Charm City: A Walk Through Baltimore

We visited Baltimore for the first time ever in January 2010. I got this book from library because I thought it was a tourist guide. I was reading the book while I was there. While not a tour guide, it seemed to capture some of the quirkiness of Charm City and covered all of the areas I was in. So it provided great insights into these neighborhoods, most of which the tourist would be interested in seeing. The author started one walk near where they live way north of the center and walked through some iffy areas, so these would probably not be on the tourist route. I thoroughly enjoyed my 3 night, 4 day visit to Baltimore and this book enhanced what I observed and learned myself. I'd recommend it even if never go there as it is enjoyable, interesting but definitely a great read if have ever been there. Book covered such interesting places as the covered markets all over town, what the Shot Tower was built for, and gave a great feel about the grandness of Mt. Vernon neighborhood in its heyday. And now i am an expert on formstone exteriors of houses.

Mr. Bell has captured the atmosphere of Baltimore, especially it's unique combination of history and irreverence. When I was a kid (this goes back a few decades) one way people described Baltimore was as "the biggest small town in the world." This book captures the essence of that. Though Mr. Bell and his walking companions wander miles and miles they never seem far from the core of the place. This book is too much fun for any Baltimore reader to pass up.

I enjoyed this book, though that's likely because I grew up a few blocks from Madison Bell, and his stories were like strolling through my childhood and adolescent days. I think the book is well-written, but ultimately, it is a narrative book about several walks around town (going south on York Road, north along Charles Street, east to Fells Point, and then west to an obscure tucked away neighborhood). Once finished reading it, I gave it away to my brother, a rare occurrence because I usually hang onto my books. I'm not sure that the book would carry over well to someone not already familiar with Baltimore.

The Crown Journey series asks established writers to wander through a city or area they live in or know well, and then write about it in a way that introduces the outsider to that place. I've read two others in the series, Christopher Buckley's one on Washington, D.C. (my hometown), and Chuck Palahniuk's one on Portland, OR (where I went to college). The former is pretty terrible, focusing on the standard federal and historical haunts while mostly ignoring the 500,000+ people who actually live here. The latter does a pretty good job of capturing Portland, with an emphasis on the quirky. After D.C., Portland, San Francisco, and New York, Baltimore is probably the next city I know reasonably well -- it's only a 45 minute drive north, and I've probably visited it somewhere between 50-75 times since the early '80s. Bell is a 20+ year resident of the Baltimore area, and arranges the book as a series of walks through various parts of the city in the company of friends steeped in local lore. Many of these areas (Fells Point, Inner Harbor, Canton, etc.) are well known tourist destinations, others (Dickeyville, north Charles Street) much less so. His general mode is to embark on his promenade and alternate descriptions of present-day street life and architecture with odds and ends of local history. While some of this historical context is interesting, it does drag the book down at times, as does his preoccupation with architecture.The book is much stronger when he focuses on social history, rather than the "founding fathers" stuff that tends to dominate. Similarly, Bell is at his best when he turns his novelist's eye to the various bars and characters he encounters along the way, bringing them vividly to life in a way he simply can't with the historical material. The dominant theme is one of constant change and transformation, running from the great fire of 1904 that leveled most of the old town and required massive rebuilding, to the scandalous land grabs of the '60s, to the rapid-fire redevelopment/gentrification currently underway throughout the city. On the whole, a quick and readable introduction to the city for the uninitiated.

Madison Smartt Bell's walking tour of Baltimore take us through a variety of neighborhoods, some well know and some rather obscure. Of course we get the low down on the touristy and trendy parts of town like Federal Hill, Fells Point, the Inner Harbor, and Canton. With this city nearly 300 years old, Bell is able to sprinkle in an interesting look at its history with the descriptions of these places and how they've changed with gentrification. Because of his local literary celebrity, Bell has access to some well-know locals and some colorful characters. For example, he visits a quaint, charming, but little-know part of town, Dickyville, with Laura Lippman, former Baltimore Sun reporter and now well-known mystery writer. She grew up in Dickeyville and provides insiders flavor to its description and historical context. Bell, a guitarist, gives us a vivid sense of the Fells Point bar scene and sits in with a local band where we meet some great local characters. With his skill as a writer, Bell neatly weaves the long history of this area in with the local scene and its changing population. Bell and I are close in age and both moved to Baltimore about the same time, more than twenty years ago. Reading this book took me back though these years and the many places that make Baltimore quirky and fun,with a unique mix of small city sense of place and big city attractions.