Baltimore

Introducing Baltimore

B’more, Bawlmer, and the less flattering ‘Body-more’ (if London had this town’s murder rate there’d be 3560 bodies floating in the Thames every year), Baltimore dares you to visit. Seriously, man up, yo (as they say here). A lot of cities try to be hip, stylish, on top of the trends. Baltimore says screw that, and God bless her. Like a criminal-turned-musician – timeless, hard-bitten and world-weary – Baltimore has a twinkle in the eye and a wisecrack on the lips. What other city would be the subject of The Wire, TV’s most probing drama? It takes a town with the pathos of the docklands, grim poverty, a defiant working class and the international carnival of Fell’s Point. With one foot in the Bay and the other stumbling from a pub crawl through Canton, this gritty, sly city begs visitors to come an hour north from DC to where the wild things are.

Last updated: May 4, 2009