I’m a Bawlmerian now

.

Little Italy sure is… um, Italian. Lots of Italian bakeries and cafes, and charming Fells Point is just a few blocks down the street, right on the other side of a giant ghetto-type black neighborhood which the neighbors told me to avoid at night. (Too late, though; I’d already walked right through it.)

I also wandered all over downtown looking for a decent place to get dinner, and had to settle for a cheesesteak from a pizza place on Baltimore Street, right in the middle of the local red-light district. Yeesh.

These overlay area codes are confusing. Is a 443 number in Baltimore still local even if my phone is a Baltimore 410? Because my ISP’s dial-up numbers are all 443’s. :P

Comments

  1. Krissy says:
    2002-08-18 at 12:15

    Hookers notwithstanding, I love a good cheesesteak. However, the next time you want to grab a bite to eat and aren’t sure where to go, check out http://www.zagat.com . If you do a search for Little Italy in Baltimore, you get a handful of restaurants that look pretty appetizing.

    And while you’re at it, send some cannolli my way from one of those lil Italian (whoops – Italian-American!) bakeries, eh? :)

  2. Wayne Whitmer says:
    2002-08-18 at 14:17

    Yes (443) is local. They just had to add another area code because they were running out of numbers. As far as Fells Point, Love it, but don’t get caught there on a Friday or Saturday night, it’s a college hang-out like no other with plenty of intoxicated students. Canoli, Frank’s is the best, but that’s in the County. Funny that right where all the nudie bars, porn shops, etc is the prominent presence of the Baltimore City Police Dept. You definitely do want to be careful in Bmore city, I lived in the County, where the crime and murder rate weren’t as high. Mayor O’malley who rocks in his own band O’Malley’s March in Irish pubs etc is a great Mayor and has worked hard to bring down the murder rate below 300/yr. It also helped that he hired a prominent NYC Chief of Police to head up Bmores department. Many don’t like his tactics, but that’s because he has cops in your face 24/7, walking the beat, and he has a great affect on lowering the drug and crime rate.

  3. Paulo says:
    2002-08-18 at 14:56

    Wayne – Yup, I saw the worst of it — white trash college students brawling with black homies, gay peep shows, and hookers of doubtful sexual identity at every other corner. Then I wandered a little more, saw the police station, and laughed.

  4. Sarah says:
    2002-08-19 at 20:18

    When I was in middle school we used to go to a shelter right in that area to do the Fifth Sunday evening church service. It was right on the other side of Little Italy.

    I never got to know downtown well, but I had friends who worked at Sabatino’s…as far as the best cheesesteak in town, you’d have to go to a little Vietnamese place right around the corner from the old Armory (near the Meyerhoff). We used to sneak out of the Armory during indoor track meets and run around the corner to get huge, gloopy cheesesteak sandwiches. It was alright for me, though, I was a shotputter.

    Lista’s has pretty good TexMex, and Bertha’s usually had good music (I don’t eat the mussels).

    I don’t know if Louie’s Bookstore Cafe is still there, or if its any good anymore, but I think that’s on Charles St. Valerie could probably tell you if its there.

    Those are my two cents.

    Annapolis is my old stomping ground, so I could tell you all about that.