Slide 1 of 6,

Athens, Ga., has been called the birthplace of alternative rock and America’s best college town. That was yesterday. Sure, the town that spawned R.E.M. and the B-52s is still an indie-songsmith hub. And University of Georgia Bulldogs fans are as passionate as ever. But Athens’s historic downtown has rerouted some of that hipster-meets-rah-rah history into a hyperlocal entrepreneurial spirit that caters to the mature tastes of those who have moved in, come back or never left. The result is a renaissance for the area, which feels like your favorite, secret neighborhood, where iconic locales dovetail with new and resurrected music spaces, boutiques, lounges and restaurants, as well as a brewery set to open this fall.

— ALEX CREVAR