decide a certain place is hot: Maybe it’s the number of oversized bouncers manning the velvet rope at a purposely hard-to-find club. Or the fact that you, the hippest person you know, can’t even get a reservation for a trendy new restaurant’s parking garage, let alone a table inside.
For on-demand, ride-sharing service Lyft, “hot” is where they made the most passenger dropoffs in a year.
Atlanta Lyftie winners were named in six categories:
Most visited restaurant, Bartaco in Inman Park;
Most visited bar, Ormsby's on Atlanta's Westside;
Most visited event venue, the Georgia World Congress Center;
Most visited university: Spelman College;
Trending destination, SweetWater Brewing Company on Ottley Drive in Midtown
Only in Atlanta, The Battery Atlanta
If we were being extremely nitpicky, we'd point out that the name of that last category really should be "Only in Cobb County." Snicker. And we'd ask for a recount in the Most Likely Place to Spot a Celebrity category that was part of the national Lyftie winners list also revealed on Wednesday. If it sometimes feels like you can't turn around here in Y'allywood without stumbling across a filming set or bumping into a TV or movie star in Publix, you'll be as suprised as us to learn that this year's winner was Catch LA in West Hollywood. Next year, y'all, next year.
Credit: STEVE SCHAEFER / SPECIAL TO THE AJC
Credit: STEVE SCHAEFER / SPECIAL TO THE AJC
In all, Lyft named national winners in a dozen categories, like Most visited coffee shop (Cafe du Monde in New Orleans) and Most visited museum (Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York). As places that have been around forever, both of those fall into the "No duh!" category. Yet Atlanta's Ponce City Market, an absolute whippersnapper by comparison (the fully renovated Sears, Roebuck & Company building alongside the Atlanta Beltline began reopening in 2014), joins them on the list of 2017 national Lyftie winners in the Open Air/Farmers Market category.
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To make a (bad) ride-sharing service pun, we probably should've seen this one coming. When last year's Lyftie Awards were handed out, Ponce City Market won for Trending Destination in Atlanta.
To see the full list of 2017 national and local Lyftie Awards winners, go to www.lyft.com.
