The Avenue, Hampden

The Avenue, Hampden

from "The Town I Lived in (and still love to visit)"

West 36th Street in Baltimore's Hampden section is also known simply as The Avenue.

It is a long commercial stretch of shops, offices, and an inviting variety of
restaurants that is a focal point for the residential neighborhood surrounding it.

If you're wondering about the signs for Charm City Dental,
the practice takes its name from a popular name for Baltimore.

When I was growing up, Hampden had the identity of a mainly blue-collar neighborhood.
Of late, it has also taken on an identity as a happening part of town and a magnet for visitors.

I could write more about Hampden's blossoming, but I rather enjoy
this description from the State of Maryland's Tourism web site:
"Hampden is proud of its quirky flair where hipsters and ladies-who-lunch
mingle as they window shop the more than 100 shops."

As Hampden and I go back to when photography meant film, I'm happy to represent The Avenue
as captured on film, in the special late afternoon sunlight of a day in late winter in March 2017.

This black and white was created from a Fujichrome Provia 400X transparency. I also like the scene in
its vivid Fujichrome-rendered colors, but this one feels somehow just a bit more "special." Maybe that's
because when I first visited Hampden with my Mom and Dad, there likely would have been black and white
film in the camera I carried almost everywhere.

The scene was captured through a Nikon Nikkor AI-s 24mm f/2.8 MF lens and makes its first appearance here.

©2019 Steve Ember