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Baltimore, United States
Photo: Flickr user: sneakerdog https://www.flickr.com/people/sneakerdog/, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
East Baltimore is a sparsely populated, mostly residential district covering about a third of the entire city in the very rough east of downtown and the more suburban-feeling northeast.
From the travel guide. Select a place for details, a map and what is nearby.
Only the American Visionary Arts Museum could claim to be more unique than this very off-the-beaten-path museum, and it might be wrong. The catchy name betrays the extremely disturbing content (make sure your kids are prepared). It's appropriately disturbing, though, as much of African American history is horrifying even without seeing it reproduced with life-sized wax figures. The first room you enter sets the tone: a cramped slave ship, packed with brutalized slaves watched over by a sadistic slavemaster. The lynching scene is in a separate room downstairs, so you can get through the museum without getting those particular nightmares. It's not all doom and gloom, though, as the story of African Americans is full of personal triumphs and huge contributions to the society of not just this country, but of the world.
Greenmount Cemetery is Baltimore's most interesting after Westminster Hall downtown, with beautiful, tranquil, rolling hills, and interesting Gothic chapels and statuary. Among the most famous interred are a long list of Maryland governors, John Wilkes Booth and a few of his co-conspirators, Johns Hopkins himself, as well as William Thompson Walters and his son Henry Walters, the famous art collectors and founders of the Walters Art Museum. Fans of the HBO series, The Wire should recognize this as the location for several important scenes. Pick up a map from the office to the right of the gates at Oliver St. In May and October, you can take guided tours—check the website for details.
While not really a place to visit, unless you are sick or injured, the administrative center, the Billings Building, is a beautiful work of architecture, and a principal East Baltimore landmark. Its prestige is likewise enormous, almost always named the United States' premiere hospital, and by extension, many consider it the best in the world.
Open year round, this indoor ice rink is too far away for your average city visitor, unless they have a car, but it's a good escape for a family from touring the sights.
Similarly remote, and a similarly fun escape from the city center. It is Maryland style duck-pin bowling, so it's especially great for kids who aren't yet ready to wield the big balls. They also have a video arcade, pizza and beer, and easy parking.
A simple sit-down BBQ joint, offering ribs, pulled pork, brisket, etc. of different regional styles, as well as some real mouth-watering Eastern Shore BBQ chicken. Aside from the chicken, the consensus standouts would be the signature Big Bad Wolf sandwich, the pork ribs, baked beans, and just about any of those sauces.
Chaps has long served the best pit beef in the city, and is the place to come if you want the real deal. The location is seedy (but perfectly safe), next to a strip club and an adult video wholesaler. Chaps itself is a nice place, however, to sit and enjoy your meal on the wood picnic tables enveloped in Ravens colors. The pit beef eclipses all else on the menu, but the dry-rub ribs as well as the rice pudding merit a little extra expense. (The lines, which shot out the door after the gurus at the Food Network, Travel Channel, et al., caught the little sandwich shop in their massive spotlight, have thankfully died down.)
If over by the hospital, you could do a lot worse than Dino's. Expect big, cheap, tasty portions of greasy pizza, gyros, subs, etc., as well as some surprisingly good salads, but more importantly a nice, clean dining room--a bit of an oasis in these parts.
It's a new diner (occupying the space formerly known as the Golden Key, a venerable grease institution), but serves a big side of nostalgia and 1950s kitsch. Photos of Hamilton in the 50s dominate the walls, and seating is in cozy booths with individual jukebox machines. There are plans to expand into dinner, but for now spoons are greasy only for breakfast and lunch.
A slice of East Baltimore that attracts, rather than scares away, the Hopkins crowd. It provides a sense of balance to the health facilities across the street--you'll find here only unhealth. Pizza, greasy subs, and just about anything fried. It's delicious (and very cheap). It also serves to unify locals with the professional hospital crowd in a way that only fast heart-destroying food can. There is a little bit of seating available, but it's the kind of food you wouldn't mind eating while standing outside.
Northeastern Market, est. 1885, in the heart of East Baltimore, is probably the least touristy of the city's many public markets, and it's also one of its largest. Jumbled and a little dirty, it implausibly received the City Paper's award for best public market. It is without a doubt colorful enough to warrant a visit if you are in the area, though, and you can wander in along with hungry Hopkins interns, mingling with grocery shopping East Baltimoreans, to find some tasty eats: favorites include sandwiches at Rex's Deli, OK Oriental (Chinese), Hot Mustard (Korean, just behind the market), and Shore's Seafood.
Lost in the 50s brings the kitsch, while Overlea brings nothing but authenticity--it approaches the Platonic diner ideal type. Cheap beyond all reason, breakfast all day, Hon-served scrapple, and over 65 years of stool-use. The only digressions are the notably clean and bright interior, and the strong Bawlmer accents wafting around the room, piggybacking the smell of syrup.
Cheap and delicious, Woodlea Bakery is far off the beaten path, and an unorthodox choice for desserts, but a very savvy choice for travelers in East Baltimore with a car.
A hidden diamond in the rough of East Baltimore, this "house" is little more than a large shack, but it cooks up some of the city's best crabs. Go ahead and splurge on the large crabs: the prices are usually very good here, and they don't kid around when they say large. There are plenty of other options, if you aren't in the mood for effortful eating, or if crabs are out of season. Coddies and mac n' cheese could fill you up for less than $5, or you could go through the fried fresh shrimp, crabcakes, whiting, fried oysters, etc. This is a true Baltimore seafood house.
An unassuming Italian restaurant, with surprisingly good food inside, and very friendly service (and patrons!). The pastas are as excellent as the pizzas, which come either thin crust or thick pan pizza. The meaty crabcakes are another pleasant surprise.
Koco's has as good a claim as any to the best crabcake in the city. Now that that's out of the way--it's a cheery neighborhood pub with various standard pub grub and derivations thereof: coconut shrimp, jerk chicken, garden salad with buffalo chicken strips, but also ye olde fish n' chips, burgers, and stand-out wings.
High quality coffee drinks of all stripes along with fresh salads and wraps, in the back of the Broadway Research Building.
Given a nod in Esquire Magazine's best 150 bars in America (sharing the distinction with only one other Maryland bar, the Brewer's Art in Midtown), this is a good Bawlmer biker bar to get your teeth knocked down your throat by a big tattooed broad. Or just to generally have a very colorful, entertaining evening (don't misunderstand, the place is absolutely accepting of newcomers of any stripes). It is also a great place for live rock music. John Waters loves the place.
A basic, clean, 2-diamond, mid-sized motor lodge right off I-95/I-895, with free WiFi and parking.
Baltimore's biggest and likely most beloved comic book store (for those who know the area, anyway), with a huge selection of comics, manga, miscellaneous paraphernalia, games, and DVDs. Friendly, well stocked, and well organized. Weekly gaming sessions and movie nights.
Preeminent rims shop and fictional front of the Marlo operation in The Wire, there just is no better place for a lark cruiser purchase, or just some fancy upgrades to trick out your current car. This is another one of those "real Baltimore" spots.
This is basically a high end "head shop," where you'll find glass blowers actually creating bongs in shop. Custom glass pipes of all sorts can be commissioned at the shop. Plenty of other, ahem, paraphernalia, but expect it to be a bit more pricey than usual.
A skater-owned and operated skate shop, with an ethos that includes donations and demonstrations for lower income communities and keeping a small ramp in the back, in case they start feeling bored. Pronounced "view," and stocked with apparel, boards, and accessories.
This little shop has a pretty wild variety of chocolates, truffles, and other candies. The City Paper really likes its marzipan.
Sells beans only, but they are the best coffee beans money can buy!
By car
A car is the only truly sensible way for a visitor to get around East Baltimore. It is safer and more convenient, and you will find parking basically everywhere.
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