philly and b-more

May 10, 2007 3:52 PM

hello. i may be relocating from chicago to baltimore or philadelphia, and am wondering about neighborhoods.

there are 2 of us and we are caucasian lesbians (we don't need to be around others who fit this description, but we don't want to be unduly harassed, either). we can afford around $900 a month before utilities. we don't want to get shot or live in a roach-infested shack, but we live in the city now and can deal with usual urban grit. thanx potential new neighbors!

posted by LizardOfDoom to human relations (14 comments total)

Previously, also & before.
posted by scalefree at 4:16 PM on May 10, 2007

yeah, sorry, i saw those, i am also looking for b-more, and the last post about that was in 2004. also looking for comparisons.
thanks!
posted by LizardOfDoom at 4:55 PM on May 10, 2007

In Baltimore: Federal Hill, Canton, Mt. Washington (a bit further out), possibly Mt. Vernon. Stay away from West and East B-More, and the university areas (U Maryland and JHU) can be pretty sketchy. I lived there for 6 years...feel free to drop me an email if you have any more questions.
posted by underdetermined at 5:03 PM on May 10, 2007

I should add that I meant U Maryland and Hopkins Med areas are sketchy. The area around the JHU Main Campus (can't remember the name of the neighborhood right now) is livable.
posted by underdetermined at 5:05 PM on May 10, 2007

I would go with Annapolis or Philly. When I was a teenager in Baltimore we used to joke that if anyone ever saw gays holding hands in Baltimore they would get out of their pickup (with the conferate flag on the back window), take the shotgun off the shotgun rack and shoot them. Not the first place I would pick to be if I were a lesbian.....
posted by zia at 5:09 PM on May 10, 2007

I disagree with zia. I don't know how long ago he/she lived there, but I never observed blatant homophobia during my time in Baltimore. I'm straight, so maybe I missed it, but my overall sense of Baltimore is that it's not as enlightened as some other places, but not a hole in the wall, either. On the other hand, if your primary consideration was having a vibrant gay / lesbian community, I would definitely lean toward Philly.
posted by underdetermined at 5:16 PM on May 10, 2007

It might actually take some looking to find nice places that fit your budget in the neighborhoods that underdetermined talks about, but I'm sure you can do it. Mt. Vernon and Federal Hill are two pretty gay friendly neighborhoods here, although the communities there are mostly made up of gay men. Mt. Washington seems to have a larger lesbian community, as does Lauraville, a neighborhood to the East and North of Charles Village (where JHU undergrad is). I also kind of disagree with zia, I've got gay friends, both male and female, who don't feel unsafe here, at least not in areas where they wouldn't feel unsafe regardless of sexual orientation. My caveat is that the culture seems to be a bit weighted to gay men.

I've had other mefites contact me for a tour of Baltimore when they were considering moving here, and I gladly drove them around. I'd be happy to do the same for you, or talk to you more extensively via email. I live in Baltimore and my email address is in my profile.
posted by OmieWise at 5:44 PM on May 10, 2007

FWIW I have several gay friends happily living in Baltimore. Seconding the neighborhoods that underdetermined. I used to live in the U Maryland area (Ridgely's Delight) and it was a nice neighborhood to live, sometimes. It does have quite a bit of crime though.
posted by gaspode at 5:45 PM on May 10, 2007

Philly has a great vibrant LGBT community, and I have a slew of lesbian friends that all love it here. My g/f and I live right outside of the Gayborhood (really, that's what it's called), and it's fantastic. Where you live depends on work and transportation situations, but $900 + utilities will get you a 1br in Gayborhood/Washington Square West/Bella Vista, and maybe a 2br or big 1br in West Philadelphia (more residential and hippy/hipster, lots of graduate students between 42nd and 50th streets).

Pretty much anywhere between Chestnut St. and South St. on the north and south and between the Delware and Schuylkill rivers on the east and west is great to live in, though prices vary with proximity to Old City/Society Hill and Rittenhouse Square. West Philly is great, but east of 42nd means lots of Penn undergrads, and you probably don't want to live past 50th or 52nd. Also consider Manayunk/Mt. Airy (charming, but further out from the center of town) and Northern Liberties (not sure if the condos have forced out all of the hipsters yet). Unless you're 16, I'd avoid the South Street zone (South St. from 2nd to 8th).
posted by The Michael The at 5:46 PM on May 10, 2007

Ach, and the Art Museum area is great too.
posted by The Michael The at 5:47 PM on May 10, 2007

FWIW, I grew up and spent most of my 20s in Philly and now live in Baltimore: I much prefer Philly and would move back if my s.o.'s job wasn't here. If you have to live in Baltimore, though, I'd second underdetermined's recommendations about neghborhoods: Federal Hill (where I live), Canton, Mt. Washington (nice though quasi-suburban), and perhaps Mt. Vernon, which is very gay-friendly and overall is lovely during the day, less so at night. B'more does not, to me at least, seem especially homophobic--rather the opposite in fact (after all, John Waters is a local hero of sorts). It does seem that Baltimore is somewhat cheaper than what Philly has become, particularly in the neighborhoods where you'd want to live.
posted by azure_swing at 6:42 PM on May 10, 2007

zia, what, did you grow up in Brooklyn Park? It was arguably safer to be queer in the 70s and 80s in Baltimore than in Philly.

I don't actually like Baltimore, mind you. And I do love Philly. See previous Philly questions for details on my love for my neighborhood in South Philly (which is, in fact, where most of the lesbians live 'round these parts after they give up paying Center City rent.) $900 can take you pretty far in Philly, especially if you're looking for a one-bedroom place.

Lizard of Doom, you need some time in both cities. Even though Philly and Baltimore are only a two-hour drive from each other, the attitude and atmosphere of each city is quite different.
posted by desuetude at 6:40 AM on May 11, 2007

Washington Square West/gayborhood in Philly, absolutely! I pay $850 for a tiny studio with an awesome huge deck in a fantastic location there. There are tons of for-rent signs up right about now.
posted by footnote at 7:16 AM on May 11, 2007

zia's off the mark here -- maybe that's the attitude over in Curtis Bay, but not in Baltimore proper. I'm a Balitmore native; I spent time in Fells Point, Federal Hill, and Charles Village, and I liked it all. One thing to realize about Baltimore is that the border between "good neighborhood" and "bad neighborhood" can shift very rapidly, so its definiltely a good idea to see what your prospective 'hood is like by both night and day, and to do a wider sweep of the outlying areas to see what its like.

Of the three I mentioned above, I'd pick Federal Hill to live in nice again for its convenience and "old Baltimore" feel -- there's also a nice pick of restaurants and clubs down that way. It can also be a huge pain in the ass on Ravens game days.

Canton is hyper-developed and has a vaguely suburban feel. Come to think of it, a number of my gay friends lived there when I lived in the city.

Waverly's a nice neighborhood, too.

I think Philly's great too, but my heart belongs to B-more.

Annapolis is rather dull.
posted by missmobtown at 12:23 PM on May 11, 2007