[OT] Baltimore Maryland

[Richards]

Originally posted by Joshua Dyal:

John Waters' home town? Wow, is that a claim to fame or what!

Better yet, it's the birthplace of Frank Zappa!

Johnathan

 

[UniversalMonster]

I live in Columbia, about 20 minutes away from Baltimore (closer than Annapolis!). Baltimore is ok- I wouldn't live in the city, but it's not a bad area.

You may be horrified if you have never been to Maryland ( I was, coming here from Texas).

People are really rude here and probably the worse drivers in the country. Once you get used to that it's straight butter.


I can even hook you up with a gaming group!

 

[UniversalMonster]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>John Waters' home town? Wow, is that a claim to fame or what!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>Better yet, it's the birthplace of Frank Zappa!

Also, Baltimore is where Edgar Allan Poe died in the gutter. He's buried here.

 

[Tortoise]

Hi,
I live in Reisterstown, a suburb northwest of Baltimore. I was born and raised in the town. I don't spend a whole lot of time actually IN the town itself, my gaming friends, job, family are all located in the surrounding suburbs.
Baltimore is a port city, with lots of things to see and do there. Good libraries, some museums, the National Aquarium (a title shared with the one in DC), pro sports, some great restaurants, and the local music/club scene is improving (not on the scale of DC/New York, though).
Baltimore is also a "blue collar" city, lots of working class folk doing their biz in the local factories, warehouses and such. Baltimore also suffers from the same issues that large urban centers have: crime, drugs, blight. There are bad neighborhoods, and good ones, lower-income neighborhoods, and higher income ones.
If you are looking for a place to live, the further away from the city you live, the better the situation. The exceptions are the inner city neighborhoods of Mount Vernon/Bolton Hill, Federal Hill, Roland Park (all fairly nice places to live if you can afford it). Outside of the city, Towson, Owings Mills, White Marsh, Reisterstown, Catonsville, and Linthicum are some of the nicer places to live, while you might want to avoid some of the neighborhoods like Dundalk, Middle River, Essex, Woodlawn, Parkville, and Glen Burnie. In each community I've listed as "avoid", there are exceptions to the rule. Mind you, this is the opinion of a life-long Baltimore resident!
As far as gaming goes, there are a few local gaming stores, located all about the city, most of which are in suburbs.
If you want any more specifics, send me an email, and I'll fill you in even further on my home town...

Aegis

I happen to agree in part with most of this, but Parkville shouldn't be on the avoid list. There are areas within Parkville where crime and punks are not a problem. I live in one of those oasis and love it.

What area will you be working in? That will help us know where your closest likely living spaces might be that are worth looking into.

Game stores are kind of sparse which is strange considering the number of gamers in the area who could use a truely good game store. You can find them though and most comic shops can double for game stores if you're willing to tell the retailer what you're after.

 

[AegisEversoaring]

Woops!
Yes, Parkville IS cool, a few friends live there, in fact. Made a mistake in editing, my bad!

Forgot to add:
The humidity here can be torturous if you aren't from the Mid-Atlantic region, or someplace like...umm...Panama. It's humid here almost year round.
Oh, and yes (as I am currently a recovering victim from an auto accident) I can vouch for the poor drivers!
Like every large, urban, industrial city (Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Philly, DC, Miami, et al), there are places to avoid, and places which are quite cool. Just use a little bit of common sense, make some friends, and all should be well. Baltimore is a different town, despite how it looks, Maryland is a southern state, so the pace here is kinda slow, despite being a fairly large town. You can drive out of the city and in twenty minutes, be in the middle of the country.

Pat Sajack (of Wheel o Fortune Fame) lives in MD, but don't let that discourage you...

-Aegis-

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Game stores are kind of sparse which is strange considering the number of gamers in the area who could use a truely good game store.

I don't know about game stores in Baltimore, however ....

DC is about 1 hour south of Balitmore, roughly 45 minutes west of DC is Chantilly, VA, home of the Game Parlor: http://www.gameparlor.com/

I can not sing its praises enough. The store is clean. The salespeople are friendly and knowledgeable. It has an excellent stock of WotC and many d20 products as well as wargames (it seems to have a lot of comics, but I don't know anything about comics so I can't comment). I have had several pleasant, spontanious, adult conversations with fellow patrons. There are typically pick up games to play and enjoy.

It is honestly the best gaming store I have ever been to.

That being said, the best used CD store I know of is in Baltimore in Fell's Point. So is the best place I know of for Sunday brunch: the Blue Moon.

 

[cptg1481]

Hey, I play with Peter and Rayners. I also live in Columbia and agree with Peter that this area takes some getting used to. The people are generally rude, and stand offish. Everything, and I mean everything costs more than it should. Traffic here is a big bummer and should be seriously considered before you comit. Even short trips take a while, there is no running out to the store - it seems to always takes an hour to get anywhere. The very notion of customer service is a foreign concept here.

I rarely wenture forth into the "big city" but I have had nothing but good experiances (wiht the exception of customer service - it's just not popular I guess) things to say about it. There are plenty of cool day trips, museums and events for all types of tastes. The Inner Harbor is a great place to hang out for the day. The restaurants are well worth the money, which can give you sticker shock the first few times you pay seven bucks for a beer, but the food, which is one of my great loves in life is most excellent whereever you go. I take my family to diner there every week or so. However, I have to admit that my oppinion may be schewed some because of my semi-retired status. We NEVER go on the weekend or holidays only during the week.

With regards to gaming there I can find what ever I need or want within a 25 mile radius of our home. I think this place was made for gamers. My assesment is that there is a grand market here since there are many "geeky" type jobs in the area. I mean no offence, since I am somewhat of a geek myself but the IT, intelligence and defence industries here are the center of that market. I don't know if we just like those type jobs or what but we are here in droves...I've never seen anything like it. It's IMHO a "Mecca" of sorts for us.

Hope this helps....

 

[Old One]

Recently Returned...

I moved back to the area in 2000 after leaving for military service in 1981. The Baltimore Metro area is pretty diverse and I agree with much of the commentary on not living in the city proper. Housing costs are reasonable if you are renting in most areas, but purchase can be pricey. We relocated from Charlotte, NC and were shocked at the house prices in the Timonium/Towson area (north of the city), where we live. Gas runs ~ $1.40/gallon currently and there is a so-so public transportation network from suburbia into the city proper

There is a ton to do within a 2-hour radius of Baltimore, however...

All the DC museums, the Chesapeake Bay, Philadelphia, mountains, etc. Baltimore has a small, but varied, club/music scene and there are a smattering of decent game stores scattered about the 'burbs. There are a goodly number of gamers, most of which seem to be located between Baltimore and DC.

It is a big area, however, do you know exactly where you would be working? That might help us narrow it down a bit.

~ Old One

 

[Barovan]

I grew up in Columbia, lived in Atlanta and my sistern lives downtown, about 3 blacks from Camden Yards. I would not live in the city but I like the country (I live in Savage now). As to the people being rude, I think the farther north you go the less generally polite people become. And as to drivers, I think whenever anyone moves the think the drivers in the new place are the worst! I hated the drivers in Atlanta.

I do not know the areas north of Bal'mer but I know if you live south of the city you are smack dab in between three cities, (DC and Bal'mer are about 60 miles apart, maybe less) DC, Bal'mer, and DC. So you can get three distinct cities to visit with ease. And you are also not to far from the Eastern Shore (another world to all us western shore folks). If you like seafood you will love Bal'mer and Annapolis.

Also some others from Baltimore/MD. Babe Ruth was born in Baltimore. Kathy Gifford (Regis and Kathy) was from Bowie. Jim Henson (Muppets) went to UMCP as do Connie Chung.

I am sure I can come up with more, as I am very fond of the MD area, so I may not be the best person to ask if this is a good place to live. As I know I want to live here and I have no desre to leave!

 

[Darraketh]

I can't say anything about the city itself but I did go sailing on the "Pride of Baltimore II" yesterday. That was fun! They fired a canon to salute the Coast Guard tall ship "Eagle" that was visiting here also. The Pride is a replica of a War of 1812 privateer.