21 years of living in Charm City
The speed in which people move, the art that wiggles its ways onto the side of buildings, the MICA art mart, BSA twigs program, the 2013 superbowl parade, the way the city feels on a Saturday. Despite my inability to write about the first impressions I have of Baltimore as it is has been my home for 21 years, I wanted to share my favorite things about my Charm City, and charm it has.
Recently my mother (a proud Loyola alum) and I made our way downtown for parents weekend at Loyola. In what was supposed to be a cruise around the inner harbor with my roommates and their out of towner relatives turned into a shocking reminder. Firstly, how many times can you go on a boat in the inner harbor in Baltimore and have a different experience, because for me that was every single person I knows six-teenth birthday party in a nutshell. However My mother and I were happy to be invited!
Arm and arm we paraded ourselves to the inner harbor twiddling our thumbs waterside waiting for my friends to arrive - to my surprise the boat cruise was indeed not at the inner harbor but indeed in fells point. So on what seemed like the busiest day in Baltimore my mother and I jumped into an uber hoping to make the boat in time - we did not. My mother looking at me with despair as I had only assumed the location of the event - only to be wrong. Instead we decided to venture over to Federal Hill to meet all of our family friends and enjoy our time while we waited for my friends to be done with the cruise.
Stuck in traffic my mother grunted with frustration - I then had a memory come to mind. I looked at my mother and said "I'm so happy to be in traffic" not just because of the time I got to spend alone with her but because this wasn't the case merely a few years ago. As a child I grew up shattered by the news my friends parents wouldn't let them come to my house, they didn't want their kids in such a "dangerous city". To me that was hard to hear, the riots in Baltimore had just occurred and nobody wanted to be here. The city's economy was plummeting, the tourists rates had dropped, and historic businesses were destroyed and some failed to reopen. I was over joyed to see traffic, to see a pickle festival, the Christmas market, the Billy Joel concert, the Orioles game, the Fells point festival, all on the SAME day. People wanted to be in this city I loved so much once again, it was beautiful.
Not only to still be in the city I love so much, but to experience it at such a low point and then see it flourish was more than I could've ever hoped for. It was almost as if I had blinked, from 7th grade to a senior in college my city was loved again, and not just by me this time but by so many. Many people think I'm over exaggerating or annoying when I overly correct people who say their from Baltimore City when indeed they are not - because to me - close to Baltimore is not he same as Baltimore. Since it was not long ago those same people were scared of the place I called home.
The Charm of this city will never fail to amaze me, its resilience, its cobblestone, the families that began, the business that have grown, the person I am because of it. Baltimore was just named by New York Times one of the top places to visit in 2024 and that has everything to do with the people who've stayed, the people who've loved this city so tight and so strongly throughout the years. I cannot wait for more people to create memories here and see with their own two eyes that "There's more than murder here".
Everything I could ever write or say about this city and its people could never be enough to describe the love I have for it. My favorite restaurants (The Food Market, Berthas Mussels(RIP), Petit Louis, Union Brewery, Cosima, Govans Farmers Market, and Eddies crab cakes) my favorite stores (Hunting ground, Get Shredded Vintage, the American Visionary Arts museum gift shop, Harbor East) my favorite places (the belvedere hotel, the owl bar, the wurst bar, Bluebird, Charles Village, Belvedere Square, Graffiti Alley, Fells Point, Federal Hill, Bolton Hill, the Walters) and the lists go on will always be a part of me and what I love. Truthfully I don't know how much longer I'll be in this city of mine and recently Ive began to look at the places I love differently and think about the fact I might not be close to them soon.
Despite its many flaws, there's something about getting up on a Saturday and having the freedom to explore this city that never fails to surprise me. I'm a proud Balti-moron who will drown just about anything in old bay, and enjoy a Natty Boh and a crab dip loaded hotdog at the Orioles game. If its sunny you'll find me enjoying a lemon with a peppermint stick and enjoying my energetic and lovely Baltimore HON!
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