Comments on: What the flamingo flap in Hampden is really about: Baltimore gentrification

By: Gordon Ramsay gives Denise Whiting a Nightmare | Kitchen Tile Mural

Gordon Ramsay gives Denise Whiting a Nightmare | Kitchen Tile Mural — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:38:57 +0000

[...] just read from a stack of her bad press and opposition literature over the past two years – the flamingo sign controversy, the trademarking controversy, the subsequent boycott, the cat’s eye glasses [...]

By: Baltimoresteve1

Baltimoresteve1 — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:01:00 +0000

I agree. They are making money off out the culture and yet destroying it at the same time.

By: sobo

sobo — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 10:29:00 +0000

The “war between white social classes ” is going on in a few pockets of the city. Our community assn. meetings down here in SoBo are often aflame with the us vs them. Patterson Park/Highlandtown is having their problems, too. Gentrification has it’s rewards and setbacks. My problem is the folks that seek to destroy the charm that drew them there in the first place. DW has made “hon” into a condescending, negative term. That just doesn’t fly with the true Baltimorean. Then to try to take ownership of it? Just plain nerve.

By: John

John — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:13:11 +0000

Those of us who are native Baltimoreans and have attained a certain age remember a Hampden that was a rough neighborhood. People of color were rarely seen on the streets; “gentrified” whites were nervous. Funky flamingo or not, fake accent or not — if Denise Whiting has helped to change those attitudes, good for her!

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:56:26 +0000

The real Baltimore is disappearing….the real Hampden is disappearing….all these kids are listening to Rock & Roll, the women are wearing pants now……..

Good grief.

By: Steve Kaiser

Steve Kaiser — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:47:06 +0000

Irony gone awry? As a “Frequent Flyer” at Hon (breakfast meetings since my office is in the neighborhood and I dislike the Roost at Cross Keys) I agree with much of what you wrote.

It does indeed make me uncomfortable that Cafe Hon has carriacaturized Hamden and now Baltimore as a beehive wearing John Waters Disney Park. While there are many up-market executives at breakfast there during the week, there are just as many regular neighborhood folks who happily ignore the establishment’s attempts to turn us all into the kitschy tableau that our very clever and PR ssavvy proprietress seems to favor.

The “real” Baltimore is fast disappearing. Am I a Hon, or a shuddering victim of fear because I live in the City of The Wire? Gee, I wish they would begin shooting “Madmen” in town. As I am in marketing and communications there is a fun stereotype to which I can relate. Don’t tell my wife please.