Day 92 Row Homes and Gentrification

I'm staying in a row house.

For folks out west, the concept is like something out of a Mark Walhberg movie where the scrappy kid from the wrong side of the railroad tracks fights his way to a better life.  The homes literally share walls the way a duplex would.  Usually there are eight homes, with a front porch and steps and the front yard the size of a postage stamp - you might be able to park a small hybrid car on the grass - maybe.

In Baltimore there are two main kinds of row houses. Those in "good" neighborhoods, and those in "bad" neighborhoods.  Bad neighborhoods are a little easier to spot. It is usually maintenance that gives the "good" from the "bad" away.  Wood looks worn, paint is flaking and there are more homes together that have the uncared for, dilapidated look.


You can literally drive across a street and have a total change in neighborhood character.  Worse, you can drive into the downtown area near the University of Baltimore and various other schools and colleges and see eight to ten story buildings that are abandoned - windows busted, tattered curtains, broken boards. One of the buildings I saw had a roof missing. This is a sad and tired part of Baltimore and represents the saying, "Demolished by neglect," that I formerly associated with areas of Detroit.

I'm not a civic engineer, but this is a city whose inner city needs help.

Gentrification helps - sort of.  This concept has to do more with the sort of population that is moving into an area - usually hipsters with some money and a degree.  Hipsters tend to be smart, well-educated, younger people who appreciate the cultural activities being near a downtown and university area encourage.  They are "fixing" up some of the row houses, increasing their re-sale value and edging the struggling, working folk beneath them into increasingly "poorer" communities, communities with serious issues such as "food deserts." 

Being from the younger west, communities so tightly packed together is a bit of a novelty. Highways, a bay and a whole lot of hills seem to drive the way Baltimore has developed. There are so called, "bedroom" communities, but those are further away and become more expensive financially as well as with the time commitment for a further commute.

I like Baltimore but I wonder what is the best way to help this very old American city.

Another part of downtown Baltimore includes the Lexington Market, an area with a wide variety of primarily food vendors.  Faidley's is there.  Faidley's is known for its crab cakes. Delicious! I've never had something quite like that.  It isn't for the faint of heart - one dinner (crab cake and 2 sides) plus 2 other crab cakes, and two soups and a beer was a cool $70.  I'm told that part of the expense is due to the fact that these crab cakes are made from Maryland crab hich is getting increasingly rare due to over fishing.

Part of today's adventures included visiting the Baltimore Museum of Art.  The building has always been used as an art museum and has a pair of stalking lions facing one another on its rather wide entry. 

Inside the building is a nice collection of home-wares and paintings.  There was a rather large section done in the style of the Dutch masters, depicting folk in their Sunday best, an object in their hand reflecting a part of who they were. Interestingly, a large number of these portraits were of some of the up-and-comers in Baltimore society way-back-when.

A lot of artists hung out in Baltimore for a part of their careers. Art wasn't the only thing happening.  Baltimore was home to Babe Ruth and literary son, Edgar Allen Poe.  Poe only lived here a few years, and he died here, so there are a few things commemorating this well-known American literary son that I'm hoping to see. And a couple more art museums.

There is plenty to do here in Baltimore.