Baltimore not unfriendly/aloof like DC/N. VA? (Potomac: houses, neighborhood)

[Gil3]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Vivo is right about the working class vs snobby areas, but if you take the same kind of area in the Baltimore region and match it with DC B'more is still friendlier, like if you were to compare Dundalk with let's say Silver Spring/Wheaton/Greenbelt.....though Wheaton/Greenbelt are technically more ghetto wheras Dundalk is just blue collar....BIG difference....Wheaton has illegal alien gangs) or Hunt Valley vs. Rockville/Gaithersburg.When I was at the Wal-Mart in Arbutus asking for directions to UMBC this guy just asked me to follow him since he was going that direction. Strangers say hi to me on the street and talk in the supermarket or Wal-Mart in Arbutus, Dundalk and parts of the city. No place in the Baltimore region is as stuck up, elitist, shallow or unpleasant as Potomac and Bethesda, not even Columbia.

Baltimore City itself is pretty unbalanced. Again you have the liberal elites in Fed Hill, Fells Point, Mt. Vernon who go to Starbucks and Panera, and then you have totally ghetto areas like Greenmount Avenue, Park Heights Avenue, west side MLK, the area north and east of Patterson Park, etc. DC has fewer ghettos now that a lot has been pushed into PG County and Wheaton but the worst ghettos in DC (like Anacostia) are just as bad as the bad parts of Baltimore.

Excellent assessment..While Hunt Valley can tend to exude a snobbish air, it is definitely not as bad as Potomac.

[vivo]

Originally Posted by Gil3

Excellent assessment..While Hunt Valley can tend to exude a snobbish air, it is definitely not as bad as Potomac.

in the post by tom lennox i don't think there is any major town in the bmore area that has the income of potomac and bethesda.

hunt valley I wonder what the income and population is. perhaps compare some of the greenspring valley to potomac and bethesda.

[MDbound2]

Actually, I think I would have to agree with many of the posts here that Baltimore is a bit more friendlier than DC. I grew up in B-more and went to school in DC so for me it was a true culture shock. I must say that eventually you get used to the arrogance in DC and you will make your own friends but it takes time. I'm actually considering a move back to Baltimore because I miss the people. Sure, baltimore has its share of crime but so does DC, PG county, Montgomery county, etc. All in all, DC has the best jobs now in the nation so people have to go where the jobs are located. What else can you say but DC is the hotspot right now for jobs and economic growth.

[cory81]

Throw in another "Yes" as the answer to the question in your thread.

Having lived in the DC metro area for 13 years, I hate to generalize DC and its suburbs...BUT I WILL.

Snobby, pretentious, insecure, keeping up with the Jonses, superficial, "where did you go to college?," "where are your kids going to college?," rampantly liberal bumperstickers, Mercedes/Lexus/BMW, must wear best clothes when going out anywhere, neighborhood dinner parties with superficial conversations fueled heavily with insecurity, high school preps wearing Abercrombie & Fitch driving Daddy's car to school...Man, I could go on all day.

The DC suburbs would be an awesome place to live...if you could swap the people out with the Baltimore folks.

[specficer]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Vivo is right about the working class vs snobby areas, but if you take the same kind of area in the Baltimore region and match it with DC B'more is still friendlier, like if you were to compare Dundalk with let's say Silver Spring/Wheaton/Greenbelt.....though Wheaton/Greenbelt are technically more ghetto wheras Dundalk is just blue collar....BIG difference....Wheaton has illegal alien gangs) or Hunt Valley vs. Rockville/Gaithersburg.When I was at the Wal-Mart in Arbutus asking for directions to UMBC this guy just asked me to follow him since he was going that direction. Strangers say hi to me on the street and talk in the supermarket or Wal-Mart in Arbutus, Dundalk and parts of the city. No place in the Baltimore region is as stuck up, elitist, shallow or unpleasant as Potomac and Bethesda, not even Columbia.

Baltimore City itself is pretty unbalanced. Again you have the liberal elites in Fed Hill, Fells Point, Mt. Vernon who go to Starbucks and Panera, and then you have totally ghetto areas like Greenmount Avenue, Park Heights Avenue, west side MLK, the area north and east of Patterson Park, etc. DC has fewer ghettos now that a lot has been pushed into PG County and Wheaton but the worst ghettos in DC (like Anacostia) are just as bad as the bad parts of Baltimore.

I find this funny as I visited DC twice in the last two years. I thought the people were extremely rude. If I asked directions, I was often completely ignored as if I had said nothing at all. The funniest was when I asked a man how to get to the Barnes and Noble ("Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me how to get to the Barnes and Noble?" I asked). And he walked in this huge arc around me to get past me on the sidewalk. He was the only one I made a comment to.

[MDbound2]

LOL..specficer...at least they didn't give you the wrong directions!!!!...I was travelling with my girlfriend one evening and asked a guy how we could get to I-95N to which he pointed to the south...thank God we had a good sense of direction!!!!...LOL...

[carolott]

Originally Posted by vivo

in the post by tom lennox i don't think there is any major town in the bmore area that has the income of potomac and bethesda.

hunt valley I wonder what the income and population is. perhaps compare some of the greenspring valley to potomac and bethesda.

Some of the people who live in Ruxton could easily put Bethesda residents to shame. The difference is that a lot of the very wealthy families in Maryland are old-money families and don't flaunt it.

[vivo]

Originally Posted by carolott

Some of the people who live in Ruxton could easily put Bethesda residents to shame. The difference is that a lot of the very wealthy families in Maryland are old-money families and don't flaunt it.

I don't doubt you but what is the population of ruxton compared to the potomac population?

the old money part makes sense.

[Tom Lennox 70]

I don't know what the most upscale, exclusive Baltimore suburb is....I heard its Hunt Valley, Cockeysville or Ellicott City. Towson is sorta preppy but still friendlier. Baltimore doesn't feel too East Coast sometimes compared to points north and the DC area. Dundalk and Sparrows Point almost have a semi-Midwestern factory town feel especially with the Bethlehem Steel plant and the former GM factory on Broening Highway. There is something decidedly non-East Coast about southeast Baltimore County. There's something attractvie about this kind of place where families live their for generations, people settle down 2 blocks from home and get their dad's old job at the mill and marry their high school sweethearts. I'd say the majority of the country as a whole is more like Dundalk than Columbia or Montgomery County. The old school conservative country club elite are actually classy adn don't act as arrogantly. Maryland's Eastern Shore also has some old plantation families like the old South and they are not very arrogant. I think liberalism and elitism are a toxic mix that result in places like Potomac, Bethesda, Arlington, Long Island, NYC, and San Francsico.

I'd say there is a lower level of the DC snobiness and elitism in areas like Federal Hill and Canton and Harbor East where yuppies gravitate to. You know the kind who gets their latte at Starbucks and goes to work in some BS job like marketing or PR or event planning then goes to some sushi bar or hip club afterward. In addition to those snobs from Montgomery County and the yuppie liberal elites, there are also those who are former from suburbs or even small towns who suddenly think that because they went to college and work in the city, they are so much better than the "rednecks" or "white trash" they grew up with. A lot of people who grew up in the ghetto who "made it" are also extremely arrogant. The old Baltimore culture and blue collar vibe I fear is being eroded by the migration of people from DC upward and the people from New Jersey and New York southward.

NObody calls me "hon" anymore in the downtown area or Fed Hill, Canton, Harbor East, etc. I think things like Harbor East are horrible, in addition to pushing the ghetto outward it destroys the soul of the area. Nobody younger than 35 has ever called me "hon" even those who grew up in Baltimore County and its also a factor of Hollyweird and MTV in addition to transplants coming here and trying to change the culture. Baltimore is like a big city with a small town mentality which makes living in the city more bearable. I'm here for school and I eventually want to move somewhere like the Eastern Shore or a southern state or Texas but living here is better than in downtown DC, Bethesda, Arlington, or Alexandria.

In addition to the long term transplants that dominate DC, the transient group that came with the Obama admiinistration will only get worse. During the BUsh years, the summertime was better, when you had the interns and all from the heartland and southern and western states who came. Now with Obama, more and more urban elites from New York, Chicago, Los ANgeles, etc with their air of superiority and arrogance.

Columbia feels kinda snobby but against not as bad as NOVA or DC or MoCo, at least not yet. I don't know why Yankees and new Yorkers have to bring their rude attitudes with them wherrever they go. THey have created a lot of resentment against them in places like NC and Georgia and esp. Florida.

[bowian]

I grew up in Baltimore for the most part, and I now live in the DC metro area. I have generally found people in Baltimore to be friendlier than those in the DC area. This friendliness has spanned education and income levels. But I've also found that DC-area folks are more transient, and the movement is career-based or school-based. I haven't encountered much rudeness here except on the roadways.

I will say some of the gross generalizations on this thread leave a bad taste in my mouth. Reverse snobbery is not a noble effort.