Originally Posted by
jorion
I went back to Baltimore for the first time in a decade or so last summer and would say that most of it is awesome and the inner harbor is a shithole tourist nightmare, so the opposite of timberridge.
I’m from Pittsburgh which has become a yuppie paradise. I guess I’m happy that it’s doing really well economically and the beautiful old buildings have been restored and there’s great artisanal food blah blah blah but going home I was a little creeped out trying to figure out where all the working class and POC went. Plus just felt weirdly out of place in my old hometown despite now living in the hipster paradise that helped start all this shit.
Baltimore for better or worse seems to have resisted almost all of that, unlike Philly, DC, NYC, Oakland, Chicago or even Detroit to some extent. I felt like I was in a time warp to the ‘90s and
loved it. Baltimore still has soul and doesn’t feel like most American McCities of this decade full of tech kids from the suburbs making six figures out of college and making cities boring. I like that young degenerates can still live in the inner city there, work at a bar and party hard.
On the other hand, yeah, some of the poverty I saw was pretty intense. But the wealth that’s come to other cities seems to have pushed existing people out more than it has lifted all boats, so I don’t know what the answer is.
I do know I fucking love blue crabs and shitty lager though, so I wish I could spend a weekend there this summer.
Oh, and 1919 in fells point has to be one of the best dive bars on the east coast. Fucking love that place.