The train to Athens
March 5, 2008 at 11:02 am by Ken Edelstein in Randomly NotedOverheard this morning in Aurora Coffee, Little Five Points: One lean guy wearing light, somewhat worn clothes and work boots passes my table in the back to the one just behind me. Another lean guy wearing light, somewhat worn clothes, a black jean jacket, and baseball cap and work boots is sitting there, charging his phone.
“Hey, man, are you traveling?â€
“No, I’ve been here for a while.â€
“I just got to town, man, and I’m trying to figure out where everything is.â€
“Well, I don’t really live here anymore. I spend most of the year up in Alaska.â€
“I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.â€
“There’s not really anything going on in Atlanta anymore. You might want to head over to Athens.â€
“Athens? Where’s that?”
“It’s this little town about 45 minutes away. They got more of a punk scene — a lot more stuff going on. You just head on down to DeKalb Avenue and catch the CSX.â€
“DeKalb Avenue, where’s that?”
“Just go out of here and take a right. And when you get to the tracks, there’ll be two MARTA tracks and then there’s a CSX track. Just go left, and follow it down to where it forks up there, and the one that goes left — that’ll take you to Athens.”
“Oh, hey, man, thanks a lot, man. That’s great.â€
After the guy asking the questions got out of the bathroom, they conversed more. The guy asking the questions was from New Hampshire. The other guy had been charging his phone. He warned the questioner to keep an eye out for people who’d been working on the lines.
This is a world I did not know about before.
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March 5th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I assume you mean the world of the modern hobo and not Athens…
A book was reviewed in one of the last two issues of Esquire about an author’s experiences train-hopping across the country. I forget the name, but the gist was that this is still an active sub-culture, although far-removed from the nostalgic image of the red-bindle-carrying hobo of the early 1900s.
What’s most interesting is that they clearly have identifiers to be able to recognize each other. If you knew what those were, how many others would you spot, particularly in Little 5?
March 5th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Seeing as how that’s the old Georgia Railroad line, that hobo is going to have a real shock when he ends up in Augusta.
March 5th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Are you kiddin’? check out this excellent collection of pics:
The Life of American Vagabonds
March 5th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Atlpaddy, you are a living compass! People used to be able to catch a passenger train to Athens at the old Emory station back in the 60s.
As for you, Edelstein, get your nose out of a coffee cup and your ass on the rails!
March 5th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I bought my dog from a train hopper in L5P. She was still a puppy and very thin. He had her tied to a sign on the sidewalk in the rain. Not as healthy as the dogs in alexo’s pictures. He took 40 bucks.
By the way, here are some recent pics (of hobos,not my dog. You’re welcome): http://www.pbase.com/artandrevolution/travels
March 5th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Very cool pictures. Thanks.
March 6th, 2008 at 9:40 am
ken, this post has gotten me obsessed with modern-day hobos. if i wasn’t in meetings all day i would be avoiding work by researching them….
March 6th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
If you don’t work for CL, James, I have this to say to you: Screw your meetings and all other workplace obligations. Surf the web, especially our site, to your heart’s content. You will become wealthy if you do that. If you do work for CL, ignore this message.
March 7th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Don’t most members of different sub-cultures know how to spot each other? I can spot road cyclists and dorks a mile away.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Of course. The question wasn’t whether or not they do, but if a non-insider knew what to look for, how much more often would you be able to spot them?
As an aside, does anyone know what you call the phenomenon where you are unaware of something (song, actor, picture, etc.), but once you become aware of it’s existence, it starts popping up everywhere? Thanks to that, this afternoon I came across the 700 Hoboes project - http://e-hobo.com.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Like when you get a car and then notice how many there are the same style and color? Or how many times I notice the clock says 9:11? That still freaks me out a little bit.
March 8th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Hey Dale, don’t you notice 4:20 or Beer Thirty?
March 8th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Me? 4:20? Beer Thrity? noooooo, of course not