Looking for blue-collar Baltimore neighborhoods (Dundalk, Catonsville: best neighborhood, low crime, houses)

[Mary_Lease]

Hello,

Sorry in advance for the long post. My husband and I are in our early 30s with our first kid on the way. We are currently living in a tiny little rehabbed rowhouse in Butcher's Hill that I bought when I was single. We are looking to move within a year and have started exploring locations.

Butcher's Hill is a great little neighborhood - nice architecture, great location, low crime (by city standards), but it's not the kind of place we're looking to lay down roots. For one thing, we're looking for a single-family home with a bit of a yard. For another, we're looking for something a little less gentrified. Problem is, in Baltimore, when you leave the gentrified areas, you're often in the sketchy or just downright scary areas. Old blue-collar Baltimore is pretty hard to find...

We're looking for the kind of neighborhood where:

-There are affordable single-family homes with yards
-Many houses get decked out for Christmas and have tacky Ravens decorations up every Sunday in the fall
-Many houses fly an American flag
-The neighborhood has a snowball stand or a crab shack
-Some people still have Bawlamer accents
-Vacancy is low, home ownership is high, and not everyone has a professional job
-Lots of kids in the neighborhood
-Not a working-class "hipster" caricature either (no Hampden, for example)

We've looked at some stuff in the southwest - particularly Morrell Park and Violetville - and to a lesser extent I've read up on Lauraville, Hamilton, and Overlea, but I'm wondering if there are neighborhoods we haven't thought of. Suburbs are ok (we like Arbutus), but prices are higher and we're looking right now at neighborhoods zoned in the city.

Any feedback on the neighborhoods we've stumbled on, or ideas for places we've missed? Thanks.

[goldenage1]

Violetteville has been voted best neighborhood a couple of times by Baltimore Magazine. I also think Arbutus fits your requirements. Catonsville might fit also, depending on your budget.

[westsideboy]

You can't get more blue collar than............DUNDALK!

Plenty of accents and houses with yards if memory serves. It is in the County though.

[davecj]

I would agree with dundalk. Greektown may be an option as well. Mainly depends on what you're looking to spend.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Hamilton, lauraville, gardenville come to mind. Parkville too.

[Mary_Lease]

Thanks for the tips!

I like Dundalk for it's reputation and also for what it probably was 30 years ago, but I'm afraid it might have moved a bit into the "sketchy" category. Seems like a pretty high rate of drug addiction, for example. I'm thinking of something a bit more stable, although Dundalk is not definitely off the table.

In terms of cost, we'd like to spend under 200k.

Great suggestions so far! I'd never heard of Gardenville, so that's something new to check out. Thanks!

[Tallybalt]

"Old" blue collar Baltimore doesn't exist these days. Their children and grandchildren have long since migrated to the suburbs, especially the northeastern and eastern Baltimore county suburbs well as northern Anne Arundel County, or leapfrogged into Carroll and Harford counties.

Parkville probably comes closest to a respectable blue collar/working middle class suburb with decent housing and decent schools that is still within close proximity to Baltimore and with a strong local identity. Dundalk is a hit or miss.

quote=Mary_Lease;23615005]Hello,

Sorry in advance for the long post. My husband and I are in our early 30s with our first kid on the way. We are currently living in a tiny little rehabbed rowhouse in Butcher's Hill that I bought when I was single. We are looking to move within a year and have started exploring locations.

Butcher's Hill is a great little neighborhood - nice architecture, great location, low crime (by city standards), but it's not the kind of place we're looking to lay down roots. For one thing, we're looking for a single-family home with a bit of a yard. For another, we're looking for something a little less gentrified. Problem is, in Baltimore, when you leave the gentrified areas, you're often in the sketchy or just downright scary areas. Old blue-collar Baltimore is pretty hard to find...

We're looking for the kind of neighborhood where:

-There are affordable single-family homes with yards
-Many houses get decked out for Christmas and have tacky Ravens decorations up every Sunday in the fall
-Many houses fly an American flag
-The neighborhood has a snowball stand or a crab shack
-Some people still have Bawlamer accents
-Vacancy is low, home ownership is high, and not everyone has a professional job
-Lots of kids in the neighborhood
-Not a working-class "hipster" caricature either (no Hampden, for example)

We've looked at some stuff in the southwest - particularly Morrell Park and Violetville - and to a lesser extent I've read up on Lauraville, Hamilton, and Overlea, but I'm wondering if there are neighborhoods we haven't thought of. Suburbs are ok (we like Arbutus), but prices are higher and we're looking right now at neighborhoods zoned in the city.

Any feedback on the neighborhoods we've stumbled on, or ideas for places we've missed? Thanks.[/quote]

[davecj]

I live in parkville and for 200k you could get a really nice home out here with a yard.

[ay jayy]

Ferndale is exactly what you described, though not in the city limits

[MDguy99]

Try Edgemere, right next to Dundalk.