Goodness.

First of all, I was born and raised in Baltimore....the “Monumental city”. Worked all over town. Lived there when Baltimore had stockyards.

That picture....this used to be a glorious block of row homes. Those front steps? The ones that used to be bright and white? Baltimore was famous for those front stoops when neighbors would sit out in hot evenings and talk.

Guess who was my childhood acquaintance in Baltimore?

NANCY PELOSI!!!

Indeed my father was a shop steward for Baltimore’s carpenter local 101. My brother and I often went with Dad to help him fix up the D’Alesandro home located in Baltimore’s Little Italy.

Nancy never talked much to me but she was pretty, full in charge of her father, former Mayor of Baltimore by the way. Brother also a Baltimore Mayor.

All this stuff about Elijah Cummings...damn, Nancy Pelosi has more DNA in Baltimore than any politician living today.

How to know if you’re from Baltimore...

....must...MUST...eat crabs.

....must know all there is to know about the Chesapeake Bay

.....must call everyone “Hon”.

I live in Delaware now but my granddaughter lives in Baltimore and I worry all the time about her.

Lord how I loved Baltimore. Worked by Zoo, Union Memorial hospital near the stadium where the Orioles played, loved the Baltimore Colts until they took off mid of night to Indiana. Worked for a lawyer right below the Washington monument. Worked at 1 Charles center and walked down to the gorgeous Inner Harbor at lunch.

Loved Baltimore.

Loved it.

Still love it.

Tears make sign off now.

I had a similar experience growing up in Mattapan (a section of Dorchester, MA)

People still wax rhapsodic about Mattapan, and I even named my first CD after the main street, Blue Hill Avenue.

Now I’m getting misty too!

Mattapan

I don't know how old this picture is, because Mattapan is experiencing a bit of a revival.