Baltimore, Maryland

Hamden Neighborhood

Photos from June 16, 2009

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Hamden Neighborhood

From Wikipedia:

Hampden was originally settled as a residential community for workers at the mills that sprung up along the Jones Falls; its first residents were in place well before the area was annexed to Baltimore City in 1888. Many of its residents came to the area from the hill country of Kentucky, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania, looking for work in the mills. This influx cemented the image of the neighborhood for the decades that followed as a white, working-class, socially conservative enclave. However, like most of Baltimore, Hampden declined somewhat during the economic troubles of the 1980s-90s, and is a much more moderate political climate in recent history.

In the 1990s the neighborhood, conveniently located vis-a-vis Johns Hopkins and downtown, and relatively safe when compared to other, more blighted areas of the city, was discovered by artists and other bohemians, who began the process of gentrification. Many of these artists were attracted by the 1987 creation of an artist studio and office space known as the Mill Centre, located in the southernmost region of Hampden between Falls Road and Mill Road. Over the past decade, housing prices in Hampden have skyrocketed, and the area's commercial center on a four block stretch of West 36th Street known as The Avenue, has seen trendy boutiques and restaurants occupy storefronts that had become vacant when poor economic conditions forced many of the Avenue's traditional retailers to close. Hampden contains several sub-communities: Wyman Park, along the eastern section of the area, and SoHa, the area below 34th with a concentrated community of artists working and living near the Mill Centre. Hampden is also home to Morton Street Dance Center, Atomic Books, The True Vine, and popular Mobtown Players. The Woodberry station on the Baltimore Light Rail system is just on the other side of the Jones Falls Expressway and is within walking distance of much of the neighborhood.

Baltimore has in recent years embraced certain aspects of old Hampden's traditional culture. Many of Hampden's transplanted residents have also found clever ways to profit from it. The neighborhood is home to the annual "Hon Festival" (also called HonFest and named after the term "Hon," a term of endearment used by residents of Hampden about as often as residents of Dundalk. HonFest features attendees who tease their hair into the enormous beehive hairdos of the 1960s. The festival also features a contest to find the best "Bawlmerese," a variation of Baltimore's unique traditional accent. This accent is also more commonplace in areas like Dundalk and Essex.

Hampden's 34th Street near the southern end of the neighborhood celebrates the Christmas holiday every year with the "Miracle on 34th Street" where home owners on both sides of the street decorate their houses with thousands of lights and Christmas decorations, attracting visitors from all over the world to see the spectacle. Hampden resident sometimes refer to it as the "Nightmare on 34 Street," as well, due to the profound effect that it has on Hampden's typically easy going traffic patterns.

Hampden received perhaps its most prominent nationwide exposure in 1999, when Baltimore native John Waters filmed his movie Pecker there. Starring Hollywood actors like Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci, Martha Plimpton, and Lili Taylor, the film celebrated old Hampden's traditional culture, and every young Hampden resident's dream to escape it.

Additionally, the novelist Philipp Meyer grew up on Hampden's 36th Street during the late 1970's and 1980's; much of his novel American Rust was reportedly influenced by his childhood there.