Mens Journal

TRAVEL&ADVENTURE

lar Italian eatery Alleia was recognized as
a semif inalist for a James Beard award as
wasMainStreetMeatsan upscale comfort-
food joint rightly extolled by the director of
the Southern Foodways Alliance as a “carni-
vore’s nirvana.” But plenty of local institutions
still hark back to Chattanooga’s grittier past
like Lamar’s a restaurant and bar that’s been
chugging along for more than 50 years.
Today Lamar’s is whereyou’llfind Chat-
tanooga’s old-timers mixing with kids from
the nearby University of Tennessee all col-
ors and creeds listening to Clarence Carter or
Bessie Smith (who grew up in town) on the
jukebox. The setting is weird but in a wholly
uncontrived way: It’s a dark wood and velvet-
wallpaperedroomwithacombinationof
Christmas and Halloween decorations up all
year. Gerald the bartender came to our table
on a quiet night and since there’s no drink
list asked what we usually like to sip. “Strong?
Sweet?” Then he made us gin martinis.
Back at our polished hostel the Crash
Pad we had a neat private room. Started by
climbing-obsessives in their late twenties it’s
the rare accommodation where you get more
than you pay for including the best climb-
ing advice in town. (Go to Little Rock City
a world-class bouldering spot on the Cum-
berland Plateau 30 minutes from down-
town.) When it opened f ive years ago the

Crash Pad helped anchor the renaissance of

Chatty’s Southside where you can now f ind

a bike shop (Cycle Sport Concepts) a bike-

themed hipster coffee shop (Velo) and the

best breakfast in the city (Bluegrass Grill’s

“glorious g rits”). Cars aren’t necessar y here.

“I was laughing” said a Crash Pad

employee named Corey “when I realized I

could ride my bike across Chatty in 20 min-

utes.” His climbing weekend here three years

ago turned into a permanent relocation — a

not uncommon story.

DAY 3: ART AND THE OUTDOORS

Chattanooga’s most unavoidable tourist

magnet is its incline railway “America’s most

amazing mile” which ascends to the top of

LookoutMountainconsideredthecity’s

best view. (It’s also home to the largest hang-

gliding school in the country.) But unlike

everyone else aboard the train we decided

to run down from the summit’s Point Park

via a series of switchbacked trails through

hardwood forest and Civil War memorials

some f ive miles to the bottom.

Back in town we jogged over to Main

Terrain Art Park one of the city’s newest

and certainly strangest developments: a

neo-Chattanoogan amalgam of public art

that doubles as f itness equipment in a storm-

water-overf low area. Opened in 2013 the

Standup

paddleboarding

on the Tennessee

River’s 50-mile-

long Blueway

The Hunter

Museum of

American Art

“A CITY THAT PUT ITS FAITH IN INDUSTRY IS

1. Prentice Cooper NOW TURNING TO ART AND THE OUTDOORS.”
   State Forest


2. Raccoon Mountain
   3. Lookout Mountain
   4. Walnut St. Bridge
   5. Tennessee River

CHATTANOOGA

4

5

2

3

1

two-acre park connects many of the down-

town neighborhoods that have experienced

shocking transformations in recent years.

After a few dips among the abstract sculp-

tures we hiked over to Hutton & Smith

Brewery where the beers all have jokey

geological or climbing names like Belayer’s

Blonde. The fellas pouring beer we found

are more than happy to tell you where to

climb when the buzz wears off.

DAY 4: THE CITY CENTER

For a clearer picture of how dramatically

the city has changed in the last two decades

walk around downtown. Crossing the Wal-

nut Street Bridge shortly after dawn we

watched rowers make long drawling arcs

on the Tennessee. The Walnut is a place that

references both Chattanooga’s past — the

bridge once connected the white and black

parts of town — and its future: walkability

connectivity. Couples jogged by; a commut-

ing businessman zoomed past on a Segway.

A few weeks earlier swimmers in the

Ironman Chattanooga had passed by here.

The event was clear evidence of how far the

city has come toward shedding its indus-

trial heritage and embracing a progressive

outdoors-focused future. But there’s no mis-

taking this is still the South. The race’s main

sponsor: Little Debbie.Q

MEN’S JOURNAL 38 SEPTEMBER 2016