Baltimore

I covered Baltimore before, briefly, in my Maryland blog (6/25/10), but if Hagerstown and Frederick deserve their own blogs, why not Baltimore?

It’s the biggest city in Maryland, located 30 minutes northeast of DC on 95, Route 1, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.  On my trips to NJ/NY, Baltimore winds up being right around the 1 hour mark of a four hour drive, the quarter mark, so to speak.  It has its own beltway, 695, which I’ve been around mainly to get to Towson.  Not one but two tunnels, Harbor and Fort McHenry, provide a bypass for traffic going to or from DC to NY.

 

Most recently I saw Clutch at the Shindig Festival at Carroll Park, which is over in western Baltimore near where the Montgomery Park building is; another Clutch show, back last July, put me up Charles Street to another part of town for the free Artscape Festival.   Baltimore is a city I learn by bits and pieces, as I’ve never lived or worked there.  Mainly it’s been concerts at Hammerjacks (ages ago) and the Ram’s Head Live in the downtown area (again, thanks to Clutch), or less often legal work.   The Circuit Court building is ancient – turn of the century style – and the downtown area features in “Die Hard 4”, masquerading, highly unsuccessfully, as Washington DC.   No one who has ever been to either city, much less both, would ever mistake one for the other.  “And Justice For All…” is another legal drama in Baltimore.  The other city Baltimore reminds me of, due to the heavy dose of monuments and fancy nineteenth century buildings, is Richmond, Virginia.

History.  Founded in 1729 as a town, named after Lord Baltimore (note: the band Sir Lord Baltimore are actually from Brooklyn, New York), it became a city in 1796 and incorporated in 1851.  It’s the site of Fort McHenry, the subject of Francis Scott Key’s famous song, “The Star Bangled Banner,” which of course is our poorly-sung national anthem.  Notable B-moreans are Edgar Allen Poe and H.L. Mencken.   The city boomed after the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opened in 1835.  During the Civil War a few riots persuaded the US to occupy the town.  I remember in school some of the more pedantic jerks used to snivel about George Washington not being the first President, facetiously citing several prior Presidents of the Continental Congress (or Congreff, as Woody might say), which was the provisional US government from 1773 to 1789.  Likewise, from December 1776 to February 1777, it was the capital of Bourgeois Revolutionary Soviet of America, as I like to call it. 

It suffered a fire in 1904, and riots in the Civil War, 1877, and 1968.  The Inner Harbor area, probably the nicest and most upscale neighborhood – where I’ve been on dates – was refurbished in the early 80s.  The city still has its share of crappy neighborhoods.  There’s a red light district close to Ram’s Head Live.  The harbor itself is fairly large – so much so that two tunnels have to bring traffic under it.

Which leads to my question:  why are there TWO tunnels?  The Harbor Tunnel opened in 1957; this is the tunnel I remember our family going through on trips to NYC and Long Island in the 1970s.   Apparently this wasn’t enough (though I don’t remember heavy traffic in the Harbor Tunnel), so they tied up 95 with the Fort McHenry Tunnel in 1985.  After that they renovated the Harbor Tunnel and opened it up again in 1990.  The Harbor Tunnel is fed by the 895 bypass, which hooks up to 95 at either end.  To me they’re pretty much the same, but I usually wind up taking the Harbor Tunnel by default and the Fort McHenry Tunnel just out of sheer boredom and variety.

National Bohemian is the city’s beer, although it’s not brewed in Baltimore anymore (NC and GA).  It’s now owned by, and tastes like, Pabst (which earned its Blue Ribbon at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893).  It’s called Natty Bo and has a one-eyed, mustachio’d mascot, Mr. Boh…who is rather distinctive even if the beer itself isn’t.

Sports.  The Cleveland Browns relocated in 1996 and became the Baltimore Ravens, an obvious tribute to Edgar Allen Poe.   They won the Super Bowl last year against the 49ers, and back in 2000 against the NY Giants:  Ray Lewis was on both teams.  The Colts relocated to Indianapolis in 1984, having started up in Baltimore in 1951.  The Colts beat the Cowboys in 1971, after having lost to the upstart Jets (led by Joe Namath) in 1969.  The baseball team, the Orioles, date from 1954 and won the World Series in 1967, 1970, and 1983.  I've passed by Camden Yards countless times but have never been to an Orioles game; the same with passing M&T Bank Stadium and never seeing the Ravens play.

Poe.   Seeing as they didn’t reference Mencken when renaming the Browns, I’d say Poe is more important to Baltimore then H.L.  Frank Zappa was born and grew up in Baltimore – I saw Zappa Play Zappa at a “rename a Baltimore city street after the musician” free festival – but moved to L.A. with his family in 1952 when he was 12 years old.  Poe himself had a rocky life and moved several times, living in Baltimore several times before dying there in 1849.  No other city – not Richmond, not Boston – seems to lay as much claim to him as Baltimore does.