Will Baltimore Ever Be As Great As Cleveland?

Submitted by BilgeWalker t3_113w7z3 in baltimore

Inflammatory title for attention.

I live in Cleveland now, in a neighborhood called Ohio City, and move back to Maryland this summer. I'm from the suburbs of PG County and spent most of the last 8 years in the middle of nowhere.

I am trying to recreate my experience in Cleveland with a residential neighborhood of single family homes and duplexes and occasional apartments that look like houses and some rowhomes; where I can walk to bars, restaurants, and a grocery store; and hop on a train that will take me downtown or to the airport.

Is there anything like this back there?

Like right now I live in a thousand square foot apartment on the first floor of a house built before 1900. There's a house down the street that's 1700 square feet and built in 2007 with a nice little fenced in yard and driveway that just sold for 360k.

I want something like that! Or like the house I am in now but I own the whole thing! But I haven't found a neighborhood that has everything I want. Any ideas?

I will say I have looked at, like. Catonsville. But I want to live in Baltimore!

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AreWeCowabunga t1_j8smpym wrote

Sure, we'd all like to flee to the Cleve and club-hop down at the Flats and have lunch with Little Richard, but we fight those urges. At least Baltimore has an Ikea.

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BilgeWalker OP t1_j8so2kl wrote

Replying to AreWeCowabunga (#1,832,519)

Okay so that's not SUPER helpful, perhaps my headline was a little TOO inflammatory.

Sounds like you're at least vaguely familiar with the area. You know what Ohio City is looking like these days? Know anywhere similar to it in Baltimore?

I'm from the wrong side of Maryland to know anything about neighborhoods there and haven't lived in the state for years so recommendations would be appreciated.

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pakora2 t1_j8spxc3 wrote

Hamilton neighborhood is probably the closest but no trains.

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moderndukes t1_j8sqogw wrote

> Inflammatory title for attention.

If you actually want help then that was a very stupid idea.

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BilgeWalker OP t1_j8sriin wrote

Replying to pakora2 (#1,832,814)

Danke, I will take a look!

I've noticed that both MARC and light rail stations seem to be either A) somewhere I don't want to live or B) Somewhere I can't afford to live.

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Snoo-Snoo2 t1_j8svc1u wrote

Mount Vernon seems like this to me? You can light rail to the airport, it's super easy to get to Fells, downtown, Fed hill, Hampden. There are some bigger buildings although Baltimore's downtown skyscrapers are gorgeous so that should hardly be a negative. And Mt Vernon itself is beautiful: old mansions and churches, the Washington monument etc.

The only downside is that it just has that one grocery store which seems... ok-ish? You have Streets in downtown not too far away and a Safeway just a bit north. And sure, you can buy houses for 360k in Baltimore.

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Yellohsub t1_j8swel1 wrote

Hampden/Medfield if you count the light rail as a train to the airport

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PuebloEsNoBueno t1_j8t231r wrote

Replying to BilgeWalker (#1,833,583)

You’ll be hard pressed to find too many detached homes (come to think of it, I don’t know if I’ve ever actually seen a detached home in Mount Vernon) in that neighborhood. It’s a very dense urban neighborhood. It’s “very city”.

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sit_down_man t1_j8t2nvz wrote

Replying to BilgeWalker (#1,832,953)

Hampden and Mt. Washington fit this criteria. Mt. Washington is more expensive and has more detached homes. Both are walking to light rail. And both have walking to a commercial section with bars and restaurants. Hampden feels less suburban too.

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DolemiteGK t1_j8tcmtk wrote

Hey Floydster, I would stay in Cleveland if you need to hide from the Black Crusaders and Grover from Sesame St

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someguyontheintrnet t1_j8tcp10 wrote

Replying to BilgeWalker (#1,833,583)

Baltimore is a city of row homes. There are really only detached homes far from downtown. Those areas tend to have less ‘amenities’ like rail transit, and the ones that do are more expensive. Public transportation in most places will be bus-centric.

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TerranceBaggz t1_j8tk94p wrote

There are single family areas in Baltimore, but most of them wouldn’t dare allow duplexes and apartments. I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of single family zoning. Single family homes pay far less in property taxes per sqft than apartments, duplexes, row homes and towers. Single family zoning also prevents walkable neighborhoods. You can easily find a walkable neighborhood with bars, restaurants, stores, libraries, medical, etc within walking distance, but they’re not going to include single family homes by and large. Baltimore is going to be row home neighborhoods when walkable. There are neighborhoods like that that also have access to trains/public transit and bike lanes. The neighborhoods near Penn Station are probably the best for this mix.

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LLDN t1_j8twrb5 wrote

Replying to BilgeWalker (#1,833,572)

Totally agree - as someone who also lived in Ohio City for a while, it's going to get you pretty close to that vibe. I'd also compare that area and by Hopkins similar to the East Side and by CWRU, but JHU and CWRU are medical-heavy universities so you have the neighborhoods there that are older money (think shaker heights) but also museums and institutions.
I'd also say unlike Cleveland, Baltimore has a more bustling downtown or at least neighborhoods more centrally located to downtown. Canton could capture a bit of the flats, but less train accessible.

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ChampagneandAlpacas t1_j8u8s5k wrote

Replying to Snoo-Snoo2 (#1,833,755)

I'm a half block south of the park. Safeway is walkable for small shops, and there are at least 4 other options for groceries within a 5 min drive from my place (sprouts, harris teeter, target, whole foods). Not many detached homes here, but lots of large rowhome options!

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mickirishname t1_j8ujt25 wrote

Before I got to the bottom I was going to suggest Catonsville.

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pperdecker t1_j8w9fe2 wrote

Just outside the city is Arbutus. You've got bars, restaurants, a good coffee shop, movie theatre, and MD's oldest comic book store all on the little main street surrounded by single family homes. Cheaper than Catonsville and depending where you live, less than a mile walk from the MARC train to Baltimore, DC, and the BWI. It's not too crowded and the UMBC campus is nearby so there are occasionally major concerts or events you can walk to (if Limp Bizkit and AEW wrestling is "major", lol).

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old_at_heart t1_j96ptxb wrote

Replying to moderndukes (#1,833,873)

Last time I saw it, people were dining beside it in the Flats. It was a pretty pleasant setting.

Of course, Randy Newman referred to the Cuyahoga catching fire in one of his songs. Good ol' Randy the city-slagger - at least of the cities that don't have the wealth and prestige of the very largest in the US.

It's been a while, though. My impression was that there was potential for a lot, but what was there was in real danger. At the same time, nothing could take away the lakefront parks, with a view of the water and the city. When I was there, the downtown area had an arcade of little shops that was wonderful. It didn't seem to be growing, and I don't know if it's still there.

Then there's the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame, which had just been built when I was in Ohio. A pigrimage to view John Cippolina's amps/speakers would still be something I'd be interested in.

The area around the art museum was one of those dignified older uptown settings; I think Severance Hall is in the vicinity there, too.

And towards the suburbs, there's Parma, not slagged by Randy Newman but by the legendary Ghoulardi. I thought it was an attractive area in a near-urb sort of way. I don't know about the particular attitudes of the inhabitants, though; they might not be so attractive.

As far as I'm concerned, Cleveland is a place that weeds out the city-haters who nonetheless pay lip service to the richest and most prestigious cities in the hopes of some of the prestige rubbing off on them. As a big city, Cleveland cannot fail to be an amazing place.

My main beef with Cleveland is the whining of its football fans about being without an NFL team for two whole years (count 'em) - and even then they had a promise from the NFL for a replacement team. They are still furious at Art Modell for moving the Browns to Baltimore.

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