We asked, you answered: When did you become an Atlantan?

What makes someone declare they're a true Atlantan?

• Sometimes it's a neighborhood block party or an appreciation of our lush tree canopy.

Born and bred (or close enough)

👶 "I knew it was home when I first learned the word and what it meant," said Eddie R., who was born in Georgia Baptist Hospital — later Atlanta Medical Center, soon-to-be a hole in the ground — more than 70 years ago.

• "I also don't have any moments in my life when it wasn't home, even when I served in the Air Force or lived in Chicago for a summer. Even though I live in Alpharetta, Atlanta, you're my home."

😳 Justin S. moved to Atlanta as a third grader in 1985, so it's really the only place he's truly known as home. "My father was a homebuilder, so I've watched the city grow as new homes were built in what seemed WAY OUT at the time (Windward, Acworth, Duluth)."

🌭 Donald L. moved shortly after he was born in Atlanta. When his family would return they'd eat at The Varsity, say hi to Willie B. at Zoo Atlanta.

• He came back for law school and is confident the two chili slaw dogs and rangs" he ate every day when he sat for the bar exam got him across the finish line.
• "On the wall next to my bed now are a picture of The Varsity, painted by my wife, and a photo from the front page of the AJC of Willie B with his arm around his new girlfriend after spending many years alone in his cage."
• "I'm not sure when in my 75 year love affair with Atlanta it became 'home,' but it was probably in 1968 when I enrolled at Emory. It has had a magnetic pull on me ever since. I have ventured away, but always came back."

College changes you

🐝 Seventeen years ago, Kendall D.'s mom, who graduated from UGA, encouraged her to consider Georgia Tech. She applied for early admission at the very last minute.

• "A month later, I visited the campus for the first time and instantly knew it was where I wanted to go to school. THWg!

😄 Richard H. was a graduate student at Emory in 1982 and chose to stick around thanks to Atlanta's "progressive, positive environment."

🎉 Leslie T. was smitten when she visited Atlanta during college in 2003 and made the city her home eight years later. What did it: the diverse culture, food, small businesses like Sevananda, and more.

👋 Alan M. moved here sight unseen to attend college. "People were saying hi to me and being very friendly. The amount of trees and greenery was amazing."

• "I had no intentions of staying here after college, but after about two or three weeks of being here this thought came to my mind effortlessly, 'You're home.' My entire family moved here and we all made our careers here."

The boundless opportunities

🎭 Not long after retiring as an educator in Cobb County, Re M., caught a play at the Alliance Theatre. After lunch at Rumi's with her friend, Bill, she "felt a sense of home settling on my shoulders" as she crossed Peachtree Street.

• "I knew from that moment that I wanted to live right here in Midtown. After the play, I went home, told my husband my idea, and we had the house on the market in a month!"

🍸 Cheryl M.'s "I'm an Atlantan" status was unlocked when she moved into a Ponce de Leon apartment and became her out-of-town friends' tour guide of the city.

• "We would start with drinks at Ponce City Market then make our way to Righteous Room for a more dive-y atmosphere, then end the day or night with fancy cocktails up on the Clermont Hotel's rooftop."
• "And of course, go see Blondie and the other gals at Clermont Lounge."

Moments that just hit right

⚾️ "I became an Atlantan when the Braves won the World World Series in 2021," Jeremy M. "I had lived here for the better part of 15 years, met my wife here and had four children in the city. But it took a Braves World Series to call this great city home!"

🚴 Trish A., an avid cyclist who's biked more than 135,000 hilly miles over the past 30 years and says she has the thighs to prove it, walked out of an East Atlanta bar in 2000.

• "Two guys in an older giant sedan maybe from the late 80s?) roll by and say 'Girlfriend, you got some big ole thighs on you!'"
• "As a cyclist all I could do was smile and say 'Thanks!' That's when I knew I was an Atlantan."

🥹 Bruce T.'s Atlanta roots go back three generations but he always felt the city was too provincial. He truly fell in love with the city on the first day back from study abroad while driving to Buckhead lunch and back.

• "I pulled into a gas station parking lot, put my head down on the steering wheel and cried, half in joy over being back, half in frustration that I knew I would stay," he said.
• "Like it or not, I was home. I'm 62 years old, and I've watched my city grow up around me and I've grown to love it."

Nature and neighborhoods

🫢 "I experienced all four seasons for the first time in my 60 years," said Diana W., a recent arrival from Southern California.

• "It was amazing to watch the trees change, the weather shift and the smells take over. I was able to change my wardrobe accordingly. That is when I said out loud 'This is home.'"

🌇 Four years ago, Wayne H. and his partner "became Atlantans" when they finally realized, after more than 30 years here, "that we keep coming back."

• "Both of us are northeastern natives (too cold), lived part time in both South Florida (too hot, crazy politics), and the North Carolina mountains (too rural). We keep coming back to Midtown Atlanta — our city has everything we love!"

📍 After stints in Raleigh and Nashville, Weston B. returned to Atlanta in 2019 and moved into a Virginia-Highland rental with his wife within walking distance to the Beltline and Piedmont Park.

• "When Covid hit we couldn't have been in a better position. We now own a home in the Decatur area, but we're never leaving Atlanta."

🏇 A Kentucky Derby party in Cabbagetown lured Kate S. back after graduate school. "Friends closed off several streets in Cabbagetown by shoving old couches in the way of car traffic.

• "At some point, as we held our own costumed, wheeled race around the streets, culminating in a spontaneous dance party, this place became home. I moved back in 2009 and it's been home ever since."

⛪️ Rebecca W. became an Atlantan when she started walking five blocks to her church every Sunday! "The walkability is one of the many wonderful things about living in one of the city's storied intown neighborhoods."