Two of my friends just left London to go and live in Baltimore! (It's for work...) So I was wondering what Baltimore is like. Can anyone gimme any advice about any good places to go in Baltimore?
I'm going to go and visit them so any hints and tips would be greatly appreciated!
-------------------- "What a total entropic mess! Let me at it!"
From: London, England | Registered: Oct 2003
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If you can get your hands on tapes of the TV series "Homicide: Life in the Street," you'll not only see a great detective drama, but also plenty of Baltimore -- the series was set there. The city was so prominent, in fact, that many fans feel the Baltimore was treated as a character on the show.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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According to John Waters, Baltimore is the hair-hopper capital of the world! All his films are set & filmed there, so try renting some! They include:
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Yeah - I've seen most of those. That was the only thing me and my friends knew about the place when they got offered the job. They weren't too sure if they wanted to live somewhere over-run by poop eating trannies for 3 years.
-------------------- "What a total entropic mess! Let me at it!"
From: London, England | Registered: Oct 2003
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I was born in the midwest and now live about 40 minutes west of DC, which puts me in the 1.5 to 2 hour range of Baltimore.
I've travelled quite a bit in this nation (The United States). I've been all over Chicago, many Florida cities, San Antonio, El Paso, New York, DC, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Columbus, OH, Detroit, Parts of Mexico and Canada, and many points in between. Still haven't made it to the west coast yet. I'm not bragging or anything, I'm just trying to give you an idea of the places I've seen.
I can say without hyperbole that the slums of Baltimore are about as bad of a place as I have ever seen. The southside of Chicago is a close second.
Having said that, the previously mentioned Inner Harbor is very nice. Parks and merchants surround the harbor and it is almost like a festival atmosphere all year round. My wife and I saw the Cubs play the Orioles at Camden last year and that was a great experience. Camden is about 3 blocks west of the Harbor proper.
You get out of the high rise and Harbor areas and then Baltimore goes downhill very fast. The north and east sides of the city seem to be where the most care has been taken. South of the city is basically commuter hell as people try to work in DC and Baltimore with only about 25 miles of highway between the cities. Here on the west side of DC, you do not want to be travelling east in the morning or west at night. Between Baltimore and DC you never know what you're going to get. The west side of Baltimore is like a redevelopment zone.
Remember, I'm speaking from gereralities here and these are the observations of someone who has visited Baltimore around 20 times over the last three years or so. Like with any big city, you have to be careful when you are heading into unfamiliar territory. Baltimore is as beautiful of a city as I have seen, but some parts look like stuff that gets swept under the rug. Your friends' instincts should serve them well as to reveal which part of the city they are in.
-------------------- Something Filthy!
From: NOVA by way of NOIN | Registered: Jul 2003
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Oh dear. How big is it though? How far do you have to go from the nice part before you end up in slum central? I know someone at work who's friend lives there and she said when they visited her they just stayed in her "gated commmunity" thingy coz she said they'd get shot if they went out...
-------------------- "What a total entropic mess! Let me at it!"
From: London, England | Registered: Oct 2003
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In all honesty... the slums ain't too far from the nice parts. After that Cub/Orioles game, my wife and I left but stayed off the main highway thinking we could beat traffic. It didn't take long before we got into what looked like a rough and crowded neighborhood. No parking anywhere and no sight lines to make turns because of all the cars parked on the streets. This occurred about four blocks south of the inner harbor area. It seemed like a typical big city thing.
The really bad parts that I mentioned earlier are more towards the north and fairly well insulated in that if you stay on the highways, you'll hardly even notice them. My problem is that when I go into a new city it's usually to go to new comic book and toy stores. You can really get to know a city well by doing this. My advice to newbies in the area would be to see the inner harbor, but stay outside the beltway as much as possible.
As far as getting shot, it didn't happen to me, but there's always that risk in the big cities. Heck you can get shot in the country areas too, it's just not as likely. Just tell your friends to be cautious in new areas and they should be fine.
You got to remember that the US media (especially on the east coast) is given to hyperbole and scare mongering in order to get people to watch. It gets so bad that people who have watched it for so long almost always thing the worst is going to happen. It usually doesn't.
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