You guys are predating the 90s, I think.
I remember the two bookstores, one of which was bombed at one point. There were no bookstores in the city for years during the reign of a Hinson McAuliffe, the Fulton County solictor. He hated all sex venues, especially gay ones, and closed every booksore in the city in the late '70s.
That former Mr. Australia is still around, Avondale Guy.
As for the Cove, my strangest memory of the place was how "Uncle Ray" would set out a platter of crustless, white-bread sandwiches after midnight. Then there was the time I turned over the juke box trying to retrieve a $20 bill thrown at me after I threatened to kick the ass of of a drug dealer who sold me phony reeefer.