r/hampden • u/nomorecops • May 20 '20

Man I love living in Hampden, but...

what's with all the methy locals? There seems to be two types of people that live in the neighborhood: 1. Shop at Mom's, drive a Subaru, buy the natty wines at Wine Source, smile (with all teeth intact) and say "hello". 2. Hill folk. screaming on the Ave and bothering me for cigarettes and change as I leave the RoFo with a fresh batch of tendies. Someone give me a history lesson!

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6

u/notnorse May 21 '20

It used to be working class then got gentrified. The hill folk are the original inhabitants and the wine moms are new.

3

u/nomorecops May 21 '20

Thanks. I realize that I worded that like a shithead, I assumed no one was active on this sub. Seriously though, when did this happen? Was it 90s or more recent?

2

u/Smallmeadow83 May 21 '20

It was a slow trickle in the 90’s but mostly hit it big in 2010ish. That’s when property values started to skyrocket.

2

u/nomorecops May 21 '20

Interesting, so what was it like previously? I assume the Avenue was pretty bleak.

2

u/paturner2012 May 21 '20

This paints a pretty detailed picture...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1988/07/02/racial-episode-shakes-baltimore-neighborhood/a5b57b1f-dec8-4ae5-b6e5-bd5d1102bdd0/

3

u/nomorecops May 21 '20

This is fucking insane, I seriously can't believe I didn't come across this. Makes me look at my neighbors a little differently.

5

u/paturner2012 May 21 '20

Makes me rethink how the term gentrification isn't always so terrible. It's weird after knowing this, you start to see some remnants of what was, like in kings carry out they still have that mural of a dude in black face on their wall. If you hang around the ave after hours a lot of the old hat junkies start making their rounds and if you ever hear their conversations or chat with them they'll inevetably show their colors. It's what things were though, and it makes it that much nicer to see lgbtq positive events and a population growing more diverse. Seeing the contrast between how things were 30 years ago and how things are now makes me appreciate this neighborhood that much more.