We’re back in the home of The Wire, and after some urging from Claudia and Justin (in the form of cheap Miller Lite’s at Shucker’s Bar & Grille), we decided to spend some time in Fells Point, which is a little barrio in downtown Baltimore.
I’m struck by how much the city has changed since I left for college a decade ago, but how it feels more familiar to me than it should. As a high school kid, I didn’t spend much time in downtown Baltimore. Sure, I did my fair share of traipsing through the Inner Harbor and eating free samples from the Fudgery, but I definitely can’t say I have more than a passing familiarity with the financial part of Baltimore City.
And besides, a lot has changed. New department stores have been installed in old warehouses. Refreshingly, that’s really similar to some areas of New York (hello, DUMBO and Soho). Walking through the streets in Fells Point and Federal Hill, I was reminded a lot of the old Navy Yards in Brooklyn, or a walk through Brooklyn Heights. Moms pushed strollers over to a new sushi spot for lunch, criss-crossing a small local theatre outlet, a Jewish deli, and an American Apparel. It’s an odd place, where anything old is chic, as long as it’s been refurbished.
But, I suppose that’s better than letting places fall into crumbled waste. Lots of the buildings in Fells Point haven’t been bought up just yet. One in particular, a red brick two-story, sat with broken windows and a beat-up front door, just asking to be a $1,800-a-month apartment in a few months.
So, Baltimore city – in certain parts – does have a lot of similarities to the place I now call home. And that makes me smile, knowing that maybe I understand it a little better than I thought I did, even if by proxy.
The box we shipped from China (via the sea-land route) arrived just in time: three months almost to the day.
Shipping docks and tugboats are a common site.
Slainte's on the left is a great bar, not just because they serve bangers and mash, but it's also full of Liverpool fans.
An old BCPD station door.
We're back (for a little while).
