(This article originally appeared in the December 2024 issue of the South Baltimore Peninsula Post.)
By Catherine Harbour
Since moving to SoBo in 2002, my family has hosted dozens of overnight visitors in our 12-foot-wide rowhouse: friends, family, even the band Wussy when they played Mums. It’s fun to show out-of-towners the walkable abundance of the South Baltimore peninsula and enjoy the neighborhood’s restaurants, parks, and pubs together for a few days. Guests are always impressed by how much SoBo has to offer within a 15-minute walk. The joys of what they discover outweigh the hassles of parking and sharing tight quarters.
It turns out that our experience is not uncommon among SoBohemians who welcome visitors into their homes and relish challenging their notions of what city life is like, showing them that Baltimore isn’t just what they’ve seen on the news. In a Peninsula Post online poll on hosting out-of-town guests conducted last fall, 94 percent of the 90 residents responding said they have hosted visitors in their own homes and 80 percent said they play host more than once a year. Visitors typically come one or two at a time (54 percent), but often they come in groups of three or more (45 percent).
Overturning preconceived notions about life in Baltimore and introducing visitors to the fun side of the city were consistent themes in the comments we received in the poll.
Nicole Buchholz wrote about “how delighted and surprised [visitors] are in Baltimore. Their view always completely changes, and they tell my family how easily they see why we are happy in our ‘small town’ of Locust Point.” Drew Jordre likes to prove to guests “how awesome this city is. Each time they leave with a completely new outlook and opinion of Baltimore.”
Showing Off Baltimore
The big Baltimore pluses that SoBo residents often showcase include the general walkability of the area; the food scene; and the abundance of things to do, see, and experience. Swasti Gautam wrote that “we had our parents come over this summer. They really enjoyed walking around Federal Hill every evening. For us, it was a great family activity, and we shared some quality time walking together.”
Nancy Procopio loves “showing friends and family how much South Baltimore has to offer. We enjoy walking through the parks and stopping at local restaurants along the way.” The walkable neighborhoods have a small-town vibe, wrote Victor Walters. “We consider this community to be very Mayberry. There’s five ice cream shops, three Starbucks, and two big grocery stores. You do not need a car to live in this community.”
And then there are the uniquely SoBo experiences that come together as if by design but are often just serendipitous.
“Visitors from Ukraine had a fantastic day attending several events in the neighborhood,” recalls Dan Strodel, “including Octoberfest at Holy Cross for food, music, and refreshments … then an impromptu ‘concert’ in someone’s backyard on Riverside Avenue in the evening. They thought every weekend was like that here!”
Another resident recounted a cousin’s visit when they “spent all night on our upstairs patio, enjoying our Ekiben and the night air. We could hear the Elton John concert from the stadium. It was a great night and was peak Baltimore living!”
Amy and Tom Wunderlin hosted family members for the Bruce Springsteen concert this September. “With recent knee and hip replacements for some family members, we were in need of transportation to/from the concert. The Charm City Circulator’s new Cherry Route and Banner Route became the overlooked obvious solution. It was perfect!”
Our readers had a LOT of recommendations on how to charm out-of-town visitors with the wonders of SoBo and Baltimore. Read our companion blog post for a long list of specific tips.
Parking Challenges and Cramped Quarters
But these SoBo good times with visiting family and friends can come with a price. Two stood out to those who answered our poll: the challenges of parking and the “cozy” living quarters.
Urban planners refer to a “15-minute city” as one that offers all the daily necessities and services – jobs, schools, food, parks, community, health care – within a quarter-hour walk or bike ride. Although the peninsula’s walkability and density of housing and retail can reduce residents’ need for cars, more than a third of respondents noted parking as a challenge to hosting visitors.
Jeananne Sciabarra wrote of a Christmas when “we had about 10 people in for dinner, several staying overnight. We had to park one car in a nearby garage and shuffle the other cars around to allow my brother, who was bringing my 90-year-old mother, to pull into the garage. With a one-car garage and parking pad, we are often shuffling cars when guests visit!”
“Parking, parking, parking” is the big issue, wrote Victor Walters. “There are very few parking spots. Guests potentially get fined if they parked in a visitor area or lack a visitor pass. And if you’ve been lucky enough to find parking, your car could be damaged. All of my guests have, unfortunately, experienced one of these issues with parking.”
And then there’s the challenge, for some, of street parking, noted Nicole Gordon. “People get real nervous about having to parallel park.”
Given the modest size of most SoBo rowhouses, room for visitors can be tight. More than a third of respondents to our poll noted “space” as a challenge to hosting visitors.
Laura Konkel wrote that it “feels like we are on top of each other all the time. It can get stressful by the end of the visit.” Shannon wrote that “we have four family members coming soon. Two are going to have to take an air mattress in our dining room.”
The small spaces encourage short visits. One poll respondent wrote that “if it’s more than two people or longer than two nights, they have to stay at a hotel.”
Another rowhouse challenge, even for roomier models, is all the steps. One respondent wrote, “Entertaining in a row home is not really easy. Having a roof deck helps, but you have to climb two stories just to get there, and if you want to cook or bring stuff up, it’s a pain. We can realistically only have a few people stay overnight so we can’t host the holidays or large family events.”
AirBnB or VRBO rentals are one way to solve the space issue, but in SoBo, these generally have the same issues with number of steps or tight stairwells. It can be difficult, one respondent wrote, “finding places that can accommodate our older parents’ mobility challenges.”
A Wish List of Improvements
These hurdles to hosting come with the territory here in SoBo, and we, along with our guests, may just have to live with them. But I’d like to offer a holiday wish list of ideas to ease the stress of hosting visitors, based on my household’s experience and comments in our poll. (SoBo businesses and entrepreneurs, take note!)
1) Top of the list is off-street, overnight parking. What goes on at night in SoBo’s empty parking lots, when businesses are closed and school is out? Opportunities to make a buck and earn goodwill with the neighbors are missed, that’s what. I’d happily pay to park my guests’ cars in a lot overnight, without fear of towing.
2) Even more frequent and late-running hop-on, hop-off, Nana and Pop Pop-friendly transport near the restaurants, bars, and residences along Fort Avenue and Light Street. The Harbor Connector boats and the Circulator’s Banner and Cherry free bus routes are both useful and fun for guests. More of these, please!
3) Reasonably priced, short-term rentals (or a hostel) that comply with the three “Visitability Principles” (see the National Council on Independent Living): a zero-step entrance, doors with 32” clear passage space, and a wheelchair-accessible bathroom on the main floor. Bonus points for a water view.
4) How about a rental service that delivers and picks up a comfortable, collapsible bed that fits in a 12-foot-wide row home? I’d happily try one!
Whether or not these particular wishes ever come true, it’s clear that many SoBo residents agree that all the effort to clean the house, plan activities, and convert the home office or dining room into a bedroom for guests is worth it. Hosting visitors allows us to spend some quality time with people we care about and share with them the joys of SoBo life. As one gratified host commented in our poll: “Multiple times, guests have said ‘Baltimore is actually nicer than I thought,’ and that always makes me happy.”
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