Factors leading to development Lakewood Heights developed as the result of three separate factors: • The
streetcar line along Jonesboro Road, which enabled commercial and residential development along the corridor • Parallel to that, development of an industrial area including the
General Motors Lakewood Assembly plant • Development of a black neighborhood around the
Gammon Theological Seminary and
Clark University, now the site of
The New Schools at Carver high school • Development of the
Southeast Regional Fairgrounds on the site of the city's first waterworks plant along Lakewood Avenue—streetcar access from
Downtown Atlanta enabled subsequent development of public and private housing projects along Pryor Road, then a major artery to and from downtown
Private enterprise and model homes One section of Lakewood Heights is
Oak Knoll, which was noted in a 1937 meeting between
Techwood Homes organizer
Charles Forrest Palmer, President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, first lady
Eleanor Roosevelt and
Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. Roosevelt was delighted that private enterprise—backed by guarantees the
Federal Housing Administration—could provide good homes at moderate rentals. The conversation about Oak Knoll drew the conclusion that private projects were in fact strengthened by public housing projects serving as a "pace setter", and helped support arguments for a more proactive nationwide public housing policy. The house at 1099 Oak Knoll Drive was featured in a 1938 issue of
Life magazine, as it was a
Life "model house"; the model kits were available for purchase from retailers around the country.
Assembly plant to media productions The neighborhood was home to the
Lakewood Fairgrounds which until 1979 had a racetrack,
Lakewood Speedway. Now the
Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood is located on the old fairgrounds. Around 1970 the area began to decline as middle-class families moved away because
blue-collar jobs in the neighborhood were slowly disappearing. The assembly plant finally closed in 1990. The area is now an important center of the growing Atlanta-area film and television production industry. The
Cinespace Film Studios Atlanta soundstages were established there in mid-2010 and by Autumn 2011 were already expanding. ==Parks==