Southside: Chattanooga’s Hot Ticket

When the Barnum & Bailey Circus paraded through Chattanooga’s Southside in 1903, the neighborhood thrived as an urban center of finance and commerce. But decades of decline turned the corridor into a seedy strip near the landmark Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel. 

Happily, Southside is back on track, with the onetime train depot in the midst of an $8 million renovation to transform the hotel’s southern facade into a major hub for retail, dining and entertainment. Elsewhere along Main and Market streets, a tight-knit community of creative business owners have revived old warehouses and historic buildings as spaces for contemporary art, startup incubators and artisan food and drink. On Sundays from spring to fall, the open-air First Tennessee Pavilion hums with shoppers browsing local produce and crafts at the Chattanooga Market. And the rest of the city joins the Southside party during the juried 4 Bridges Arts Festival in spring (April 11-12) and December’s Mainx24, an around-the-clock celebration with a pancake breakfast, parade and adult tricycle races.

In the spirit of Glenn Miller’s famous song about the Chattanooga Choo Choo: Step aside partner, it’s Southside’s day. Here are 10 neighborhood favorites:

• Treat yourself to a hot cinnamon roll or take a naturally leavened loaf of sourdough to go at Niedlov’s Bakery (tagline: “we love to knead, we knead to love”), which has built a diehard following since John and Angela Sweet took a chance on the neighborhood in 2002. 215 East Main Street.
• Order a pour-over coffee at Velo Coffee Roasters, where sustainably produced beans are sold (or served) within a day or two of being roasted at their shop in small batches. 509 East Main Street.
• Experience bicycle-friendly Chattanooga—and save face with the resident Ironman athletes you might encounter on its trails and paths—on a motor-assisted rental from Electric Bike Specialists ($24 for two hours, $50 a day). 45 East Main Street.
• Lunch like a local at Grocery Bar—at once a specialty food market, cafeteria and meeting place—opened by chef and native son Daniel Lindley. Options span global cuisines, from sushi to smoked pork belly with cheese grits. 100 West Main Street.
• Save room for dessert at the Hot Chocolatier, where cocoa pairs with everything from cayenne pepper to Chattanooga whiskey (soon to open next door) in a menu of house-made temptations that includes hot and cold drinks and a vast display case of truffles, cakes and macarons. Sweeter still, glass windows in the kitchen allow anyone to watch the chocolate makers at work. 1437 Market Street.
• Admire the fine paintings and bronze sculptures at Gallery 1401, a 17-year veteran of the local art scene specializing in contemporary realism, impressionism and classical styles. 1478 Market Street.
• Pick up a painting or bracelet at the Hart Gallery, which sells original works created by homeless and other non-traditional artists. Profits go to the artist and to fund outreach art classes and supplies. 110 East Main Street.
• Give in to sensory overload at Area 61, a showroom of objets d’art by some 40 artists and craftspeople working in a 100-mile radius. The bright, eclectic array ranges from garden sculptures made with reclaimed materials to copper-clad custom speakers (at $36,000 or so a pop). 61 East Main Street.
• Brush off your table tennis skills while waiting to be seated at Clyde’s On Main, where the Choo Choo Hot Fish sandwich pays a mouth-tingling tribute to a Chattanooga specialty, spicy fried cod. 122 West Main Street.
• Sip a house-infused cucumber gin or jalapeno tequila cocktail at the Flying Squirrel Bar (you can’t miss the building with wings). Opened by the rock-climbing friends who run the adjacent LEED Platinum-certified boutique hostel, the sleek industrial space holds court as the Southside’s de facto social anchor. 55 Johnson Street.