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It's part of neither city though, it's really about which metro area is which. Hanover, MD feels nothing like Baltimore city or the District proper. It's just suburbia. I'd say that area up there certainly is part of Baltimore's metro area, but it ain't really all that foreign to people in the DMV.
This place has a such a segregated mentality honestly, more than other parts of the country. I read a FB post the other day that said "only DC and parts of Prince George's inner Beltway, should classify as the DMV". The person was excluding Montgomery County (2nd largest in the metro area) and excluding 2/3 of NOVA, just claiming the "DMV" is only the District and parts of PG, and maybe VA out to the Beltway/Tysons. You don't see this type of isolated thinking in California, or Atlanta, Dallas etc. Around here, it's almost blasphemous to claim the people in your neighboring county 15 mins away from you are the "same".
Arundel Mills/Hanover does feel like the Baltimore area. heavy heavy dose of suburbia but it still seems more Baltimore than DC because most everywhere that is an attraction in the DC area is super crowded and lowkey stressful. I don't find Arundel Mils to be like that. Its also much closer to Baltimore.
I'll take the wet noodle, because in moving from Boston to Baltimore, you've already proved me very wrong there.
But the point I'm trying to make is, when someone who grew up in a suburb or satellite city of a nearby larger city travels well beyond that city's orbit, and someone in the place they're visiting asks where they're from, they will answer not with the name of the actual community they reside in but with the name of the nearby larger city.
I've met several people who originally hail from the Central Plains metropolis where I grew up, 1,300 miles to the west of the one I call home now. One of those people was a young woman now living in Vermont who spotted me walking down Walnut Street wearing an "I (heart) KC" T-shirt and called out to me. (She, in turn, was wearing a T-shirt from Worlds of Fun, Kansas City's theme park.) In our Old Home Week conversation, she revealed that she had attended Shawnee Mission South High School, which would have made her an Overland Park resident.
Overland Park, along with Independence and the Kansas City everyone on this coast thinks I lived in, are the only other two cities in the metropolitan area that I would expect at least some outsiders to recognize. Yet I have yet to meet a KC expat up here who doesn't say they're from Kansas City first before getting into the particulars (Raytown, Gladstone, Grandview, Prairie Village, Leawood, Mission Hills and so on).
You seemed to me to argue that these people should have answered with the name of the actual community. I'm saying that there's a good reason why they don't. At the outside, they may answer "(near|outside) (name of larger city)" or "the (larger city) area."
I'll take the wet noodle, because in moving from Boston to Baltimore, you've already proved me very wrong there.
But the point I'm trying to make is, when someone who grew up in a suburb or satellite city of a nearby larger city travels well beyond that city's orbit, and someone in the place they're visiting asks where they're from, they will answer not with the name of the actual community they reside in but with the name of the nearby larger city.
I've met several people who originally hail from the Central Plains metropolis where I grew up, 1,300 miles to the west of the one I call home now. One of those people was a young woman now living in Vermont who spotted me walking down Walnut Street wearing an "I (heart) KC" T-shirt and called out to me. (She, in turn, was wearing a T-shirt from Worlds of Fun, Kansas City's theme park.) In our Old Home Week conversation, she revealed that she had attended Shawnee Mission South High School, which would have made her an Overland Park resident.
Overland Park, along with Independence and the Kansas City everyone on this coast thinks I lived in, are the only other two cities in the metropolitan area that I would expect at least some outsiders to recognize. Yet I have yet to meet a KC expat up here who doesn't say they're from Kansas City first before getting into the particulars (Raytown, Gladstone, Grandview, Prairie Village, Leawood, Mission Hills and so on).
You seemed to me to argue that these people should have answered with the name of the actual community. I'm saying that there's a good reason why they don't. At the outside, they may answer "(near|outside) (name of larger city)" or "the (larger city) area."
I don't see the "good reason" in what you listed here. I guess in a business setting when your referencing your home market/metro that makes a lot of sense. She was wearing loves KC shirt. That doesn't mean she's saying shes from Kansas City. A place like Raytown is completely encompassed by Kansas City as is Gladstone and Grandview. That's not a stretch to me if you'd say you're from there.
The other places just say "outside KC" but I'm done with this topic it's just boring at this point.
Followup: Though that may just be BBMM's New Englandness showing through.
Another data point in support of this: The Boston SCF (USPS sectional center facility [I think these are now called by another name; this is what I remember them being called back when my Dad worked for the Post Office Department/USPS] — ZIP codes 021xx and 022xx) includes a bunch of the cities and towns surrounding Boston as well as the city of Boston itself.
But when addressing mail to an address in Boston, usually, one uses the name of the neighborhood rather than the city: "Allston, MA 02134", "Dorchester, MA 02125", and so on.
I know of only one other city where this is the practice: New York City, where addresses outside Manhattan take the name of the borough (and the boroughs are in different SCFs anyway), and in Queens, the name of the neighborhood.
Here in Philadelphia, most everyone knows which neighborhood matches which ZIP code in SCFs 190xx (near suburbs) and 191xx (City of Philadelphia itself). But while mail to 190xx addresses takes the name of the community, mail to 191xx is styled "Philadelphia, PA 191xx" regardless what neighborhood attaches to the ZIP code.
I don't see the "good reason" in what you listed here. I guess in a business setting when your referencing your home market/metro that makes a lot of sense. She was wearing loves KC shirt. That doesn't mean she's saying shes from Kansas City. A place like Raytown is completely encompassed by Kansas City as is Gladstone and Grandview. That's not a stretch to me if you'd say you're from there.
The other places just say "outside KC" but I'm done with this topic it's just boring at this point.
No, I was wearing that T-shirt. She was wearing one from Worlds of Fun — which, btw, is within the Kansas City city limits, in the part of the city locals call the Northland.
But yeah, we've pretty much exhausted this discussion. Only it's not just in business settings where this is the practice; neither of us were on business when our sidewalk conversation took place.
Followup: Though that may just be BBMM's New Englandness showing through.
Another data point in support of this: The Boston SCF (USPS sectional center facility [I think these are now called by another name; this is what I remember them being called back when my Dad worked for the Post Office Department/USPS] — ZIP codes 021xx and 022xx) includes a bunch of the cities and towns surrounding Boston as well as the city of Boston itself.
But when addressing mail to an address in Boston, usually, one uses the name of the neighborhood rather than the city: "Allston, MA 02134", "Dorchester, MA 02125", and so on.
I know of only one other city where this is the practice: New York City, where addresses outside Manhattan take the name of the borough (and the boroughs are in different SCFs anyway), and in Queens, the name of the neighborhood.
Here in Philadelphia, most everyone knows which neighborhood matches which ZIP code in SCFs 190xx (near suburbs) and 191xx (City of Philadelphia itself). But while mail to 190xx addresses takes the name of the community, mail to 191xx is styled "Philadelphia, PA 191xx" regardless what neighborhood attaches to the ZIP code.
Correct, in Bosotn you have to use the neighborhood because there are repeated street names in different neighborhoods. Washington Street in Downtown Boston is very different than the one in Dorchester. Harvard Street is all over the place. Multiple Centre Streets too, and George Street in Hyde Park vs George Street in Roxbury. Tremont Street in South End is unrelated to Tremont Street in Charlestown. Difference.
Towns and neighborhoods were established long ago and the boundaries matter. I remember in Hyde Park there was this period when my area of HP suddenly started getting "02126" mail and people were like naw that's Mattapan we want 02136 back! People protested, wrote letters and we eventually got our 02136 back in our part of Hyde Park.
In bosotn zipcode correlate directly with neighborhoods except for Dorchester where it has 3/4 zipcodes
02131- Roslindale
02132- West Roxbury
02119- Roxbury
02121, 02124, 02122, 021225- Dorchester
02128- East Boston
02126- Mattapan
02136- Hyde Park
02129- Charlestown
02127- South Boston
02130- Jamaica Plain
02120-Roxbury Crossing/Mission Hill
02118- South End
02116- Back Bay
02131- Roslindale
02132- West Roxbury
02119- Roxbury
02121, 02124, 02122, 021225- Dorchester
02128- East Boston
02126- Mattapan
02136- Hyde Park
02129- Charlestown
02127- South Boston
02130- Jamaica Plain
02120-Roxbury Crossing/Mission Hill
02118- South End
02116- Back Bay
A big one in my neck of the woods was 02135 for Brighton vs 02134 for Allston.
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 03-16-2022 at 09:53 AM..
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade
Arundel Mills/Hanover does feel like the Baltimore area. heavy heavy dose of suburbia but it still seems more Baltimore than DC because most everywhere that is an attraction in the DC area is super crowded and lowkey stressful. I don't find Arundel Mils to be like that. Its also much closer to Baltimore.
Yes it's above the "Rt. 32" imaginary border, so I'd mostly agree. Although when that mall was newer it was a lot closer to a split between the two areas. Again we're really talking the metro suburbs, and not the two cities at this point. Ain't nobody from DC proper driving out to Arundel Mills to go to the mall. Northern Prince George's, and maybe Eastern Montgomery you might find a few in there. Otherwise it's mostly Baltimore area folks. Although the casino is a closer mix I'd say.
Maybe the Boston metropolitan area just needs a better name than Greater Boston; something that rolls off the tongue. For San Francisco and its greater metropolitan area, people just say the Bay Area or San Francisco Bay Area at worst, and that's pretty well understood. People in Toronto area seems to actually say GTA or Golden Horsehoe. I think Greater Boston doesn't work as well for some reason. I like the idea of Paris of New England or Neo England though these have issues, too. Maybe GB as in Greater Boston also referred to as the GBs pronounced jeebees?
Yes it's above the "Rt. 32" imaginary border, so I'd mostly agree. Although when that mall was newer it was a lot closer to a split between the two areas. Again we're really talking the metro suburbs, and not the two cities at this point. Ain't nobody from DC proper driving out to Arundel Mills to go to the mall. Northern Prince George's, and maybe Eastern Montgomery you might find a few in there. Otherwise it's mostly Baltimore area folks. Although the casino is a closer mix I'd say.
Yep. I've been to the mall and the casino. Went to the casino once but have been to the mall a few times (albeit I prefer Towson).
One of the big differences betwenBost-Prov and Bmore-DC is Providence's key suburbs gravitate towards Boston/MA with the exception of Cranston and Warwick, the more developed suburbs gravitate North and East and well into MA.
In Boston, the most prominent suburbs are north and west away from providence and toward Lowell and Worcester, but the city itself extends very far south of its downtown compared to DC, towards Providence.
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In Baltimore the more prominent and "Baltimore-y) suburbs developed north and east as well- away from DC (Pikesville, Towson, Timonium, Dundlak, Harford County). This is a bit of a difference I've noticed.
In DC the most prominent/well-known/developed suburbs are north and west of DC.
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