Station North District

Today Ale and I went to the Station North District with the intention of stumbling upon an interesting venue or person. The first building that caught our eyes was Cyclops. The doors were locked, but through the window we saw a table full of fliers and cards for different shows and events in Baltimore. While I was trying to read some of the fliers Andy walked out of the back room and unlocked the door for us. The store was lined with shelves of books and CDs, the walls were covered in art, and there were amps and a piano in front of a bunch of chairs in the middle of the floor. We asked Andy about other cool places in the neighborhood and told him that we were new students at MICA. We got to talking about book and music festivals and art festivals in our home towns. We both go to SXSW in Austin, which is awesome. We asked what he liked about Baltimore and he said that he loves everything about it. He believes that Baltimore is "what New York used to be" before it got all "disney-fied." He wished the crime was better, but said that he has meetings every Thursday at Cyclops where business owners and artists in the Station North District come together to talk about ways of getting more cops to the neighborhood, planting more trees, planning events to attract more people and marketing the positive influence that is the art scene. So you guys should check that out. You can also go to facebook.com/cyclopsBmore to see other events coming up.

While we were in Cyclops, a man came in and interrupted our conversation and started pestering Andy about how his shop is never open and is too expensive. As he was leaving Ale asked him what he likes about Baltimore. Without even thinking he said "nothing." Then she asked what he didn't like and he said "Stephanie Rawlings-Blake."

A woman named Robin on the street who asked us for 50 cents for a hamburger said that Baltimore is too small. She asked where we were from and thought we were crazy for coming to Baltimore. She said the biggest problem is that it is too small and that there are no jobs. "If there were jobs available I wouldn't be out here asking you for fifty cents, now would I?" We were standing on North ave at the end of the bridge, in a location where you could see MICA, and she didnt know what MICA was- is Baltimore too small?

Then we decided to continue walking down the street until something caught our eye. We walked by a venue called the Wind Up Space which had posters for music events all over the windows. We looked inside and there was art on the wall, a classy stage and a bar. It was pretty deserted, so even though it was a 21 and up venue we thought we would go strike up a conversation with the bar tender. Russell was really friendly and had lived in Baltimore all of his life. The first thing he said that he didn't like about Baltimore was the weak infrastructure. He talked a lot about how the city has a beautiful history; about how the weak infrastructure and lack of jobs doesn't attract a lot of people so the history and the memories of the city pass through generations. He also noted that because it is less transient it is difficult for the community as a whole to evolve to a new state of mind. He really enjoys the young artist scene and attributes it's existence mostly to the low cost of living. He plays in a band, works the bar four days a week, decorates the space, tiled the stage, organizes events and everything else that has to do with the Wind Up Space. The arts are thriving here in Baltimore!