Baltimore: My overlooked new hometown

LITTLE ITALY: What a pleasant surprise Little Italy is! Why should I be surprised? It is a well established old neighborhood near downtown. I suppose I am surprised because I didn’t know better. I grew up in New York. Italian food & Italo-American culture is a way of life for everyone. Baked ziti was our macaroni & cheese. Great pizza is so pervasive that it’s probably more New York than Italy. If you get a hero for a party it will have pepperoni, salami, and provolone. So from that perspective Southernish Baltimore with its crab culture could not possibly encompass an authentic Italian neighborhood. As I matured I learned that I was very wrong. Little Italy in New York may have been all but swallowed up by Chinatown, but Baltimore’s is alive and well. Another reason for the surprise is that it hides in plain sight. When I was younger it was the only neighborhood we could see as the family drove from the Inner Harbor to Fells Point. Glittering Harbor East was a wasteland of dilapidated warehouses, neglected asphalt lots and abandoned buildings. I guess we couldn’t believe such a charming neighborhood could abut such a desolate area. Now it is overshadowed by that same, but much different, area hiding it in plain sight once again. The small neighborhood is very tightly knit, with many families of Italian heritage still living there. It is filled with many Italian restaurants and even bakeries. The houses are well kept and life still seems to center around the local parish. While the community definitely looks like Baltimore and not Bologna, its family focus and the smell of fresh Italian food is reminiscent of my trips to Italy. With the population explosion downtown, the rebirth of the surrounding area, and a nearby Metro stop, Little Italy is more accessible than ever. This is good news for the restaurants, especially after the decline of patronage by suburbanites after the riots. However, there is a danger of this community being reinvented or gentrified like its neighbors, and yet I’m not too worried at the moment. Houses do not go for sale frequently here because nobody wants to move from their traditional home, a little like Italy.  

OLD GOUCHER: Yes the name Old Goucher sounds like a community full of old curmudgeons, but it’s actually the former campus of Towson’s Goucher College. The institution left a legacy of beautiful buildings and a rich historic district. Until very recently though this neighborhood was in serious decline. South of Charles Village it was forgotten, its beautiful architectural treasures slowly fading. It had a reputation as a community of drug addicts, their dealers, and social service offices. But something magical seems to be happening in the community now. Homes and entire blocks are being lovingly rehabilitated, not by large development companies, but by people who see this central community’s potential. Civic activism has fostered a plethora of new businesses. This new vibrancy has attracted residents seeking an edgy, affordable, and attractive neighborhood, not far from downtown or Penn Station. It seems some of the creative energy is spilling in from adjacent Charles North and its art community. Moreover, many people from nearby Mount Vernon have relocated to the area attracted by the new businesses and the huge affordable houses that exist in the community. Interestingly, Old Goucher seems to have developed a small Korean enclave where the smell of Korean BBQ pervades Charles Street and Korean characters can be found on store signs. It is a mecca for urban pioneers who want to help create and stabilize a neighborhood and make it their own, while incorporating what was already there. Has Old Goucher turned the corner? Not fully, but the turn is happening and there doesn’t seem to be any brakes. In a city renowned for corruption and inaction, it is the neighborhood residents and associations that pick up the slack in Baltimore to help make it the dynamic city it should be. Old Goucher may be the leading example at the moment of proud residents digging in (literally & figuratively) and nurturing this garden back to its flowering glory.