Reservior Hill/Druid lake

[14thandYou]

Originally Posted by barante

once the economy turns around -- and it will -- Reservoir Hill will be going strong again.

Going strong "again"? As in, the way it was in the 1920s?

Reservoir Hill's problem is that it's cut off from everything except the park. There's no commercial activity to speak of, and it's quite difficult to walk to anything. The houses are spectacular, yes, but it borders some tremendously bad areas and a freeway that make it really isolating.

[barante]

It's a bit more complex than that, I am afraid.
Briefly, from the mid-1910s onward the area known today as Reservoir Hill --earlier it was simply known as the northern part of Mount Royal district -- became a magnet for Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe that had done well enough to be able to break out of East Baltimore's slums. So while Eutaw Place remained largely German-Jewish, side streets in Reservoir Hill forged their own identity. By the late 1930s suburbanization of both groups was under way. An indication of real estate market softeness before the war -- even though Baltimore overall had no white or black vacancies, according to Home Owners Loan Corporation -- was the fact that the Jewish community resettled roughly 3,000 refugees from Hitler's Germany in Reservoir Hill and adjoining areas. (All this is documented in publications by the Jewish Museum of Maryland).
During the war, northern portions of adjoining Bolton Hill and some streets in Reservoir Hill were overrun by defense workers from Appalachia. Overcrowding was abysmal. When the Appalachians began returning home in 1944, no whites wanted to live in deteriorated housing that in many cases had been split up into warrens of sleeping rooms. That eventually made Reservoir Hill a target for blockbusting.
By contrast, Bolton Hill, which also had experienced serious deterioration, avoided that fate. As Antero Pietila explains in his book, that was due to two factors:
One: The leadership of Mount Royal Protective Association (an anti-black group which outlined its exclusionary methods in a Supreme Court brief in the 1948 Shelley v. Kraemer covenant case) changed its name in the 1950s into an improvement association and began accepting black members. At the same time it struck a deal with the Baltimore Urban League to keep Bolton Hill's African American population under 25 percent. (It was estimated at 12-15 percent at the time).
Two: A group of Bolton Hill homeowners pooled their own money together and formed Bolton Hill, Inc. It renovated houses and then sold them new homeowners, pledging to keep "undesirables" of both races out.
No such measures were taken in Reservoir Hill. After the black influx began, deterioration quickened. Then came the 1968 riots. Among retail areas torched was Whitelock Street. Whatever businesses existed there soon acquired a dubious reputation as drug havens. This is the reason why the city, after razing Whitelock Street's retail stretch, has not been talking about turning the stretch back into retail. Instead, city officials insist that retail should be curtailed to North Avenue, which at the present is too rough to interest gentrifyers.
Before the most recent real estate collapse, Reservoir Hill experienced hectic speculation but also attracted more reinvestment than at any time in the post-WWII period. But while properties on Eutaw Place were being renovated, speculators and renovators were averse to risks in areas away from it. I submit this to you: If only the two apartment complexes on the northeastern and southeastern corner of Brookfield were renovated, as was the plan, the whole area would be seen in totally different light.
In summary: I am 67 and have resolved to stick around for a while. But I am confident that conditions in Reservoir Hill will not improve so much in my lifetime that walking for pleasure and business would be practiced by the majority of whites who, even though a distinct minority, form the largest moneyed group.

[ginbelt]

Originally Posted by 14thandYou

Going strong "again"? As in, the way it was in the 1920s?

Reservoir Hill's problem is that it's cut off from everything except the park. There's no commercial activity to speak of, and it's quite difficult to walk to anything. The houses are spectacular, yes, but it borders some tremendously bad areas and a freeway that make it really isolating.

14thandYou have been around this mulberry bush before, but the fact of Res Hill's isolation is not to be soley viewed as a negative. It cuts down on crime, that's a fact....the police themselves have stated this to us in community meetings, and planners have noted this. "Defensible space" is the idea here. We DO lack good commercial activity (several grimy mom n pop food stores and liquor stores...but who wants those?), but it isn't particularly because we're more cut off than, say, Charles Village...it's because of simple demographics; and business doing a marketing survey of the area clearly sees we still lack the clientele. While there are definitely more people with money living in Res Hill than there were 10 years ago, we still have not reached that critical mass, where our buying power, combined with Bolton Hill's (to our immediate south) could attract a high-end grocer, or shop. I believe it will happen one day....what it's going to take is that first entreprenuer to take that risk.... A young couple have bought an apartment house on Madison Ave (with abandoned storefront) and have plans to turn it into Reservoir Hill's first nice cafe/coffee shop. If it can survive, it may show others that it can be done. By the way -- it's not that the city is dead-set against development on Whitelock...there is even a plan, and talks have been had with Res Hill block clubs and neighborhood groups...the real problem, as I see it, is that there not a clear enough consensus of what the community WANTS there....there are still actually a sizable number of good solid middle-class folks here (basically, both white and black urban pioneers who moved here in the 70s and 80s) who are dead set against any retain/commercial AT ALL....and you can blame it on Whitelock Street, which was alluded to. They still remember the Hell on Earth that stretch had become by the 80s/early 90s, and I guess are negative enough that they'd rather just use their cars to drive to Charles Village, Hampden, etc to buy their necessities. Me, I moved here in 2001, never experienced the pre-razed Whitelock, so I do not have this mentality...I seriously long for something worthwhile to be withinin walking distance, but again it is going to take a person willing to take that first gamble....like the gamble that has already started on North Avenue what with Joe Squared, the Windup Space, Load of Fun, etc (and paid off, I might add!)

[ginbelt]

Originally Posted by Dbatiste

Hello, I am looking to live in Reservior Hill near Druid Lake. Can anyone tell me if this area? Is this a pretty good neighborhood? Im not looking for something perfect, but I would like to avoid the heavily drug infested areas with 6 or 7 abandoned buildings on 1 block. The internet pictures look good, but I will not visit the place till next week and would prefer not to waste time in a bad area. The street is called Brookfield.

If you are still considering a move to Res Hill, please feel free to PM me and I'll give you my contact info...I need tohave a bit more specifics about you, though -- for instance, when you wrote, in a later post: "If it is similar to Brooklyn, then it's definitely something I can deal with." The answer to your comparison rests in what part of Brooklyn you are referring to...as you know, it can and does range from multi-million dollar meticulously restored Victorian mansions in Park Slope (see film "Age of Enchantment") to some pretty shady areas....while parts of Brooklyn have gentrified for sure (folks who can't quite afford the same building in Manhattan CAN afford it in Brooklyn), not all of it has.

Basically: "safe" is not a word that means anything in general; it's totally relative to the person using the term. My idea of safe is probably totally different from a man living in a gated community in Hunt Valley (like the baseball icon Cal Ripken). I have a feeling that you could do one of the middle-quality to high-quality streets/blocks in Reservoir Hill -- unless you meant a really gentrified part of Brooklyn..in which case you might not like any of it, since there is no part of Res Hill as gentrified as the best parts of Brooklyn.

Brookfield, by the way, I'd put in one of those "middle" parts...ie, I don't think it's as stable as the very best blocks on Eutaw Place, Park Ave, or Mt. Royal Terrace, BUT by the same token, it does have some decent parts, and those parts are a good sight nicer and more stable than the worst of, say, Lakeview or Callow. I've walked parts of Brookfield at night and felt ok...but that's me, and my comfort level, which may vary from yours! The part of Brookfield directly above Reservoir St, but below Whitelock looks particularly nice to me...I'd live there, and have known others who did as well.

[davecj]

Well at my current count, there are 4 realtor listed properties in Druid Hill for sale ranging from 59k to 74k and 60 in Reservoir Hill ranging from 15k to 500k.

[Woodlands]

I know folks in Bolton and Res Hill may be glad to see this happen.

Commissioner moves to revoke apartment license - baltimoresun.com