Doesn't Baltimore need an African American Art, Business and Entertainment District??!! (how much, theater)

[MobileVisitor09]

Agree with others regarding the sentiments of welcoming a larger, more elaborate arts & entertainment district beyond Station North or Mount Vernon (if MV counts). Doesn't necessarily have to be completely focused on AA culture, but wouldn't be a nonsensical idea to capitalize on the city's demographic and history.

Not enough time to type out a lengthy response here, but, in my ideal world, replacing "The Block" for instance, (cue that thread about thoughts on the Block hanging around this section), and the surrounding area with these types of venues would be something I'd love to see for the city. Historically, that's how most of those venues started out... Granted, emphasis on the word ideal.

[Rembrandt1881]

Hey, can't get rid of the block. I do understand the idea but I as an african american don't think we need to be catered too, just make and expand smartly and support different types of establishments penn. ave would be nice to see transformed, and the artists will come together of all types.

[barante]

KLynch makes good points. Make if happen if you want it to happen. For politicians like Larry Young, this kind of mau-mauing is political season posturing since every delegate wants to introduce a bill or two in Annapolis and bring home some beacon. He is a talk show host who's trying to keep the conversation going.
None of it is going anywhere, not amid today's belt-tightening.
Other points:
Pennsylvania Avenue is dead. Except for the Sphinx Club (vandalized, boarded up and vacant) hardly anything is left. Not even the Avenue Market, which the city spent millions on as a centerpoint for Pennsylvania Avenue's revitalization, is making it. On Pennsylvania, there is a sorry fake facade of the demolished Royal Theater and a statue to Billie Holiday, claiming she was born in Baltimore. Nonsense, and we have her original birth certificate to prove it. The two foremost Baltimore jazzmen were Chick Webb, a midget drummer who died young but introduced Ella Fitzgerald to the world, and Cab Calloway. Are they honored by the ignoramuses who claim to be Pennsylvania Avenue experts. No. A struggling Eubie Blake cultural center is on Howard Street, not on Pennsylvania Avenue and Calloway-something at Coppin, where his daughter, Camay Murphy, is the cultural earth mother.
The African American arts district idea has been bouncing around for years. It was supposed to be part of the Westside renaissance around Lexington Market and Howard Street. Indeed, in the basement of the old Hecht Building, now an apartment building, there is an AA-operated art gallery.
The reason Station North is succeeding is that it has a MICA annex as an achnor on North Avenue, with a huge number of creative and cute students who draw old lechers to Joe Squared and other places on North Avenue. This and a coordinated city redevelopment effort to turn the area around. There is also a new artists' housing complex in Station North on Greenmount Avenue, with gallery space, next to the site of the forthcoming high school for design.
Overall, the subsidized African American culture is facing tough times, IMO. David T. Terry has quietly disappeared from the exeutive director's job at the Reginald Lewis Museum, which is having real difficulties in raising money. Another museum that is funded by subsidies (guaranteed ticket sales, etc. to school kids) is the Great Blacks in Wax. It cannot be doing well.
Aside from Station North, the next burst of cultural activity will be in Highlandtown/Greektown.

[Henry Bowman]

Why do blacks continually choose to self-segregate in all areas of their lives?

[Miss Crabcakes]

Originally Posted by Henry Bowman

Why do blacks continually choose to self-segregate in all areas of their lives?

Some blacks choose to live in a "black box" and only associate with blacks.
That's their hang-up. Not mine.

[MobileVisitor09]

Originally Posted by Henry Bowman

Why do blacks continually choose to self-segregate in all areas of their lives?

Don't feel it's always a decision they would make if other forceful structural factors weren't at play.

But then again, that's like asking why Little Italy caters to a certain demographic? Why Pikesville is predominantly Jewish? Why Long Island, where I'm originally from, is primarily white, homogeneous suburbia? No one makes jabs about those distinct groups 'sticking' together...

[Henry Bowman]

Originally Posted by MobileVisitor09

Don't feel it's always a decision they would make if other forceful structural factors weren't at play.

But then again, that's like asking why Little Italy caters to a certain demographic? Why Pikesville is predominantly Jewish? Why Long Island, where I'm originally from, is primarily white, homogeneous suburbia? No one makes jabs about those distinct groups 'sticking' together...

Sure they do.

Anything that is all white is considered bad.

Anything that is labelled as "diverse" (usually meaning no whites) is considered good.

It's a double standard.

[MobileVisitor09]

Originally Posted by Henry Bowman

Sure they do.

Anything that is all white is considered bad.

Anything that is labelled as "diverse" (usually meaning no whites) is considered good.

It's a double standard.

I'm not sure if I completely understand your reply. I do feel some of what you just noted is sweeping generalization status, as well.

Not that I'm the mouthpiece for the African American population as a whole, and, not wanting to get into this debate, but, in my experience, via the interviews I conduct in urban cities, both in Maryland and the South with this population, many note they would prefer to live in a mixed-race neighborhood, or, don't necessarily have a preference when it comes to the racial composition of a neighborhood (and, neighborhood ultimately ties into schools, social support, employment, etc.). It's push and pull factors (along with content you'd cover in Urban Policy 101), as I noted earlier, really making the decision for them, and, making choice, quite limited.

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by Henry Bowman

Sure they do.

Anything that is all white is considered bad.

Anything that is labelled as "diverse" (usually meaning no whites) is considered good.

It's a double standard.

Not sure how you interprete 'diverse' to mean no whites and that to equal if it is all white that it is bad. Is not the meaning of the word diverse to mean mixed? I think people should live where they want to live.. I believe it is only when an all whatever neighborhood makes an overt attempt to exclude another group for no other reason than that group being different on the exterior (all other thing being equal) where I think people get bent out of shape. Lets face it there are all white, black, latino, asian, and whatever neighborhoods all over this country.. but I dont think anyone is complaining just because they are that way.

In terms of one group having an Art and Entertainment District (which I believe is the technical name for these areas) I think the more the better.. if they are linked to the cultural heritage of the area and thus the City.. great. My only concern is to the labeling effect. In the case of Pennsy Ave. Just call it the Pennsy Ave "arts and entertainment district" or "heritage" district. Of course the history of that area is rooted in African American history in Baltimore and those that want to go and be a part of it will do so. Same with Highlandtown, Federal Hill, Fells Point etc. The interesting thing about say "Greektown" and "Little Italy" is that these areas were coined way before there was such a thing as an entertainment district and thats why I dont have an issue their names per say. They also represent countries as opposed to say a race..

Again have arts and entertainment districts and have then tell their stories which are all part of our connected Baltimore and American History. Stations North is a little different since its is being developed as an true Arts and Entertainment area and not on its "heritage" which is what some of these other areas are pursuing..

[Hamish Forbes]

When I was a kid (1950s), my dad and I went on numerous occasions to a shop near the corner of Fulton and Pennsylvania. I think that this was just a little south of Druid Hill park. But all I remember is a rather depressed area -- nothing special culturally. Things really went down after the riots of 1968, and the shop moved out. Questions -- Was this part of Pennsylvania Avenue ever a center of Black culture, or was the action further south? Also, what time period (1930s, or more recently???) are you all talking about? Thanks!