Moving to Baltimore-Looking for safe and gay friendly area (Frederick: public school, to live)

[dkgVT]

Mount Vernon..most definitely!

[baltimore's best]

Originally Posted by dkgVT

Mount Vernon..most definitely!

I think the whole city is gay friendly. My gay friends call Mt. vernon the "Gayborhood" though.

[barante]

For those interested in buying and with a longer time horizon, I would suggest a look at the emerging Station North neighborhood, between Pennsylvania Station and 25th Street (which is the border with Charles Village). Lots of stuff about to happen there housingwise.

[NCmovingon]

Hello, I'm new to posting but have read many threads about other cities. I had a phone interview with a company today and the actual location of the job is in White Marsh. I'll be moving from Chapel Hill, NC. Everyone keeps telling me to be careful in Baltimore because it's SO BAD there. How is White Marsh? Is it expensive? I'm a single 35 yr old gay man. Will I like it in White Marsh or should I move closer to the city?

[jonjj]

Originally Posted by NCmovingon

Hello, I'm new to posting but have read many threads about other cities. I had a phone interview with a company today and the actual location of the job is in White Marsh. I'll be moving from Chapel Hill, NC. Everyone keeps telling me to be careful in Baltimore because it's SO BAD there. How is White Marsh? Is it expensive? I'm a single 35 yr old gay man. Will I like it in White Marsh or should I move closer to the city?

My two cents--move closer to the city or in the city. Southeast Baltimore has many fine neighborhoods that you would fit right in and it's pretty easy to get to White Marsh. Look up Canton, Patterson Park, Butchers Hill, Greektown, Highlandtown, Washington Hill, Upper Fells Point, Fells Point. Good luck.

[kinkytoes]

Mount Vernon!

You will LOVE the Downtown Athletic Club. Great pool, sauna, steam room, towels equipment etc. Plus the manager is a professional singer. She's straight, but she's fabulous. Hopefully she's still there. If you like to jog or bike, you will have lots of company. Do you want to walk your dog? MV is like Dogville. Lots of ppl walking friendly dogs. It's awesome. Do you like Yoga. Well, MV has Charm City Yoga studio and it Rocks! Hot yoga and more with qualified, experienced, supportive instructors. I live in the suburbs now and my gym does not even have TOWEL service. They DO NOT have a sauna or a steam room or a hot tub. WTF Anyway, believe me when I say you'll love fitness options in MV.

Food = FANTASTIC. Lots of restaurants. You can check out the City Cafe (casual outdoor brunch is GREAT), Thai Landing, Sotto Sopra (Italian), Sashas, The Owl Bar, Kumari(Nepali), Dukem(Ethiopian), The Brass Elephant just to name a few. If you're used to decent food, you'll like MV. It's not any more dangerous than NY. Baltimore is dangerous . . . if you live in a crappy area.

Housing. There are lots of apartments in MV. You can live in a secure high-rise with a pool, a historic apartment or buy a new condo. Have you been to Paris? I have and I MV is even more beautiful! I would not lie to you. I bought a place there and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Shopping. There is a mall about 30 minutes away (walking) and 5 mins by cab. There's Gap, Banana Republic etc. There's a store that sells men's suits on Charles street. You can do grocery shopping at Eddies of Mt. Vernon. There's a 7-ev and a 24 hour rite-aid. There is a store that sells authentic Chinese stuff closeby. The area is a little sketchier, but it's on Park Avenue a bit to the south and you can walk. If you miss good Chinese food, you can buy authentic and cheap stuff there. There is also a SuperFresh downtown, which is a nice 20 minute walk down safe, beautiful and historic Charles street from MV. Personally when I lived in MV I cooked very rarely, because there are so many awesome places to eat, but you will definitely be able to walk to the store if you need food. If you want decent meat, the best place is Whole Foods in Harbor East. I have actually walked there and back with groceries (1 hour?) but you can take a taxi or drive.

Gayness. Yep, it's the Gayborhood. So you have amenities like Chase Brexton for non-judgmental sexual health testing. Even straight people like me have used Chase Brexton's services. There is a lesbian gay alliance in MV so you can be an activist for gay issues if that's your thing. There are gay bars and clubs. There is gay karaoke. LOL. There are gay magazines in the cafes.

Parties. What I like about gay men is they seem to have a lot of disposable income and know how to throw a great party. Christmas and new years will be fun, exciting and filled with posh neighborhood events.

Getting Out. If you are from NY you are used to taxis. There are taxis cruising MV all the time, so you can hop into a cab very easily and go any where you want. If you need to go to the airport, you can take a cab or walk to Penn station from MV and take the train STRAIGHT to the airport. WHoa. And it's a safe, clean, short walk. You can take fun trips to PA, NY, DC and where ever else Amtrak goes. And then walk back home.

Art and Culcha. There are art galleries and a very nice museum called the Walters that's near the lovely monument. A fun way to spend an afternoon or go on a date. Their cafe also has good food. The symphony and opera house are also in MV, so if that interests you, you can get dressed up and walk to a show.

I used to live and work in NY and lived in MV, and this is my honest opinion.

Caveat. If you work in White Marsh, IMO you should probably live there. It's about a 30-40 minute drive from Baltimore. The traffic through the tunnel is hellish, and I believe in living where you work just on principle. Maybe you can look for a job in MV or near MV and then decide to live there. Also, if you have a good salary you will have more fun in MV.

[rudy_d]

Originally Posted by kinkytoes

Mount Vernon!

Caveat. If you work in White Marsh, IMO you should probably live there. It's about a 30-40 minute drive from Baltimore. The traffic through the tunnel is hellish, and I believe in living where you work just on principle. Maybe you can look for a job in MV or near MV and then decide to live there. Also, if you have a good salary you will have more fun in MV.

There would be no need to go through the tunnel from Baltimore to White Marsh unless you lived in Locust Point or Federal Hill (or other neighborhoods south of the harbor).

It would be about a 30 minute drive from Mt. Vernon, but I think it would be worth it to live in an historic district rather than the vinyl-clad, fake-main street, suburban mess of White Marsh. Even if you lived there you would have to drive to work. Sorry, but even the name "White Marsh" sounds awful.

Neighborhoods in north or northeast baltimore like Charles Village, Hamilton, or Lauraville might also be worth looking into.

[barante]

I second rudy_d. Gays are everywhere. Lauraville, Hamilton, Beverly Hill in the northeast may not be go-go neighborhoods like Mount Vernon, but they are not far from where the action is. And they are close to White Marsh.

[Cbrown52290]

Mount Vernon and Bolton Hill area-100%.

[Cbrown52290]

I went to school in Mount vernon while living in the white marsh area- so i made the commute every day and it was totally worth it.