Safe neighborhoods in Baltimore

[flowerintherain]

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Hi,

I find that I will be in Baltimore (Johns Hopkins) for the next two years. May I know which neighborhood/community is considered safe but still within walking distance (less than 15 minutes) to the school ? In other words, it is safe to walk home late at night/early morning and/or does not have iron bars on the windows?

Thank you!

 

[avery2007]

the med campus has a free shuttle bus that i took ...not a problem at all. gives you more options than living on the med school campus (not much there at all...most people i know moved off-campus second year and took the shuttle.)

driving is not bad either--easy parking with a shuttle. i lived near the undergrad campus and downtown in the center of town (my favorite). there is a great coffee shop on the corner (donna's i think) and a really good indian restaurant i frequented.

baltimore is easy to live in...so don't worry if you can't walk to the school.

hope this helps.

 

[Scottish Chap]

Hi,

I find that I will be in Baltimore (Johns Hopkins) for the next two years. May I know which neighborhood/community is considered safe but still within walking distance (less than 15 minutes) to the school ? In other words, it is safe to walk home late at night/early morning and/or does not have iron bars on the windows?

Thank you!

Many people take advantage of the Metro to live in safer and more comfortable accommodation. I used to live in Owings Mills when I worked at JHH. It's 30 minutes North of the city, but the Metro runs from Owings Mills right into JHH and I received a monthly pass for $20 as a fellow.

 

[scrubsaresexy]

The thing about Baltimore is that its small, but dangerous in many places. They seem to have pretty good transportation though, and it's not a bad city to drive in, so if you'll have a car, it's not too bad. Do you have any particular areas that you're looking to live in? This is really important: Make sure you check out the area carefully before you sign anything. My sister is in the military and she and a bunch of her friends who are all stationed in the same city (not Baltimore) signed their lease before they even moved out there, and they just lucked into not living in too bad of a neighborhood, althought they have had things stolen. It's pretty obvious where you don't want to be in Baltimore if you're not an idiot and look around you.

I know that sound obvious, but don't go there with the mindset that it's just a poor neighborhood and the people there are just honest, hardworking citizens. They're probably not; hate to break it to you.

Hampden is a fun place to live (you absolutely HAVE TO go to honfest if you're in Bmore long enough), and there's plenty of other nice neighborhoods. Avoid Druid Hill Park at all costs, and the 28th street area is not so great. Other than that, I don't go really anywhere else because I usually just hang out in the Inner Harbor.

To be brutally honest, in Baltimore I'm not sure I would walk anywhere by myself late at night. However, I also am a woman and sort of look like I'm 12, so that could be why (and sorry if this is kind of disjointed, but I spent 7 hours running a Fire Safety Trailer, and damn if those little kiddies didn't tire me out!)

 

[Rapid Decomposition]

Hi,

I find that I will be in Baltimore (Johns Hopkins) for the next two years. May I know which neighborhood/community is considered safe but still within walking distance (less than 15 minutes) to the school ? In other words, it is safe to walk home late at night/early morning and/or does not have iron bars on the windows?

Thank you!

First off, I'm not sure if you mean the main Homewood campus or the East Baltimore medical campus. If you mean the Homewood campus, there are plenty of livable areas immediately adjacent to campus.

If you mean the East Baltimore campus, walking to school during the day is still actually an option nowadays if you live in Fell's Point, Butcher's Hill, Patterson Park, or Canton (the last one is starting to get pretty far). All of these areas are gentrified or undergoing gentrification, and like someone else said there is a free shuttle that will go from this area to the med campus. However, walking home late at night is NOT an option from East Baltimore (unless you live immediately off campus, which some people do just for convenience, and you still kind of fall under the campus security umbrella).

Another option is the intercampus shuttle, so you can live in Charles Village near the Homewood campus or in Mt. Vernon near Peabody, and get to the medical campus for free.

 

[avery2007]

definitely don't sign anything without checking it out. and definitely don't walk around most places alone on in small groups at night. even on the undergrad campus-- there were problems when i was in school.

because of the reputation of the med campus--they have done so much to make it safe/easy to commute there. not every school does this much in my experience.

make a fun weekend of visiting and apt shopping.

and don't rent that place between the gun shop and porn theater...yes--i did view one in just that location...fled to rent at the homewood campus.

 

[scrubsaresexy]

and don't rent that place between the gun shop and porn theater...yes--i did view one in just that location...fled to rent at the homewood campus.

I don't know...that could make for some fun and interesting weekends

 

[ADeadLois]

Just a suggestion...I would avoid watching "The Wire" if you plan on moving to Baltimore.

 

[deleted50541]

I know that sound obvious, but don't go there with the mindset that it's just a poor neighborhood and the people there are just honest, hardworking citizens. They're probably not; hate to break it to you.

Hampden is a fun place to live (you absolutely HAVE TO go to honfest if you're in Bmore long enough), and there's plenty of other nice neighborhoods. Avoid Druid Hill Park at all costs, and the 28th street area is not so great. Other than that, I don't go really anywhere else because I usually just hang out in the Inner Harbor.

Hampden's great. I used to live right off the Avenue on Keswick Rd, which is basically in JHU's backyard (Homewood campus). While it's true that gentrification has done a lot to improve the blighted neighborhoods of Baltimore, there's still a lot of areas of the city, particularly in East Baltimore that one should avoid.

I looked at a place being renovated by a Hopkins grad student in Patterson Park and although students were slowly moving into the area, it still felt really unsafe to me. Though that was two years ago, but it's not like crime suddenly vanished in that time. I agree too that it's not the safest option to walk home from the medical campus in East Baltimore.

I'm a pretty big guy and nobody ever messed with me, but even I knew not to take unnecessary chances in certain areas of Baltimore when it came to my safety.

 

[IceMan0824]

Just a suggestion...I would avoid watching "The Wire" if you plan on moving to Baltimore.

The Wire depicts thecommunity in 'West' Baltimore, which is far, far way from the Med (East Baltimore) or Undergraduate (North Baltimore) campus.

The city is not perfect, but I've been here for 5+ years now, and I feel safer than when I lived in NY.

Be street smart, and you'll be fine. Act foolishly, and Baltimore natives will be glad to correct your error.

 

[Eric Lindros]

The Wire depicts thecommunity in 'West' Baltimore, which is far, far way from the Med (East Baltimore) or Undergraduate (North Baltimore) campus.

The city is not perfect, but I've been here for 5+ years now, and I feel safer than when I lived in NY.

Be street smart, and you'll be fine. Act foolishly, and Baltimore natives will be glad to correct your error.

Interesting because Baltimore is much more dangerous than NY. I guess it's a person to person thing.

 

[deleted50541]

The Wire depicts thecommunity in 'West' Baltimore, which is far, far way from the Med (East Baltimore) or Undergraduate (North Baltimore) campus.

Y'all are forgetting about Prop' Joe and his East Side boys. 😀

Be street smart, and you'll be fine. Act foolishly, and Baltimore natives will be glad to correct your error.

Very true.

 

[SpartanBlueJay2]

I work at the med campus and live at the north end of Homewood campus (Tuscany/Canterbury neighborhood). It's a great arrangement, as I feel this is a fairly safe part of the city in which to live, plus the aforementioned shuttle is only a 5 minute walk away. If you can find something affordable in north Charles Village, Hampden, or Tuscany/Canterbury, I recommend it.

 

[IceMan0824]

Interesting because Baltimore is much more dangerous than NY. I guess it's a person to person thing.

I lived in Harlem (135th and Lenox Ave), then moved to the South Bronx (188th by Webster) and the North Bronx (Baychester).

In Baltimore, I lived in Hopkins Housing, then Charles Village, then Towson, and now back in Charles Village. Somehow, the neighborhood I lived in Baltimore are much safer than the ones in New York. Plus, Baltimore just started to get dangerous in the last couple of years, only recently in the Guilliani years has NY gotten less dangerous.

Y'all are forgetting about Prop' Joe and his East Side boys. 😀

The Fat Man has no more power. Omar is taking control.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

The Wire depicts thecommunity in 'West' Baltimore, which is far, far way from the Med (East Baltimore) or Undergraduate (North Baltimore) campus.

The city is not perfect, but I've been here for 5+ years now, and I feel safer than when I lived in NY.
Be street smart, and you'll be fine. Act foolishly, and Baltimore natives will be glad to correct your error.

A while back, they did a news report here in Baltimore on the 10PM news where they said that Baltimore is leading NYC in homicides this year, yet Baltimore's population is around 600,000, whereas NYC is around 7 million.

I've been here for 5+ years as well, and I disagree, safety is becoming an issue. Hopkins, is expanding, and is pushing into the city environment. There have already been some skirmishes, especially at Homewood (undergrad) campus, where in the last 3 years there were multiple homicides of JHU undergrads by Baltimore citizens.

There's always JHU security reports going up about people getting mugged, assaulted, etc. And the JHU Security Force - talk about a useless bunch. First of all, they're all retired law enforcement, which means most of them are over 50. This could be offset by proper equipment, but JHU forbids them to carry firearms. (Interesting note: they used to be able to years ago, but there was an accident and no longer are they allowed to carry guns...)

I've talked to various Baltimore police that I used to train with, and they all said that Hopkins Security is a joke, and that the criminals in the city know this. They said they offer university security teams training in firearms, yet JHU is one of the only universities that declines this.

I find that I will be in Baltimore (Johns Hopkins) for the next two years. May I know which neighborhood/community is considered safe but still within walking distance (less than 15 minutes) to the school ?

There are none within walking distance. Your best bet is Reed hall, which is a total dump, and I'd still not walk around past midnight even on the JHMI campus itself. JHMI is surrounded by ghetto, the campus is only like a 2-3 block stretch. Best advice is to get some housing around Peabody and then shuttle it to the campus - that's what most med students do.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

Avoid Druid Hill Park at all costs, and the 28th street area is not so great. Other than that, I don't go really anywhere else because I usually just hang out in the Inner Harbor.

OH GOD DRUID HILL U WILL NEVER FIND A MORE WRETCHED HIVE OF SCUM AND VILLAINY

Yeah anything past 28th or even North Avenue is not good. Don't go anywhere near Greenmount or anything east of it. And if you somehow find yourself near Hartford road, curl up into a fetal position and light a flare and hopefully search and rescue will see it.

Another interesting tidbit, the 7-11 by Cresmont Lofts over near the 83 exit... the Maryland/DC sniper supposedly spent a night there in his car!

 

[scrubsaresexy]

OH GOD DRUID HILL U WILL NEVER FIND A MORE WRETCHED HIVE OF SCUM AND VILLAINY

Yeah anything past 28th or even North Avenue is not good. Don't go anywhere near Greenmount or anything east of it. And if you somehow find yourself near Hartford road, curl up into a fetal position and light a flare and hopefully search and rescue will see it.

Another interesting tidbit, the 7-11 by Cresmont Lofts over near the 83 exit... the Maryland/DC sniper supposedly spent a night there in his car!

Haha, I don't doubt it...ahh I remember the days of the sniper. But seriously, I made my boyfriend take me to the zoo last week, and they're putting in 'luxary apartments' in the Druid Hill Park area...wtf???

One of my friend's gfs was going into the city for a hair appointment and got way lost (never a good thing). She said that a scary person on one side of the road was yelling at her "Hey baby, let me ride with you!" and trying to get her to let him into her car while a scary person on the other side of the street was screaming "Hey, leave my wife alone!" I think her boyfriend almost killed her when he found out where she was. 😛

But damn, the crabcakes are worth it! 😍

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

Actually I was told today that the recent changes in security, at least at the JHMI campus, allows security officers to carry guns.

I will double check this today to make sure.

But definitely at Homewood, they aren't allowed to carry guns, and at least to me, the millions of dollars they poured into security after the last student homicide seems wasted. They just installed cameras and posted more unarmed guards on the streets. Whoopdeedoo. May not impact you at JHMI, but if you choose to live at Homewood, which some med students do, safety there might still be a concern.

 

[deleted314957]

I trained in forensic pathology at OCME in Bmore. You could not get me to live anywhere in that cesspool even if you put a gun to my head (which is too common)

 

[xffan624]

I trained in forensic pathology at OCME in Bmore. You could not get me to live anywhere in that cesspool even if you put a gun to my head (which is too common)

Wow. Way to paint a broad brush on an entire city. There are plenty of livable neighborhoods in the city including Fed Hill, Locust point, Hampden, Canton, and Fells point to name a few. The city also has pretty reasonable traffic which means you could live in suburb and have a relatively easy commute.

 

[Moko]

Wow. Way to paint a broad brush on an entire city. There are plenty of livable neighborhoods in the city including Fed Hill, Locust point, Hampden, Canton, and Fells point to name a few. The city also has pretty reasonable traffic which means you could live in suburb and have a relatively easy commute

The bigger offense in my opinion is necrobumping a 14 year old thread

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

The bigger offense in my opinion is necrobumping a 14 year old thread

Didn't even realize that until I saw ^^^ Interestingly that bumping is by an attending not a neurotic premed.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

What an incredible bump. But seriously, to those rolling by who are looking for safe neighborhoods in cities I recommend two general things:

1) Search brands and shops and see where nicer ones are clustered. South Park lampooned it, but they don't put Whole Foods just anywhere.

2) Ask more senior students where to go and where to avoid. The nice thing about a generic med school class of around 100ish people is they will scatter and cluster over time, and often times the older students will make a neighborhood guide for incomers.

David D, MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[gyngyn]

Seriously...