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Old 10-01-2012, 01:09 AM
 
3,352 posts, read 6,402,656 times
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Hello All,
I currently live in MoCo County (Silver Spring) and visit Bethesda often, but as my name states, I was raised in Baltimore. My question my sound a little crazy but when you get down to the specifics Bethesda does hold its weight pretty well as the main city of the state. Of course it's not as recognized nationally or internationally as Baltimore but its importance cannot be denied. Bethesda (I consider Bethesda to be from Chevy Chase to North Bethesda) is extremely wealthy with businesses, individuals, and government (state and federal); stores such as Apple have two locations in Bethesda while Baltimore has none, its boasts a upscale shopping district with one of the nations most expensive stores, it has defense contractors, the NIH, etc.

While Baltimore is def. more city (urban) in comparison and does have its share of amenities (I would rather live in Baltimore than Bethesda because it feels more down to earth), I just don't know if Baltimore has more power in the state than Bethesda does.

So what do you say? Of course Baltimore has the history but in the present day Bethesda is holding the crown in my eyes.
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Old 10-01-2012, 05:18 AM
 
Location: Greenville, NC
2,305 posts, read 6,063,233 times
Reputation: 1413
Baltimore hands down. Bethesda has a downtown of sorts with a few 10 or so story buildings but it doesn't even come close to Baltimore. Baltimore has The Inner Harbor, a real downtown, the Orioles, the Ravens, Camden Yards, the National Aquarium, Shock Trauma, Johns Hopkins, the list goes on and on.
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Old 10-01-2012, 05:27 AM
 
Location: BMORE!
10,071 posts, read 9,833,597 times
Reputation: 5725
This guy just compared a suburb to the largest city in the state. Bethesda vs Towson would be a better comparison.
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Old 10-01-2012, 06:24 AM
 
Location: NYC
7,305 posts, read 13,439,090 times
Reputation: 3714
I see what you're saying (I guess); Bethesda is probably home to more people with national power. But certainly not in state power. Still, I would call that an indicator of Bethesda being the "main city" of the state.
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Old 10-01-2012, 08:36 AM
 
92 posts, read 427,480 times
Reputation: 84
I've always considered Bethesda more of an extension of DC. No one can deny the city's growth and economic power, but I think Baltimore is much more representative of Maryland as a state. Honestly, I'd rather hang out in Baltimore than Bethesda, it has more to offer and feels much more like a big city.
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Old 10-01-2012, 09:16 AM
 
1,254 posts, read 680,098 times
Reputation: 364
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMOREBOY View Post
Hello All,
I currently live in MoCo County (Silver Spring) and visit Bethesda often, but as my name states, I was raised in Baltimore. My question my sound a little crazy but when you get down to the specifics Bethesda does hold its weight pretty well as the main city of the state. Of course it's not as recognized nationally or internationally as Baltimore but its importance cannot be denied. Bethesda (I consider Bethesda to be from Chevy Chase to North Bethesda) is extremely wealthy with businesses, individuals, and government (state and federal); stores such as Apple have two locations in Bethesda while Baltimore has none, its boasts a upscale shopping district with one of the nations most expensive stores, it has defense contractors, the NIH, etc.

While Baltimore is def. more city (urban) in comparison and does have its share of amenities (I would rather live in Baltimore than Bethesda because it feels more down to earth), I just don't know if Baltimore has more power in the state than Bethesda does.

So what do you say? Of course Baltimore has the history but in the present day Bethesda is holding the crown in my eyes.
The biggest city in Maryland is Baltimore....right? Columbia is second, and Columbia is known as Baltimore's suburb. So the answer is, Baltimore! Love Little Italy....
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Old 10-01-2012, 09:46 AM
 
1,106 posts, read 2,866,681 times
Reputation: 417
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Martin View Post
Baltimore hands down. Bethesda has a downtown of sorts with a few 10 or so story buildings but it doesn't even come close to Baltimore. Baltimore has The Inner Harbor, a real downtown, the Orioles, the Ravens, Camden Yards, the National Aquarium, Shock Trauma, Johns Hopkins, the list goes on and on.
This.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KodeBlue View Post
This guy just compared a suburb to the largest city in the state. Bethesda vs Towson would be a better comparison.
Annnnd this.
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Old 10-01-2012, 01:06 PM
 
Location: DC/Brooklyn, NY/Miami, FL
1,178 posts, read 2,939,800 times
Reputation: 391
Baltimore versus the whole Montgomery county is a better comparison.... the largest city in the state vs the largest and richest county.
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Old 10-01-2012, 10:39 PM
 
Location: Fort Worth, TX
9,394 posts, read 15,640,076 times
Reputation: 6262
Baltimore, and this is from someone raised in Bethesda. The Thes is a nice area, but come on... you can't compare driving through Bethesda to driving through Baltimore. I was doing just that this past weekend, went up to White Marsh to buy a car. Let me tell ya, driving up 895 and 95 shows you quite a bit of Charm City. I'd say the Port of Baltimore alone makes it the main city.

Bethesda is an extension of NW DC in my mind. As someone else said, Bethesda vs Towson is a better comparison. I don't think Baltimore vs MoCo is good either... one is a relatively dense urban area and the other is a largely suburban county with a bit of farm country still around.
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Old 10-01-2012, 10:46 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,693,095 times
Reputation: 6412
Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville etc are all important and have pretty impressive downtowns, but they are still suburbs and suburbs of DC.

This is not even close. The answer is clearly Baltimore.
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