Lake Claire

Lake Claire is one of the smaller intown neighborhoods, roughly 1,000 households tucked between Candler Park to the west and Druid Hills to the east. There is no actual lake; the name refers to a long-vanished pond. The neighborhood was developed in the 1910s and 1920s as a streetcar suburb.

The houses are almost all craftsman bungalows and small Colonial Revivals from that period, on flat lots under heavy oak canopy. The northern edge along McLendon Avenue has a small commercial strip with Flying Biscuit Cafe and a coffee shop. Otherwise it’s residential.

The Lake Claire Land Trust at Arizona Avenue is the local institution: a 2-acre community-owned plot with a vegetable garden, chickens, sometimes an emu, and a Saturday-evening drum circle that has been running since the 1970s. It’s the kind of thing that makes Lake Claire feel distinct from neighboring Candler Park even though the two are functionally similar.

The Edgewood/Candler Park MARTA station is a 10-minute walk from the southern edge. The neighborhood has held value through every Atlanta cycle. People who buy here tend to stay.