Baltimore/North Baltimore


 * For the town of North Baltimore, Ohio see Van Buren

North Baltimore is a large section of the city sprawling north towards Towson, and is home to Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus.

Understand
For visitors, chances are that all you will want to see is in two neighborhoods:


 * Greater Charles Village is the collection of small neighborhoods along and around Charles St north of the Jones Falls Expressway, including the Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins University and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Charles St is lively, with lots of good dining options, bars, and other assorted shops and things to do.
 * Hampden is Baltimore quirkiness at its most extreme. It is a singularly eclectic neighborhood, with an odd mix of gentrification, eccentric long-time residents, the occasional drunk, and hipster/artist arrivals dubbed locally as "Hampsters." What, exactly, is that distinctively quirky Baltimore element? Too eccentric to define, it is a weird combination of assorted beehive hairdos, offensive John Waters flicks, arcane local comic books, Bawlmerese, calling people "hon," assorted strange 1950s nicknacks, ice cream soda fountains, extremely gaudy glasses, and other assorted traditions one would not find elsewhere. If you would like to peer a little further into Hampden culture, John Waters' Pecker is basically a personal tribute to the neighborhood, and don't worry, it's one of his least-offensive flicks. The main commercial strip is on 36th St, known locally as The Avenue, and you will find virtually everything of interest here.

By car

 * The Jones Falls Expressway (I-83; locally called the JFX) enters the area from the northwest.
 * N Charles St (Route 139) enters the area from the north.
 * W North Ave enters the area from the west.
 * Belaire Road (Route 1) to E North Ave enters the area from the east and northeast.
 * Calvert St (Route 2) enters the area from the south.

Honfest

 * The name comes from a shortening of "honey", used as a friendly way of saying "ma'am". (This widespread usage reportedly came from desegregation, when white Baltimoreans wanted to evade calling black men and women a more formal "sir" and "ma'am".) Today, Honfest is full of hons in full costume (or just their everyday hon look), and features two main events&mdash;the crowning of "Miss Hon", success in which depends on your look, and your participation in the second event&mdash;the Running of the Hons. If you want to be a hon for the day, fret not, you can get your makeup and beehive do right on site during the festivities.

Miracle on 34th Street




Connect
Baltimore all around has internet access in most places.

Go next

 * Towson and Cockeysville - Satellite cities of Baltimore on opposite sides of the Beltway, just north of Baltimore on route 45.