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Dante's Down the Hatch visual arts materials

 Collection
Collection number: ahc.VIS485

Scope and Contents

This collection contains images of Underground Atlanta's Dante's Down the Hatch, featuring guests, staff, and celebrities, including Gladys Knight (1944- ), Jimmy Carter (1924-2024), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conductors Robert Shaw (1927-1978) and Yoel Levi (1950- ), Burt Reynolds (1936-2018), and Issac Hayes (1942-2008). Also included are photographs of the Paul Mitchell Trio, Dante Stephensen, the John Robertson Trio, and interior shots of the Buckhead and Underground Atlanta locations. Of particular note are images of flooding at the Underground Atlanta location in 1979 and the demolition at the Buckhead location in 2014.

Dates

  • approximately 1969-2014, undated

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.

Biographical / Historical

In 1970, Dante Stephenson (1935-2020) opened Dante’s Down the Hatch in Underground Atlanta. The jazz nightclub and restaurant quickly became an Atlanta landmark for its pirate ship motif and live crocodiles. The restaurant also featured prominent jazz musicians performing live six days a week, featuring the house band, the Paul Mitchell Trio. A second location opened in July 1980 in the Buckhead neighborhood area of Atlanta, Georgia. The new location featured with a new house band, the John Robertson Trio. Fires, flooding, and poor property management impacted the Underground Atlanta location, which closed in July 1981. The Buckhead location closed in July 2013 due in part to high property taxes and demolished in 2014 to make room for apartment buildings.

Extent

506 item(s) (310 color photographic prints, 77 white and black photographic prints, 66 color digital images, 29 color negatives, 12 black and white negatives, six color images, three posters, two postcards, and one DVD)

Language

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically by titles supplied by staff. Control numbers are intentionally out of order to maintain alphabetical order.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Some images in this collection have been digitized and are available at: https://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/digital/collection/p17222coll60

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

AV-VIS 485.017 and AV-VIS 485.019 are available digitally in the Kenan Research Center reading room. Please contact an archivist for access.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, 2013, with subsequent additions.

Related Materials

Dante's Down the Hatch documents, MSS 1174, Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center

Bias in Description

As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information. We choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, and bias is reflected in our descriptions, which may not accurately convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materials. Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment. In working with this collection, we often re-use language used by the former owners of the material. This language provides context but often includes bias and prejudices reflective of the time in which it was created. The Kenan Research Center’s work is ongoing to implement reparative language where Library of Congress subject terms are inaccurate and obsolete.

Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or descriptions, please let us know by emailing reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.

Processing Information

This collection was processed in 2026.

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Dante's Down the Hatch visual arts material
Subtitle
ahc.VIS485
Author
Leilani Argueta
Date
February 2026
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository

http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/
Contact:
130 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta GA 30305
404-814-4040