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{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 8.}

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:25:24 -0400

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 8.}

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 7.}

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:09:28 -0400

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 7.}

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:06:12 -0400

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 7.}

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 6.}

Wed, 23 May 2012 22:44:16 -0400

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 6.}

A house big enough for everybody. {Lake Ashburton, Baltimore....

Wed, 23 May 2012 22:41:00 -0400

A house big enough for everybody.

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 5.}

View from the front steps of Val’s place. “On a...

Wed, 23 May 2012 22:17:25 -0400

View from the front steps of Val’s place.

“On a clear day you can see down to the Bay Bridge,” she said. “You gotta come back on a clear day.”

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 4.}

I gave Val my blog address so she could check out the pictures....

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:51:50 -0400

I gave Val my blog address so she could check out the pictures. And maybe download one of herself.

“I could use a nice picture,” she said.

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 3.}

Val welcomed me on to her balcony like an old friend. Her sister...

Wed, 23 May 2012 20:34:00 -0400

Val welcomed me on to her balcony like an old friend. Her sister bought this 4,000-square-foot mansion in the 1970s, as whites fled cities like Baltimore out of fear, and racism. But unlike so many neighborhoods in Baltimore, this section of Forest Park seems to be holding on.

Val speaks with pride of her city view, of the lake, and of the park across the street that fills with children and sports teams and harmless lollygaggers. Crime isn’t a big problem here, she said. And she points up the road to homes occupied by many prominent African-Americans, including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s family.

Then came the embarrassing question. “Where do you live,” she asked me. I sighed.

“Towson,” I told her, nearly under my breath. She laughed, and couldn’t suppress a smile.

“Whatcha doing all the way over here?!” she asked, still chuckling. I looked her in the eye, and told her that I go everywhere with my camera, trying to discover a city I thought I knew.

Since I began my blog last fall, I’ve come upon neighborhood after neighborhood of grand structures, architectural gems left deserted, marked with an “X” that is spray-painted over a piece of plywood that doubles as a window. Val’s house looks great by comparison.

I remember thinking what a tragedy that was, so many beautiful structures left to rot for the stupidest of reasons: Fear. But you don’t know tragedy, and you don’t know poverty, until you go into neighborhoods like Park Heights or West Baltimore. Until you see the hopelessness on people’s faces, in their eyes, as you drive past. And even then, you don’t know. You can’t.

But on this overcast day, on North Hilton Street, I saw a picture of Baltimore that gives me hope. And I’m posting it here.

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 2.}

The drives I take through Baltimore City can best be measured...

Wed, 23 May 2012 18:23:00 -0400

The drives I take through Baltimore City can best be measured not in miles, but decades.It was that way yesterday, when I turned off Liberty Heights Avenue in Forest Park, and landed squarely in 1920s Baltimore.

Here, before me, was Lake Ashburton, the sprawling Hanlon Park, and a row of once-grand mansions that overlooked it all. I opened the car door and stepped into a scene from “The Great Gatsby.” Suddenly my head filled with images of flappers and debutantes, and parties that hung on till the sun rose over the lake the next day.

It was a fantasy interrupted quickly by reality. A woman’s voice called out to me from the top stair of this home on North Hilton: “What are ya taking pictures of? The city?” The house has sweeping views of the lake, and beyond that, the downtown Baltimore skyline.

“No, actually, I’m taking pictures of these amazing houses,” I told her. That was enough for her to invite me up, and introduce herself. She would soon become a far more interesting part of my day.

{Lake Ashburton, Baltimore. No. 1.}

Pennsylvania Avenue, Baltimore.

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:08:45 -0400

Pennsylvania Avenue, Baltimore.

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 7.

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:38:29 -0400

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 7.

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 6.

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:32:19 -0400

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 6.

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 5.

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:32:01 -0400

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 5.

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 4.

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:17:25 -0400

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 4.

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 3.

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:08:53 -0400

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 3.

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 2.

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:08:33 -0400

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 2.

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 1.

Tue, 22 May 2012 22:48:09 -0400

Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. No. 1.

Boring, Maryland. No. 11.

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:07:54 -0400

Boring, Maryland. No. 11.

Boring, Maryland. No. 10.

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:03:00 -0400

Boring, Maryland. No. 10.

Boring, Maryland. No. 9.

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:53:06 -0400

Boring, Maryland. No. 9.