While visiting one of my favorite haunts in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia a couple of months ago, I asked myself, "why don't you MOC this?" After all, it's a smallish corner building, and it has some very unique and iconic design elements. So, I decided to give it a whirl. And within a matter of hours, I already had a basic outline of what I was doing. Here's a picture of the real thing, the Vortex Bar & Grill in Little Five Points:

I knew the skull facade was going to be the make-or-break part of the MOC, so I decided to work on that first. And it took a few rounds of trial and error before I found something I liked. I did have to take some liberties to make it work in brick and keep it recognizable, but overall, I found myself happy with the build. So, here's some shots of the outside:

Little Five Points was originally built as the commercial district of the Inman Park and Candler Park neighborhoods in the Eastern part of Atlanta. In the last few decades, it has become a center for bohemian lifestyles and subcultures. The neighborhood is filled with music stores, head shops, alternative fashion boutiques, and a variety of restaurants and bars. The Vortex's unique entryway makes it instantly recognizable in the heart of the neighborhood. Here are some of the folks you might be likely to see standing outside on a nice Spring afternoon:

While the exterior was going to be an important thing to get right, the interior was another level altogether. The Vortex is filled with chotchkies, bric-a-brac, trinkets, and what-have-you, and there are some definite design elements that couldn't be passed over, even when scaling the building down to fit the Modular standard.

The bar area, seen above, lifts out so that you can see the details behind the bar.

The light brick which illuminated the bottles is activated by a button below the vent hood on the outside of the bar. Here is an exploded view of the whole building:

And here's your cast and crew, thanking you for stopping by to look at my pics:

You can find more pics of my creation in my Brickshelf or Flickr pages.

I am absolutely amaze at all the details in and outside this building. It's stunning and captures the details of the original.

BRICK ON!!

~LCM

I was impressed at the look of the exterior so you can imagine my face when I saw the interior Awesome colors and spot on details. Well Done!

Very well done! As difficult as it is to get some things "just right" in LEGO, I think you did a great job! While the exterior my not be exact, it is very, very close and I believe you captured the "spirit" of the place. The interior looks like I would imagine such a place to look.

Overall, very, very nice!

Andy D

Edited March 17, 201311 yr by Andy D

AWESOME modular.....highly original too and nice skull feature as well 'toorayay' !

Great the way it looks like it the real world bar.....excellent designing and Brick On 'toorayay' !

Amazing build, very original and well executed. I really love the vibe of the whole thing. The interior is ace, too. Keep up the great work! :thumbup:

Nice job, the interior uses some pieces I would never in a million years have thought it possible to use in a town MOC :)

this is truly inspiring. The detail on the inside is outstanding! I am trying to design a MOC based on my favorite bar in the world, which is an English pub in Cornwall, and it has similar decor with things all over the walls and wot not, so you have spurred me on to go the extra mile with the detail. Very well done! :D

This is really great! I don't know this restaurant but for sure you make me want to discover it. You really should show your creation to the restaurant manager if you have not done it yet, I'm sure he will be please!

Wow! The exterior is great, very true to the original, and the interior details are just amazing! Well done!

I think you have captured the vibe of the original

  On 3/18/2013 at 2:55 AM, harton said:

This is really great! I don't know this restaurant but for sure you make me want to discover it. You really should show your creation to the restaurant manager if you have not done it yet, I'm sure he will be please!

I know most of the people in management (and I work at their sister restaurant as a contractor) and I've shown them my progress. They're very excited about the project, and have been kept up with the updates.

Wonderful! It is truly an interesting design and you managed to make it like the real one. I especially like the detailed interior!

Awesome MOC toorayay! This is one crazy looking building, you captured it very well. I really like the the interior with the walls covered with random things. I love when restaurants do that! Great job