Hopkins hospital area (loans, living, safe)

[krakenten]

Upon reflection, and as I strive for honesty in all things, I must say the docnapping story happened a long time ago, and that I may have morphed it into the many robberies perpetrated upon medical folks I knew.

It did happen, though-and the ATM ride-around incidents did indeed happen as well.

There's enough dope around now, junkies don't have to be that creative any more.

The terror days of the '70's were a function of the larger population, last I went into the city, I noticed how empty it's become-and not such a bad thing, really.

There's a story from New York's old Four-One precinct-it became famous as Fort Apache, The Bronx.

A junkie snached a woman's wig from an open window, and her husband went after him with his hunting bow.

The junkie ran to the stationhouse, still holding the wig, and the man shot him on the stationhouse steps!

A ranking officer had just arrived on an inspection tour, saw the dead junkie, holding the wig, the arrow protruding from his back, and said, "What the Hell is this, Fort Apache?"

If it didn't happen, it should have.

Later, when arsonists had burned down most of the buildings in the area, it was called, "The Little House on the Praire"!

That precinct was consolidated into another, and no longer is active, last I knew.

The '70's were sure exciting times.

Excuse an old coppers faulty memory?

[BlackDoc]

I truly was not being critical of your post. I got a great laugh as I pictured some poor medical resident in his scrubs and white coat sweating while he wrote prescriptions. I don't doubt it could happen. I just found it hilarious! Same with the mice! Laughter burns calories, you know!

[krakenten]

It wasn't so funny for the poor doc, he was a shrink, and I think he needed some serious help afterwards-he was as scared as I ever saw a man, and one war, plus thirty years of law enforcement have exposed me to a lot of frightened people.

The mice, however, were kinda funny-not to mock someone for a phobia, but mice are hard to escape from in an urban setting.

But then, I'm used to the wee darlings!

Life in the city is not easy, in any city, and this fixation with ''safety'' is rather sad.

Few places, even in small towns, are totally free from drugs, and the crime that comes with that.

Part of the price for living in an area where you can walk to most of the things you want is exposure to possible crime.

I once heard this kind of life called "The Seinfeld Paradigm", and having experienced it in my first days in Baltimore, and later in Seattle, I have to say, it's a good way to live.

You have to be prepared for the occasional problem, and accept it as part of the cost of doing biz-otherwise, move to Red Lion, where the people are too lazy to steal.

Even here, there are mice-some of them are mine!

Except for a few of the real wastelands, no place in Baltimore is as dangerous as riding a motorcycle, or even horseback riding.

It's still the Urban Frontier!

[herenia]

One more question since i'm still looking for a place:
Is washington village a good place to live? I found this really nice house there i'm interested in and i just want to know if it's a good neighborhood because i wanted to go check the neighborhood out but if you guys can give me the 411 on the neighborhood, it's gonna save me the time and money involved in going to baltimore this week just to do a windshield survey of the area.
thanks.

[krakenten]

Washington Village, aka Pigtown is for the serious urbanite.

It's in transition, and still has some rough edges-some folks seem to love it, though.

If you could handle Philly, Pigtown won't be a strain.

However, it's an older neighborhood, with a lot of rehabbing and such-there will be mice!

I'm not making fun of you, honestly, but meeses are a fact of life in any city, and when disturbed, you see them.

I think Bolton Hill would be better for you-a delightful neighborhood with a lot of class, the funky ambiance of the art students, lots of cats and few mice.

There is a lot of green space there, too, and you see fascinating creatures who inhabit these forgotten patches-I saw a falcon, a fox and several raccoons over the years, much to my amazement and delight-including a solitary wasp the size of a finger that carried off other insects and spiders in a spectacular way.

Just be careful-as you are in Philly-because there are occasional criminals who decide to prey on the students and affluent residents.

They didn't last long, though-burglar alarms, pony sized watchdogs and shotguns began the process of reclaimation when I lived there, and last I stopped to remember times past(a year or so ago) the old Brickyard was it's charming old self.

I think you'll like it.

[carolott]

Please don't call my neighborhood "Washington Village". The name is Pigtown.

And yes, it's a pretty safe fun place to live -- I'd rather live here than parts of Philly, that's for sure...although I do miss Geno's.

[barante]

Let me add this for Herenia's benefit. The Pigtown name evokes the times when pigs ran through the streets to slaughterhouses that dotted the area. (There are old photos around that show all that. Another nearby community was called Cowtown.
Those times are long gone, of course. As are the days when a horse hair factory occupied the site of today's Westside Shopping Center. Horse hair was used to fill mattesses, etc.
With plastics and foam, we live in simpler times.

[herenia]

1. the place was listed as washington village. I've spent no more than 24hrs in baltimore so i wouldn't know if the real name is pigtown.

2. Thanks for the info about the place. I'm sure if i lived in germantown or northphilly, i'll be considered a tough philly resident who can withstand any tough city in the country. Unfortunately, I live right in the heart of center city which is pretty safe and i walk a lot. I walk from 12th to the CVS on 19th at nighttime because they're open 24hrs and i haven't had any problems. That said, some of the things i've read on this forum makes it sound like i'll be dealing with muggers everyday or have people break into my house frequently. And at times, people make it sound like baltimore is a place where one has to dodge bullets once they get out of their houses. I have a feeling part of my fear of baltimore comes from listening to these horror stories whereas i moved to philly without hearing horror stories about the city because i was a silly teenager who wanted to go to school in philly and that's all i cared about. I wasn't scared of philly when i moved here and i've never feared living in the city. Yeah, i saw people being busted for drugs and whatever it was when i lived in west philly but i pretty much kept to myself when i lived there. I do some shady characters at night here in center city and all i do is walk straightforward and not turn my head. Once i had a guy try to scare me while walking to the subway at 5am because i had to get to my rotation site at 6:30 and i didn't flinch. I figured if he tried anything, i had one of those cheap sethoscope with the clunky metal on the diaphragm end i was gonna hit him with it. He kept on walking when he saw i wasn't afraid of him.

The things that scare me about baltimore aren't the shootings. i figure those are usually from drug deals gone bad and if i don't have anything to do with that, i should be ok. Things that scare me are the break-ins, the mugging and all them burglaries.
That said, the house i'm looking at is on Mangold street in Pigtown. I was told it's by the stadium. Is it a good street? any shady characters lurking around? how often does a person get mugged in Pigtown? Will having a security system in the house help my case?
I'll come to baltimore tomorrow to come look at several places.
thanks to all of you for your responses.

[herenia]

thanks for the warning about the mice. i guess if anyone hears a female screaming like she's being attacked with a chainsaw, it's prolly me screaming at the sight of a mouse. I've realized the mice get scared when i scream and the crazy thing is i'm also afraid of them. Once i screamed so hard the poor mouse started jumping and didn't know which way to go. I had my neighbors come knocking on my door one time cuz they thought i was being attacked. Yeah i was, by a mouse. Of course, people stopped coming over whenever i screamed because the figured i'd seen a mouse and that's dangerous because what'll happen if i'm really being attacked?! I have tried to stop but it's an involuntary action that happens whenever i see a mouse, i just scream out of fear.

Originally Posted by krakenten

Washington Village, aka Pigtown is for the serious urbanite.

It's in transition, and still has some rough edges-some folks seem to love it, though.

If you could handle Philly, Pigtown won't be a strain.

However, it's an older neighborhood, with a lot of rehabbing and such-there will be mice!

I'm not making fun of you, honestly, but meeses are a fact of life in any city, and when disturbed, you see them.

I think Bolton Hill would be better for you-a delightful neighborhood with a lot of class, the funky ambiance of the art students, lots of cats and few mice.

There is a lot of green space there, too, and you see fascinating creatures who inhabit these forgotten patches-I saw a falcon, a fox and several raccoons over the years, much to my amazement and delight-including a solitary wasp the size of a finger that carried off other insects and spiders in a spectacular way.

Just be careful-as you are in Philly-because there are occasional criminals who decide to prey on the students and affluent residents.

They didn't last long, though-burglar alarms, pony sized watchdogs and shotguns began the process of reclaimation when I lived there, and last I stopped to remember times past(a year or so ago) the old Brickyard was it's charming old self.

I think you'll like it.

[krakenten]

They call it Killadelphia, now!

Maybe you should look into some desensitivation treatment for that phobia, really, no one should be a prisoner of fear-especially a fear of something as harmless as mice.

I used to be terrified of spiders(which are also quite harmless) because of a childhood incident.

Even after combat in Vietnam, a stint as a prison guard and as a street cop, a spider would scare me spitless.

I began dealing with this-I lived in a very old house, and there were many spiders.

Then one day, I was reading a book on spiders, which contained an account of a wolf spider being immersed in alcohol as a specimen, whose last act was to try to protect her spiderlings, even as she died.

Never was afraid of them again.

You may never become a rodentophile like me-but being able to just chase one back into it's hole with a broom, instead of shrieking like a steam whistle and going into cardiac arrest would be a victory.

I once saw a Deputy Sheriff empty a pistol into a desk after he saw a mouse in the drawer, so you don't have it as bad as some people-if that's any comfort.

There are organizations that will help you manage your phobia, give it a try?

Then you can sing;
"I have 47 feet of Habitrail,
Got a long pink tail for a necktie,
And a brand new house in the back alley
made from gerbil-mouse hides!
Big tall chimney, on the roof,
made outta hamster skulls!
So, c'mon rodent, scurry right along!
Hoo-Doo you love?"

Apologies to the great Bo Diddley!