A (Re-)Introduction to Our Site

It’s been almost 9 months since we started the journey in creating this website, as well as your journey to becoming one of the 1000 Cool People who we are inviting to live in Historic Downtown Savannah.  In those months we’ve made friends, we’ve found sponsors, and posted some of Downtown Savannah’s most interesting events, including the Savannah Music Festival, Savannah Stopover Tour, and Savannah Film Festival. We’ve also promoted more localized events that make Savannah so cool, such as Geekend, Savannah Book Festival, and The Unchained Tour of Georgia.

Now that we’ve got a head of steam, it bears repeating what 1000CoolPeople is all about. So here’s the deal.  Five years ago I barely knew where Savannah was.  Came here, really, on a whim, from Los Angeles, and never thought I’d stay.  I was attracted by the historic real estate in Downtown Savannah.  But here’s the funny thing–I’m still here.  And I’m here because this is a great city.  People who come here on a visit more often than not start thinking about moving here.  Then people do move here and never leave.  This is consistently rated one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We have great weather–OK, I will admit the summers are kind of hot if you’ve never done Southern humidity–and it’s a university town.  You’ve got a beach 20 minutes away.  We have a minor league baseball team.  There’s no traffic.  The only weird thing is, it seems like there’s not that many people downtown.  We have great restaurants and clubs and theaters and art galleries and antique stores and yet sometimes you walk down the street and feel like no one lives here.  But I work in real estate, so I know that people live here.  I’ve sold them houses.  They exist.  But where are they?  At least, where are the others?  Well, here’s what I’m proposing:  this city, as great as it is, would be even better if we could simply add another 1000 Cool People downtown.  I don’t know exactly how many cool people we have now–we’ve never actually counted, but I do know we need some more people to make it bustle.  Not too much bustle, because we don’t want traffic and congestion, but more bustle than we have.  So here’s what we’re doing:  If you’re the kind of person who’s been thinking about moving and you’ve been reading all those “Best cities for young people,” “Best cities for retirees,” “best places for art,” lists, then I’m going to give you a bunch of reasons to put Savannah on your list as well.

We’ve found that a good percentage of our readers are local, so we’ve tried to make the content meaningful for their own local experience, and many of our locals have used our site as further evidence that their friends and family in other parts of the country should come join them in Savannah. We’re always open for suggestions on events, places, and people to feature. We had a great partnership with the Savannah Book Festival, featuring guest posts by festival organizers, which we hope helped the festival.

If you decide to move downtown, our retailers and merchants are ready to give you incentives to make the the move.  I’m talking gift certificates.  Free meals.  Free stuff.  And, you will receive a housing incentive.  Maybe it’s a free month of rent.  Maybe it’s a free closing from the real estate attorney if you buy a house.   But you will have serious financial incentive to leave wherever you are now, and become one of the 1000 Cool People who are asked to join us in beautiful historic downtown Savannah.

An Introduction to our site

We have started the journey in creating this website, as well as your journey to becoming one of the 1000 Cool People who we are inviting to live in Historic Downtown Savannah.  So here’s the deal.  Five years ago I barely knew where Savannah was.  Came here, really, on a whim, from Los Angeles, and never thought I’d stay.  I was attracted by the historic real estate in Downtown Savannah.  But here’s the funny thing–I’m still here.  And I’m here because this is a great city.  People who come here on a visit more often than not start thinking about moving here.  Then people do move here and never leave.  This is consistently rated one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We have great weather–OK, I will admit the summers are kind of hot if you’ve never done Southern humidity–and it’s a university town.  You’ve got a beach 20 minutes away.  We have a minor league baseball team.  There’s no traffic.  The only weird thing is, it seems like there’s not that many people downtown.  We have great restaurants and clubs and theaters and art galleries and antique stores and yet sometimes you walk down the street and feel like no one lives here.  But I work in real estate, so I know that people live here.  I’ve sold them houses.  They exist.  But where are they?  At least, where are the others?  Well, here’s what I’m proposing:  this city, as great as it is, would be even better if we could simply add another 1000 Cool People downtown.  I don’t know exactly how many cool people we have now–we’ve never actually counted, but I do know we need some more people to make it bustle.  Not too much bustle, because we don’t want traffic and congestion, but more bustle than we have.  So here’s what we’re doing:  If you’re the kind of person who’s been thinking about moving and you’ve been reading all those “Best cities for young people,” “Best cities for retirees,” “best places for art,” lists, then I’m going to give you a bunch of reasons to put Savannah on your list as well.  And if you decide to move downtown our retailers and merchants are ready to give you incentives to make the the move.  I’m talking gift certificates.  Free meals.  Free stuff.  And, you will receive a housing incentive.  Maybe it’s a free month of rent.  Maybe it’s a free closing from the real estate attorney if you buy a house.   But you will have serious financial incentive to leave wherever you are now, and become one of the 1000 Cool People who are asked to join us in beautiful historic downtown Savannah.

New Sponsor! – Cherry Picked Consignments

Broughton Street is the shopping hub of Historic Downtown Savannah and we’re proud to announce another Broughton business as a sponsor.   Cherry Picked Consignments is a relative newcomer to downtown and has made quite a stir already.  Located at 402 W. Broughton Street, the store features designer and fashion forward apparel and accessories for women up to a size 14.  There’s even a men’s section now.  Labels include Anthropologie , White House Black Market, Lilly Pulitzer, Chico’s, Marc Jacobs, Michael Stars, Tory Burch, Banana Republic, Trina Turk, Nanette Lepore, Lacoste, T-Bags, Diane von Furstenberg, BCBG, Juicy Couture, Theory, and much more.  It’s a great way to not only make some money by turning in your gently-used items, but to pick up great (almost) new clothes in the bargain.  Jackie, the store manager, is offering 50% off the first item purchased by any of our 1000 Cool People.  Taking 50% off already low prices is a serious deal.  Thanks, Jackie, and welcome aboard to Cherry Picked Consignments!

Upcoming events

I know our 1000 Cool People, lurking in cyberspace, waiting to come to Historic Downtown Savannah, are using the website to learn more about events.  And of course, we’ve had a great response from the local community, so this should be helpful for them, as well.  I’ve been posting upcoming events, but am also going to put on a number of events that are a bit further out, just to give an overview of everything that’s happening downtown.  They will be categorized, appropriately enough, as “Events,” so if you got to the bottom of the web page, you’ll see the “Events” category, where all the events, both near and far, will be accessible.  And as always, I’m open for suggestions if you want to promote an event.  I’m basically putting in what I can when I have a few spare minutes, so this is hardly definitive…yet.

Now Accepting Applications

Ok, you’ll remember that this is not only about the process of bringing 1000 Cool People to Historic Downtown Savannah, but also about the process behind the process. So, part of that process is not only speaking with sponsors and blogging about all the cool things going on in Savannah, but also making it possible for people to contact us about becoming one of our 1000 Cool People. On that note, we’re unveiling our official application. View it, check it out on our “Want to Be Cool?” page, fill it out, and shout it out to all of your friends.