Rock Street Is Thriving Today In Northwest Atlanta. 

Near the corner of Joseph E. Boone Boulevard and Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard—two streets named for two giants of the Civil Rights Movement—runs quiet Rock Street.

Not too long ago, Rock Street was home to several run-down apartments, some dilapidated quadplexes, and a few boarded-up bungalows. Crime and illegal activity were common along the road. Today, thanks to Quest CDC, Rock Street is an oasis in Vine City.

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Greeting you as you turn on to Rock Street are Quest's perfectly maintained and tastefully renovated suburban-style garden apartments, painted in the organization’s signature earth tones. They compete for the eye with the street's lush landscaping and blooming annuals. A new, modern complex equipped with a fitness center, digitally operated laundry facility, and state-of-the-art media room anchors the street's end. Mature oaks lend shade for gathering residents on paved outdoor patios, sharing meals and swapping stories—or perhaps just discussing the transformation they have witnessed on what has become Vine City’s loveliest street.

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Vine City was developed in the late 19 century as a predominantly African American, middle-class neighborhood. Simpson Street, now known as Joseph E. Boone Boulevard, was Vine City’s main—and vibrant—commercial corridor. But by the 1960s, racial violence and suburbanization began to take a toll on the neighborhood, famously known as the birthplace of Mayor Maynard Jackson and the home of Martin Luther King, Jr. The setbacks since faced by Vine City are well-documented. With growing poverty came the drug trade and prostitution, followed by housing foreclosures, increased flooding, and even a rare urban tornado. Decline and neglect were the order of the day, along with decades of disappointments.

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But things are different now in Vine City, because momentum and lasting change are coming from within.