Late 1970s aerial view of downtown

This postcard view of the north side of downtown Atlanta dates to sometime in the late 1970s, I think. The Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel, the colossal cylindrical skyscraper in the upper left hand corner of the picture, opened in 1976 so it's at least that old.

Near the middle of the photo is what looks like a smaller version of the Westin Peachtree. That's the Radius Tower. It was originally named the Ivy Tower, which made sense because of its location on what used to be called Ivy Street before the city council renamed it Peachtree Center Avenue after the massive John Portman development. Recently, there was an effort to rename Harris Street John Portman Avenue. Isn't it enough that one historic Atlanta street has already been renamed in his honor? The effort failed but I have a feeling that we haven't heard the last of it.

By the way, it was the Radius Tower, and not, as commonly believed the Westin Peachtree, that was used for the climactic shot in Sharky's Machine in which stuntman Dar Robinson plunges to the street in a 220 foot freefall. Scroll down to see a brief documentary about the stunt. Thumbnails of many more aerial view postcards can be found here.