I remember first getting to know the Atlanta area back in the early ’90’s and being surprised how many places were just completely filled with smoke: Crazy Horse on Memorial, Euclid Avenue Buffet, Northside Tavern, Johnny’s Hideaway and then there’s the Green Derby. I had a gig in 1998 at Ravinia in the perimeter area and I remember we all went to lunch once at the Green Derby. This is like 11:45, beautiful day and we walk in and the place is completely full of smoke and people already completely drunk. Yeah, we didn’t try it again for lunch but had a few happy hours there. Anyways… of the list above only the Northside and Johnny’s are left and neither are nearly as smoky as they were back then. The junky office building that housed the Derby has been torn down. Here’s what it looked like in March 2013
RIP