Old Fourth Ward Eastside BeltLine: New Openings for Fall 2026

The corner of Ponce City Market where Glen Iris Drive meets North Avenue now has a 3,100-square-foot patio called Third Wheel. The club also has a 130-seat showroom with booths, high-tops and bleacher seating, plus a 40-seat room set aside for close-up magic and late-night jazz. This is Whiplash Comedy, and the North Atlanta Star reported that it is scheduled to open Monday, Oct. 12, at 650 North Ave., Suite 201.

For years an evening on this part of the Eastside BeltLine had a familiar shape: dinner, a walk along the trail, then home. Since summer, the places that opened between Ponce City Market and Krog Street have added a second half to that evening. There's a ticketed show, a listening bar, a brasserie with a long menu and a park event that starts at 7:30 p.m. Each opening matters more because of the others around it.

A comedy club built around the late show

Whiplash comes from Marshall Chiles, who has been part of Atlanta comedy for more than two decades. According to the North Atlanta Star, he started doing stand-up in 2000, bought Funny Farm Comedy Club in 2002, opened Laughing Skull Lounge in 2009 and launched the Laughing Skull Comedy Festival in 2010. That festival comes back in 2027 under a new name, the Whiplash Comedy Festival.

The schedule shows how much of the week the club plans to fill. Per the posted calendar the Star described:

• Sunday through Thursday: one 7 p.m. show
• Friday: four shows, including a late-night slot
• Saturday: five shows, including a late-night slot

The main room, called Main Squeeze, will split its calendar between touring headliners and Heavy Hitters of Atlanta Comedy. That showcase puts about 10 local comedians on stage for eight minutes each. The smaller room, Side Piece, is planned for magic, podcasts, comedy showcases and social events. Comedy classes and weekend comedy brunches are in the works. The menu is flatbreads, pretzel bites and desserts, and the bar serves cocktails, wine, beer, nonalcoholic drinks and coffee.

The Star also reported how Chiles describes the main room:

"A 1920s jazz club at Ponce City Market, but make it stand-up comedy."

A 7 p.m. show every weeknight gives the evening a fixed time to plan around, and the restaurants nearby fill in the hours before it.

Sargent is meant for an ordinary weeknight

On the Eastside BeltLine near 3 Parks Wine Shop and the Forth hotel sits Sargent, which opened Aug. 18. It's from the team behind Lucian Books & Wine in Buckhead. Atlanta Magazine described it as an everyday neighborhood brasserie that serves recognizable American classics with French technique. Like its sibling, it's named for a painter, in this case John Singer Sargent.

Executive chef Jason Paolini, beverage lead Jordan Smelt and Katie Barringer, who shapes retail and design, all carry over from Lucian. So do the books, which are part of the experience at both. Lucian's menu is short and changes often. Sargent's is about twice as large, with more seafood and a steadier set of staples. Meals follow a familiar order of starters, then mains.

The dishes Atlanta Magazine listed fit a meal before an 8 p.m. curtain as well as a long dinner. Starters include bread service with chicken liver pâté, raw oysters, a caviar sandwich, crab cake and steak tartare. At lunch there's a burger, chicken paillard, duck confit and a club sandwich Paolini calls "one of the best sandwiches on the planet." Dinner adds pasta carbonara, roasted halibut, duck breast, roasted chicken and prime rib, and dessert includes a house-made crème caramel.

Barringer told the magazine the menu is "designed with the coziness in mind." A large, steady menu gives a restaurant regulars, the people who come back on a Tuesday for the same chicken. A comedy club on the same stretch of trail with a 7 p.m. weeknight show gives those regulars somewhere to go after the meal.

The quick-dinner options changed too

Ponce City Market's Central Food Hall has been turning over stalls all year. On Aug. 28, sushi stall NoriFish and ramen stall Okiboru opened there, replacing Ton Ton Ramen Bar and Miso Ko, according to Rough Draft Atlanta.

Earlier in the summer, the market added two places that lean toward the evening. Rough Draft's June openings roundup lists them:

La Cueva and Terminal 26 both build cocktails into the concept, and a listening bar is a place people go after dinner. Taken with Whiplash, Ponce City Market added three businesses in four months whose main business happens after 7 p.m. At the other end of the stretch, Nando's and LikeMinds put a casual meal and a game on a screen at Krog Street Market and the Krog District.

The park calendar keeps going after dark

Evening plans on this stretch aren't limited to places with a cover charge or a check. On Saturday, Oct. 24, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., the Historic Fourth Ward Park amphitheater at 680 Dallas Street NE hosts Where the Weird Things Are. Atlanta Beltline's event listing calls it an "upside down parade." Chantelle Rytter and the Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons will stay in place while visitors walk around the pond and through the parade. Anyone can make their own Weird Thing and join, or bring a picnic and watch from the amphitheater seats. The listing says registration is by scan code and a more detailed schedule is coming.

A bigger evening on the trail happened last month. The Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade went back to a fall date for 2026, held Saturday, Sept. 19. Atlanta Beltline's announcement explains the move. The parade started as a fall event in 2010 and shifted to spring after a short COVID-19 pause. Then stormy weather canceled the 15th parade, and the organizers chose fall again, citing community feedback and the goal of a more reliable, weather-resilient event.

Back at the market, Ponce City Market's events calendar shows two Halloween-weekend listings on Sunday, Nov. 1. One is a one-night immersive Halloween experience that turns The Roof into an abandoned casino and carnival. The other is a festive version of Bellina's pasta classes, which repeats on Monday, Nov. 2. The calendar view doesn't show a start time for the Roof event, so confirm it on the market's page before you plan around it.

One evening on the stretch, in order

Here's how the pieces fit together on a single night, the weekend of Oct. 24:

1. Start at Historic Fourth Ward Park around 7:30 p.m. Walk the pond loop during Where the Weird Things Are, or settle into the amphitheater with a picnic.
2. Eat on the trail. Sargent is south along the Eastside BeltLine near 3 Parks Wine Shop and the Forth hotel. For something quicker, NoriFish and Okiboru are in the Central Food Hall.
3. Catch a late show. Whiplash runs four shows on Fridays and five on Saturdays, including late-night slots, at the Glen Iris and North Avenue corner of Ponce City Market.
4. Finish at La Cueva for a mezcal cocktail in the listening bar, or end on the Third Wheel patio.

Whiplash's Oct. 12 opening was announced ahead of time, and no report yet confirms its first night, so check the club's show calendar for confirmed times and tickets before you go.

A night out on the Eastside BeltLine can get you comparing intown neighborhoods with the suburbs you already know. If you're weighing what it would be like to live within walking distance of the Eastside BeltLine, the team at La'Tep Real Estate Group can help you compare it with your options north of the Perimeter, in English or Vietnamese. Schedule your free bilingual home consultation.