Walking down the main street of any city is not necessarily the best way to judge that city. Thirty years ago, the Greenberg family took a trip to Atlanta, Georgia. Peachtree Street today is no longer the same quiet, sedate, sleepy main avenue of yesterday. Huge, modern hotels and business skyscrapers are everywhere.

I asked the concierge at our hotel "How far is it to the High Museum?" "You can't walk there - it's about 2.5 miles. Take the subway," was her reply. Lorraine was at the Speech and Hearing Convention and I was on my own for the day.

I started to walk along the bus route because I wanted to be above ground to see the sights. Peachtree Street had many points of interest. Churches of all denominations and fashionable restaurants were scattered all along my walk. This was mid-town Atlanta and all-day parking was $3 to $5 - a pleasant shock for a New Yorker.

On the corner of Peachtree and 10th Street I uncovered a tourist treasure. It was the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum. I paid my $9 (senior rate) and I enjoyed the tour.

The tour guide was charming Brenda Helmly. Her southern accent, her obvious enthusiasm and gracious manner were captivating.

The tiny house was a historic landmark and one of Atlanta's important sites. Who was Margaret Mitchell? Let me tell you what I learned from Brenda. "Margaret had gumption."

Margaret was born in Atlanta in 1900. She was a humanitarian, a feminist, a suffragette and a flapper. In all of the photos and film clips, she was always laughing and smiling. She was not tall but she was "feisty" and full of life. She was a "free spirit."

She was working as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal Sunday edition. On one of her assignments, she twisted her ankle and was homebound. Her husband John brought her armfuls of books from the Atlanta Library and she read a book a day. After running him ragged he declared, "Why don't you write your own book?"

Margaret had always been obsessed with writing. In 1926, in the tiny, dark and damp apartment, she began to write the historical novel that would only be second to the Bible in sales. In 1936 she finished typing and Gone with the Wind was released. The book contained 1,037 pages and 63 chapters.

It sold a million copies (at $3 a copy) in six months. Even today, it sells 250,000a year. The movie premiered at the Loews Grand Theater in downtown Atlanta on Dec. 15, 1939. It was an enormous success.

A few tidbits about Margaret and Gone With the Wind:

*The original name for Scarlet was Pansy. The editor decided it was too gentle a name for this dynamic woman.

*Margaret Mitchell was called Peggy by her family and signed her letters as Peggy.

*Ashley Wilkes was fashioned after Margaret's cousin John Henry "Doc" Holliday who was a dentist. He got T.B. and after a broken romance he went west to become a gambler and gunfighter.

*Melanie was "Doc" Holliday's love and she entered a nunnery after the break up. Margaret asked her is she could use her name and Melanie said yes.

*The book was written in reverse. The last chapter was finished first.

*She sold the movie rights to David O. Selznick for $50,000. Her first royalty check was $40,000.

*With her own money, she secretly sponsored 50 black men's tuition and expenses as doctors and professionals. It was a deep secret and only revealed after her death.

*Her tale of hard times and slavery is not loved by everyone. Some dissidents set fire to the house two times. It was declared arson.

*Diamler-Benz paid money for the restoring of the house.

*Margaret Mitchell died in 1952.

After the wonderful tour of the Mitchell home, I finally made it to the High Museum. I arrived at 4 p.m. and I raced through before closing at 5 p.m. It was small, but it had five interesting paintings by Rene Magritte.

I was very tired so I took the subway back to the hotel. ($1.75) That evening Lorraine and I met my son Gregg's college roommate, Josh Wilson. Josh and his lovely vivacious wife Stephanie took us to a real southern restaurant. (South City Kitchen). We dined on fried green tomatoes, buttermilk fried chicken and chocolate pecan pie. Everything, including the company, was delicious.

It was quite an exhausting but exhilarating day in the new, modern Atlanta, Georgia.