Atlanta, Georgia -- 2370 Stewart Avenue (2370 Metropolitan Pkwy SW)
 
OPENED
OWNERSHIP
AMENITIES - 1948
STATUS
1948
Bill Farner
 
  • 60 rooms
  • 60 baths
  • 16 kitchenette apartments
  • 30 air conditioned
  • 30 fans
  • nice restaurant in connection
  • plenty of lawn/playground
  • private telephones
  • Simmons beautyrest mattresses and furniture
Operated as Santa Fe Villas (2005)
 
 
 
Built on the south side of Atlanta along U.S. 41, & 19, the Alamo Plaza was located in a prime spot to capture tourists headed south to Florida. For "snow-birds" living in the Mid-West, U.S. 41 was the main route South to the Sunshine State! Other roadside establishments clustered nearby and created a vibrant commercial strip. These roadside businesses prospered through the 1960s, but after U.S. 41 was rerouted to a newly constructed expressway that bypassed the congestion that they had helped to create, most of them faded away or were converted to other uses. Eventually that limited access expressway became the the basis of I-75's route through Atlanta.
Advertisement courtesy of Robby Delius
 
 

 

The Alamo Plaza buildings remained largely intact until the 1990s when the complex became part of the City of Atlanta's efforts to provide housing for homeless individuals. Unfortunately sections of the Alamo facade were removed when the site was redeveloped by its owner, the Urban Residential Development Corporation, "whose mission is to provide safe, decent and affordable housing to low, moderate and medium income residents of Atlanta in mixed income communities." The rehabilitated former Alamo Plaza was renamed Santa Fe Villas, and offers more than 100 motel-like rooms to the homeless. Here is a link to their web site:

http://www.urdc.org/santafe.htm
 
 
Matchbook: circa 1940s
Photographs: 1999