Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,565,972 times
Reputation: 5785
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by NW4me
Any more claims that Baltimore is a southern city ought to be posted in the forum where they belong - Paranormal.
In my lifetime, I'd never heard any notion of Southernness and Baltimore in the same sentence, until logging on C-D. Admiteddly I'd heard it about DC by a few, but in real life about Baltimore never.
In my lifetime, I'd never heard any notion of Southernness and Baltimore in the same sentence, until logging on C-D. Admiteddly I'd heard it about DC by a few, but in real life about Baltimore never.
Baltimore actually had a Robert E. Lee Park within its borders, all the way until 2015; just 6 years ago. However, following the infamous Charleston church massacre by a confederate flag-waving white supremacist, public pressure mounted to drop the name ... and it is now simply Lake Rowland Park. Not surprising. Maryland, though not officially a CSA state during the Civil War, was still a hotbed of Southern sympathizers, especially in Baltimore; John Wilkes Booth was among them.
Of these it’s probably Wilmington, which is like a mini-mix between Philly and Baltimore. But I went with other—St. Louis. They feel very similar in terms of size, economics, crime/urban blight issues, collections of some very nice remaining neighborhoods, and both have a prestigious but sometimes overlooked university, WashU and JHU.
In my lifetime, I'd never heard any notion of Southernness and Baltimore in the same sentence, until logging on C-D. Admiteddly I'd heard it about DC by a few, but in real life about Baltimore never.
Actually, IMO, the best-known quip about Washington wrt Southernness was John F. Kennedy's observation that the national capital "combined Southern efficiency with Northern charm."
Baltimore comes awfully close to meeting that standard.
Time out! Coming from a logical standpoint, you think that St. Louis, a city that is 730 miles away from Baltimore is very comparable, while a city that is 90 miles away has absolutely nothing in common?
People may start tuning you out if your blatant Northeast bias keeps seeping through your posts, Baltimore area native.
It's mainly a size-scale thing. Both are mid-sized cities. Both have industrial backbones. Both have very large and prominent African American populations and also historic Jewish populations and influence. Both have a light rail system. Wash U and Hopkins are somewhat comparable (although Wash U is in a nice part of the city). They are very comparable despite being in different regions.
Philly is so much larger and more grand (in terms of its size and scale) that it's not very comparable to Baltimore. I don't think that Baltimore and Philly have nothing in common, but outside the rowhomes, which even look different, I just don't see much similarities. In Baltimore, the predominant rowhome style is short, flat (with no porch), and colorful. In Philly, it's taller, has a porch, and is not super colorful.
It's really because of the size/scale that I find St. Louis more comparable.
It's mainly a size-scale thing. Both are mid-sized cities. Both have industrial backbones. Both have very large and prominent African American populations and also historic Jewish populations and influence. Both have a light rail system. Wash U and Hopkins are somewhat comparable (although Wash U is in a nice part of the city). They are very comparable despite being in different regions.
Philly is so much larger and more grand (in terms of its size and scale) that it's not very comparable to Baltimore. I don't think that Baltimore and Philly have nothing in common, but outside the rowhomes, which even look different, I just don't see much similarities. In Baltimore, the predominant rowhome style is short, flat (with no porch), and colorful. In Philly, it's taller, has a porch, and is not super colorful.
It's really because of the size/scale that I find St. Louis more comparable.
Continuing with your logic, do you find more similarities between Philly and NYC? The scale of those two cities are even greater than Baltimore and Philly. Also, JHU is located in a nice neighborhood, however, it is only a few blocks away from the hood on its southeastern edge. It's northern fringes are bordered by nicer neighborhoods. Examples: Dropped pin https://maps.app.goo.gl/izin7jcrmR8zSsRR6
This street is a block away from JHU; the campus is at the end of the block.
Baltimore has tall rowhouses as well and in variety of styles. That assertion is, in essence, false. 3-4 story rowhouses are not uncommon here. https://maps.app.goo.gl/xxJpvPwRKNzY4Kpt9
Baltimore is the only other predominantly rowhouse city in the country, so of course it's gonna have 3 story rowhouses.
Continuing with your logic, do you find more similarities between Philly and NYC? The scale of those two cities are even greater than Baltimore and Philly. Also, JHU is located in a nice neighborhood, however, it is only a few blocks away from the hood on its southeastern edge. It's northern fringes are bordered by nicer neighborhoods. Examples: Dropped pin https://maps.app.goo.gl/izin7jcrmR8zSsRR6
This street is a block away from JHU; the campus is at the end of the block.
Baltimore has tall rowhouses as well and in variety of styles. That assertion is, in essence, false. 3-4 story rowhouses are not uncommon here. https://maps.app.goo.gl/xxJpvPwRKNzY4Kpt9
Baltimore is the only other predominantly rowhouse city in the country, so of course it's gonna have 3 story rowhouses.
Exactly, by stats alone tell us this. Philly has links say 60% and some 70% as rowhomes and that does not include the twins/duplex half-doubles which are not considered rows. Baltimore also is up there at least 60%.
Only if I had to pick a Midwestern city most like a East Coast city and especially a Philly/Baltimore would I pick St Louis.
From what I have seen and perceived. Baltimore does not have the very narrow alley-sized streets as so many of those sub-divided blocks common in Philly back-in-a-day were split and alleys eliminated. Baltimore seems to have far more alleys intact with backyards.
But in styles of rows ..... just way more similar and alike even then not.
Gentrified block in Baltimore of the taller rows that yes..... Philly has too. 4-floor ones were probably more high-end when built too. ALL JUST RANDOM STREETVIEWS I CLICKED ON.....
Its alley is still there .... just all around it are new rows/townhouses and streetview does not go down the actual alley here. Still I zoomed in on it
There are alleys also all over Baltimore like Chicago (though not a rowhome city in any sense as Philly/Baltimore. Chicago has the most alleys as the much larger city of course and 90% of the city is. But just as Chicago .... Streetview goes down Baltimore Alleys also...
Really, I do not know why someone says Philly has more Porch rows?? Both have them depending on the era/decade they were built. Just by far and I mean by far.... Philly has those super-narrow streets with rows. Alley-sized and due to their era streets were sub-divided further to get more mass-built rows in and alleys totally eliminated. Seem Baltimore has FAR MORE ALLEYS intact like Chicago behind its row blocks also.
Size of the city has little to do with its majority of blocks and how they compare with another city. St Louis again may be the most Eastern looking Midwest city. But still not the scale or % of the city is rows..... as both Philly and Baltimore.....
NoHyping: The alleys in Philadelphia were not "eliminated"; they simply weren't built to begin with. In those parts of the city built before the First World War, what took their place were the interstitial "little streets," the older of which are even narrower than the alleys you find in other cities. On many blocks, you will find pedestrian paths — with lights, even — separating the backyards of the houses on the main and the interstitial streets.
As the automobile rose in popularity, builders altered rowhouse designs here to add one-car garages in their basements. As these were located at the back of the house, what would have been a backyard in times past became a driveway accessed from an alley; together, the alleys and driveways formed a single expanse of concrete stretching from the backs of the houses on one street to the backs of the houses on the next. From about the 1960s onward, some owners would attach decks to the backs of their houses' main floors in order to create some (more) private outdoor space; in some neighborhoods, you will find that some rowhouses have backyard trappings like patios and grills in their front yards.
In my lifetime, I'd never heard any notion of Southernness and Baltimore in the same sentence, until logging on C-D. Admiteddly I'd heard it about DC by a few, but in real life about Baltimore never.
Baltimore (and Maryland and DC) are "officially" classified as Southern by the US CENSUS. That same Census we use to provide definitive facts and statistics to back up our claims on this site (and for official federal reporting purposes).
I grew up in Maryland (born in the 80's) and earlier in life and even in school heard Southerness and Baltimore in the same sentence. Not so much anymore. It's usually not mentioned with northern or southern nowadays.
But how many times have you heard Southerness and Miami, Southerness and Tampa, or Southerness and Raleigh-Durham (in modern Research Triangle times) in the same sentence? That's a bad barometer for whether or not a city is officially classified as Southern or not. Outside of the really Deep South, many of the characteristics of "The South" have died out. I was in Chapel Hill about a year ago and didn't hear one southern accent (slight exaggeration, but you get my point).
Actually, IMO, the best-known quip about Washington wrt Southernness was John F. Kennedy's observation that the national capital "combined Southern efficiency with Northern charm."
Baltimore comes awfully close to meeting that standard.
Yeah. I've always thought that quote applies nicely to Baltimore and DC!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
